Did We Make a Mistake Buying THIS 1989 Cheap Jeep Comanche? | Cheap Jeep Challenge S2 Ep. 1
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- čas přidán 26. 04. 2019
- ( www.TFLtruck.com ) Did We Make a Huge Escape Buying THIS 1989 Cheap Jeep Comanche? | Cheap Jeep Challenge S2 Ep. 1
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#Jeep #CheapJeep #Comanche - Auta a dopravní prostředky
"To keep it within budget, we're getting free suspension and tires".... Wish that worked for everyone's build.
We spent 6K that is a business right off. We are getting sponsored parts and tires and writing that off. We have a total budget of 10K of that we have 4K to work with after purchase. The 4K we will spend 2K at the tranny shop. 1K at the exhaust shop. 1K for a bed liner. Then we will spend another 5K over budget for a custom made roll bar with lights and cosmetic clean up. lol And we will call it cheap. ;)
same here....... A real ''Cheap Jeep'' has a 15$ Bar B Que paint bed liner, re used exhaust with NEW clamps (to seal any leaks), just don't use the gears that grind and shoot ya wad on new 31'' tires.
Yeah that's cheating dudes. You gotta put that into the cost of your build.
@@WW-wf8tu What's a right off?
@@nickmotsarsky4382 As a business you write off your expenses. So say they spend a total of $15,000 and sell it for $8,000 they write off the difference as a lose. Depending how they claim the build they can write it all off or mileage. For my bikes I write off them in whole, for my truck I went with mileage. Technically they need to claim those freebies and pay taxes etc on that but no one does that. If I buy a part for my truck I make sure to do a product install/review so then I cans till write the part off even though how I claim my truck I do mileage but as the part was to make a "video" you write that off. If you didn't know any of this you need a better accountant or tax person.
It's far from a cheap build when they get comped a lot of NEW parts...LOL No one else is getting comped the same parts, so "cheap" to them but not really "cheap" to anyone else. They should keep the build with what THEY buy just to be fair and serious about calling it a cheap build.
Their title should be "Jeep Comanche Build" and leave it at that.
Your guys definition of cheap is completely different than mine.
100% agree
Yeah. I bet their country club membership is $30k a year.
It’s cheap for millionaires though.
I payed $4000 for a Jeep Cherokee XJ 4x4 and I was ecstatic with that price. I did not thought of it as cheap.
It's broken so we take it to a shop because we're millenial hipsters and we can't fix it with our mouth
$3k or $4k donation of suspension/tires is kinda cheating when you're trying to keep it cheap. I'd love to get a free donation of suspension/tires.... Teraflex and bfgoodrich hit me up please lol 😂
Well they got free suspension and tyres for the small wrangler but they still added them to final cost
I'm funding my own Cayenne overland build to track 28+ countries across Europe!
Yah its some bs right there
Cowpug12 yeah I’ll take some hand outs too.
Very true
A Comanche is never a mistake. Just a project.
Right, that one was CLEAN and former owner deserves credit for keeping it up, that's 30 years old and in amazing shape
It’s like catching an extremely rare animal and complaining about how well it can run. Dude... you caught one... there is no down side!
Easy to be cheap when you get the parts for free! For the rest of us not so CHEAP.
Proof read the title guys... lol... you made a HUGE ESCAPE???
Thomas Rossi description says the same thing, I wonder how nobody caught it.
Maybe they thought they were going to have to spend more and ended up paying much less.
Quick correction on AWD vs 4wd. It has nothing to do with if there is a transfercase. Jeep offered AWD in the XJ and MJ for these years using the NP242 transfercase. This had 2wd high, 4wd full time (aka all wheel drive), 4wd high lock, and 4wd low. The difference between AWD and 4wd is if there is a center differential to allow for the front and rear axles to travel at different speeds.
And... The XJ and MJ are both uni-frame, as is the ZJ. Unibody vehicles have bolt on sub-frames. uni-frame have frame rails that are integrated into the body.
Came here to post the exact thing Stuka87! My old 5.9L ZJ had the np249 which was called awd, which also has a 4 lo option aswell. His explanation was very poor.
As far as i know the ability to lock the tranfer case differential makes it a 4wd vehicle, not being able to lock the center differential would be awd to me, but that leaves the audi 4000cs quattro as an exception to that rule. All my jeep zjs with the limited package called their systems full time 4wd and chevy did the same thing with my chevy k10. However the transfercase you named is not full time and is just considered to be 4wd.
@@jonholaday2733 jeep called this system full time 4wd, where did you get awd from?
Yes, Jeep didn't call it Awd, but that is what the 249 offers as there is no other selection for normal on road use. It doesn't have a part time option in high, only in low. It has an lsd type VC centre differential so it isn't locked in, up to 49% of the torque could be shared to the front driveshaft.
@@jonholaday2733 by this point almost all of the viscous couplers have locked up and drive pretty funky but i would say are pretty much fulltime 4x4, i personally have driven one with no front driveshaft and it drove no problem drifted like crazy with a healthy 5.2l in it.
Compare jeep Comanche to a 1988 Toyota pickup
And take to cliffhanger
A buddy of mine autocrossed a short-bed, 5-speed Comanche back in the ‘80s. It totally dominated it’s class.
What's the point of showing us a cheap jeep challenge build but then saying you get some of the more expensive parts for free?
Everyone can do it lol just suck some industry guys off 😂
@@brianpardee1281 It's "Suck off some industry guys" #Grammar
@@t4thfavor1212
Don't forget some punctuation to separate your sentences from one another.
Let's do a budget build for the audience so they know they can afford this too, but we need tires and "parts" given to us to make it affordable
On the original cheep Jeep challenge , they counted the cost of parts they they were given towards their budget. I would imagine that they will do the same thing again
Will do here as well
Counting it in the total is still different than actually having to SPEND it.
I think the point of this exercise is to prove you can build a Jeep that you can reliably daily drive for under $10,000 that has the same off-road chops as a late model $30,000 4 door JK that everybody has now days.
Imo the best looking mild custom XJ Comanches use stock parts from higher trim later Cherokees. Almost all of it interchanges. As a former Jeep tech, the Renault efi would have been enough to make me walk. I’m sure it’s fine. If you want it to run like an Eagle Medallion anyway. It was P(eugeot)R(enault)V(olvo) city at Chrysler back in those days. Always used to tell my Eagle Premier customers they had a DeLorean engine in their cars. That seemed to excite them for some reason.
I had a 1976 AMC wagon with the old slant six engine. I couldn't get that engine to give up and for some reason this video reminds me of my old wagon. R.I.P wherever you are old girl.
These series are quickly becoming my favorite thing y'all have done yet.
Let me save you some time. I owned a 1987 Comanche. I equipped mine with a 2" lift and 235 75R 15 tires. It wasn't the worst 4WD that I ever owned, but it was close. Here is what you have to look forward to:
1. The '80's era 4.0L almost always cracks the exhaust manifold. If it hasn't, it will.
2. The Dana 35C is about the least robust axle assembly that Dana ever built. If you do break an axle, the entire wheel assembly may come off.
3. Late 80's Jeeps constantly suffer from a litany of electrical and electronics problems, all of which--including the wiring itself--that get worse with age.
4. Typical of 1980's vehicles, the paint is awful. Either let it look bad, or figure on buying an expensive full re-prime and re-paint.
5. I'm not a fan of the Peugot manual transmission. They are not that robust. With the 3.07 axles, the crawl ratio in low range is only about 32:1. Even the relatively torquey 4.0L won't overcome that. If you much rock crawling, you'll be replacing the clutch before you want to.
6. The quality of the body hardware is pretty poor and the seats are uncomfortable--the upholstery is pretty cheap and won't last.
The best choice for a small 4WD pickup in that era was a an '89-'94 Toyota. Rode rough as as hell, the 3.0 V6 was gutless on the highway and fought to get even get close to 20 mpg, but it was a pretty indestructible truck. The Ford Ranger was also a better choice. By the time Jeep got some of the worst bugs out of the XJ platform by the '97 model year, the Comanche was long gone. My advice: sell the Comanche to some Jeep fanboy before you put a dime into it. You'll be happier.
I would disagree. I have an 89 with 200k miles on it. Still runs solid, and while it has had some problems, it has been far less problematic than any other vehicle I've dealt with. Also, your engine must be in need of a rebuild, because my 4.0 cranks out so much low end torque that I can let the engine idle and it will still pull me over obstacles.
A guy I used to work for had an 87.
I beat that thing through the Maine woods for 2 summers gathering fire wood. Never had an issue and I gave her hell!
Been watching the XJ vs Explorer build battle over at Hoonigan. It's videos like these where I learn the most. Keep showing the build process, guys! It really shows that with time and critical thinking, any automotive problem can be solved.
If you can get bed-liner in red, you should do that to bed, and also think about doing the lower portion of the body panels too. Even if you can't doing the last crease of the body panels in bed-liner would keep the truck alive a long time...
These things are awesome! I would *kill* for one of these in this kind of shape. Way up north here they are all rusted out..... IF you could even find one. You guys are so lucky. If you ever don't want it give it to me!
Great video guys! The transmission work is very interesting. Can't wait to see what happens next!
I’m so jealous of this thing. I dream of finding one of these some day. People find all these awesome cars for “cheap” without any rust where they live and I’m here in Ohio like yeah it’s not too bad the frame is only rusted through in a couple spots and the floor boards aren’t completely gone.
Great shape for its age. I bought an '89 leftover with the 4L 5-speed new and unfortunately it was a total lemon - I didn't even get home from the dealer and it was falling apart. Sold it in '93 for $4000 with 50k miles on it, paid $11k in '90.
It was like the United Nations under the hood - parts from US, Canada, France, England and Japan because it was a product of Chrysler, AMC and Renault.
Good luck with your project.
Loved all the retro music in the editing!
themn04 me too!
I would really like to know the name of the tune that start at 1:21?!?!
Nice video. I'm excited to see the rest of the build
You may have made a MISTAKE, but definitely not an ESCAPE! LOL
Yup they don't do so well off-road czcams.com/video/Cw7OxfuerJk/video.html
Complete with 80’s montage music ...
Peugeot had a more compact transmission, that was also the era of Rally Cars... buddy in High School had a Rally inspired Ford Escort Sport complete with yellow rally lights.
Former owner deserves LOTS of credit for keeping that up--Don't see many like that
Great episode. I like watching the process of removing the transmission and look forward to the disassembly. You guys may be on to something. Hopefully the views will skyrocket.
Nice shop! Would be nice to see more content from there
Lets build a cheap jeep with sponsors. Its like watching Ken Blocks videos.
can you show me "build" they dont build anything they drop stuff off at shops and swipe credit cards... guy didnt even know how a transfer case worked...
I had a '92 Chevy S10 reg cab short bed with the 4.3 V6 and 4x4. Fast little truck, good off road. It was red too. All mini trucks looked really similar back then. Small, boxy, etc... Brings Back Memories.
That's a nice Comanche; I would put some decent tires on it and that's it, it will make a great daily driver as is.
This is one of your better videos. I love the 80s style music. I would honestly do almost anything to own this Jeep.
TFLT posts a 20min video and people comment within 5 min of the video being posted. So much for watching the whole video and then commenting
Shawn Clark no 1 does that
@@markc3341 haha
AMC stood for " All Manufactures Combined " Did you not know this? :D
had a 1988 diesel version of the Commanche. Great truck. I think is was the XL package. Had all the goodies that came with the Commanche at that time. Didn't care how slow it was because the diesel sound was awesome and so was 35mpg.
My 89 Wrangler tranny also crunched identical to your Comanche. New synchros and it was like new. I got rid of the problematic oem carb on my 4.2 and did a swap to a Motorcraft carb. Huge improvement. Be very glad you have a 4.0 in that because my son's Comanche with a 2.4 was as fast as my Wrangler.
Awesome pick for your next moderate build! I graduated Highschool in 1989 and always thought these were way cool 😎
Whoever you bought that Jeep off of got an amazing deal lol
Looking forward to see the final product 👍🏼
Excited for the build! I got a roll bar that I had in my 92 Comanche for a bit that I’m looking to sell if you guys want to pick it up. I’m in Northern Nevada
There’s just something about inline sixes that I love. Seems to me that’s the way a six cylinder engine should be. Probably because I learned to drive on a 1949 Plymouth. Flathead, That was. With just 107,000 miles, that thing should be good for a long time. Yeah, they should've have used the Japanese Aisin (eye-sheen) transmission!
Great video guys, if you hit your budget of 10k it really is a cheap jeep. Given the choice of this 89 for 10k or a new gladiator for 60 or 70k,... I'll take the Comanche hands down. Looking forward to updates on this project.
I called and no one would donate parts to my cheap build. :(
$6500. $6500?????? holy **** that the opposite of cheap. and yea, when does a 4.0 have an engine light on lol
Or even on with renix... they have no cel
Really cool i have a 92 cherokee and we slap some 31's on that sucker now nothing will stop the jeep
Bed liner below the black trim on the body and flares, and around the bottom painted lip under the front and rear bumpers. That would clean up a lot of the scratches, and protects from future scratches, it would also match the cheap Jeep theme! Love the series guys!
Have the same trans in my Eliminator and you used motor oil in it . Had the same issue with my Peugeot transmission. Especially in the cold. The guys at the Comanche Club gave me that tip and it has worked great for 3 years. I just can’t remember what weight it was. Mine was crunchy too but that smoothed it out. And yes these 2wd are pretty fast.
The AX15 is the same Aisen transmission Toyota used in there pickups prior to the Tacoma. They called it the AR150. Never owned a Jeep Comanche, but owned two Cherokees and currently own a 2017 Jeep Compass.
If that is the case, I will say that 5 speed box in my old 22R/2wd Toyota pickups was bloody brilliant. Had an 85, an 88 and a 93 2wd/5 speed 22R trucks, over 700,000 miles between the three trucks. Never once had an issue with the gearbox. Main thing I liked was how direct the throws were, how tight the gearbox felt(for a truck). Even with a ton of miles. Driven various other Rangers, full size Fords/Chevys/Dodge with a manual shift, nowhere near as nice to drive as my old Toyotas.
I have owned 15+ XJ-MJ's and the Renix 4.0 are just fine. Only problem I've really ever had is leakey injectors and FP regulator failure.
Great vid👍Bedliner spray, bed light with pop up camper try do a concept truck like ones at Jeep Easter Safari. Needs Jeep part sticker👍
If I found an MJ that clean I'd probably be willing to shell out 6 grand for it. There were only 160-170,000 made total with only 48 percent being 4x4 the rest were 2wd examples. I'd go with a VERY mild lift with some 235/75R15s, throw a lunchbox in the front axle and roll with it.
With how many off roaders have hacked to shit, wrecks, cash for clunkers ect ect ect combined with low compared to XJ build numbers finding a clean unmolested MJ is going to be a challenge.
Thanks for the video.
If you guys end up getting a spray in bed liner check out bullet liner. Have one in my 2018 silverado and love it. Bullet liner was started by one of the founders of line-x.
well good to know what things are all about.. l just got an 87 Jeep Comanche Chief short box
has the 4.0l 5spd trans turbine rims and all the factory accessories fender flares, front fog lights, roll bar and buckets seats instead of a bench seat, but the body is pretty well done.. very cool little truck though
my favorite jeep platform. light 1300kg, lots of room inside, reliable 4.0l and plenty of aftermarket
Dude nice video
These Comanches with the 4.0L are very quick and a blast to drive around on the road. The light weight, correct size and big 6 cylinder, is just a great combo.
What a great looking little Jeep. It would look great next to my red 99 XJ.
Idk I've owned 2 xjs and I own one now, I got into them because first I love the look but also because of the reliability according to research and forums. I've had nothing but problems, my first one, 2 months in I needed a new engine, second one, a few months in I needed a new engine, new bushings, track bar, sjocks, stabalize r shocks, control arms, and let's not get into the sensors going out all the time. No sure what to feel about them now.
Nice good looking truck, it's a classic jeep with great style.
Zach seems like a cool dude. It's good you have him in your corner.
I really enjoyed the TJ project jeep. Excellent vehicle 🚗 I like the four cylinder since I do light off-roading.mainly light trails in the desert.
I had 90 Jeep Comanche Eliminator they drove and ride good the 4.0 good power just rusted out to fast don't forget about the ashtray behind the center console.
Oh my! Something is telling me this guys just got themselves a ''money pit'' 😱
To keep with the original-ish theme, you should use red spray in bed liner for the bed (obviously) but also for the rockers and possibly the fender flares.
Go straight pipe with the exhaust if your gonna do it, i loved the way my 4.0 sounded with it straight piped and it was very loud.
I'd touch up the paint, paint the flares, bumpers and the tailgate guard and bed rails black to freshen them up. The lift and tires are a given. Bedliner and then maybe a rooftop tent/tonneau cover and then set the bed up for overland gear. Beautiful little truck.
Hey TFL, huge fan of y'alls page. I have a 2004 Ford F 150 with a v8 4.6 liter engine, 2wd and I was wondering if yall could do a video on a truck like that
Blake Dorsey my dad has the same thing only a step side and it’s a 97
I think y’all got took. You can get a Comanche in great shape with perfect trans AND the modifications you want to do for 6500. Hell, there’s a REAL gladiator with a basic restoration down the road from me for 8500. It kills me every time I drive by it lol
I'd say pull the trigger on that Gladiator. Those are badass
"Why would you have an American Jeep with a French transmission. What were you thinking, Jeep?" *nervously chuckles while Renegade Trailhawk sits in driveway*
My dad had 89 jeep comanche long bed ours had automatic transmission it ran great just take running boards off put heavy duty leat springs on and put bfgoodrich a/t on and it will go through anything sadly we were hit and totaled the jeep my dad replaced it with a 2005 dodge Durango
Suggestion on repainting front/rear bumper, use black plasti-dip on the metal part and plastic end caps(not on the plastic step treads on the rear though) It will have a uniform texture/finish. Used plasti-dip on the plastic part of my old Tacoma's front bumper, made that faded black plastic look new. Looked like the day I put it on 3 years later when I sold the truck, doesn't chip, pit, etc. Great product.
Great publicity for Zacs, awesome!
What's better a cj7 jeep or comanche jeep?
I have a 1976 cj7 that I did a complete drivetrain swap on (4.3 v6 Chevy Blazer engine and th700r4 transmission, and Dana 300 tcase from another jeep... thinking of selling it or Trading to get a scamp trailer and 91 or 92 comanche to pull the trailer.
As I'm watching this I'm realizing that these guys really have very little mechanical knowledge past what a youtube celebrity needs. It seemed like he strugged to figure out which end was the front of the transmission/t-case. And "AWD" vehicles can indeed have a transfercase (sometimes called a power transfer unit).
One of the Transfer Cases offered in the MJ and XJ (plus other Jeeps such as the ZJ, WJ and KJ) was the NP/NVG-242 which was a case that offered a full time setting with the shifter going 2H->4HParttime->4HFulltime->N->4L. This offered an AWD setting for daily or wet road use while also offering a part time setting for rougher roads.
I had the 4 cylinder 2 wheel drive and drove for 17 years. I only replaced brakes and a water pump or two. When I took it to the shop the price was very high for the water pump. The mechanic pulled me to the side and told me to go buy a new pump at the parts store a Chevy water pump that was what it actually is. It was half the price because it was ordered for a jeep. Oh also I had to replace the air-conditioner unit. When it kicked in it would suck a lot of power from the engine and that was because it was used in big diesel trucks. So apparently they threw any available parts they had laying around that would work.
This makes me miss mine. It was my 1st car/truck but it was a 86 and was NOT in good shape bed was rotted and both sides of the frame had plates welded to them to stay together. That's Michigan for you..
I really like Zach. Dude just seems like good people.
My 92 F150 I picked up a couple of summers ago is in pretty similar condition, looks great with some minor cosmetic flaws . . . but biggest issue may be its bulky, wobbly, sometimes crunchy manual transmission.
Mine also has an outsourced transmission. In my case my transmission was made by Mazda.
I envy you guys. My favorite vehicle that I owned was my 2001 Cherokee sport. It was only 2wd but if I ever get in a position with some extra $$ if love to buy one and have it fully restored. It was powerful and so comfortable to drive. I only got rid of it for something economical when I as younger. Great jeep though, no issues other than a very minor transmission leak.
Gotta love living in a state where rust isn't an issue. You would never find a clean rust free 80s/90s pickup in the Midwest. I had to go to Oregon to get my 93 Yota pickup.
You can have the paint color matched in bedliner then run a line of bedliner on the last foot on the bottom down the length. Cover up scratches and prevent new ones.
I’m guessing the crunch are the synchronizers. That happened to my 1987 Wrangler back in the day. Gears hopefully should be fine.
Very entertaining video 👍
This could be a great source of videos for you guys. I really enjoy watching mechanical fixing videos. You guys should start a “fixer upper “ series
Dont doubt the the Dana 30 & 35, I've ran 36" super swampers with no problem.
A Jeep liberty uses the same frame design. A unibody with a ladder frame welded to it. Super strong but very heavy 😅
Should of just sprayed the roof, bed, rockers, and the flares in a bed liner but have it colored matched to the original red.
BA10 transmission on my 88 Wrangler made it 220000 miles before it gave out, not bad for "bad" transmission. Not for rock crawling but otherwise OK for general purpose.
I think on the exterior, maybe color match the bedliner, fender flares and bumpers. It will be cheap and look real good. If you find the rollbar, color match that too.
Renix EFI is plenty reliable. It just isn't entirely electronic. It has some analog bits (TPS for instance) which a lot of people don't understand. The IAB (idle air bleed) can also stick. But otherwise it should be perfectly fine for you guys. Oh, and the BA-10 *IS* junk. Yes you can rebuild it and fix the crunches (bad synchros). But they like to literally blow apart because of the split case.
Okay might be a dumb question but do all 1990 comanches have an ax15? Like is there any possibility for them to have the worse transmission?
Im going to like this season even more then the 1st
When you said the transmission was crunchy I thought it had shattered gears. Instead the syncros were worn out. Just double clutch.
What you paid for the jeep is almost top dallor, you tell me cheap jeep I think in the hundred dallor range
Norman Carroll you don’t want to start by buying thousands just to get it running
Norman Carroll what the fck is a "dallor"? Are you fckin serious?
More cheap Jeep videos!
I bet there is a roll ball somewhere here in Reno ,Nv in a junkyard. Try pick n pull , and airport auto wreckers. Reno , Nv.
Your all wheel drive Discovery has a transfer case, as does my Defender. Using that to define a system is pretty dubious!
Under $10k? I'm redoing a '66 Ford truck from the ground up - full body off restoration - for less than $10,000 and I'm not getting anything donated. How much are you sourcing for this vs. doing yourself?
Typo though. Happens to the best of us.
Rohn Benedetti wasn’t sure if that was intentional. A classic case of spell incorrect in action.
Yeah after watching the video could just be a good pun. Not sure.
Rohn Benedetti looks like it’s corrected now
You said you can’t gear down an AWD but a good friend of mine had a 1999 mercury mountaineer with AWD and if memory serves it had an auto position, hi lock, and Lo lock positions. Am I missing something?
PS- I also recall him challenging me to an off-road shoot out since I had a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4x4 at the time. I slaughtered him. But I will say his tires were a little more on road type then mine but only a little bit.