92 Comanche pipe-dream come true.

[foxboy633]

How's she goin? long-time lurker here from Cape Breton Canada who decided to finally get off his rear and make a build thread on my 1992 Comanche base model. 

 

So, you may ask why call this thread "pipe-dream?" well, ever since I seen my first comanche when i was 8 I've always wanted one, i owned tons of jeep cherokees, and built lots of them to, but.. it just didnt feel right. they were fun and stuff sure, but for the things I do day to day, they were just lacking in the utility department.  

 

The first one I built was a 93 Cherokee sport, I had purchased for $1,200 of some old fella up in the mountains. 

I daily drove it for 3 years, making the kilometers climb from 321,000km (199,500mi)  all the way to 415,000kms (258,000mi) 

I slowly built it up with my highschool budget, Lift, tires, roof rack, lots of lights, and a custom winch bumper.

But, like most cherokees, it had braved the canadian winters without any type of protection, which led to the floors rusting out, and the uniframe becoming soft in some spots. I ended up selling it to a friend of mine. 

 

Next came the 96 XJ, to which i was told "came from alberta" and at first sight looked clean as could be.

about a month after purchase I pulled the carpets to find that the PO had covered the entire underbody in thick black under coat, hiding the lack of a floor, and had just layed metal plate down in places he couldn't hide. so I patched them up, and continued to drive it for the next year, lifting it, wheeling it, and using like a jeep should be used, but it left a bad taste in my mouth knowing about all the rust it had. 

Then the engine blew... 

 

So, I was left daily driving my BMW for the summer to go to work, I was jeepless, and my BMW isnt exactly a fan of our rough roads... 

 

SO What was I to do? I couldn't find a decent jeep around cape breton that wasn't rotten, or beaten to death, plus i was slowly killing my BMW putting almost 900kms (560mi) on it a week....

 

A few weeks go by and my itch for another jeep was getting bigger, but i didnt want anymore rot-boxes and I wanted something different.. something that would stand out. then out of curiosity I decide to search all across Canada for a Comanche... I browsed through the endless ads of the same thing, Comanches that were broke in half, missing beds, engineless husks of what they once were, or just plain destroyed like the sad fate of most of them, and if i was going to look for a MJ I was going to be picky, I didn't want a renix, no 4 cyls, it HAD to be a 5 speed... and specifically.. 2 wheel drive, Why 2 wheel drive?  because it wouldn't of been put through half the stuff a 4x4 one would of.  Then I found it... the perfect Comanche.  a 91 (or so i thought) 2 wheel drive, 5 speed, 4.0 HO, base model. and unlike the rest... it wasnt beat half to death. it was almost as if it just came from the dealer, (probably because it was wet in the pictures aha)  

 

 

One problem though.. it was in Swift current Saskatchewan ... 4,307kms (2676mi)  from me... so, I quickly blew it off, "too far away, and I'll never save up the money in time before its sold" even though it was only $2,500....  But try as hard as I could, i just couldn't get it off my mind, always stuck at the back of it, even with my 16 hour 6 day a week job of Crab fishing. Once I had actually saved up enough money a few weeks later, I decided to check back on it and low and behold, the ad was still up!... so I gave the owner a call and asked him for the regulars "How's it run, whats the body like, and does it need anything?"  

 

Once we were done our little chat, and I had informed him I was on the other side of canada, he replied with "Well, your the only person to really show interest in the truck, tell you what, if you want I'll hold onto it for you for a little bit until you can figure out how your gunna get here, and get it home" So, I went to thinking, that night, trying to figure out just how in the heck was I gunna get to Saskatchewan... My hope quickly dwindling, I had never left Cape Breton before, Didn't have enough for a plane ticket, and gas money to drive it home....

 

Then I remembered, I had a cousin working out there on a oil rig and he was due to come home soon, so I shot him a message on facebook, asking him if he'd be willing to drive 5 hours out to just look at it for me, so after some discussion, I e-transfered him out the money for the truck, and a bit extra for gas for his truck. the next day while at work, he texted me saying it wasn't any good...  it was perfect, he couldn't leave the guys house without it, though the previous owner was a little concerned since the truck had NEVER SEEN THE HIGHWAY before. 

 

as the story goes behind it, he had bought it new in 1992, and it was his run-around truck for his Diesel repair shop, doing errands here and there around town, and every night it was washed, and tucked away in the shop, but the little trooper made it the entire way back to Regina without any problems, minus a bit of death wobble around 110kmh (70MPH) which was due to the tires being from 98... 

 

The next few months it spent its time waiting in my cousins garage, and got some tune-up work done, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, a new serpentine belt, filters, and some donor wheels off a old grand caravan, once the time came he set off on his journey home to me, chugging along the trans Canada Highway, up and down mountains, along lakes, coastal roads, and only stopping for a few hours while my cousin slept in the cab (still don't know how he managed that....) 

 

And then the 12th of October, it finally arrived in my driveway, my once was a Pipe-dream, had come true I now was the proud owner of one of THE cleanest Comanches on the Island. 

 

But, his journey wasnt over yet, I wasnt just going to leave it alone.. no no no. I wanted a Comanche that will brave anything i want it to, WHILE being a comfortable daily driver, and knowing how many miles it was going to get, I decided to name him Nomad, Adventurous and never stuck to one spot, which seemed fitting after his journey across Canada. 

 

First thing was first, The caravan wheels had to go. 

I put some used 235/75R15 winters on the factory wheels and tossed them on which improved the look of the truck drastically. 

 

I swapped the grille to one with a chrome outline, and added Hella H4 conversion lights with a Putco Relay harness

 

Then, I had to cover up the bare metal rockers, so some Primer, rocker-gaurd, and Color match paint later, and I was left with this.

 

 

The front seemed kinda bare, so a small trip to Moncton and I had acquired a new front bumper with Bumperettes, some fog-lights and I also had ordered some NOS KC light covers to cover them up. 

 

 

Plus, I had also found some wood-grain door panels from a cherokee country, a leather wrapped steering wheel, Bucket seats, and a center console. 

 

So, out with the old interior

 

And while I had it out, I took out the carpet to clean it, lightly sanded down the paint, and covered the entire thing in Chassis saver paint. 

 

Then, we swapped the Bench brackets onto the buckets, and bam I had a nice Eleminator packaged interior, With full gauges, comfy buckets, woodgrain AND A CUP HOLDER. 

 

 

I cruised around for a while like that, grinning from ear to ear, but I knew winter was coming... and I knew he'd have to be upgraded and protected for the upcoming months, so my pride and joy wouldent end up like every other jeep i've owned.  

 

So, I went out and bought this as a donor truck. 

 

One VERY rotten 88/96 Cheromanche. a obvious hack job, wires ran everywhere, a very broken frame that was attempted to be patched.. but still ended up breaking in half on the drive home from just bouncing on the trailer. 

 

so, we pulled all the running gear out of it, and began the swap into my clean, unmolested, untouched 92 survivor, I had also purchased a BDS 3" lift kit at the time aswell, and some Bilstein 5100 shocks. 

 

 

Out with the old Dead-axle 30

 

Then out came the grease-ball of a perfectly shifting 2wd AX15

 

while we had everything apart, we decided to do the rear-main seal and oil-pan gasket, to ensure this is one jeep that won't mark its territory. 

 

Up went the External slave AX15 from the donor truck

 

And then the transfer case

 

We transfered the gears from the donor Dana 30, into a rust free housing

 

then sealed it up and painted it, Adding new ball-joints, wheel bearings, U-joints, axle seals, Pinon seals, and anti-seizing everything

 

and then Wrestled it under Nomad and began bolting everything in place, the new track-bar, upper and lower control arms, shocks, all new V8 ZJ steering gear, calipers, pads, rotors, and flex hoses

 

We tossed in the rear drive-shaft for now, knowing i would have to get the one from the donor truck rebuilt, and undercoated the entire under-side of the truck in Fluid-Film

Also making up a special tool so we could run the under-coating nozzle way into the frame and coating the inside of the rails thoroughly, plus the insides of the rockers, fenders, doors, and innder bedsides. 

, 

 

And after 2 weeks of hard work I could finally see it sitting on its own weight again. 

 

I took the truck over to a local spring shop the next day to have them put in the add-a-leaf, and then from there it went for alignment.

 

Once i got home, I put on the wheels and tires from my old 96 Cherokee, and pretty much have been driving it since. I will actually be going to Moncton this week coming to have my front drive-shaft rebuilt. 

 

I hope you enjoyed reading my little adventure, and if you didnt, sorry for the wall of text! I will update this thread as I make improvements to the truck and eventually begin traveling with it, as a closure here are some pictures I took of the truck recently, and I look foward to making updates in this for everyone of this awesome site to read! 

 

 

 

[crumbscomanche]

Clean truck and an even better story  looking forward to following this build. 

[Skorpyo]

Great story and love the truck! Nice score finding it and making it happen.

[HOrnbrod]

Not many rust free MJs (or anything else) like that unless they are parked inside all winter for life. Nice score - looks great. 

[MeanLemons]

Nice score! 

[foxboy633]

So, I managed to get a few more things done to the 92 over the past few weeks. 

 

finally got my Shackles and new H4 bulbs from summit. 

 

And then installed them that night. 

 

Also, since i was too cheap to buy Swaybar links I had a buddy fab me up a set

 

And then we found the brake pads were sticking on the knuckle some, so we filled the missing chunks in with weld and grinded down smooth to fix

 

I also got off my butt and wired in my bumper lights, but also replaced them with some Hella 500FF driving lights

 

Even used the factory switches and panel

 

A little bit of my paitence and everything was working \o/ 

 

Then came my adventure, no one locally wanted to re-build my front driveshaft, so I drove a total of 1785kms (1109) Miles up to Moncton to have A-plus driveshaft build me a brand new one.

 

So, now that I had working 4x4, me and the friend I was staying with decided to go out and find some places to take pictures... in the middle of a blizzard.

 

Then, the night before I was due to go home, a guy messaged me about having a factory Shortbox rollbar!, and since he'd like to see it go where it belonged I could have it for $20. Needless to say it was well worth the 4 hour drive from Moncton New Brunswick to Kentville Nova scotia.  

 

After everything was strapped down, I buckled in and drove the 6 hours home to Cape Breton. 

 

And of course the second it got home I gave him a wash.

 

Then tested to see if all my hard work of making it 4x4 Payed off.

 

Truck works good with the 4x4 now, though I need to get a 4x4 selector bushing, since it likes to pop out of 4-low. 

 

And I also added some spot-lights on the roll-bar with the Chrysler covers I picked up before

 

I just wish I knew a easier way to keep salt and road grime off the body! it gets washed like every second day, but one trip down to tim hortons and its filthy again.  

[DesertRat1991]

11 hours ago, foxboy633 said:

And of course the second it got home I gave him a wash.

 

I just wish I knew a easier way to keep salt and road grime off the body! it gets washed like every second day, but one trip down to tim hortons and its filthy again.  

 

Mega score on that roll bar!

 

And yah, without a winter protection regiment your truck won't be rust free for long. Break out the polishing pads and work on building up a protective layer of wax to protect the paint and help the road grime rinse off.

 

For the underbody, maybe give these guys a call and see if there are any authorized Fluid Film shops in your area:

 

http://www.kellsportproducts.com/canada.html

 

[Pete M]

great looking truck!     

 

 

our trucks rot from the inside out (rockers, bedsides, frame, floors).    there really isn't anything much you can do but keep it away from salt altogether.   

 

[Minuit]

That looks excellent. Great story too. Guess I shouldn't complain about having to drive an hour or two to pick up parts 

 

I agree with what they said above me. Keeping it away from salt is the only way to prevent it from rusting.

[foxboy633]

2 hours ago, DesertRat1991 said:

 

Mega score on that roll bar!

 

And yah, without a winter protection regiment your truck won't be rust free for long. Break out the polishing pads and work on building up a protective layer of wax to protect the paint and help the road grime rinse off.

 

For the underbody, maybe give these guys a call and see if there are any authorized Fluid Film shops in your area:

 

http://www.kellsportproducts.com/canada.html

 

I've allready fluid-filmed the truck myself, Used a scultz gun and sprayed about 4 gallons worth everywhere, did all the underside, and then used a special wand that sprays in all directions and coated the inside of the frame with it to,  and I wash/wax if every second day so here's hoping all this hard work is worth it lol

[foxboy633]

Where I live your surrounded by salt, I live right on the coast of the atlantic so, not much I can do but try to keep the salt off it the best i can. 

[foxboy633]

22 hours ago, Minuit said:

That looks excellent. Great story too. Guess I shouldn't complain about having to drive an hour or two to pick up parts 

 

I agree with what they said above me. Keeping it away from salt is the only way to prevent it from rusting.

Its a regular occurance driving hours upon hours for parts for me aha, I live on a island where everything is kinda scarce, so you have to travel to the "mainland" to get anything good, or get any good deals. When I was trying to find bucket seats the first junk yard i went to had a 88 comanche Laredo with them, but they were red, torn up, and the brackets were rotted to death. The junkyard owner wanted $200 (a peice) since they were "super rare" even though they were destroyed.  A 6 hour trip to Springhill, and I nabbed the grey cherokee buckets in my truck for $50.  Plus i took my old diesel chevy I owned at the time so fuel didnt cost much. 

[90BlackMJ]

That's a great looking truck you have. 

[foxboy633]

All cleaned up for the next few days c: 

 

I honestly can't wait for spring to come around so I can REALLY shine him up, and hopefully pick up some new aluminium wheels before then ;D 

[foxboy633]

Holycrap a update! 

 

Not too much to report as I've just been enjoying the truck, driving it every day and spending a small fortune on washing it every second day. 

 

And yes even though its "super rare ultimate unobtanium and shouldnt even be driven" to some.... it still gets used to truck dutys. 

 

The dumped Magnaflow started to grow on my nerves with the droning, so I had the muffler replaced with a flowmaster 10 and a new tail-pipe made up.

 

Then the waterpump bearings decided to commit sucide, so I had a friend replace the waterpump for me since I was sick at the time

 

My drivers seat had also developed the typical broken base, so I found another set of Cherokee buckets and swapped the drivers one... after a bunch of scrubbing

 

Plus I also dropped down my factory spare doughnut, since I usually carry a fullsize 31" spare in the box

I guess its been stuck up there for a while....

 

And the next to peices I'm waiting for now are my new KC 57's which i think will match the squareness alot nicer than the round hellas

 

And I managed to score these for $100 with all 4 caps

 

I'm going to try and repolish them to look more like this. 

 

 

 

[foxboy633]

Finally got my KC 57's Much more better fitting than the round hellas! 

 

Then I had to go out and of course take some pictures with the beautiful day we had here in Cape Breton the other day, its hard to take a bad picture almost anywhere here ahaha. 

[Pete M]

I can't see the new pics.   is it my internet connection?  

 

edit: it was in fact my connection.  all is well now!   

[HOrnbrod]

Must be. I see them.

[Lthompson741]

Looks Good.   I live in the US salt belt and park my Jeep toys because of the salt.   My daily F250 gets a wash at least once a week with undercarriage.  I know all about the small fortune.   My last F250 rotted out very quickly...so hopefully I can stay on top of the rust with this one.

[DesertRat1991]

On 2/17/2018 at 7:17 PM, foxboy633 said:

Plus I also dropped down my factory spare doughnut, since I usually carry a fullsize 31" spare in the box

I guess its been stuck up there for a while....

 

 

Have you tried fitting your 31" tire in the stock spare location? How'd it go?

 

I've got a 30" tire under the shortbed and there's barely any room left.  I would guess an inch or less.  Haven't had a chance to try stuffing a 31 up there myself. 

[HOrnbrod]

31". It's tight. I had to wrap the pipes to prevent cooking the tire.......

[gogmorgo]

Hornbrod's is a long bed, clearance might be different on the short beds. 

[thecodemonk]

Gorgeous truck!  Glad it's still being used the way it's meant to!  :)

[foxboy633]

On 3/9/2018 at 4:58 AM, DesertRat1991 said:

 

Have you tried fitting your 31" tire in the stock spare location? How'd it go?

 

I've got a 30" tire under the shortbed and there's barely any room left.  I would guess an inch or less.  Haven't had a chance to try stuffing a 31 up there myself. 

That I haven't, I usually just strap it down in the bed, I plan on eventually getting a tire carrier mounted in the bed

[foxboy633]

On 3/9/2018 at 2:35 PM, thecodemonk said:

Gorgeous truck!  Glad it's still being used the way it's meant to!  :)

Thanks! I'd rather see it being used and enjoyed everyday rather than sitting in a garage collecting dust ;p