Dumble_hub Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 After weeks of looking at Cherokees and not finding what I wanted I stumbled on a very abused Comanche. After a Google search and a read up on the Comanche wiki page I was determined to get myself an MJ. I ended up finding a relatively clean MJ sportruck 2.5L / 2x4 / 4 speed for sale about 2 hours away. After a quick test drive I jumped on it. This is my first ever Jeep and by far the oldest vehicle I ever owned. This truck seems to have quite a history. After looking at the original manual and some service documents I found out that this truck was first bought in Missouri then made its way to Arkansas. After that, a bill of sale indicated it was in Mississippi at one point. And now its back in its home state of Missouri. This thing is surprising rust free after living in the midwest for so long. I don't think I will need to get new floor pans welded in. There are a few dings and dents I will need to get ironed out in the future. 10 Priorities on my checklist: 1: P̶u̶l̶l̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶i̶n̶y̶l̶ ̶f̶l̶o̶o̶r̶ 2: Insulate and soundproof the floors/roof 3: Replace all fluids 4: S̶w̶a̶p̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶d̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶a̶y̶ 5: Investigate the minor oil leak 6: Install a new fan cover 7: Install power steering 8: Waterproof the firewall 9: Oil the hood release 10: Clean up the ground points 10 Things I would like to do: 1: Upgrade to a 4L 2: Get a fresh paint job 3: Install the original radio 4: Find an OEM roll bar 5: Replace the cracked sportruck stripes 6: Upgrade to 4x4 7: Switch out the wheels 8: Raptor line the bed 9: Clean up the grill/headlights 10: Replace the rocker panels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMO413 Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 Welcome to the club and the addiction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torq_Shep Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 Hell yeah! Welcome dude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJCARENA Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 Nice looking truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdog Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 8675309 I couldn’t help myself. What state in the Midwest are you in? I’m in WI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 12 minutes ago, 89 MJ said: 8675309 Calm down there Tommy tutone. Kinda wanted to say James Halliday in celebration of Ready Player Two's release. Great looking truck! Shame you plan to ditch the mighty 2.5L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumble_hub Posted November 26, 2020 Author Share Posted November 26, 2020 19 minutes ago, 89 MJ said: 8675309 I couldn’t help myself. What state in the Midwest are you in? I’m in WI. I'm in MO 4 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said: Calm down there Tommy tutone. Kinda wanted to say James Halliday in celebration of Ready Player Two's release. Great looking truck! Shame you plan to ditch the mighty 2.5L. The drive train swap is more of a pipe dream at the moment. Need to work on the easy stuff before I tackle any major changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted November 26, 2020 Share Posted November 26, 2020 4.0L's are pretty abundant. Just gotta find a cheap pile of rust XJ for the swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumble_hub Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 First day of work. I hope I don't get any hate for my choice in tools/toolbox. I don't have a garage so I'm going to be shuffling my tools from in and out of my apartment everytime I work on the truck. I needed something inexpensive and portable. I felt like the best place to start was with the nasty vinyl floors. They had become brittle and the insulation was permanently damp. I want to stop this thing from rusting beyond my ability to repair. Before I could get to the floors I needed to evict a chipmunk that made my truck his home. They don't look as bad as I thought they would. There are some major holes on the passenger side which surprised me, I assumed the majority of rust would be on the drivers side. I can't say its perfect but its good enough for today. Having the floor ripped up reminds me that I need to repair the parking break. Added floorpans and carpet to my list of stuff to buy. In the meantime I need to find a welder that would be willing to help me out. Feeling quite accomplished after a long day... I need a beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumble_hub Posted December 2, 2020 Author Share Posted December 2, 2020 Out with the old in with the new Felt like 145,000 miles was a nice round number to swap out all the fluids. I took care of the oil before work. I plan on getting the transmission and differential done this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammisox Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 I too am an apartment dweller and if you wind up needing something with wheels this isn’t too bad. I use this for my small and medium tools. But otherwise, nice truck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumble_hub Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 Decided it was time to install the headlight relay. I'm starting to work later at night and I would rather not burn out my light switch. I had to clear out a small birds nest from under the passenger headlight area. This truck seems to be the home for many small animal's. An easy enough install, only took me 20 minutes. I have some Hella E-code housings and fresh bulbs coming soon. I also got these in today. With winter fast approaching getting these things welded is my top priority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 i need to do floor pans as well. are you going to do install on them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 Nice looking Comanche. Sounds as if you got a good plan and on the road to success. Also welcome to the hobby. Nothing wrong with Craftsman tools. I own a bunch of them. Having Comanche Fun, Ollie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumble_hub Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 5 hours ago, MiNi Beast said: i need to do floor pans as well. are you going to do install on them? I don't have a welder or any idea how to weld. I asked around and found a few people willing to help me out. Hopefully they can come through because the mechanic quoted me 2,500$ for the installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMO413 Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 I have had craftsman tools for 20+ years quite a few I still use today. Their ratchets were never that great in my experience but that's the only complaint I have. Truck is coming along nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 your floorpans don't look all that bad at all. you'll want to drill out all the spot welds with a spot weld cutter bit (grind off the rust before drilling because rust will dull a drill bit fast) and remove much of that frame cap and side support so you can treat underneath of it, then cut out the worst part, then weld in a flat piece of steel where the hole is. replacing the entire pan to fix a small hole is unnecessary and a ton more work. when you're all done, coat in POR-15 or Chassis Saver and then you can get new vinyl or carpet or whatever floats your boat. don't forget to fix the rain leak that let that water in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse J Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 On 11/26/2020 at 10:37 AM, Dumble_hub said: After weeks of looking at Cherokees and not finding what I wanted I stumbled on a very abused Comanche. After a Google search and a read up on the Comanche wiki page I was determined to get myself an MJ. thats how I fell in love with mj's as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumble_hub Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 Woke up early today and decided to work on a few things. There aint a better way to start your day. My turn signal decided to go out on me yesterday so that needed fixing. I never really worked on car electronics but this was very straightforward. don't worry I put in an orange bulb after I took this picture. While I had the lights off I might as well swap out the plastics and touch up the trim. I was going to put in some Hella E-codes but they decided to send me two left sides. Anyone get shipped two right sides and want to trade? Looks pretty good. Unfortunately it makes the faded grill stand out much more. I will probably be painting that tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumble_hub Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 I haven't been able to work on the truck very much recently. I went on vacation for the holidays and visited my family. Now that I'm back I think its time to tackle some of my leak issues. I was a bit shocked to find NO gasket on my valve cover! One of the previous owners must have not cared very much about spilling a quart of oil every week. Everything looked clean and crack free thankfully. Popped in a new felpro gasket and snugged it down. Pro tip... wait for your engine to cool all the way down before trying to slip on a room temperature gasket. Learned that lesson the hard way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Even more pro tip, don’t snug it down past 55inch pounds of torq or the cover will crack. But how in the hell does that engine not look like an oily mess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumble_hub Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 3 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said: Even more pro tip, don’t snug it down past 55inch pounds of torq or the cover will crack. But how in the hell does that engine not look like an oily mess? Yeah I made sure to be gentle. It absolutely is an oily mess, I was putting oil in it constantly. My parking spot at work is clearly marked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Always fun stuff. I use the Chrysler gasket with the gasket maker from Chrysler as well and sometimes it will still leak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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