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Prerunner Build


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Alright here we go! Had a comanche a while back in high school and didn't have the funds to keep it going or do the upgrades I wanted. Out of high school now and just picked up another comanche so I feel it would be appropriate to document the build in case anybody wants to do something similar. 

Ill have pictures attached below. And feel free to move the "thread" if it's not where it belongs. I'm new to the site. 

It is a 1990. 100k miles. Has the 4.0 and aw4. Dana 35 out back and it's 2wd so not much up front. Michigan truck so Very rusty but the floors have been replaced. New rockers going on soon and then the build really begins. Planning on going jeepspeed/ prerunner build. Keeping it 2wd and leaf sprung for the first stage. Then possibly beams, 4 link, and v8 swap when I start getting bored. Anyways here's some pics. 

I'll post as I make any and all progress. Exhaust fell off on my way home from picking it up so that will be the first "upgrade". 

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I'd like to get everyone's input on the suspension I should probably be running. 

I'm thinking rustys Jeepspeed four link for the front and their 4" comanche leaf springs for the rear. Rubicon express 5.5" coils and adding a 1" schackle to the rear to help even it out.

Not sure about shocks yet. I guess I'll see what kind of uptravel and downtravel numbers I'm pulling before I cross that bridge. I'm open to running shock hoops through the bed but eventually will want to run a full bedcage or maybe even backhalf tube chassis the truck. 

 

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Alright time for an update. I've taken a little time to address the rust on the passenger side. And tried my hand at replacing the rocker with one from an xj. Pictures attached. I didn't do this the correct way and I'm aware of that as you'll see from pictures. Cut out all the rust and started cutting the rocker to fill all that empty space. Needless to say. Bondo will be my friend. 

 

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And as for another update. I ordered rustys competition 4-link kit as well as their 4 inch leaf springs and 5 inch coils. A heavy duty track bar and steering box bracket were added to the cart too that way I don't have to upgrade in the future. The parts arrived yesterday and I'm hoping to have everything on by this weekend. Then I can measure for shocks. Thinking 2.5 double or triple bypass. I'll keep my eye open on race-dezert for deals but will most likely be ordering shocks on Black Friday in hopes of getting some sort of good deal. Bypass shocks are expensive! I'll have to see what I want to run as far as bumpsrops, I'm thinking air bumps or hydraulic but I'm not sure as to what stroke and what size. Hopefully more research will point me in the right direction. 

 

 

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Little bit of an update. Got the new rocker on and boy is it crooked! Good thing it’s just rivited on for now. I was getting impatient. Time to bondo the rest up and call it good for now. This won’t be a show truck. 

I’m a little hesitant to add pictures because I know everyone is gonna hate how I mounted the rocker. 

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On 10/16/2017 at 3:11 PM, WyoCherokee said:

looks like your off to a good start. how fast was the shipping on that rusty's stuff. I'm really on the fence about those 4" leaves.

 

Another small update. Shipping was 3 days from rustys. 

Got the leafs on tonight! And holy DROOP Batman! Threw on a couple of crappy shocks that were a bit longer. That way I can still drive the truck. Re-used the hardware that came off, but got measurements so I can order some new stuff. Surprisingly the old leafs didn’t put up much of a fight. Other than heating up almost every bolt cherry red with a set of torches. It went pretty smooth! I sprayed the crap out of the brake lines in hopes that they’ll come apart easy and I can just add in my new extended lines from rough country. That’s for this weekend. 

Hoping to get the front done this weekend as well! We’ll see how everything goes. 

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11 hours ago, Swampy said:

Looking great. I want to see how this turns out. Are you going to run fiberglass fenders?

 I will be running fiberglass on all four corners. Most likely hannemann bacause they offer the 6” flare in the front. I like the looks of the McNeil but they only offer a 4”. 

6” hannemann in the rear as well since I will eventually be swapping a ford 9” back there. 

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1 hour ago, Tbarber16 said:

 I will be running fiberglass on all four corners. Most likely hannemann bacause they offer the 6” flare in the front. I like the looks of the McNeil but they only offer a 4”. 

6” hannemann in the rear as well since I will eventually be swapping a ford 9” back there. 

 

Damn that's a nice plan

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Wish I would have seen this sooner. I'd highly recommend the Deaver Jeepspeed front coils, if these don't work out, or for anyone else thinking of doing the same thing. Also, check out PAC coils, they make an assortment of progressive rate coils. We successfully competed with both the Deaver and PAC coils. We started with Deaver and then I made a dual spring setup on the front with PAC coils and a coilover shock slider on the bumpstop tower. We slide a piece of 2" OD tube over the bumpstop tower for the slider. The dual spring setup worked very well. 

 

We also used much longer Deaver F150 rear leaves on the XJ, which would be a good length for the MJ, but we ran them spring over on the 4643 XJ and don't know if that would work on a a spring under MJ. That car hauled @$$ with the really long Deavers in back and the dual coil PACs in the front. Also, if you want to save some money, the Prothane front bumpstop inserts work extremely well on the front.

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On 10/25/2017 at 12:19 AM, Goatman said:

Wish I would have seen this sooner. I'd highly recommend the Deaver Jeepspeed front coils, if these don't work out, or for anyone else thinking of doing the same thing. Also, check out PAC coils, they make an assortment of progressive rate coils. We successfully competed with both the Deaver and PAC coils. We started with Deaver and then I made a dual spring setup on the front with PAC coils and a coilover shock slider on the bumpstop tower. We slide a piece of 2" OD tube over the bumpstop tower for the slider. The dual spring setup worked very well. 

 

We also used much longer Deaver F150 rear leaves on the XJ, which would be a good length for the MJ, but we ran them spring over on the 4643 XJ and don't know if that would work on a a spring under MJ. That car hauled @$$ with the really long Deavers in back and the dual coil PACs in the front. Also, if you want to save some money, the Prothane front bumpstop inserts work extremely well on the front.

Wow thank you so much for the info! I’ll look into those coils and the bump stops. 

I’m planning on 4 linking the rear after this coming sand season so I’m not sure how much I really wanna do with the current setup. 

 

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UPDATE

So as you can tell from the pictures I got the front end kit on and ended up snatching up a set of Cooper Discoverer 35x12.5 tires. 

It sits awesome but the front fenders are coming off, it rubs like you can’t imagine. Had to do a 35 point turn just to get into a parking spot. And I haven’t even given it the garage alignment yet so even moving it 50 feet into the shop my tires are screaming at me. I also backed the truck up and put it in park to check ball joints. And yeah, they will be replaced very very soon. The truck was looking like a riced out civic. 

During the install I took the air cleaner off to get to the driver side shock nut. And went to park it without the filter on. And it started running seriously rough. And smoking really bad. Smells really ritch. I’m imagining a vacuum issue. And upon re-installing the filter and leaving the battery cable off for a couple hours the rough running persisted and it’s to the point where it’s almost un-driveable. I pulled one of the plugs and it looks like crap. So I went ahead and bought spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, and a rotor hoping it’s gonna solve my rough running issue. 

I still need to temporarily mount some front shocks so I can at least drive the thing. So after the plugs and wires. I’m going to give it a garage alignment and make some shock brackets. 

Phew, wish me luck 

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Make sure the small plastic line from the throttle body to the MAP sensor (on the fire wall) isn't cracked or broken. If so, it will run very rough and rich.


It will act up if that line is clogged too.


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On 10/29/2017 at 1:53 AM, Goatman said:

Make sure the small plastic line from the throttle body to the MAP sensor (on the fire wall) isn't cracked or broken. If so, it will run very rough and rich.

 WOW Goatman,  you’re a lifesaver.  I bought all new plugs and wires, distributor cap, rotor.  I got the cap and rotor on. And started going over the vacuum lines. I found the one you were talking about and it was unplugged by the firewall. I plugged it back in and the truck runs like new. THANK YOU!  That could possibly be why my old Comanche ran like crap too. 

 

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UPDATE.  I think I’ve made my decision on what I want to do as far as front shocks go. I’ll probably be fabricating some shock hoops that go up into the engine bay. That way I can run longer bypass shocks and take advantage of what travel the front end is producing. 

 Now I just need to figure out why the whole front of the truck moves side to side while the suspension compresses and rebounds. 

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UPDATE.  I think I’ve made my decision on what I want to do as far as front shocks go. I’ll probably be fabricating some shock hoops that go up into the engine bay. That way I can run longer bypass shocks and take advantage of what travel the front end is producing. 
 Now I just need to figure out why the whole front of the truck moves side to side while the suspension compresses and rebounds. 


If you don’t have longarms, then the tracbar will push/ pull depending on how far off level to the axle it is.


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