Crack in the exterior body found. Anybody else had this?

[ComancheNut]

Hello,

 

The other day when washing up my Comanche I noticed a crack in the passenger side exterior body starting at the lower right corner of the cut-out in the bed where the tail light lense is. :shock: This truck is used regularily for moderate 4 wheeling. Anybody else found such cracks forming in the exterior body siding of the bed?

 

We are going to try to get the crack welded but I was wondering if this was a common place to get cracks in the body of a Comanche used for off-roading? Anybody else had simular problems? Could this crack be an indication of another problem? Any advice would be appreciated.

[DirtyComanche]

Might want to check all the body (bed) mounts to make sure none have come loose. There's 6, if memeory serves me. I don't think mine ever did something like that, but how could I tell with all the rust?

[Jax MJ Luvr]

anyone have details or basic pic of the mounts for the bed? on mine the bed is the only real detraction since it's fairly banged up and the tailgate mounts are also bent. It didn't have a tailgate when I bought it, which leads me to think that if I buy a tailgate, it probably won't mount... I'm considering salvaging a long bed replacement for it with the tailgate I hope.. I just want to see if the swap will be a big pain or not...

[DirtyComanche]

I'd show you pics, but the bed mounts are simple. there's 6 and then 2 other quasi-body mounts. The spare tire crap has to be pulled off. The ebrake cable bracket has to be dropped. Then the ugly part - the gas tank is mounted TO THE BED! So, you have to undo the j-bolt (support the tank first, please) and undo the hoses that hold the tank to the bed. Depending on how much rust you have, that can be a lot of fun.

 

 

Took me most of the day to take mine off, but that's because I'm retarded and forgot to undo the spare tire winch, and thus had to wait for another oppertunity for enough people to be around to lift it off. If you take the tailgate off, two moderatly strong people can lift it. I didn't bother with that.

 

Don't think I forgot anything, I've had my bed off too long.

[Pete M]

That crack is a new one by me, but since the bed is essentially bolted directly to the "frame", I guess it could be possible. Can you get a picture of the crack?

 

 

Just a couple pics of bedless MJs:

Jeep on!

--Pete