90 base, 6 cyl, 4x4 longbed

Hello, my name is Alex and I have a Jeep addiction.......... :nuts:

No, I don't want to kick the habit but after lurking here for awhile I think that I can come here for help on part of it. It started with this:

2005 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. 4" lift, 33's, moly axle shafts, ORO steering, full armor to include tummy tuck and full corners from the doors back, snorkel, dual batteries, winch, line X'd tub, Alpine stereo, Tuffy rear cargo drawer, PowerTank onboard air, dual tops and more. Great Jeep and I wheel it but its just too hard on gas to keep using it as a daily driver. I had been looking for a nice stock Cherokee for awhile and I found this instead:

1990 Base model Comanche longbed with 4.0 six, 5 speed, 4x4, A/C, and radio delete option (Hole in the dash with wires hanging out of it) Its missing the headliner too. It was a former PA truck but was well taken care of. It only has rust in the doors and on a few other small spots.

So far I've scrubbed the grungy grey interior with simple green, changed all the fluids, replaced the battery, both the battery cables, the front brake pads and rotors, windshield wiper blades, front grille and headlight surrounds, and all the fuzes in the fuze box. First real mods have been 30" BFG's on Jeep Canyon wheels and a Sony Ipod ready stereo.

Future plans include repairing the small rust spots on the doors, tailgate and left rear tail light. Replacing the headliner, sunvisors, carpet, torn bench seat, shock absorbers, and repairing the nonfunctional A/C and center axle disconnect for the 4x4.

The first round of mods will be to replace that small stock flag mirror with black factory manual remote mirrors on both sides, and to swap the stock instrument cluster w/idiot lights for one with a tach and full gauges. Id like to find a stock Comanche or Cherokee factory digital clock as well.

Second round of mods will problably be a small lift, 31's, Bushwacker flares, Line X the bed, tool box, rear Dana 44 swap w/disc brakes, Hanson winch bumper, Warn M8000, and a trailer hitch. Ill take pix as I go along but it won't be as in deph a resto as some I have seen here...... :bowdown:

welcome to another addict with multiple infections.

Wow! That body looks super clean. I love how you can throw a set of Canyons on and "poof", it looks 10 times better than it already did. Welcome, and keep us posted. :thumbsup:

I like it. But you won't need bushwackers for 31's. Bushwackers are for marks anyway.

I like it. But you won't need bushwackers for 31's. Bushwackers are for marks anyway.

Thanks for the info. I was looking at Bushwackers because a friend has them on his Cherokee with 32's and I liked the look. If the Comanche looks fine with stock flares and 31's Ill leave the stock flares alone. Whats a mark??

Thanks for the welcome and other replies as well. After having to get a second job to support the other Jeep for awhile, I'm going to go slow on this one and do it in small projects as inexpensively as possible. I just got a line on some parts from somebody who is parting out two Comanches. He says that he has excellent condition: Headliner/backer board, Sunvisors, Bench seat, Shifter boot, instrument cluster w/tach, tire winch, and driver side mirror. We will see next weekend after payday.

I did a little project today satisfy my need to fix up the truck a little. While driving the truck around, the rear suspension sounded like an old bed on a honeymoon night. Crawled underneath and found the rear shocks in bad shape and the metal sheath on the e brake lines rubbing against the brackets.

Broke out Powertank and the impact :D

Check out these rusted beauties.

Replaced them with theese.

Shocks were $21 each at Napa and made in the USA. :thumbsup:

No more annoying squeeking and the truck dosent feel so bouncy and light in the rear end any more.

Also learned the joy of working on a truck with even a little rust when I tried to remove the rusted solid tire winch. I had soaked the bolts with PB blaster for 4 days, but all of them still broke off in the frame. :mad: Looks like Ill be drilling em out and retapping them.

:wavey:

I'm going to go slow on this one and do it in small projects as inexpensively as possible.

:rotf: that won't last for long.

:wavey:

 

I'm going to go slow on this one and do it in small projects as inexpensively as possible.

 

:rotf: that won't last for long.

Yeah, the parts that I'm looking at next weekend will be a couple hundred dollars, and that Hanson winch bumper is $700. :doh:

I only paid $900 for the truck LOL.

In the world of Jeeps, the initial buy-in price should not be considered indicative of future spending levels. :D

In the world of Jeeps, the initial buy-in price should not be considered indicative of future spending levels. :D

True....... Just Empty Evrey Pocket.

The belly up skid for the LJ was $350. But to install it you needed:

Body lift $150

CV driveshaft $300

Adjustable rear upper control arms $300

Total for the mod: $1100. :ack:

Fixing up the MJ will actually be a bargian until it comes to the body, paint, and offroad mods............

OK, after reading through the forums here I decided that I wanted to pull my bench seat and do the XJ bucket seat/console mod. I have been scouring Craigslist and the local Jeep club forums.

Saturday I picked up this:

I like the old school look on the blue background - but will it work in my 90 MJ?

Today I picked up theese:

Front buckets and console from a 95 XJ that a fellow Jeeper here on FT Belvoir is parting out.

Guess I gotta get sending units for the cluster and 2 door cherokee seat pedastels now......... I have read the thread on Cherokee seats in an MJ. I know you can just bolt the buckets to the bench mounts, but is it hard to modify the seat mounts from the 95 to work?

Ill prob do the bucket seat swap after I get the new carpet in. I also got the sunvisors from the Cherokee and just those were a great change. The thrashed originals looked pretty bad. they caught your attention right there in your field of view.

its A LOT easier just to mount the cherokee seats on the bench pedistals....it took me about 25 min start to finish instead of messing with the cherokee mounts which are next to impossible to get in b/c the floors are completley different

You might want to put your tech questions in the tech forum so more people will see them. :thumbsup:

You might want to put your tech questions in the tech forum so more people will see them. :thumbsup:

Thanks! Willdo.

OK, after reading through the forums here I decided that I wanted to pull my bench seat and do the XJ bucket seat/console mod.

You will be very happy this mod. Nice looking Jeep(s) :D . :popcorn: - Rich

OK, after reading through the forums here I decided that I wanted to pull my bench seat and do the XJ bucket seat/console mod.

You will be very happy this mod. Nice looking Jeep(s) :D . :popcorn: - Rich

Thanks for the compliment Rich!

Like I stated before, things are going slow becouse I'm trying to do this as cheap as possible as we are buying a house.

Changed the transmission oil with the synthetic recommended in the oil thread in tech (Shifts great now, even when cold! :D ) Changed the engine oil to Rotella 15-40. Cleaned up the gauge cluster I posted a pic of earlier by disassembling the clear plastic lens, carefully cleaning all the dirt out of it, and polishing most of the scratches out of the lens with Novous scratch remover plastic polish. Also rolled the odometer forward per the instructions here and on the NAXJA site. Alot of good info! :cheers:

Scored a Cherokee digital clock off of e bay to install while I had the dash apart:

Next I took some before pix of what I'm starting with and then started on my gauge cluster swap. Here is your standard radio missing, filthy carpet, idiot light cluster, bench seat Comanche. I have spent several weekends scrubbing it out with simple green. I also have replaced the shot sunvisors and the shifter boot with all the holes in it.

Pulled the dash bezel and installed the clock. It was easy after I found the stock connecter buried back inside and tucked under the rest of the harness. It just plugged right in! It did not seem to work so I unplugged it and checked the bulb inside. Sure enough, burnt out bulb. Checked the bulbs in the full gauge cluster and they seemed the same, so I pulled a good bulb and put it in the clock. Success. Clock works fine and looks good.

Next I started on the cluster swap. While pulling the idiot light cluster - like others here - I broke the clip on the speedo cable connector. :mad: Now that I have removed a cluster and understand how it all works back there I think I could pull another without breaking it. (I have thin fingers LOL) Swapped the clusters per the instructions in the tech threads (Search is great) and just stuck the back of the speedo cable on the speedo hoping it would work. The results are a little underwhelming. The speedo works fine but the temp gauge stays maxed out, the volt gauge seems high, and the tach seems to read under the actual RPM for the engine sound and is slow to respond to revving the engine in neutral. Here are some pics of before and after.

Off to the tech threads to ask questions. :(

you have to change the oil sending unit and the temp sending unit for the gauges to work properly .

you have to change the oil sending unit and the temp sending unit for the gauges to work properly .

Thanks for the advise. :cheers:

When I swapped the cluster in I installed new water temp and oil pressure senders. The exact part #'s on the NAXJA thread. I posted this in tech and after help there I think all the gauges are working except the temp gauge which is bad. The tach just seems slow to react as well.

This site is great!

Changed the engine oil to Rotella 15-40.

The CI diesel oil? :hmm:

Willy

Changed the engine oil to Rotella 15-40.

 

The CI diesel oil? :hmm:

 

Willy

Yup!

I have been using this oil in our 05 Excursion diesel, and we use it in the rescue trucks at work. Good stuff.

Other members here recommended it for the high mileage 4.0 because of the additives in it. I just put some in the Manche and it seems happier. :D

The recomendation and reason why is here:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18783

Tested out the gauges in the swapped cluster and it appears the water temp gauge is bad. All others are working normally. I like the old school gauges, but I think another member here needs the blue tach and gas gauge more for a correct resto of his 87 Chief. Gonna go to Maryland this weekend hopefully and pick up a full gauge cluster from a 90 Cherokee. Will be correct in my Manche anyway.

Got some other work accomplished. I don't like the looks of the small 'Wide Angle' stock mirror so I pulled it and installed black mirrors that it should have came with anyway:

Anybody want the small mirror I took off. Ill give it away to somebody here. Otherwise its going in the trash. Anybody have a grey manual window crank handle? Broke the passenger side handle while pulling the door panels to install the black mirrors. :mad:

Then my wife surprised me with an early Christmas present:

Then I got some parts from a member here I had been speaking with for awhile. A headliner board with NEW cover and a tire winch! :D

He says he still has rear bumpers, beds, tail lights and more here:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18341

Got the headliner in tonight but couldent take pix before dark.

This weekend I'm going to pull the carpet, install the new set and do the bucket seat conversion. Problably will be all for awhile as we just closed on the house.

OK been about 2 weeks and got some work done. First a pic of the headliner in:

Next I tried to start on the new carpet and bucket seat swap. I had been dreading what might be lurking under the carpet - it was worse than I hoped for but not nearly as bad as it could have been. Driver side has 2 holes. Passenger side is surface rust.

So the bench went back in and I have to look for a professional to fix the rust. Diddnt have alot of time as I had to go to Texas for a few days. Yesterday I found another full gauge cluster at a local junkyard. The install is pretty easy so out came the old school cluster, tested the new cluster and then pulled it again. Took it inside and reset the odometer to match the trucks mileage. Then reassembled it with the black piece from around the gauges on my original idiot light cluster as the new cluster was grey. then took it out to the truck and back in it went. Got the clock in and reinstalled the Sony IPOD controller stereo. Also picked up a grey window crank handle while I was at the JY and replaced the one I broke while pulling the passenger side door panel to put on the Cherokee mirror.

Lots o' clusters:

Odometers matched:

Cluster in the truck: