Eagle

Thanks.

Or, as my late wife would have said, Feliz Año Nuevo

To all members of the Comanche Club who celebrate the day, Merry Christmas.

It's a miracle you survived that. I'll keep you in my prayers. It's wonderful to know that you are keeping a positive attitude. My grandmother always taught us that what's important is not what happens to us, it's how we respond to it that matters.

It just took two of us over an hour to change the serpentine belt on my 2000 XJ. It should be simple -- loosen the bolt in the idler pulley, loosen the adjuster next to the power steering pump, remove old belt, install new belt, re-tighten two bolts. But NOOOOOOO ... Both bolts are 15mm. There isn't enough room to get a socket on the idler pulley bolt with the aux fan in the way, and the bolt was too tight to break loose with a box/open end wrench. So I called my friend, who has some specialized tools. Sure enough, he has a Matco wrench set specifically for doing serpentine belts. He only lives 10 minutes away, so he dropped what he was doing and came over with the special tool set. Which didn't fit. In the end, we had to remove the aux fan to get access -- and there's not quite enough room to get the aux fan out without risking breakage. After that, it was easy. I'll say again: NOBODY should be allowed to design anything about an automobile unless they have worked as a mechanic for at least two years.

Not silver. The pebble-finished recesses were painted a light/medium gray. Not "charcoal" -- more of a "battleship" gray, or just a touch darker than that.

Good luck!

My late wife's 2000 XJ Classic had a digital compass in the overhead console. The overhead console was an option in the Sport for some years but not for 2000, so my 2000 XJ sport doesn't have an overhead console. It's not like I need a compass, but sometimes I just like to see what direction I'm driving -- as well as possibly the altitude. There are many, many GPS compass, speedometer, and location apps for Android, and I've played with some of them. I'd like to find a secure way to mount a tablet where I can see it from the driver's seat, but I don't want to make any holes in or other alterations to the dashboard. Does anyone have any suggestions? This would be for something in the range of a 7-inch to a 10-inch tablet.

Everything has a back story. Before there was NAXJA, there was an XJ forum that I belonged to for several years. Then one day, just after having conducted a fund raiser to help defray the cost of hosting the forum, the guy who owned the site ghosted us. I don't remember the sordid details, but the bottom line was that he took the money and disappeared. The rest of us couldn't keep it going because the guy owned the domain name (which I don't remember now) and the hosting company would deal with us because he was their client. So several people did another fund raiser, we collected enough money to buy a domain name, buy some forum software, and put up a new forum. NAXJA was born -- I'm a charter (lifetime) member as part of the group that provided the seed money and started NAXJA. And that's why I was (and am) so glad that Pete had what it takes to get this forum up and running.

We do, indeed, owe this place to Pete Montie. Doesn't seem like that long ago, but almost 20 years ago I had it in my head that the world needed a forum dedicated to Comanches. I was going to create one, except that I had no idea whatsoever how to set up or operate an Internet forum. And then I woke up one day to find that some dude had gone ahead and done what I didn't know how to do ... so I joined up. Seriously, that WAS almost 20 years ago. My join date was October of 2005, so it has been 18 years. And I believe I was one of the first members (other than Pete). Even though it's called the Comanche Club, Pete has never charged any dues or subscription fees, so if anyone can afford to chip in a few ducats to help Pete keep this place alive, you'll be helping the entire Comanche community.

A friend in town is parting out what's left of his stepson's 2000 TJ. He asked me what I thought he might be able to get for the tires and wheels. There are five, on factory 15x8 rims. Tires are Coopers, and he says they don't have much tread left but they hold air. My feeling is that any value is in the wheels. The tires just make shipping a problem, but he's looking for a local sale through Facebook Marketplace. What do y'all think I should tell him?

He and I are about the same age. I'll be 80 in February. Please give him my regards.

"Back in the day," I had an opposite experience -- involving a 1968 AMX 390 4-speed. Driving around one day, I saw a rather ratty-looking AMX and stopped to leave a note on it to call me if the owner ever wanted to sell it. To my surprise, a few days later I got a call from the owner. He was interested in selling. So we made an appointment for me to go look at it. It needed a lot of work, but it ran and drove, so I declared that I was interested. While we were talking about the car and life in general, it had come out that I was a Vietnam veteran and the owner was a Marine Corps Reserve instructor, so we had that bond in common. He asked me what I thought a fair price might be. I juggled some numbers in my head and finally asked if he'd take $1,000 for it. He said "No," and my heart sank. "Oh, [bleep]", I thought. "He knows what it's worth." Imagine my shock when he then said, "I can't take that much for it, because I know how much work it needs. How about $800?" Done!

1968 or 1969 AMX. The engine badges were on the rear quarter panels and they're gone, so no way of knowing if it was a 290, 343, or 390. What a shame. I owned a few of them -- I loved 'em. Basically unbeatable in autocross. We loved going up against Corvettes. The Corvettes back then were all nose heavy and didn't handle worth [bleep]. Drove 'em nuts to be beaten by a Rambler.

You should definitely get the bedliner, the taillights, and the rear window. If nobody wants them today, somebody will be looking for them in the future.

????

Probably not a bad idea ...

Don't know why, but that seems to be a pattern in the auto dealership world. My brother (now retired) was a service writer/service manager. He encountered that same situation at least twice -- good relationship with a boss, that boss moved on (or was shown the door), new boss found every excuse possible to fire all the old staff and bring in his own people. It stinks, but it is what it is. Do NOT in any way think that you have let any of us down. You haven't. You are still a part of this community -- your work situation doesn't change that.

I think the MJ "frame" is up to the weight. Anybody remember the old AMC SC/Rambler? It was a 1969 Rambler American with their [cast iron] 390 cubic inch V8 stuffed under the hood. The Rambler American, the Javelin, and the AMX of the same era were all unibody vehicles not that different from the XJ/MJ. I've owned 390 AMXs, and my brother owned a SC/Rambler. Just change the front springs to something appropriate for the weight. The springs out of a V8 Grand Cherokee would be my first choice, probably from the 5.9L if you can find them. What engine are you going to use? I've seen any number of XJs with small block Chevy V8s installed and they ALL had severe cooling issues.

What new added weight? You're replacing a cast-iron in-line 6-cylinder engine with a cast-iron block and cast-iron exhaust manifold. Whatever V-8 you're planning to use, it probably weighs less, not more.

I don't know if this is going to help us, or if this is going to save Caravana.

I just noticed this one. What do want to bet that's one of those "homeowner" snow plow rigs? There are a number of light-duty snow plows for small pickups and SUVs that use a UTV winch to raise and lower the plow, and the blade angle is set manually (by getting out of the vehicle and kicking the plow to where you want it).

That's nnice, but it's not a Comanche. It's a modified XJ -- what we generally refer to as a "Cheromanche."

Here's the breakdown on mix-and-match. [This is from the manuscript for my book. It is copyrighted, and by posting this part here I do NOT give anyone permission to copy it and pass it along. You may post a link to this thread.] In general, the parts to be concerned with in keeping the front brakes compatible are the steering knuckles, the hub/bearing assemblies, the rotors, and the calipers. (There is a more complete enumeration of the interrelationship of these parts in Chapter 6, Axles.) Only two steering knuckle designs were used: 1984 through 1989, and 1990 through 2001. Left and right side knuckles are different part numbers within each group. Three different hub/bearing units were used. The hub/bearing units are the same for both sides of the vehicle. The different years for hub/bearing assemblies were: 1984 through 1989; 1990 through mid-1999 (composite rotors); and late-1999 through 2001 (cast rotors). Three rotor types were used: 1984 through 1989; 1990 through mid-1999 (composite); and late-1999 through 2001 (cast). Only two caliper types were used: 1984 through 1989, and 1990 through 2001. Left and right side calipers are different part numbers within each group.

The heavy-duty rear axle for 1986 was the AMC Model 20. The rear cover on the Model 20 is perfectly round. That axle is not out of an '86 MJ. From '87 thru '89 the D35 and the D44 both had 10" rear brakes. The D53 were 10" x 1.75", and the D44 were 10" x 2.5". The backing plates are different, so you can't just buy 2.5" drums and shoes and slap them on a D35.