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Gladiator vs. Commanche

BlueScapegoat

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Sold my 87 to make room for a Gladiator. Cool truck. Friend bought it, so it's still around.

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meckanik

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I had a ‘91 Comanche Chief 4.0L 5sp, 4x4 in the 90’s. I liked it at the time but it wasn’t a great truck. Mild lift, Tomkin Machine lower control arms, 31” tires. Got it stuck first week I owned it, front end dropped into some sticky mud. When I got out of the truck I noticed the middle bed side near the top had a new crease in it (unibody trucks are bad).

Trac-bar started popping right away (replaced), tilt steering mechanism came loose (repaired), and finally the transmission blew out reverse backing out of a flat driveway (sold). There were three other Cherokees with the same issue with the Peugeot (I think) trans at the dealership.

Still kind of like the XJ Cherokees, but there is a super clean J10 for sale locally, -that- I would actually buy if I wanted to do a build.
 

seven30

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I have a 92 Comanche. The 5spd is some big AX15 thing. Seems tough a nails.

I do note the Comanche suspension is kind of stiff compared to a Cherokee.
I assume its for payload capacity but its is not great for articulation.
 

NachoRuby

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I saw a Comanche today. I don't see many at all anymore. I parked next to it, of course. I'd like to own one. No room, though. We already have 4 vehicles. 2 jeeps and 2 VWs.
 

BlueScapegoat

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Got it stuck first week I owned it, front end dropped into some sticky mud. When I got out of the truck I noticed the middle bed side near the top had a new crease in it (unibody trucks are bad).
I want to politely call bs on that one. Maybe you hit a bedside on something and tweaked it that way, but the rear of the Comanche sat on it's own frame section and it's damn sturdy. I've done some heavy wheeling with some friends and their MJs and I've never seen anything like what you're describing. Even when half the truck has turned to dust lol. Something else was going on there.

Jeep Gladiator Gladiator vs. Commanche hyHx82G


I do note the Comanche suspension is kind of stiff compared to a Cherokee.
I assume its for payload capacity but its is not great for articulation.
The Comanche had an impressive payload for a truck smaller than a modern midsize. There was a metric tonne package with a 2,205 lb payload rating. It had an extra leaf and a D44. Frame was unaltered.

Jeep Gladiator Gladiator vs. Commanche c20
 

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meckanik

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I want to politely call bs on that one. Maybe you hit a bedside on something and tweaked it that way, but the rear of the Comanche sat on it's own frame section and it's damn sturdy. I've done some heavy wheeling with some friends and their MJs and I've never seen anything like what you're describing. Even when half the truck has turned to dust lol. Something else was going on there.

Jeep Gladiator Gladiator vs. Commanche c20
Well that is interesting, I assumed it was unibody all the way back (and flexy like the XJ). Regarding the “crease”, there was no impact mark that I remember, the paint was pristine (loved it at the time).

We’re talking almost 30 years ago so who knows. I was surprised by the payload ratings you posted though, impressive!
 

mgw750

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Definitely not unibody, it was a full framed Truck, had an 89. It was tough as nails.
 

Blade1668

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Well that is interesting, I assumed it was unibody all the way back (and flexy like the XJ). Regarding the “crease”, there was no impact mark that I remember, the paint was pristine (loved it at the time).

We’re talking almost 30 years ago so who knows. I was surprised by the payload ratings you posted though, impressive!
I bought a beater one to chop off bed to make a trailer out of. I cut off the frame it was such a mess of sheet metal folded and cross braced, I just bought square tubing and some channel to build a frame for the bed. The "weak" link would have been the bed floor not the formed frame. The "weak" link on my MJ is the floor and rust, the formed frame is solid still just Flintstone floor. The evil S### used on roads in winter here and Europe is nasty. Full undercoating, no bare metal washed regularly still eat though paint and metal.
Before any crying, the MJ I chopped was abused to almost scrap metal. The early M.T. MJ's had a P.O.S. transmission built to be easy to rebuild :facepalm: later ones had a okay one. Now the A.W. 4 transmission wasn't bad at all from my experience and many others. When get my buttback back working on mine I was going to install a 242 transfer case and convert to full-time 4x4. Someone decided to take the 242, and most of the parts I had for the conversion. :facepalm::mad:
 

BlueScapegoat

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Definitely not unibody, it was a full framed Truck, had an 89. It was tough as nails.
Not to be pedantic, but also not quite right. Frame in the rear, unibody in front. If you ever rip the carpet out of an XJ and MJ side by side you'll see a flat floor in the XJ and you'll see additional box section spot welded to the floor in the MJ, sandwiching the floor into the unibody and tapering off at the front.

My suspicion is that extra boxing is there to keep the occupant from getting crushed by a ton of gravel in an accident, since most people I know don't bother welding it back in when they replace the always rotten floors, and they continue to live long lives hopping over boulders bouncing off the rev limiter
 

seven30

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One thing we can agree on is the MJ frame is unique and well thought out. Its like AMC said "crap we have no money for do-overs. Design it right from the start. " Anyone ever own a 60s Rambler American? Cheap car but very interesting unibody design. Light.
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