Hello from NJ
01-04-2011, 11:36 AM
#1
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Location: Wrightstown, NJ
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Year: 1986 Comanche
Engine: Chevy 350
Hello from NJ
Been lurking on here for years and finally decided to sign up. My name is Scott and I'm from central/southern New Jersey. I was a mechanic for a few years till I got laid off and went back to school for mechanical engineering. I currently work as an Automotive Diagnostic Technician while going through school.
So enough of the boring stuff, about the Jeeps...
I've owned 4 Jeeps so far, currently still have two. I've had a 1990 Jeep Cherokee XJ 4dr as my old DD and wheeling rig, a 1993 Cherokee XJ 2dr I picked up for parts, and currently have a 1992 Comanche MJ short bed and 1986 Comanche MJ long bed.
I'll start with the Cherokee as that's the one that had the most mods. I had the 1990 4dr Cherokee from June-ish of 2004 till I junked it around April of 2010 (keep reading and you'll see why). So the story...I ended up getting the Jeep against my will after I graduated high school because my old car got totaled (I wanted the Thunderbird Turbocoupe). I told my parents that if I got the Jeep then I was going to abuse the hell out of it, they didn't believe me.
I was going through tech school at the time and a few buddies in there had Jeeps and went wheeling, I got hooked...Fast forward about 3 years and a few wheeling trips...I bought an 8" LA lift from Rusty's Offroad, AA SYE and Tom Woods driveshaft and had a buddy install it all for dirt cheap (think I paid $350 for all that installed plus a new exhaust system put in). Within a week I had 36.5x14R15 Grand Prix bias tires on it and the abuse started, and Mustang stuff started to get sold. I ended up trading a guy a set of SSBC brakes I had for the Mustang for a built Dana 44HP out of a Bronco (retubed to stock length from a Wagoneer Dana 44LP and had everything minus steering done before the accident) and a set of 4 36x13.5R15 IROKs and 1 36x12.5R15 TSL, all radials. Then bought a built Dana 44 rear axle with OX locker, 4.56's, disc brakes and Superior axle shafts. Picked up a Smitty Built front bumper for a Wrangler and welded brackets on it for a Cherokee, loved the look on an XJ. 
Bought an Olympic High Hat roof rack and made my front doors removable along the way. Also went through 3 sets of flares: first was the stock ones, second was a set of Bushwacker, and third was a set of 6" wide TJ flares. Did various other little mods but nothing that amounted to all that much. So, the junking part...On Oct 22nd on my way home from looking at a set of full width Dana 44HP and 14bolt axles and 38" tires, my Jeep decided to kiss an F350, head on... The frame was twisted far beyond repair (roof kinked, floor kinked, drivetrain tunnel shifted, basically put your hands together then slide them against eachothers, that's what the frame of the Jeep did) but I walked away from it with a minor concussion and a small gash on my cheek from where I hit the steering column. I ended up yanking about everything over the next 6 or so months then sent her to the Jeep heaven.
The 1992 Comanche MJ I picked up a few months later. Everything mechanical that could go wrong did go wrong, that didn't bother me too too much. The part when the front leaf spring hanger ripping off the frame made me take it off the road for safety issues and that Jeep is going to get fixed piece by piece.
That brings me to the current project, a 1986 Jeep Comanche MJ. I bought the Jeep for $600 with the 2.8L V6, AX5, NP207 and it had 31's on it. Came with the stock roll bar! This Jeep was obviously wheeled but only really needed floors and the apron underneath the battery box fixed on the frame. I've always wanted a long bed Comanche so this was a done deal! It ran nice sitting there but missed under load, figured it needed a tune up, not the case.
One of the cylinders was only running around 20psi. So I put a few more bucks into trying to fix the engine and then just yanked it, I'm not going to put much into a 125hp engine. Right now she sits on 8" Rusty's Offroad coil springs, BDS short arms for a JK, SOA rear, new floor pan, new piece welded in where the battery box was, AX15 and NP231 waiting to go in with the Chevy 350 sitting in front of the Jeep waiting to go in with all the Novak Adapters modified needed to make the engine fit (ask me how I know they changed the engine compartment to fit the 4.0L...). I have a Bull Dog 8000lb winch, new Tmax 9k winch cable, and IronMan4x4 lift shackles to all go on once the Jeep gets running. I'm in the process of trying to sell the JK control arms to fund a custom long arm kit for the front (made by yours truely), then will be building custom bumpers, skid plates, and sliders. Followed by one tons and an exo cage (Dana 60HP and 10.25 sitting next to the Jeep right now.
Now that you guys wasted an hour reading my life story...Hi!
I can start a build thread if you guys want for the MJ, figured I'd ask before I just showed up with it in there since it isn't "technically" an XJ.
So enough of the boring stuff, about the Jeeps...
I've owned 4 Jeeps so far, currently still have two. I've had a 1990 Jeep Cherokee XJ 4dr as my old DD and wheeling rig, a 1993 Cherokee XJ 2dr I picked up for parts, and currently have a 1992 Comanche MJ short bed and 1986 Comanche MJ long bed.
I'll start with the Cherokee as that's the one that had the most mods. I had the 1990 4dr Cherokee from June-ish of 2004 till I junked it around April of 2010 (keep reading and you'll see why). So the story...I ended up getting the Jeep against my will after I graduated high school because my old car got totaled (I wanted the Thunderbird Turbocoupe). I told my parents that if I got the Jeep then I was going to abuse the hell out of it, they didn't believe me.
I was going through tech school at the time and a few buddies in there had Jeeps and went wheeling, I got hooked...Fast forward about 3 years and a few wheeling trips...I bought an 8" LA lift from Rusty's Offroad, AA SYE and Tom Woods driveshaft and had a buddy install it all for dirt cheap (think I paid $350 for all that installed plus a new exhaust system put in). Within a week I had 36.5x14R15 Grand Prix bias tires on it and the abuse started, and Mustang stuff started to get sold. I ended up trading a guy a set of SSBC brakes I had for the Mustang for a built Dana 44HP out of a Bronco (retubed to stock length from a Wagoneer Dana 44LP and had everything minus steering done before the accident) and a set of 4 36x13.5R15 IROKs and 1 36x12.5R15 TSL, all radials. Then bought a built Dana 44 rear axle with OX locker, 4.56's, disc brakes and Superior axle shafts. Picked up a Smitty Built front bumper for a Wrangler and welded brackets on it for a Cherokee, loved the look on an XJ. Bought an Olympic High Hat roof rack and made my front doors removable along the way. Also went through 3 sets of flares: first was the stock ones, second was a set of Bushwacker, and third was a set of 6" wide TJ flares. Did various other little mods but nothing that amounted to all that much. So, the junking part...On Oct 22nd on my way home from looking at a set of full width Dana 44HP and 14bolt axles and 38" tires, my Jeep decided to kiss an F350, head on... The frame was twisted far beyond repair (roof kinked, floor kinked, drivetrain tunnel shifted, basically put your hands together then slide them against eachothers, that's what the frame of the Jeep did) but I walked away from it with a minor concussion and a small gash on my cheek from where I hit the steering column. I ended up yanking about everything over the next 6 or so months then sent her to the Jeep heaven.The 1992 Comanche MJ I picked up a few months later. Everything mechanical that could go wrong did go wrong, that didn't bother me too too much. The part when the front leaf spring hanger ripping off the frame made me take it off the road for safety issues and that Jeep is going to get fixed piece by piece.
That brings me to the current project, a 1986 Jeep Comanche MJ. I bought the Jeep for $600 with the 2.8L V6, AX5, NP207 and it had 31's on it. Came with the stock roll bar! This Jeep was obviously wheeled but only really needed floors and the apron underneath the battery box fixed on the frame. I've always wanted a long bed Comanche so this was a done deal! It ran nice sitting there but missed under load, figured it needed a tune up, not the case.
One of the cylinders was only running around 20psi. So I put a few more bucks into trying to fix the engine and then just yanked it, I'm not going to put much into a 125hp engine. Right now she sits on 8" Rusty's Offroad coil springs, BDS short arms for a JK, SOA rear, new floor pan, new piece welded in where the battery box was, AX15 and NP231 waiting to go in with the Chevy 350 sitting in front of the Jeep waiting to go in with all the Novak Adapters modified needed to make the engine fit (ask me how I know they changed the engine compartment to fit the 4.0L...). I have a Bull Dog 8000lb winch, new Tmax 9k winch cable, and IronMan4x4 lift shackles to all go on once the Jeep gets running. I'm in the process of trying to sell the JK control arms to fund a custom long arm kit for the front (made by yours truely), then will be building custom bumpers, skid plates, and sliders. Followed by one tons and an exo cage (Dana 60HP and 10.25 sitting next to the Jeep right now.Now that you guys wasted an hour reading my life story...Hi!
I can start a build thread if you guys want for the MJ, figured I'd ask before I just showed up with it in there since it isn't "technically" an XJ.
01-04-2011, 12:10 PM
#2
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Location: Manahawkin New Jersey
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Year: 96'
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 160k banks header dumping after the cat
welcome to the site from the LBI area , and good luck with the jeeps. and just so you know anything about commanches is very welcome on this site a lot of guys have them on here so definitely feel free to start a build thread for it 
01-04-2011, 08:05 PM
#6
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Location: Wrightstown, NJ
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Year: 1986 Comanche
Engine: Chevy 350
Thanks for the welcomes. I'll start a build thread within the next week or so for the Comanche. The name of the project is Project Mutt.
I've included pictures of my old Cherokee and both Comanche's. I have since sold the ARB bumper and winch instead of transferring them to the '86, the bumper was just way too heavy and I couldn't really build anything off the bumper with that brush guard on it. I have picked up another winch off a buddy and will be making a custom front bumper for the '86 later on down the line to accept that winch. And no, the '86 Comanche is not sagging, that's 8.5" Rusty's Offroad coil springs in front with just an SOA in the rear, I have those IronMan4x4 shackles to level it out, just need to install them. Waiting to drop in the drivetrain to see where the Jeep will sit before I throw the shackles in and fine tune the level.
I've included pictures of my old Cherokee and both Comanche's. I have since sold the ARB bumper and winch instead of transferring them to the '86, the bumper was just way too heavy and I couldn't really build anything off the bumper with that brush guard on it. I have picked up another winch off a buddy and will be making a custom front bumper for the '86 later on down the line to accept that winch. And no, the '86 Comanche is not sagging, that's 8.5" Rusty's Offroad coil springs in front with just an SOA in the rear, I have those IronMan4x4 shackles to level it out, just need to install them. Waiting to drop in the drivetrain to see where the Jeep will sit before I throw the shackles in and fine tune the level.
Last edited by Garvin; 01-04-2011 at 08:07 PM.
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01-05-2011, 10:27 PM
#10
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Year: 1986 Comanche
Engine: Chevy 350
I was just up in Cranford a few weeks ago picking up a Lund Moonvisor and new (to me) air compressor.
01-06-2011, 06:40 PM
#11
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Year: 1986 Comanche
Engine: Chevy 350
Started the build thread, name is Project Mutt.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/pr...84/#post799521
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/pr...84/#post799521
