Roll Call, Original Owners

[Buddy Brantley]

1988 Comanche Base Sport Truck

Purchased new July 12, 1988 - not May 20th 1988, from Martin Ansley Jeep/Eagle  in Statesboro, Georgia. Sold to my dad back in 1994. Just reacquired Saturday June 5th, 2021.

July 12th it's 33 years old! Working on restoring it. Wish I had some new pics from 88. 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Buddy Brantley
Date of purchase incorrect. Added pics

[Pete M]

16 minutes ago, Buddy Brantley said:

1988 Comanche Base Sport Truck

Purchased new May 20th 1988 from Martin Ansley Jeep in Statesboro, Georgia. Sold to my dad back in 1994. Just reacquired Saturday June 5th, 2021. 

 

got any old photos?

[fiatslug87]

 

[702_MJ]

I’ll throw my name in the pool of OG owners. My dad bought our ‘86 brand new, originally he was gonna get a CJ but wanted a bed. Truck has been back and forth from Hawaii to the mainland several times. The truck was given to me in high school, which is when I found CC. It’s in the registry and one of you was kind enough to decode the vin with all its options. There’s some old photos running around, if I ever find them I’ll post em. 

[Pete M]

46 minutes ago, 702_MJ said:

There’s some old photos running around, if I ever find them I’ll post em. 

please do!   

[star-one]

My first new vehicle , bought 6/30/1987 in Garden valley , CA. It's a 4.0L, 5sp , 4x4. 

I got the Jeep in 1987 and got married in 1988. I still have them both. The difference is, I can still get in the Jeep whenever I want.

 

 

[fiatslug87]

4 hours ago, star-one said:

The difference is, I can still get in the Jeep whenever I want.

 

Post your VIN in the registry

[Alan C]

Thanks Fiatslug87 for pointing me to this thread. So glad to meet kindred spirits!

 

Bought my '89 Pioneer on May 30, 1989 at Pope Jeep outside of Atlanta Georgia. I was going to graduate school in the fall and my parents kindly offered to help me buy a new car and thereby not spend so much time working on the various old cars I drove in college. It is 4WD with the short bed, 5 speed, and "Pioneer Package II" as I recall the salesman telling me, which included the bucket seats and skid plates. Like Original 87, I still have all the original paperwork, window sticker, key knockouts, dealer keytag with the stock number, etc. The original ignition key wore out, but I still have 3 of the 4 original keys. As I posted in the earlier thread, it just turned 300,000 miles this week.

 

For the first 8 years, I was living in the Southeast and driving a lot to visit family, girlfriends, etc, so I put 20,000 miles on it every year. Then I moved north, first to Champaign-Urbana IL, then to Chicago, then to Long Island. I always managed to live very near work, so the miles per year dropped considerably. In Chicago, I walked to work so it spent most of its time parked, though a few years of parking on Chicago streets took a toll. Now it and the motorcycle are my primary vehicles.

 

As for stories, I mentioned this thread to my wife before I read all of it, so to ensure domestic tranquility I probably should stay away from tales of activities in the back. But I can tell the story of a near disaster. When I was getting ready to move from Champaign to Chicago, I somehow got it in my mind that it would be best to sell the truck as it had about 190,000 miles on it and I wrongly assumed it was tired. Champaign is in the country, and I figured that an old truck would have more value there than in the big city. Indeed, I found a beautiful 4 year old car at a good price on a dealer lot, and the salesman made a nice offer on the Comanche saying that hunting season was coming up and he would have no problem selling it. We agreed on a deal, but I wanted a good test drive and to have my local shop give the car a look. The dealer said sure, and that if anything were found we could renegotiate the price. With a sinking feeling, I handed the guy my keys and took off in that car.

 

Well, God smiled on me that day. I drove the car about 15 miles and as I got close to the mechanic, the darn thing threw a connecting rod! I felt an amazing happiness and sat there laughing and crying tears of joy for something like 20 minutes. People would drive by and look at me, and then would not stop as they must have thought I was crazy. It was much like the Charlie Brown movie in which Snoopy feels he should go back to his first owner, but is then overjoyed to learn that dogs aren't allowed in the owner's building. Truly a unique experience.

 

I got the car cranked and limped on to my mechanic. He called the dealer and explained the situation, and they said they would send a tow truck. I went back with the car, expressed sorrow to the dealer for what happened, grabbed my keys, and took off like a bat out of hell never looking back. Disaster narrowly avoided!

 

Attached are a snap from this morning and one of the odometer the other night. I love the look of the original fading paint, but surface rust is a problem. So I applied something I learned from the Gas Monkey Garage and had it clear coated a few years back. Also, hate to be redundant with my other post, but for completeness I'll note that I had to have a new clutch at about 230,000 miles and went ahead and swapped the BA 10/5 transmission for an AX-15. That necessitated a Novak Conversions transfer case shifter (that works beautifully).  Also I recently had to put in a JP5A gas tank and an XJ fuel sending unit when I could not find an MJ sending unit, a solution found in the Club. Other than that and a little rust repair, it is stock.

 

As Original 87 said: Thanks to all the people in this Club lots of good and useful information here!

 

 

[NHMJXJ]

 

2 hours ago, Alan C said:

As I posted in the earlier thread, it just turned 300,000 miles this week.

 

Missed that thread, but I'm curious when and where you were when you snapped that pic of all the zeros!   That's a significant number and you nailed it.  Every digit  lined right up. 

[Alan C]

I went to visit a friend and it rolled over just as I pulled up at his house. On the way back, I drove it maybe 20 yards up the street to get things lined up and just stopped and took the picture. Worked out well!

[Comanche child]

Technically my father bought this brand new (I was only 6 or 7) and I inherited it from him last year.  So original family owners, if that counts.  :)

[87MJTIM]

3 hours ago, Comanche child said:

Technically my father bought this brand new (I was only 6 or 7) and I inherited it from him last year.  So original family owners, if that counts.  :)

Yes, one family counts! 

 

Looks nice.  It has an original rear bumper. 

 

Put your info in your signature: Yr, engine, transmission, any modifications done to it.

[Classy Comanche]

So I was sold my 1988 Jeep Comanche Pioneer by my great grandfather due to his deteriorating vision. Bought in 2020 I decided to buy it and keep it on the road myself. I have asked him if he remembered when he bought it and unfortunately he doesn't remember. But I do have the factory service manual with the server card and identification number still in tact miraculously with his name on it. He thinks he bought it around June of 1988 but he is not sure. 

[DzienManche]

‘86 Comanche XLS. Been in my family since it rolled off the assembly line back in 86, I just towed it up from Florida now based in Virginia. A lot of electrical issues with bulbs in such but that will be resolved here soon. It’s been repainted by a hack job artist in Florida and aftermarket radio an alarm put in which also may have screwed things up. But I’m working on restoring it and have replaced a few things, but it’s a really fun drive that I want to keep mostly stock aside from a few modern touches. 137,000 miles on it so it’s basically new.

[fiatslug87]

Nice, looks like it has some factory goodies!! Make sure to add it to the registry.

[robfg67]

Hey all,

 

I'm Rob from Walpole MA.

 

The first vehicle that I ever purchased was a 1988 Chief from Pearl Street Motors in Braintree, MA. 

 

 

[howeitsdone]

Just helping 

 

 

 

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

I purchased my 1990 Pioneer new on 5/11/1990.  The original window sticker says the list price as purchased, with the dealer stuff, was $12,456.  I sure wish I could buy a new one just like it today for that!  Odometer today reads 220k and change.  Except for the oil leak, it seldom causes me any grief, and when it does the repair is no where near as expensive as my other car (which is much newer, it's a 94).  I would like to get the oil leak stopped but the repair folks tell me that would take an engine rebuild, so I just keep adding a quart every 400 miles or so.  One small benefit, I never need to do an oil change, just a new filter from time to time!

[Pete M]

3 hours ago, AnotherOldJeepGuy said:

 I would like to get the oil leak stopped but the repair folks tell me that would take an engine rebuild, so I just keep adding a quart every 400 miles or so. 

 

 

 

 

what specifically did they say the leak was? 

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

It's been maybe 5 years or more since I was told that, so I don't know how specific I can answer.  To the best of my recollection, they said it was "the main seal" and they could not get to it short of an engine rebuild.

[Pete M]

12 hours ago, AnotherOldJeepGuy said:

It's been maybe 5 years or more since I was told that, so I don't know how specific I can answer.  To the best of my recollection, they said it was "the main seal" and they could not get to it short of an engine rebuild.

 

a rear main seal in the 4.0 can be done by simply dropping the oil pan and maaaaaaybe needing to loose the rear main caps.   it's a little tricky, but I've done a couple now.    very common issue and has nothing to do with rebuilding an engine.    

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

Perhaps I need a different mechanic for this particular item then.  I "think" you may have tickled a couple dormant brain cells, and I think dropping the oil pan was also mentioned as they couldn't do it "on this vehicle" or something like that, without the previously mentioned engine rebuild.  My shade tree mechanic expertise can swap out a starter, or alternator, and similar or simpler things, but I don't believe I want to tackle this one in my driveway.  For example, I don't know what you mean by "rear main caps"!

[Pete M]

8 minutes ago, AnotherOldJeepGuy said:

Perhaps I need a different mechanic for this particular item then.  I "think" you may have tickled a couple dormant brain cells, and I think dropping the oil pan was also mentioned as they couldn't do it "on this vehicle" or something like that, without the previously mentioned engine rebuild.  My shade tree mechanic expertise can swap out a starter, or alternator, and similar or simpler things, but I don't believe I want to tackle this one in my driveway.  For example, I don't know what you mean by "rear main caps"!

 

search youtube for videos.   I imagine there are quite a few. 

[AnotherOldJeepGuy]

Yep, here's one from BleepinJeep:  youtube.com/watch?v=L40xkuxCbYk

 

I got a chuckle remembering the old Chilton/Haynes joke, that every job no matter how simple, starts with "remove engine".  OK, in this case specifically the presenter noted that he had removed the axle to make the job easier, not noting all the steps that trivial step adds to the job, but the chuckle was there just the same!

 

 

[Pete M]

you don't have to go quite that far.   but the axle needs to droop down far enough for clearance to get the pan past the pump inside.