pizzaman09 Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 Been shopping for one for a while and finally found the one I was looking for. It's a 1990 Comanche Eliminator that had spent it's whole life in Reading, PA. The Good: It's an Eliminator with lots of options. 4.0L, AX15, 4X4, with an LSD. Air conditioning, clock, vent windows, sliding rear window, and Eliminator bucket seats. Functioning vacuum disconnect front axle. The truck was repainted, amateur job so lots of orange peel. Brand new clutch, water pump, and rear bumper. Comes with original 10 hole wheels and the 10 hole spare and a set of newer Cherokee wheels. Amazingly solid for the miles and being from PA The Bad: Has 251k miles. Needs some rust repair in the driver's foot well. Down on power and in need of investigation. Has a vacuum leak that is very audible. Interior disgusting and will need complete refinishing. Windshield needs to be replaced. Door and window seals are crap. Doesn't have cruise control. Brand new tires that weren't balanced. Really looking forward to making it perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpstateMJ Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 Sweet! Can’t wait to see what you do to it! WE LOVE PICTURES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87MJJeep Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 That's really cool! I always wanted an Eliminator, but when I found my SporTruck (Sept-2007), the mileage and condition overruled the desire for an Eliminator. It got repainted in 2020, and now has a set of Cherokee Sport 10-hole wheels. Close enough! But man, seeing a real Eliminator gets my blood pumping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted April 25, 2022 Author Share Posted April 25, 2022 19 hours ago, 87MJJeep said: That's really cool! I always wanted an Eliminator, but when I found my SporTruck (Sept-2007), the mileage and condition overruled the desire for an Eliminator. It got repainted in 2020, and now has a set of Cherokee Sport 10-hole wheels. Close enough! But man, seeing a real Eliminator gets my blood pumping! This is funny to me. I had an 88 SporTruck a few years ago and sold it. Clean southern California truck that ran well. I regretted selling it and wanted another SporTruck quite badly. I really like the 90s squiggle graphics on a white one with a black front end. In any case, I found this awesome Eliminator in black and am very happy with how it looks and how loaded it is. I just found out today the LSD works very well. This particular Jeep was owned for about 15 years by a Jeep dealer as their parts runner. It got a lot of important maintenance in that time. Though it's still a little beat, I'm going to get it sorted. Used it to do work on the farm today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87MJJeep Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 20 hours ago, pizzaman09 said: This is funny to me. I had an 88 SporTruck a few years ago and sold it. Clean southern California truck that ran well. I regretted selling it and wanted another SporTruck quite badly. I really like the 90s squiggle graphics on a white one with a black front end. In any case, I found this awesome Eliminator in black and am very happy with how it looks and how loaded it is. I just found out today the LSD works very well. This particular Jeep was owned for about 15 years by a Jeep dealer as their parts runner. It got a lot of important maintenance in that time. Though it's still a little beat, I'm going to get it sorted. Used it to do work on the farm today. Glad the LSD works! My dealer had a Comanche as the parts truck for many years, too. It was a gray '88. I think the trans got rebuilt around 240K miles. They retired (scrapped?) it when the driver door hinges broke off the body. It was so cool seeing that Comanche in service for so many years. Why replace it with a new Ram if it still got the job done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted April 28, 2022 Author Share Posted April 28, 2022 Have been installing a pile of new parts. Spark plugs, oil sending unit, "746" 4 hole injectors, new window crank handles, vacuum manifolds, clock backlight bulb. There is much more to come. Continue down cruiser's list. I cleaned the IAC and throttle body. Need to change out the ancient o2 sensor. Need to start cleaning grounds. Currently the truck is idling between 1800-2000 rpm. Going to check egr and throttle plate stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gjeep Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 That’s awesome. Back in the 90’s falore jeep in the Bay Area had a parts runner MJ that lasted over a million miles on original motor and aw4 trans. The owner of the dealership was extremely frugal and I have no doubt only maintenance was done to that MJ. Out lasted 2 dodge full size rams first gen. Was sad to see that MJ gone one day when getting parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted April 28, 2022 Author Share Posted April 28, 2022 This one didn't see a lot of miles in it's time as a parts runner. The first owner put 237k miles on it in the first 16 years of it's life. The Jeep dealer put another 13k on over the following 15 years. However I have their maintenance records and they did quite a bit to it. Most notably a new clutch last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 Have been installing a pile of new parts. Spark plugs, oil sending unit, "746" 4 hole injectors, new window crank handles, vacuum manifolds, clock backlight bulb. There is much more to come. Continue down cruiser's list. I cleaned the IAC and throttle body. Adjusted the throttle plate position. Need to change out the ancient o2 sensor. Need to start cleaning grounds. Currently considering doing the delete of the vacuum actuated front axle. It left me very stuck in a muddy field and I didn't realize the front wheels weren't helping until it was too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 3, 2022 Author Share Posted May 3, 2022 Found the source of a lack of power! Turns out all of the manifold bolts were loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted May 3, 2022 Share Posted May 3, 2022 that'll do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 4, 2022 Author Share Posted May 4, 2022 Thanks to Muncher for selling me a parking brake pedal assembly and release handle, I now have a functional parking brake! Also while down in the driver's foot well, I found the pinched wire that was causing the interior lights to remain on when the doors were closed. Now the foot well and b pillar lights work with the door switches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 7, 2022 Author Share Posted May 7, 2022 Welded up some chain hooks for the bumper. I don't understand why one would design a bumper for a ball hitch and have no place for the chains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted May 7, 2022 Share Posted May 7, 2022 I know, right?! was it really that hard to integrate something? usually I see eye bolts put through the other holes, so I guess it's not all bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 7, 2022 Author Share Posted May 7, 2022 Seriously. I think the eye bolts look just terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeeptruck636 Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 On 4/23/2022 at 10:11 PM, pizzaman09 said: It's a 1990 Comanche Eliminator that had spent it's whole life in Reading, PA. Amazingly solid for the miles and being from PA I agree. At least from the pictures it looks great! I live in that area, and most mj/xj’s have a lot of natural weight reduction. Nice find Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 9, 2022 Author Share Posted May 9, 2022 7 minutes ago, jeeptruck636 said: I agree. At least from the pictures it looks great! I live in that area, and most mj/xj’s have a lot of natural weight reduction. Nice find Awesome! I'm up in the other corner of PA near Erie. Everything is rusty here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 Had to get a replacement new expansion tank. First one from Rockauto had a crack at the molding seem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted May 14, 2022 Share Posted May 14, 2022 well, that sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 25, 2022 Author Share Posted May 25, 2022 The replacement expansion tank was much better looking, the molding flash at the split line was considerably less. I am quite pleased with the replacement part. Haven't had much time to work on the Comanche lately, did have to change out the turn signals blinker relay. I also drive a coworker's 2001 Cherokee with a freshly rebuilt engine, and was blown away by the power. I can tell my Renix engine isn't running at peak performance yet. It's not as spunky as the 88 SporTruck I had and clearly not as quick as the 01 I just drove. My next steps are distributor indexing and engine sensor grounds improvement with tps adjustment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 28, 2022 Author Share Posted May 28, 2022 Performed the distributor indexing tip yesterday. It unfortunately wasn't all that far off from the factory so likely not much performance to be gained, maybe a degree or two. I will have to find out if performance was gained, all I did yesterday was tow large loads around. Hit the scales at the scrap yard at 8100 lbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted May 28, 2022 Author Share Posted May 28, 2022 Pic dump doing work. Love the 4x4 low range. Don't love the passenger car style tires, distinct lack of mud grip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted May 29, 2022 Share Posted May 29, 2022 I just tell myself that car tires are quiet tires Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87MJJeep Posted June 2, 2022 Share Posted June 2, 2022 On 5/28/2022 at 11:13 PM, Pete M said: I just tell myself that car tires are quiet tires I just put a set of Firestone Destination LE3's on my Comanche. 20 or 30 bucks cheaper than Destination AT2's and better wet traction. Yeah, no plans to ever do any real off-roading in my Comanche. I'll go sit in a corner for "time out" now. I did stick with 235/75-15s though! I got my taste of offroading three times at the Hot Springs, AR off-road park when I had my 2017 Cherokee Trailhawk. Got the Badges of Honor, too. And worst of all, a crapload of wheel rock rash. Grrrrr. Pizzaman, your wheels look natural on there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 1 hour ago, 87MJJeep said: Pizzaman, your wheels look natural on there! Thanks! I believe they are late model XJ Cherokee wheels. I also have the factory 10 hole Eliminator wheels. I'm still trying to decide on tires for them, possibly more off road style or 200 treadwear autocross if I want to go really crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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