1990 Jeep Comanche Project MJ
The Ultimate Rebuild for the Ultimate Adventure

by Carter Reed

Edited by Rebecca J. Decker

See how Dave and Carter, Zone Offroad Reps, turned this plain Jane Comanche into an epic show piece and off-road vehicle.

Comanches are just downright cool. With a modern 4-link front suspension, extended wheelbase, and a tried-n-true inline six, these Jeeps are capable out on the trail with ample storage for your gear. Built on the basis of the newly released Cherokee XJ, the Comanche MJ had a brief life during the late 80s-early 90s. With limited production, these Jeeps are becoming harder and harder to come across in decent shape. Lucky for us there are still some out there. This MJ, built by the R&D department over at Zone Offroad Products, was the result of 6 intense weeks of building, prototyping, and fabricating in their Coldwater, MI facility. This 1990 Jeep Comanche MJ features a slew of aftermarket parts with the goal to build an ultra-capable offroad rig that is right at home cruising the highway at 75mph.

The project timeline had a 6-week deadline to make it to the start of the Ultimate Adventure for a grueling weeklong on-off-road journey, hosted by Petersen’s 4Wheel & Off-Road. The team started by stripping down the Comanche before reinforcing the unibody and adding the rollcage, upgrading the stock axles for Mopar J8 Axles (Dana44/Dana60) built with ARB air lockers, Superior 5.38 gears, Superior shafts, custom truss/sleeve kits, and BTF diff covers. In place of the worn out 4.0 went a brand new Golan 4.6L stroker mated up to a rebuilt AX-15 transmission and NP-241 Rocktrac transfer case. JE Reel driveshafts send power to the axles while massive 40’’ Nitto Mud Grapplers mounted on 17’’ Walker Evans beadlocks put the power to the pavement (or any other terrain).

Suspension comes from a Zone 4-link longarm and triangulated 4-link rear conversion using 14’’ Fox 2.5 remote reservoir coilovers at each corner.

Steering comes from an AGR RockRam and 1-ton linkage hooked up to Reid Racing knuckles. Bumpers were fabbed up and a TJM 12,000lb winch was installed for recovery purposes. For additional lighting H4 lenses were swapped in and a 30’’ Rigid LED light bar was mounted to the front bumper. To keep the rig as low as possible and create a unique stance, Zone used Hannemann front fiberglass flares and rear bedsides were installed and allow for additional tire clearance.