When I bought my 1992 Jeep Comanche 4×4 5spd, I thought I got a white-hot deal. After all, $6,500 for such a rare, beautifully-spec’d truck is on the lower end of the market, especially given that it immediately made easy work of an 800 mils drive from Boise, Idaho to LA. But upon arriving home, I found several problems, and now the Comanche has become a money-pit.
I’ve purchased enough old vehicles to know that the sale price is only the beginning of a wallet-punishing journey towards the unreachable goal of vehicular perfection, and yet my latest Jeep Comanche expenses are still painful to swallow.
Before we get into them, let’s go through the positives, because otherwise I’ll go mad. The Jeep Comanche is essentially rust-free, which is a huge deal. Rust repairs are the worst. On top of that, the truck seems to be, at least from a powertrain/drivetrain standpoint, in almost perfect condition. The engine makes good power, it burns no oil, and it’s hooked to a transmission that shifts like it’s brand new. The Comanche is a true joy to drive, and I adore it.
But it’s a bit needy. For one, the mud-terrain tires that came on it were loud and old. I bought a new set of Kumho all-terrains, and that cost me a pretty penny: Over $400!
Then I took the MJ to get smogged, and it failed. Spectacularly. In fact, the technician at the Smog shop told me there were so many holes in the exhaust, his sniffer couldn’t even get a reading.
A glance under the truck revealed the numerous issues:
So I bought a new muffler for $40:
But I also snagged a new, California-compliant catalytic converter. Is it possible the old Idaho cat could still get me through?
Maybe? I’m not familiar enough with California Smog laws to know. Also, I’m having someone weld up an exhaust for me, so I may as well make sure they don’t have to do it twice.
There goes another $400. So that’s $800 on top of the $6,500 asking price. Another issue I realized was that my rear suspension was bottoming out over even the smallest bumps. What was the issue? The shocks were completely toast:
There goes another $100.
I fear, though, that the shocks aren’t the only issue. Even though ride height doesn’t seem too low compared to stock, I get the feeling that the rear leafs are not ready to handle the enormous 1,400 pound load I’m about to subject them to in the form of four axles, a transmission, and a transfer case for my eBay WWII Jeep build.
So I bought more leaf springs, to the tune of another $400.
There are a few expenses that, admittedly, I could have held out on, but I couldn’t resist. For one, the rear bumper is original, and given how rare factory bumpers are on MJs, I don’t want to have to worry about this one, so I’m going to replace it with a beefier one, which cost me $280 with brackets:
I also spent $200 on the trim piece for the back of the cab — a piece that is basically unobtainium. It wasn’t cheap at $220:
Add the $700 in California tax/registration fees, and I’m in this MJ deep. Much deeper than my asking price.
[Note: I also bought spare rear fender flares while they can still be obtained (they are hyper rare). Those cost me $200. Gulp!]
That puts me at over $9,000 spent on this Jeep Comanche, and I still haven’t installed air conditioning. This thing ain’t cheap! But given that it is enabling me to sell both my Chevy K1500 and my Jeep J10, I will still come out ahead. Between that, and the fact that I just adore this little red Jeep, I still have no regrets.
Top graphic images: David Tracy; DepositPhotos.com
All of this seems well worth it for a truck you love this much, and seems like it will get it into daily driver shape for a long future.
Tires, suspension, and exhaust are must haves just to get it streetable, and the cosmetic/rare parts are the fun enthusiast purchases.
When you compare to the J10 and Chevy, it’s like spending money on tires and consumables to be able to keep the Chevy as a reliable workhorse and then spending money on all the little doodads for the classis project car. But in this case it’s fewer overall parts and you get to enjoy the “classic” a lot more since it’s also your workhorse.
9k for a rust-free, largely sorted manual Comanche still isn’t bad at all, I think.
If you end up with it under $15k with working AC and a reliable daily driver condition I think you’re good. 10-15k for any good condition working pickup truck is normal these days.
Ok, I’m all about enthusiasm for this truck – I share it! But buying an aftermarket bumper *because you’re so stoked that the truck has the original bumper, so you have to take it off to save it*… please step back from the Jeep-branded sniffing glue and read that sentence again with a clear head.
\s
(Ok, you threw up a softball so I had to take a swing at it. I actually do understand, especially if you are planning to bumper-tow or something and don’t want to mangle the original part. Your ‘make it perfect, and grab the hard-to find spares while I’m at it’ shopping list is the mark of an enthusiast *in love* with a new project, it warms the heart. Don’t stop being you, David, and enjoy!)
I thought the same thing and chuckled a bit. Especially since the stock bumper isn’t anything special to anyone except the most fanatical Comanche fans. I guess maybe he’ll swap it on and off for cars and coffees when he goes to show it off?
Can’t help but think of Ray in Ghostbusters when he pulls up with the soon to be Ecto-1 and says “it needs brakes, brake pads, etc etc…only $4800!”
Are the leaf springs different from the XJ? I always seem to have a set of stock leaf’s sitting around in the scrap pile from previous lifts and what not. I do kind of wonder if the old style load carrier shocks are better or worse.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gab-43048?seid=srese1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAxJXJBhD_ARIsAH_JGjjkG1EzntrDn3a7t05tLFCvY2ap2EMTes7DFXaJWgHms5JqcJ6PlWMaAkAuEALw_wcB
I ended up pulling old ones from a scout when I decided to just go with new leaf springs, because lift springs came with longer shocks(without the springs)
Yup, it’s an truck.
I think you did alright, considering that if you’re around 20% of the purchase price in necessary repairs, you’re good. Let’s break it down here:
Purchase price: $6,500.00
Taxes/Registration: $700.00 (Ouch!)
Total Purchase Price: $7,200.00
Tires: $400.00 (WHAT A DEAL FOR TRUCK TIRES)
Exhaust/Cat: $440.00
Suspension: $500.00
Required Repairs: $1,340
That’s only 19 percent of the purchase price, and the cat wasn’t 100% proven necessary.
Bumper: $280.00
Interior Trim Piece: $220.00
Fender Flares: $200.00
Cosmetic nice-to-haves: $700.00
Not necessarily where I would have spent my money, but you do you!
For a 34 year old vehicle, not horrible. When you consider what a new Gladiator costs, or even a 20 year old Toyota, you’re doing just fine for the use case.
One thing that always bugs me, why doesn’t ‘Purchase Price’ include the costs to get this vehicle to the new owner’s home driveway?
It this case add:
1) Air travel to vehicle location
2) Gas to drive vehicle 800 miles home
3) Hotel/food expense for travel
4) Opportunity cost… was a day(s) of vacation time spent to retrieve vehicle?
Those costs are real, and are only incurred to retrieve said vehicle. It this case, this is maybe $400-$800 of unaccounted for costs.
The man math says that the cost to go get it is free since you didn’t need to ship it.
Vehicles are just costly. If we look at them as tools that need maintenance then they cost money and repairs are often way cheaper than car payments. If we look at vehicles as investments that should appreciate or at the very least depreciate as slowly as possible because it is all about resale value, we are missing the point that they should be fun tools to be used.
Every Comanche I have come across has been used hard and put away wet. Never do you see one that is looking good. I mean, it IS a truck. Do what you are doing David, if anything to just keep the posts going! But keep doing what you are doing because no one saves the ugly ducklings because they aren’t special until 30-40-50 years later, then they ARE special.
EDIT: At my salvage yard you could replace the whole drivetrain for under $500! That is less then many folks car payments!
“Here’s all the extra unobtanium bits I bought for the truck I plan to make my workhorse. I’m funding it by selling my workhorse truck that can be ordered in it’s entirety through the LMC Truck catalog”
Just by the bumper and rear fender flare comments alone, I fear you’re going to become too paranoid to drive this thing.
Also, on the A/C front, consider just upgrading the alternator and slapping in an electric A/C kit. I’ve been seeing more and more people very content with those setups.
I’m looking forward to the article “My Wife is Starting to Figure Out That I’m a Hoarder.”
Two sets of extra i3S tires
Extra bumper so the rare bumper can stay pristine
How many WWII axels go on that Jeep?
Parts Jeep for the eBay from scratch Jeep. Don’t you have an extra frame now?
You sold the Aztek, but do you still have the center console cooler still?
I’m sure I’m missing a lot of other parts laying around
I have a 17′ Prius Prime.
Not until several months after buying it did I realize that the rear hatch is all carbon fiber And special to that model dual wave glass.
Several times I’ve thought of buying a spare hatch and hanging it up on the wall (just in case), bc I don’t think a ton of primes of this generation were sold
David, you are standing in a river in Egypt: denial.
“My Jeep Comanche Is Starting To Become A Money-Pit And I’m OK With It”
We all knew this day would come.
Seriously.
ALL vehicles become money pits if you own then long enough, amirite?
All vehicles are money pits. They are not investments. They are depreciating assets, unless you somehow manage to luck into an inexpensive, interesting one and hang onto it long enough that it becomes desirably rare and, if the market is interested enough, valuable again.
My own truck bottomed out in value at about $700 around 2001, and has since been slowly climbing back up. Key word there: slowly. And as dollars lose value, the number describing the value might get bigger at one rate, but the actual value my truck could bring if I were to sell it climbs at a different, lower rate.
I think the inexorable passage of time is really easy to overlook when you have a favourite model of car – when I was younger I used to drive cheap 80s Aussie Fords because they were ‘uncool’ and being family sedans it was possible to pick ones up that had been in a family since new and decently kept.
Now fifteen years down the track I considered buying one, but they’re now ‘collectible’ so all the cheap ones are absolutely cactus; I feel like David’s starting to run into the same issue with these Jeeps.
David, most of those items are wear items. $400 is dirt cheap for tires these days. Last night my son paid $400 for a running Subaru (delivered!). I don’t think it’s a money pit just because it too needs tires, exhaust and removal of Hantavirus from the interior. We’ll JB weld a patch on the rusty oil pan to save $50 and might paint it with a roller and some rustoleum.
That Jeep exhaust is also more simple and inexpensive than on more modern vehicles and you need functional shocks and springs on any truck. Heck I just replaced those items on my 2015 Silverado and they cost much more than what you paid. I reserve money-pit monikers for issues that were unexpected, annoying or rare and also add up over time to large amounts of cash.
Agreed on wear items not counting towards the money-pit moniker. When I hear money-pit I think of multiple unexpected failures.
I think it’s part of the joy of making a vehicle your own and keeping it going. Things I bought/did to my $1200 mostly rust free 250k mile 99 XJ: new tires, front and and rear brakes, shocks all around, radiator, water pump, front sway bar bushings and links, valve cover gasket, trailer wiring harness, ignition coil, and I’m probably forgetting a few other things.
And then it overheated and developed a cracked block right above the freeze plugs. Fixed that with JB Weld and it’s holding up but I’m not spending any more on it except for gas and oil.
Still it’s been a fun ride…
But is the dash cluster indicating $1,500 cash back and a low interest rate on a new purchase? Highest trade-in value!
Here’s the thing – if you spend the money to buy one that is actually nice, it shouldn’t be a money pit. And in theory, your time has value too. But as Tyler Hoover has long shown, hoopties get views, so I guess there is that.
Scoutdude nailed it – Jeep-flavored beer googles…
> essentially rust-free
I.e. only three holes?
Color me unsurprised. All of those things were things that were known upon purchase or at least should have know if it weren’t for the Jeep flavored beer goggles.
I do agree with some of the others that this is a pretty click baitiy title as the total is not really that much and some of it was purely optional. But just as I predicted because it is a Jeep you are doing things like replacing the “super rare” bumper to “save” it and replacing trim panels that in no way prevent the truck from running, driving, stopping and hauling things.
Which is why I and others said the Chevy is the truck for you. With no Chevy googles there wouldn’t be a need to do anything that isn’t necessary to keep it running and driving plus there are no “rare” or expensive parts.
It’s all relative; I think having to buy a new exhaust, new springs, new shocks and new tires is a lot of money, and so thus begins the slide into money-pit-dom. A slide that I have embraced and enabled with my superfluous purchase like the bumper and rear trim panel.
The issue with the Chevy is I only ever drive it when I need to do truck stuff. The Comanche I drive when I need to do truck stuff or when I just wanna cruise. It’s hard to justify keeping a vehicle I drive ones every couple of months. And thus, the Chevy will soon find a new home.
Tires, shocks, springs and exhausts are items that you’d expect to replace multiple times throughout the life of a vehicle, so you don’t even need to deploy ‘man math’ to justify their purchase.
Indeed.
NO that is the good thing about the Chevy it doesn’t get driven unless you need to do truck stuff. By having the Jeep it just means that other vehicles don’t get driven when you just want to cruise and you have vehicles that are simply better when you just want to take a cruise like your Wrangler or the often neglected Mustang.
How about a nice heavy duty trailer hitch?
Yes! More sliding into the money pit! (But it does need a better hitch).
David is smart and knew all this needed to be replaced (bumper not included) and it’s totally reasonable considering its age.
Not totally click bait but close. It’s a nice clean truck.
If it was named ‘here’s what I spent so far fixing up my clean old jeep truck’ it would not have the same reaction..
It’s a nice truck DT, stop being dramatic!
Considering that a new Jeep whatever would be in the neighborhood of 50-75k you are doing fine and have baseline 20-30k of slack to build your forever Jeep and still have a safety for the unforeseen surprises.
$400 for a SET of tires? girl shut up
Seriously!
Plus installation!
Mine, the soon becoming common 255-45-20 W-rated quality tires $300 each!
I found a set of whitewalls for my air-cooled Beetle last year that were less than $400 for all four. I have no idea what brand they are but it’s a fair weather, in town car, so as long as it’s new and made of rubber I’m happy.
Sorry but I don’t get the bumper replacement. I see a faded, scratched, dented, and rusty rear bumper. Exactly as one would expect on a 1992 farm truck. This is being replaced why?
What is the point of having a rare stock bumper if it isn’t on the truck looking rare and stock?
It’s not logical at all. But my old boss at Chrysler had someone hit his dad’s Comanche’s rear bumper, and he was never able to find a replacement. I personally don’t want to worry about it, so into storage it goes. A beefy replacement takes its place.
Again, not logical.
Yup makes sense. Carry on.
I think you need to fight this impulse because it eventually leads to you feeling compelled to store the whole truck in a warehouse for safety. The entire truck is getting close to unobtainium. Some jerk on the I-10 can total the whole thing about as easily as they can ruin the bumper.
Shoulda gone with the Gladiator retrofit then… if you are going off the OEM bandwagon might as well do something more unique
What good is an OEM bumper in storage? No it is not logical to both want an OEM truck and yet not want to drive that OEM truck for fear it will be damaged.
Yet another reason to keep the Chevy for truck tasks as you seem to have no illogical fear of damage to that vehicle from using it for the intended purpose.
“This is being replaced why?”
It’s because David has ‘Gone Hollywood’
LOL
He’s saving the “nice” bumper for guests. What if the King of England needs some mulch?