88towmanche Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 Hello, New (to me) Comanche owner, looks like a survivor - 88,000 original miles, paint is roached so doubt there are any hidden repairs but who knows... Have not pulled the carpet up yet, but the passenger side is wet so cab is leaking like all of them - can't see any rust from the underside at all - car was originally purchased in Albany Or. so been in the Pacific NW it's whole life. I got the original window sticker and protecto-plate along with it.... Options included (from the Window Sticker): Extra capacity tank, gauge package, tilt wheel, Cruise, Wiper Delay, Rear Slider, Skid Plates - all of it there, Cruise does not seem to be working (yet) The bedliner actually says Comanche on it so figure that came from the dealer/factory - have all four of the Jeep mudflaps on it and the original floor mats with the Jeep logo. I am not expert, but the seller seemed like a good guy and I think he sincerely believes the miles - have no reason to doubt it, looks legit to me. 1st order of business is to take a look at the floor pans and see how bad they are, kinda nervous about messing with the interior - don't want to start busting 30 yr old plastic trim.... Headliner and Sunvisors are trash - will make sure I keep the headliner backer board. Lot of surface rust on top of the cab - going to get that sanded and covered with primer at least asap. Had a couple of XJ's for the wife to drive around when the kids were little - always liked the rig for what it was, but never really invested any time in them, they were just grocery getters - had a Cj7 back in college - had fun with that but not really any money or time for upgrades, just kept it on the road. Going to set this one up as the house truck, trade in the old F150 maybe get it up high enough to fit 32-33's under it for looks and just enjoy it - probably get some paint on it before Summer rolls around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolwind57 Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 Very nice. Welcome to the addiction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMO413 Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Welcome to the addiction for sure! That is a good looking survivor for sure. I will say 4.5" lift fits 31's nicely and makes for a good DD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerDB Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Nice find, the body looks to be very good and straight. That will make an excellent project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buxmj Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Wow, great find and welcome to the club. Keep the pics and updates coming! Buck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir495 Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Excellent! Looks just like mine when I got it. Gotta love the blue interior. Welcome to CC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertRat1991 Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Welcome! Let's see that OEM rear bumper. We get excited about the little things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88towmanche Posted March 11, 2019 Author Share Posted March 11, 2019 Ok, Been driving the rig around for the last couple days - got a few issues going on..... Topped of the tank on the inaugural trip - parked it at a store for 20 minutes, came out and found fuel leaking under the tank......went home & siphoned 3 gallons out, got the leak to stop. Suspect the vent/rollover valves on top of the tank may be the issue - have not confirmed yet - have a 4 post lift (Amazon special) that we just set up in the garage got my Sierra on there now but will get the Jeep on there to take a close look at that tank. 2nd problem was next trip out - no start leaving the bank, no power to anything....I had read on here that on the Renix MJ's the grounds are an issue - so I popped the hood and started jiggling wires - couple of tugs on the battery cables got it to fire right up. Went home and took a closer look at the battery connections - the positive cable pulled right out of the terminal end! Replaced the terminal on the Positive lead and figured problem solved......wrong......no start again the next day, tugged on the neg lead off the battery and fired right up - so going to completely go over all of the grounds and cables and get this squared up. Now for pictures - got some questions about wtf is going on here..... This can't be the correct spot for the Vacuum accumulator? That tank supposed to be laying up there on top of the motor? Where is factory location for this tank? Next pic shows an unconnected Vac line on the Drivers side under the brake reservoir - anyone know where this one is supposed to go. And my favorite: what is this connector? Found it laying like that (disconnected) and after re-connect did not seem to change anything. Going to keep driving it around as is and see what's what for a week or so (until I burn up that tank of fuel anyway) before I start pulling it apart - want to get that carpet out and de-funkify the mildew smell in that cab, see what the floor pan look like and get the body prepped for paint... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMO413 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Vacuum reservoir is originally mounted behind front bumper. The connector and hose are for the windshield washer. The four hole connector is for the TPS if it was an automatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88towmanche Posted March 11, 2019 Author Share Posted March 11, 2019 1 hour ago, JMO413 said: Vacuum reservoir is originally mounted behind front bumper. The connector and hose are for the windshield washer. The four hole connector is for the TPS if it was an automatic. Ok, looks like PO just put a new reservoir in there trying to fix HVAC issues (only blows through defrost - had that happen on an Astro van and it was vacuum problems) - will look and see if the original reservoir is still down there. Windshield washer - thanks, that's on me never even checked to see if the washer worked. TPS connector - well this one is a manual so guess I know why it didn't make any difference plugging it.... Appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMO413 Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Any time. I bought a small reservoir and mounted it under the coolant tank. It's much cleaner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Articul8 Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 Good looking truck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88towmanche Posted April 1, 2019 Author Share Posted April 1, 2019 Truck matches up well with the boat... Don't have a hitch yet, stuck a 2" ball on the bumper and pulled the boat out of the shed to get at the mower - despite the limited towing capacity of the Comanche, think this set up is light enough to drag around the state in a futile attempt to catch the very last Chinook..... Boat is 17' Crestliner Superhawk - hull weight 1100 lbs, Neverrude Etech 115 hp motor is 300 lbs, 'rude kicker 75 lbs, fuel, gear & beer another 200 and the trailer clocks in at ~750 lbs...haven't run it across a scale yet, but figure total pulled weight is right around 2500 lbs. Tongue weight is around 200 Haven't had it on the road yet (not with a bumper hitch) but just moving it around the property can't even hardly feel it back there - been dragging fishing boats around here for 30+ years, towed my first boat all over hell with a CJ - (don't do that by the way - very bad idea, somehow managed to avoid disaster but CJ is a terrible towing rig) and expect this rig will do ok. Can see in the pic - sanded all the surface rust off the roof, rattle canned some etching primer and then some flat black over that - not my best work, but just didn't want to look at the rust - will get cleaned up when it goes in for paint next month. Going to keep the original color - Baltic blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 great choice. I love that shade of blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minuit Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 GREAT looking truck, and it looks like you got some really desirable accessories with it too. As to the plastic - be careful, but don't worry TOO much. In my experience, the plastics in an MJ interior are more durable than others of the time, with GM coming in at the absolute bottom of that list. You'll still want to have a gentle hand, but don't expect the interior to crumble at the slightest touch. The biggest thing is to be careful with the screws. Overtightening them will break the tabs. I've had some success epoxying washers into the spot that the mounting tab broke off of. If the air blows out of the defrost vents only, it's almost certainly a vacuum issue as you mentioned. The most likely place is in the big line that runs to the reservoir's OEM location (behind passenger side of bumper) up the passenger side of the engine bay. For the fuel leak, the first place I would suspect is on the side of the tank where the sending unit goes in. The o-ring between the sender and tank can leak, as can the pipes on the sender itself. Check the fill hoses on the driver side of the tank too. There are a bunch of places water can leak onto the passenger side floor. The easiest one to get your eyes on is probably the antenna grommet under the passenger side kick panel. The windshield and the gaskets where blower motor and HVAC pipes go through the firewall are big leakers too. That's definitely my second favorite factory MJ color. Looking forward to see what you do with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88towmanche Posted April 5, 2019 Author Share Posted April 5, 2019 Like driving this truck around - lot of opinions from friends & family on how to proceed with resto/upgrades..... Fishing & golf buddies like the current roached paint & are lobbying to leave as is - truck is super straight everything lines up correctly, stance is good (not sagging in the front or rear)....good looking survivor Daughters want to rattle can it themselves - yeah right, not going to drive around in some hipster millennial "this is a unique" painted truck (they mean well, and are fairly good artists but....nope) Brother says Line-X the whole thing and be done with it..... Like the idea but couldn't bring myself to do it to such and original intact truck. Wife says paint it, would rather see it restored than left as is (she's spent a couple decades bouncing around in wore-out trucks with me and not looking for a nostalgia trip) So, paint is happening sooner than later (she know where I sleep) - went and negotiated with my paint guy, goes in next week. Sticking with factory Baltic Blue (or as close as he can get) base coat/clear coat. To keep costs down, agreed to pull as much stuff off this weekend as possible - started last night with the emblems and cab vent covers. Emblems (not the jeep one on the front - still have that to do) are just stuck on with adhesive - 3" putty knife popped those right off. The vent covers are held on with pins on key hole slots - there is a little seal that runs around the outside edge that was kind of stuck to the cab (30 years will do that) so went carefully around with the putty knife to break that lose and they popped right off. Debating on putting the Pioneer hockey sticks decal back on after paint, will see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 make sure you pull the fender flares (I only mention it because not everyone does ) I would pull the header panel too and have it painted separate, but that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buxmj Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 I decided not to put the hockey stick emblems back on my Pioneer when I got it painted the first time and I have always been happy that I went with the clean look, especially since I got it painted again ten years later, probably a lot of work to take off. Buck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88towmanche Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 Dropped the truck off at the paint shop this morning Took out the factory bedliner - pretty sure it's been on there for 30 years, you can see paint loss where it has been rubbing, but no rust and no dents. Figured out how to get the end caps off the front bumper - my meathooks are WAY to big to fit in there easily, but eventually got them off. Rear step bumper - this looks factory to me, anyone confirm? Unbolted no problem - didn't even have to use a breaker bar, standard 3/8 ratchet - gotta love not having to deal with rust (too much) Heat gun took the Hockey sticks right off - got it debadged and de-hockey stickered ready for paint. Wussed out on trying to remove the flares - tried one nut after soaking in PB Blaster and snapped the stud right off - that is now the paint guys problem. Should get it back this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 the studs are made of such crappy metal that they are more or less sacrificial. have a plan for re-installation after most of them snap off. (and I would rather snap them off myself than pay the painter to fight/fail with them) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88towmanche Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 40 minutes ago, Pete M said: have a plan for re-installation after most of them snap off. What is the fix? Is there a way to replace the studs or do you just glue the flares back on.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 I used stainless bolts and fender washers for the flares on my trailer. I didn't even do every hole. I think it was 5 per side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88towmanche Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 42 minutes ago, Pete M said: I would rather snap them off myself than pay the painter to fight/fail with them Yep, took him at his word he could take care of it - he's done good work for me in the past... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertRat1991 Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Got on the schedule last week and will have the truck back by this weekend? That's a helluva turnaround for a full paint job. If you remove the rear window trim, do so carefully. Those are hard to come by these days. You may need to re-use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88towmanche Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 On 4/8/2019 at 12:18 PM, DesertRat1991 said: Got on the schedule last week and will have the truck back by this weekend? That's a helluva turnaround for a full paint job Agree - found this guy's shop a few years ago, doesn't advertise, doesn't answer the phone, doesn't speak much english - but does quality work. Think it is all a one man show (have seen a couple helpers there but they looked more like hangers-on than employees) Maaco said they could knock it out in a couple days....been there done that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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