Eagle

Especially in Minnesota in January ...

I've been a member here for over 16 years. I had been thinking for awhile that it would be a good idea to start a forum for Comanche owners, but I had no idea how to go about creating an Internet forum. And then one day I found that some dude named Pete M had gone and done it! Naturally, I signed up as soon as I found it. We all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Pete for starting this place, and for keeping it all Comanches, all the time.

You're asking about the six-slot steel wheels? They have a Chrysler pentastar emblem on them. Chrysler didn't acquire Jeep until 1988, so they can't be from a 1987. My '88 Cherokee was delivered to the dealer in January of 1988, and all the paperwork said American Motors. Beyond that, I believe the steel wheels in 1987 were still the eight-slot -- I don't think the wagon wheels changed from 8 to 6 until 1988 or 1989.

Sat for ten years? When you installed the fuel pump, did you install a new "sock" for the fuel pickup in the tank? Ten years worth of varnished fuel accumulation might have made the sock basically impervious.

Good job on catching him out, and thank you for posting the warning.

Reported by Bleepin' Jeep himself:

The 4.0L doesn't have a PCV valve. There's a [very] small tube coming off of the top rear of the valve cover that fulfills the crankcase ventilation function, but there is no physical valve. And, yes, that scrawny little tube can get clogged over the years. Whether that could pressurize the crankcase enough to force out of the oil filter overnight is something I don't care to guess at. How's your air filter? If the element is soaked with oil, your CCV system is clogged. If your air filter element is not soaked with oil, that's not the problem.

I think you will also have to find a printed circuit board form an '88 cluster with gauges.

Yes, he does. PM me for details if interested. Location is southern Connecticut.

If you need to replace the engine, don't use another 2.8L. Go with a newer 3.1L or 3.4L -- from a Camaro or Firebird (rear wheel drive),

Mine are all 4-doors, so the white one in the second photo is what I'm after. Leaving it open to weather isn't an option where I am.

I have a couple of old XJs cluttering up the yard. They'll probably be sold for scrap, but before they go I'm toying with the notion of cutting the rear windows and back part of the roof off to make a short Cheromanche. Not the type that mounts a Comanche bed behind a Cherokee cabin -- I'm considering the type that just opens up the cargo area of a Cherokee. Has anybody done this, or seen one? If so -- what's the best way to close off the back of the cabin? Is there a way to graft in a Cherokee lift gate to make a rear wall for the cabin?

But you can also catch it -- and spread it to others -- after being vaccinated. What we're learning -- after the fact, for those of us (like me) who have been vaccinated -- is that the vaccine doesn't do much of anything. They're now claiming we need boosters every three months, and there's talk of going to EVERY month. Seriously?

Those numbers aren't too far off (for an automatic), but they're off. But the OP has a 5-speed, so stock axle gearing is 3.08, not 3.54. The problem with every on-line gear ratio/speed calculator I've seen is that they use the nominal diameter of the tire. In reality, 31" tires are typically about 30.5" in diameter, 32s are typically about 31.5", and 33s are typically about 32.5". Then you put weight on them and the sidewalls flex, so the actual rolling radius is less than half the diameter of the tire. I made up my chart to allow for this, as much as possible. Wherever I could find data, I used a manufacturer's actual published rolling diameter or published revolutions-per-mile (the best number) for doing my calculations. For the OP, 60 MPH with stock tires and stock gearing is going to be just 1676 RPM in 5th gear. Jumping to 33" tires with 4.10 gears, 60 MPH will be 1974 RPM. So the overall gearing will be a slight improvement, but only a tiny bit better than stock tires with 3.54 gears. That's not bad at all for general driving with some mild to moderate wheeling. I was able to do a lot of trails at Paragon in my '88 Cherokee on 30" tires with the stock 3.08 gears.

I have no argument with that. But that means you don't "need" a ten-slot grille, you "want" a ten-slot grille.

Why do you need a 10-slot grille? A 1989 should have an 8-slot.

You're going to find that the AMC-era Jeeps tended to develop issues with the light sockets and/or grounds going bad. The part about the brakes lighting up your dash indicators is a clue. If your brake and tail lights have lost their ground, when you apply the brakes and power goes to the brake lights, the angry pixies (to quote from a guy on YouTube) look for any available path to ground -- which may turn out to be the parking light or turn signal circuit. Clean up the grounds for the tail/brake lights and for the parking lights, and then pull all the sockets and clean them out with a wire brush (they make -- or used to make -- brushes specifically for cleaning parking light sockets). While you're cleaning them, test each socket to be sure there's a good connection to ground.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pHFuhGgj6dQDfzyfFJH5z7NCDLW2KX3ABQgAJr3lBvM/edit#gid=0

Aluminum can be welded by TIG. I would certainly try that before hunting down a blown tranny and taking two of them apart nto move the rear housing over to yours.

How are they bent the wrong way? I dodn't see that in your photo.

Sorry -- It's been one of those days weeks months years.

Of course you can. Jeep stopped using the CAD in later years. When it snows, I shift my 2000 XJ into 4WD before I even try to get out of my driveway.

The grinding is the transfer case, not the front axle disconnect. If you are stuck, the wheels don't turn. In 2WD, if you start spinning the rear wheels and then shift into 4WD ... what's going to happen? The rear wheels are spinning, but the front wheels aren't turning. Something's gotta give -- and that something is going to be your transfer case. Eliminate the CAD, then shift into 4WD when you're NOT spinning then rear wheels.

Wrong.

I own two, and I just sold a third.