gogmorgo

I've been able to post pics and things from my phone, using the mobile site and the BBcode tags. Unfortunatetly my dumbphone limits my posts to 255 characters, and url's take up too many to make it worthwhile. :( Good luck!

Swapping to OBD2 is a pretty big chore. Obviously none of the engine controls will be the same, so you'll have to completely swap all the electronics in the engine. Your dash with analogue gauges will also not be compatible with the OBD2 digitals, so you'll need a new gauge set as well. It's not uncommon for newer 4.0 blocks to get swapped into an older system, just changing over what needs changing, and staying with mostly Renix controls. It's much less work to do it that way than to completely change the harnesses for only a small performance gain. As the 4.0 and 2.5 share quite a few components, I don't see why you couldn't do something similar. That said, what's the point of getting a newer motor if you're just going to pull it apart and rebuild it, using none of the new control system?

My harmonic balancer started coming apart, which was only manifested as a slight wobble, but it was enough to get the belt smacking against the valve cover, enough that it was cutting itself a groove. Since your belt is making the noise at startup, I doubt that's the case, though; mine wasn't a constant squeal, it was a pulsing chirp that increased with RPM. You may be able to increase tension on the belt to quiet down the squeak. Your 88 will have either the 2.5L four-cylinder or the 4.0L six-cylinder, and both tension the serpentine belt with the power-steering pump. The power steering pump is opposite the battery, and should have a reservoir labelled "power steering fluid" attached. The pump has three mounting bolts, one kinda underneath it in a slot, one kinda above/behind it that acts as a pivot, and one directly underneath at 90° to the other (you turn it from the side). Back off the pivot and slot bolts about a turn or so, and adjust the sideways "bolt" so that the pulley and everything move away from the motor until the belt seems to have decent tension, and then tighten the other two bolts back up. You don't want to overtighten the belt as that will reduce its life, but a loose belt won't turn. (Note, this is assuming you have power steering... not all MJ's did. I don't know what a manual steering setup looks like.) Before attempting to tighten your belt, inspect it. If there are any cracks, or missing ribs, or fraying spots, or badly worn/burnt spots, replace it. If the belt fails while driving, you loose your power steering, charging, engine cooling, and a/c systems. Not, to mention, there's a small chance the belt you smack and break something else while in there, or twist up around something. To replace the belt, simply note how it wraps around the pulleys, loosen the power steering pump with the above procedure, put the new belt on exactly how the old belt was routed, and then tighten the power steering pump back up. If the squeal is caused by a bad pulley/bearing, it'll be making noise because the belt is rubbing against the pulley. This generates friction (pretty quickly) and you should be able to identify the pulley to blame after a short drive. It'll be much warmer than the others. As to your other concern, your '88 should have a mechanical speedometer, but what makes you say the speedometer cable needs replacing? On my daily driver, the speedometer needle kinda jumped around a bit, and with the cold it started jumping around more, reading way high, and making horrendous noises. I pulled out the dash and unscrewed the speedometer cable from it, shot both ends full of white lithium grease, and it lost pretty well all the wiggle and is whisper-quiet.

You may have just split a hose or even just popped one off. No guarantees you've cracked something bad. The belts being burnt likely means the water pump was frozen up, but there's a chance it could have survived. Burning belts means its cranking over, which is a good sign. Not starting could simply be because the frozen water pump wasn't letting the engine turn over quickly enough. If you have popped out a freeze plug (or several), it's not that difficult to carefully pull it out and tap new ones in, and they're reasonably cheap. It might also prove useful to put a block heater in place of one of them. If 17°F is the coldest it gets where you live, you may not need one, but it won't hurt anything. At any rate, drag it into somewhere heated overnight, let it thaw out, then determine the damage. Before attempting to start, check for fluid cross-contamination (i.e. coolant in the oil and vice-versa). I don't know what you're using for coolant, but as others point out, running straight water (even distilled) is bad for your motor long-term. You may not care, at the rate you've been going through motors, but antifreeze coolants also contain rust inhibitors and will raise the boiling point of your coolant. Rusty coolant passages tend to plug, and boiling your coolant can make a slightly overheating situation much worse. Antifreeze isn't just for cold climates, either, as you've discovered. As far as water content goes, anything other than distilled (or de-ionized) water should only be used if absolutely necessary, and should be replaced as soon as possible. Windchill factors don't actually change the temperature, it just means things cool down faster. -20 with -56 windchill means things loose heat as quickly as they would in stationary air -56, but they still won't get any colder than -20.

A better way to search any site: Use the GOogles! Just do a regular google search, but include the search term site:comancheclub.com (or whatever site you want to search... eg site:wikipedia.org). This forum's built-in search function is alright, but it's not amazing. It doesn't do short words, and it often leaves me frustrated. Google, on the other hand, couldn't have gotten to where they are with a crappy search engine. Bear in mind when trying to search other sites/forums that some don't allow Google to index them, so this trick doesn't work with ALL websites, only most.

The Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS, i.e. speedometer sensor thing) comes off the tcase, although if you've got an '89 (like your username), then you have a mechanical speedometer, and all you'll have is a cable (I think. Do your own research). If you've got a tcase out of a later year, then the speedometer could be electrical and would be a harness of sorts. My '91 has an electric speedometer, and if my memory is correct from almost a year ago when I had my trans out, there was a connector for it at the transmission dipstick. There's also a connector there for the neutral safety switch. I don't know how the harnesses and connectors would be routed on a manual, though, where there's no trans dipstick for them to attach to. I'm also pretty sure that to get it to work with a mechanical speedometer, you'd have to change the "speedometer pickup deal"/VSS for a mechanical one, and run a speedometer cable, which would be in place of the electrical harness. You'll likely be needing a longer speedo cable, but again, do your own research. If you are just referring to the vacuum harness, as ftpiercecracker1 says, unless you feel the need for a functioning CAD (why?) then you have no need for it. It would be more work than it's worth with too many potential for leakage to get in tapped into your 2wd vacuum setup.

My tcase was always tougher to shift when I was completely stopped. When you're not moving, you're basically just smashing the gears into each other until one of them turns out of the way to engage properly. The owners manual recommends shifting between 2wd and 4hi at "any legal speed", and in any gear... just take your foot off the throttle. When switching between gear ranges (4hi, neutral, and 4lo) it recommends something like 2-3 mph as maximum speed, also disconnecting the transmission from the engine (either by clutch or neutral in a manual, or park or neutral in an automatic).

I run a 2:1 antifreeze:water mix for exactly this reason. 50/50 isn't even good all the way down to -40... Not so good in SK.

The tranny mount sits between the transmission crossmember and the transmission. Or rather, the transmission sits on it. It bolts to both. Care to describe the steps you took when separating the motor and transmission? The two may kinda hang up on each other a bit and take some wiggling to get out (the XJ/MJ engine bay was initially designed to not fit an inline six, but then they shoehorned one in there anyhow) but as long as you've unbolted the bellhousing to motor bolts and the torque converter to flexplate bolts, the two should come apart pretty easily. The torque converter stays on the transmission. If you leave the torque converter bolted to the flexplate, you can very easily damage it by reefing the motor and tranny apart — if you can even get them apart at all.

http://comancheclub.com/topic/36382-cruisers-renix-tips/ <- Cruiser's Tips If you're trying to embed a Youtube video in your post, just paste the URL in directly, don't try to format it in any way. Relevant yet shameless self-promotion.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-buy-sell-other/winnipeg/axial-scx-10-jeep-comanche-body-with-custom-exo-cage/1042920158 Cab with a steel exocage for sale in Winnipeg. $150.

It likely wouldn't be bad hauling stuff across soft or loose surfaces and would be alright in the dunes, but don't expect to be catching air... those things are slooooow. It's basically a tractor.

There were a few early abs systems that only had one sensor for the rear axle. The original intent was only keep to the front wheels from locking to maintain steering, so the rears weren't as critical. This axle was under an early Waggy, so... Sentinel.

I saw one at a junkyard with a dana44 that had some kinda wire going to it. The axle was painted orange so I assumed it was swapped in from something with ABS, but this makes as much sense if not more.

Oh but you can! http://comancheclub.com/topic/37727-how-to-post-pictures/ This thread also may be of interest. (shameless self-promotion) http://comancheclub.com/topic/38265-how-to-make-your-posts-look-awesome-pics-links-videos-etc/

The factory drop-in bed liners sealed pretty well. Going over the top of the rails kept a good portion of the crap out. A few members have pulled them and been surprised at how clean the bed was. The aftermarket drop-in liners that don't go over the top of the rails? Yeah. Stay away if you plan on keeping the truck for more than a couple years.

Five longer studs would mean that the lug nuts retaining the spacers aren't quite so critical to keep tight as the nuts retaining the wheels would clamp the whole shebang together. As long as you're running hub-centric spacers, the lugs and nuts would be loaded in tension with only minimal shear forces on the lugs, same as they came from the factory — just with longer studs. Having ten studs instead of five in this case isn't redundant, and you've got the same loads at two shear points either way you do it. In the case of lugs, where one breaks, the others are soon to follow. You're not really any better off with ten studs or with five. That said, I have seen studs break with no spacers and factory wheels torqued to proper spec. Hit a bad pot hole, understeer into a curb, it happens. And if something does fail, and you've installed a relevant part in a way other than specified by the manufacturer... one guess as to who will be liable.

:yeah that:

Specifically you're looking for an H4 harness. If you're a bit savvy with wiring, you could also make your own. Edit: and here's the wiring diagram I made earlier in this thread and TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT. LOL. Another edit to correct the now-broken link above: http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoHeadlightLoom.htm

There's a heater airbox deal down there that directs air at your feet. That's the plenum. The console has its own plenum and ducts to bring air backwards. The dictionary definition of plenum is "a place where a treated substance collects for distribution"; i.e. the heater blows air into that space and it goes from there to the vents.

I also did that... and then undid it right away. If it's been dangling for years, then your rear brakes haven't been working for years. I always lightly push the brakes when I shift out of park, and doing that jammed them on, and they stayed that way. Fortunately I have that habit, so it happened in my parking stall and not in traffic. I couldn't move in either direction. I got out and kicked the crap out of the rear wheels with my steel-toes, and they eventually released, but then it happened again right away when I next touched the brakes. Not to mention my big toe was bruised for a couple weeks... So yeah, fair warning... it's good to make sure your rear brakes are in good shape before doing this. That, however, shouldn't be a reason not to do this. Rear brakes are a good thing.

Divine Droppings, $500? :nuts: I picked one up this summer, admittedly not mint, but with only a couple dents, good plastics, minimal rust, for all of $35. I guess some yards know what they've got better than others...

This is the load-sensing brake proportion valve. The thin rod should be somewhat vertical. As the axle moves upwards under load (or rather the body moves downwards) the rod pushes the flat bar upwards (counterclockwise when viewed from behind the truck), increasing rear brake bias. If it feels like your rear brakes aren't doing much right now, it's cause they probably aren't.

Only borrowed the pic to illustrate, but cool info nonetheless. I didn't know it was restricted to the early Waggys.

RockAuto has vinyl "carpets" listed for the 96-down XJ, but not for the '97+.