Words and images by Jim Barber
In the fall of 2018, my wife and I were living in Idaho and we both wanted to move somewhere else. The problem was that we didn't know where we wanted to end up. We talked about it and decided that we would buy a truck, put a slide in camper in the back, and take the year off to figure out where we were going to move next. I had owned quite a few jeeps during high school so when we found a Jeep Comanche for sale for $800 we jumped on it. The drive back from the seller was not an uneventful one. It resulted in three blown tires, catching the side of the road on fire, and blowing up the engine.
I got it home eventually and immediately started to remove every single bolt from the truck. Around the time we had it stripped, we bought a newer Jeep Cherokee and swapped everything over into the Comanche. This gave it slightly more power, four-wheel drive, and a newer interior.
We weren't able to find a camper that we liked, so I decided to build one myself. I had taken a few welding classes back in college so I decided to buy a cheap aluminum welder to give it a try. I didn't have any real plans for the shape so I started by mocking up some wood 2x4's until I found a shape that I liked and just went from there. After a few months and countless hours of work, we had a truck with a little house on the back of it. Inside we have a full-sized bed, an 85-liter fridge/freezer, a sink, stove, table, and room to carry all our stuff.
I finished the majority of the build in May 2019 when I drove it up to Alaska for work. Fast forward a few months to September and we were finally ready to start our adventures. We started off by exploring Alaska before heading down south. We’ve been exploring since then and we still have a few months left before it's time to head back to work.
Sasquatch the Nomad’s 1987 Jeep Comanche MJ
· '97 high output engine
· Ford 9" and Dana 44 axles with limited slip and 5.13 gears
· 4.5' lift
· Method wheels with 35" km3's
· Custom projector headlights
· Fully plated frame
· Dual fuel tank capacity of 45 gal
· Fresh water capacity 25 gal
· 9-gallon water heater from engine coolant
· Exterior shower
· Propane stove and water heater
· Interior sink
· Water filter
· Full sized bed
· Interior LED lighting
· 200 watts of solar
· 100ah lithium battery
· Custom bumpers
· Chinese LED lights
· Custom roll bar roof rack
· 9.5k winch
· 85 liter Snomaster fridge/freezer
You can see more of Jim’s Jeep Comanche MJ camper on his Instagram: @sasquatch.the.nomad