Project Swamp Yankee UPDATE: 36" TSL SX

Swamp Yankee: "a rural dweller--one of stubborn, old-fashioned, frugal, English-speaking Yankee stock, of good standing in the rural community, but usually possessing minimal formal education and little desire to augment it." -Wikipedia

I've been looking for a cheap Jeep for a while now, and I've always had a thing for Comanche's. A friend of a friend owed some money, so I picked up a relatively clean 1988 2wd 4.0 2wd for 300 bones.

Of course it NEEDED to be 4wd for the winters here in MA. Found a 1987 4wd 4.0 5 speed for $200. And then a 1986 4x4 2.8l for $50 :D

Now the fun will begin!

The Swamp Yankee bit is because all of the local boys around here have "hillbilly deluxe" or "redneck" stickers, and well, I just have to be different haha. Enjoy.

Welcome to the club. Good luck on your project I am sure that you have many great ideas in mind, but trust me once you have it you have it. Comanche fever that is one thing leads to another to another to a well you get the pic. Great finds :cheers:

Picked up the 86 4x4 today. lots of good parts on it. Ranch springs/shocks, newer rims, bucket seats, tack dash, etc.

Pics tomorrow

My buddy might be getting some D44's and going real big on his Cherokee.

So I might wait to buy tire's until he decides. I'd be running 6.5" of lift and 33" swampers

Found a set of 4.10's!! WOOHOO

The front will be going under this week, and the rear will go in once it warms up a bit.

Brad

Well, after being tied up with selling off parts, cleaning up all the junk around my place, and dealing with the snow, it's finally time to get going on this project.

I'm picking up the 6.5" lift this weekend, hoping to get that installed. The front should be pretty straight forward, I may skip the spacers at first and just run 4.5" of lift. Need to pick up some perches and U-bolts for the SOA in the rear. I'll be running the 4:10 D35 for now, but I have a D44 out of a rodeo in mind for the future.

Tranny is pulled from the 87. I will be sticking with the pukegoat for now, as I'm cheap and have nothing else. When it grenades, I'll swap in an ax-15.

I also got the nose swapped from the 87 to the 88. It's now straight and multi-colored woooooo!

Still need to finish patching the floors, and fixing the seat brackets.

I also picked up a fullsize rollbar from the JY for $20 (some modifying will be in store to make it fit). And ordered some 4' firestiks off ebay.

Here's some pics to keep everyone happy for a few days. It should be nice this weekend, so look for updates.

My current seat:

Other projects I picked up....the Jeep is hiding in the BG

Finished the lift and bought some tire. Rims will get painted this week.

rear SOA, front 4.5"

New bumper idea...I may lengthen it a bit

FrankenJeep

Front 6.5"

i like the gold rims

i like the gold rims

I know, they are sort of growing on me. Plus I like to be different. I might paint them a tan closer to the color of the stripe.

i like the gold rims

:agree: Looks great man!

Thanks for the compliments guys. I bought the wheels gold, and thought they would be terrible. But they actually match the truck really well. I tried repainting one of them with Ultra Flat Krylon sand, so we'll see how that looks in the morning.

In the mean time, here are some pics with the front spacer's installed, and the final ride height. I still need to trim my fenders and install my track bar and drop brackets.

The spare is on while I get a new vavle stem in one of the tires.

Been raining alot here, so I've been holed up in the garage the past few days. Got a few small things done here and there.

new rim color:

sneak peek of painted flares. (truck will be flat black in the future)

trimmed front:

minimal triming in the rearof the front flare, we'll see how it works out

close up of paint color, Ultra flat krylon camo sand or something

still fits....barely

still too much junk back here to work on the spare tire rack

my sidekick:

what a mess:

me and the girl, taking a break:

I like it! :thumbsup:

Great dog! :thumbsup:

Willy

mmm..... that hairy helper looks kinda familiar ..

:rotfl2:

Very nice helper indeed!!

It's funny how I get just as many comments on the dog as the jeep. But they are great animals, and mine has been keeping me company for the whole build.

Sweet ride. :D Although it looks like you need longer control arms. The front tire doesn't look centered in the wheel well.

Ya, that was right after the spacers. I have a set of 3 month old drop brackets that I picked up for cheap. I'll run those until money allows for a full set of adjustable arms.

Right now my priorities are:

1. New adjustable track bar. (I bought the lift used, and the track bar bolt was cut off, so the top joint is Fubar)

2. Install drop brackets

3. Alignment

4. Fix small rust spots on bed

5. Register and inspect

6. Find a 4x4 AW4. (swapping to the BA10/5 and waiting for an AX-15 later just seems like a bad idea to me now)

7. Bumpers/armor

8. PAINT!

Those will probably get mixed up and done differently as usual.

I did get the dash back together today, and I'm heading back into the garage to work on the seat. If anyone cares, the seat frames for a auto and 5 speed are the same. The only differences are the foam and the covers.

If you haven't already, get your tape measure out and at least adjust your toe-in to 0 yourself. Then you can always take to an alignment shop later.

If you haven't already, get your tape measure out and at least adjust your toe-in to 0 yourself. Then you can always take to an alignment shop later.

That was my plan. I've been preparing with the PB blaster all week. I intended to do it today, but spent a little too long at the fundraiser cookout for the uncle's race team

Ordered up my muffler, trackbar, and sway bar disco's today. Updates this weekend hopefully!

Exhaust is welded up and on, still pretty loud, but not bad. Toe-in is set. Painted more POR-15 and decided to never do bodywork on this truck. I've done enough on my past projects. Measured for shocks in the rear and got the rear brake hardware done. No pictures as it was crappy weather all weekend.

Monroe Shock info for SOA setup:

Need: 12"-13.5" compressed

19"-21" extended

5/8 x 1 5/16 loop mounts top and bottom (code L1)

Monroe Matic Plus:

31000

12"-19.5"

31094

12"-19"

32293

12"-19" Rubber Bumpstop

32377

12.625"-19.750"

Gas Magnum:

34803

13.25"-21"

34905

12.625"-19.750"

Sensa-trac Truck:

37073

13"-20.750"

37078

12.625"-20"

37112

12.375"-19" Rubber Bumpstop

Reflex Truck:

911078

12.625"-20"

911530

13"-20.75"

Just orded the Monroe Matic 32293. Perfect size and rubber bump stopped! The best part is I got the pair for under $45 with 2 day shipping included!! At that price I had to try them. We'll see how they work out.

My track bar and sway bar disco's should be comming in tomorrow. I'm hoping to have this thing on the road in 2wd trim by next week.

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SCORE!!!!

had a good weekend. Picked up a Jerry can at the swap meet for $5 and an ammo box for $12.

Also picked up a running driving 87 cherokee for $300. It has a 4.0l, the AW4 and NP231 that I needed, plus......a Dana 44!!

So it looks like I have lots to do in the next few weeks. Thank god school is over on thursday.

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nice find on the cherokee