1988 4wd Jeep Comanche Laredo

[KoopaKid]

Hi all,

 

I've had my truck a few years and finally decided to invest money and time into it. It's an '88 4.0 with AW4. I plan on converting it to an AX15, update/upgrade whatever I can, and repair. AW4 was stuck in a high gear and had to shift manually, despite it being automatic. I'm thinking it was the throttle valve, but it doesn't matter as I'd prefer to have standard anyway. I've been trying to find out what parts I need to be able to do it and hesitant to pull the trigger on anything, as it would suck to have to return gigantic items if incorrect.

 

Not sure what to do with the outside just yet, but looking at installed a 97-01 Header Plate to add Commander headlights, brackets to install JK tail lights. I'm envisioning a ride like a redneck accidentally found themselves in Blade Runner.

 

Electrical is getting redone to, as it's been spliced into who knows how many times by people who had no idea what they were doing; no joke, there's actually a piece of house extension cord in it. I'll get pics of it next time we work on it.

 

Engine has 146k miles on it, and while there's nothing wrong with it, I'll probably replace to block with a remanufactured one over building it, as I'd like to have it running like brand new (hopefully better) because I'm going to make this my new daily driver. I actually sold my 2013 F150 to make this project happen.

 

I'm working on this with my much more knowledgeable ASE tech friend...I'm really more helping him than anything. Here's some pictures of the damage thus far.

 

 

 

 

I'm DEFINITELY glad we decided to take it apart; the number of things we found cracked, broken, loose, and not even hand tight anymore was disturbing; how this was running is behind me. 

 

Stay tuned as I continue to disassemble my grail vehicle.

 

 

[89 MJ]

I cannot see any of your images, remember CC can host photos for you!

 

Also, be sure to add your truck to the registry if you have not already, otherwise @fiatslug87 will come hunt you down. LOL

[KoopaKid]

2 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

I cannot see any of your images, remember CC can host photos for you!

 

Also, be sure to add your truck to the registry if you have not already, otherwise @fiatslug87 will come hunt you down. LOL

Hadnt done that, I'm new to posting, though I'm a long time lurker.

 

Strange, because I can see the pictures on my end? All I did was drag and drop, unless I'm doing something wrong.

[89 MJ]

11 minutes ago, KoopaKid said:

Hadnt done that, I'm new to posting, though I'm a long time lurker.

 

Strange, because I can see the pictures on my end? All I did was drag and drop, unless I'm doing something wrong.

What you will do to post a pictures is click "reply to topic", then you will get your text box. Once you get your text box, click the "choose files" button and select them from your computer/phone.

[KoopaKid]

[KoopaKid]

8 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

What you will do to post a pictures is click "reply to topic", then you will get your text box. Once you get your text box, click the "choose files" button and select them from your computer/phone.

Thank you! Pics are up.

[89 MJ]

1 minute ago, KoopaKid said:

Thank you! Pics are up.

Perfect!

[MiNi Beast]

same issues i keep dealing with and am about to update when put my ax15 in also in place of the aw4. (which replaced the ax15 i had in it), but need them solid motor mounts , brown dog i think was the ones i was looking at. lost a few radiate coolers to these stock mounts. 

nice truck. welcome to mj ownership. feed the addiction.  

[KoopaKid]

16 hours ago, MiNi Beast said:

welcome to mj ownership. feed the addiction.  

That isn’t a joke, the endless amounts of research I’ve done is an obsession in itself, just ready to get more done.

 

today, we out the engine on the stand; clearly it’s been gone through before, and they did a crappy job. Started taking parts off of it. Moved the transmission into the bed of the truck; probably just using the transfer case off of it and not much else.

[KoopaKid]

Well so far, I’ve purchased:

 

-Remanufactured 4.0L Renix motor from the powertrain company

-various parts to put on new block

-Jeep Commander headlights

-97-01 Header Panel

-97-01 front fenders

-Triangle motorcycle turn signals

-Replacement LED’s for Commander headlights

-3D printed JK to MJ tail light bracket from saltydawgsauto (Etsy)

-JK tail lights

-91 clutch pedals

 

On the hunt for an AX15 or NV3550 transmission, just need to look more into what would be required for either swap. Lots more parts to replace, I’m sure, and body shop won’t be able to take in the chassis until beginning of January. 

[Pete M]

have you tried car-part.com yet?  they should be able to locate you a junkyard transmission.   

[MiNi Beast]

can you post a couple pics on the pedals. i have an idea just want to see what they look like though. mounting pin mostly. thanks. 

[KoopaKid]

On 12/8/2020 at 8:00 PM, MiNi Beast said:

can you post a couple pics on the pedals. i have an idea just want to see what they look like though. mounting pin mostly. thanks. 

Sorry for the late response, just logged back into my account. 

 

The truck is at a friend of mine's place right now, but I'll see about taking a pic for you. It still has the stock pedals in there, haven't mounted the standard ones in yet.

[MiNi Beast]

29 minutes ago, KoopaKid said:

Sorry for the late response, just logged back into my account. 

 

The truck is at a friend of mine's place right now, but I'll see about taking a pic for you. It still has the stock pedals in there, haven't mounted the standard ones in yet.

ok cool. i just need a reference pic of the standard pedals pivot point. thanks I would appreciate that. 

and get over there and get some work done on it. to much fun not to to be driving the MJ around. 

[KoopaKid]

2 hours ago, MiNi Beast said:

ok cool. i just need a reference pic of the standard pedals pivot point. thanks I would appreciate that. 

and get over there and get some work done on it. to much fun not to to be driving the MJ around. 

i've just been poring over what parts I need. the transmission setup I was supposed to get I don't think is going to happen because the guy who is selling it randomly stopped responding after I'd agreed to buy it.

 

I looked at autozone today for what I THINK could work but man, I'm scared of order a bunch of expensive crap that isn't going to work. My next option would be novak, but I don't want to totally blow my budget away.

[MiNi Beast]

what do you have questions about yet? i have done this swap a few times meself so perhaps i could help. 

[KoopaKid]

1 minute ago, MiNi Beast said:

what do you have questions about yet? i have done this swap a few times meself so perhaps i could help. 

Would an AX15 setup for a 91 work? If that's the case, do I get a slave cylinder for an 88 or a 91?

 

If you could tell me where I'm right and wrong on this list, I'd appreciate it:

 

Transmission

 

Clutch set

 

Slave Cylinder 1 or Slave Cylinder 2?

 

Flywheel

 

Transfer case

 

Didn't find the bell housing, shifter, boot, or cables I'd need, figure I can look elsewhere for that.

 

If you could tell me if I'm on the right track i'd REALLY appreciate it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MiNi Beast]

ok you have an 88 mj. so you want any parts for an 87-96 xj/mj era. now factory for your jeep offered an internal slave set up. now you want this ideally unless you want to upgrade to a easier maintained external slave set up which has an internal fork so that the slave cylinder is easily serviceable and mounted on outside of bellhousing and   get at from under the jeep without having to pull tranny to swap out a bad slave. now external bellhousing are different and can be found in the 95+ era xjs. the big difference between the two are the input shafts diameter. one being smaller then the other. the later year ax15s had a almost 3/4" size shaft and will not fit inside the crankshaft hole thats in the engine. a cj7 bushing from 80' would be needed to do so. and or a bronze bushing would be needed to allow you to run the smaller shafted  and older ax15 when mated to a later year 4.0 which will have a larger pilot hole in the crank. so that being said if you already have a new engine with 88' specs then you should continue to build off that and look for parts for 87-94 mj/xj internal slave set up. goes to the flywheel as well, need that renix manual era flywheel to be read correctly from a renix cps. then you will most likely want to install a 23 spline 231j tcase with or without sye.  i think i got your questions. ask away though I'm here. 

[MiNi Beast]

a 91 ax15 will be a perfect internal slave swap candidate. 

[MiNi Beast]

honestly if your buying new or reman i would go with novak over auto zone. they will be able to ensure you have all you need for your project. go to zone for wiperblades and pads. maybe a sticker or two. 

[KoopaKid]

19 minutes ago, MiNi Beast said:

honestly if your buying new or reman i would go with novak over auto zone. they will be able to ensure you have all you need for your project. go to zone for wiperblades and pads. maybe a sticker or two. 

Fair enough, I just wanted to be able to return stuff if I needed to. Thank you very much for your help.

[MiNi Beast]

no problem man. good luck with it. we always here if have issues or questions along the way. take lots of pics and keep your build thread updated. 

[Pete M]

fwiw, tech Qs from the project thread owners should really be added to Tech so more eyes will see it and then the answers will pop up when people search through Tech.  

[KoopaKid]

So after a long hiatus of posting updates, this next one's going to be hefty.

 

A year and change later, truck still isn't finished. Once we disassembled it, I decided to have the roller worked on. While what I've done to it will probably be considered blasphemy by most, It is coming together the way I saw it in my mind. 

 

As far as transmission, I bit the bullet (as with this build, I've bitten ALL the bullets, financially) and went with a new Novak AX15.

 

I've been pretty much buying parts for the block all over the place, as the stuff from the original block wasn't in the best shape. Figured I'm going with a reman, let's do the best we can to put something great together.

 

Pedal situation ended up being a little more convoluted than I was anticipating. Ended up using it as an opportunity to upgrade the brake booster. Need to figure out how to run new lines, but that's the least of the problems I'll have ahead.

 

For the tail lights, I ended up commissioning @Dzimm for a set, as the set I bought from Etsy which took forever to come in, were built like garbage. The quality of the new set is unreal, and I highly suggest that if you want a set, talk to him about it.

 

We've worked on the powertrain a bit, but it's really come down to waiting on the body to be finished. After having dropped it off in May, they're just about finished with it. SUPPOSEDLY it will be done this weekend. 

 

What I wasn't anticipating in all of this was an entire career change. I managed to get my CSR, so I'm now certified as a court reporter in Texas. With this change comes new opportunities, but one I won't have is a lot time to really dedicate to assembling the MJ. I need to figure something out, but it WILL get there!

[KoopaKid]