manche

From a stock truck
that I drug out of a pasture,
to a custom built
rock crawler.

Stage 1

I started with a complete stock 4cyl/5spd/2wd Comanche that I pulled from a pasture in East Texas.  Completely gutted it, replaced the rusted floor pans, painted and insulated the interior, painted the engine bay, swapped in bucket seats, center console, dash, front dirt bound bumper, custom hood built by me, and 4.0l/AW4/NP231 from my old Cherokee.  Custom cowl air intake. 

Reworked the Cherokee wiring harnesses to fit the Comanche.  Mounted the battery and Cherokee fuel tank in the front of the bed, and a tool box between the rear wheel wells to help with weight distribution.  Combined IRO 3 link and Rubicon Express parts for 5.5" of lift in the front, with spring over axle in the rear.  The axles came from a 1979 F250, front is a high pinion D44, rear is a D60. 

Front got a truss, all new bearings and seals, Solid drive flanges, Spartan lunch box locker, Ruffstuff Specialties one ton y-link using 1/4" wall DOM, and Ruffstuff Specialties diff cover.   

Rear received a simple swap kit, perpendicular shock mounts, diff cover, and rear disc brake conversion with parking brake all from Ruffstuff Specialties, as well as all new bearings and seals, and a Spartan lunch box locker.  Dodge ram 17" take offs wrapped in 37"s, with spacers all around.   Both axles were stretched out 1.5", so overall wheelbase is 116", with a track width of 82".  Front wheel tubs were stretched forward and backwards to clear the 37"s and even 40"s in the future.  Finished off with custom taillights to match the front markers. 

Stage 2

Time for a few trail damage repairs and upgrades.   

Switched to 40"s on recentered H2 wheels, no more spacers, track width is now 82.5".  Chromoly front axle shafts replaced the worn stock shafts.  Ironman Fab Steering box brace to support and secure the steering gear. 

Removed the warped stock Comanche leaf springs and brackets, replaced them with 63" chevy leafs and Ruffstuff Specialties hangers and diy shackles.  Cut out the rocker panels and built some wheel to wheel rocker boxes using 2×6×0.188" rectangle tube steel, with 2×4×0.188" rectangle tube steel supports.  Used more of the same 2×6 and 2×4 rectangle tube to build a custom rear bumper with a pair of 1" shackle tabs for recovery points.   

While the Manche was disassembled, I figured it was time to make the paint match.  Gloss black for everything underneath, bumpers, and rocker boxes.  Smoked grey for the body to match the interior and engine bay.

Stage 3

This stage is currently in progress. 

Gutting the Manche yet again, this time getting rid of the 4.0/aw4/np231 powertrain, Cherokee fuel tank, bucket seats, center console, instrument cluster, and wiring harnesses.   The only parts remaining "Jeep" will be the steering column and gear, dash pad, heater box, and whats left of the unaltered sheet metal.   

I rebuilt a 5.3l with flat top pistons and a BTR Truck Norris cam, mated it to a 4l80e and NP241c.   Fabricated engine mount brackets and modified aftermarket adjustable transmission mount to ideally position the powertrain.  Exhaust, fuel system, air intake, full vehicle rewire, gauges, roll cage, Mastercraft seats and PRP harnesses will round out this stage.

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1972 Chevy C20