GonzoTheGreat

I'm looking to source a “trail spare” alternator pulley. I don’t want to buy a whole new alternator for the sake of a pulley, but my current one is a little hogged out on center, and I’d like a decent spare just in case. This one is apparently a little hard to find. It’s got the 6 rib and v-belt combined. I’m hoping someone has an old 2.5L laying around and they’re not using it. The alternator doesn’t even have to work, I’m just looking for the pulley. Thanks

I used this one from Jeep Cables, and I’ve had no complaints. It seems like high-quality wire, and the headlight sockets are ceramic. It made an incredible difference in the brightness of my headlights.

I used a chisel where it was more brittle, and wire wheels for the rest. It was messy.

Quick update: The truck is legally abandoned. It will likely sit alongside the highway until next year when some kind of state-funded junk removal barge comes to clean the town up. Then it’s likely to be junked. It’s too bad this place is so isolated, because it could probably live again, in the right hands. Although the hood release is broken, and there’s a lot of stuff in the bed that should be under the hood. in other news, I couldn’t let these go to waste Aww yeah, that is, in fact, a cargo lamp! The small stuff will fit in my checked bag, but the tailgate is sneaked onto a pallet headed to Seattle. Not sure how I’m gonna retrieve that yet, but we’ll figure something out.

Hey guys, I’ll dig a bit more on NAXJA and maybe jeepforum, but I figured I’d ask here as well. Does anyone have a source for info on the late model XJ turbo diesel available to the euro market? I believe it was still made by Reneault in ‘97. Any info would be great. A repair manual would be ideal. Also, does anyone have a good source for parts here in North America or somewhere across the pond? I might be looking for cooling system parts specifically. Asking for a friend

I’ve had good luck with the dual gaskets, but I always give them a spritz with copper “spray-a-gasket” exhaust rated stuff.

I second that. A few bulbs isn’t much by todays standards, but when you’ve only got 60 amps from the alternator, and questionable aging grounds, it adds up. I used to have the same problem, but I’ve gone LED with every bulb except the front directionals. They had to stay incandescent to make the late-model turn signal mod work, and now I have electronic flashers to work with the LEDs. I also replaced the front turn signal sockets and headlight switch, and cleaned up/improved all my grounds. I also installed a headlight relay harness, but I don’t think that affects the directionals. I'm not sure which of these things fixed it, but the radio doesn’t dim anymore. I wish I could be more helpful, but I did everything in one go, so I couldn’t tell you what was the exact culprit.

You might be referring to the pre warmer. Does the hose have a spiral wire in it like a dryer vent hose? If so, it’s to draw hot air off the exhaust manifold into the air box during initial start up to bring the engine up to temp quicker.

I tied the positive wire for my third brake light to the ground side of the brake switch then chassis grounded the light. That seemed to do the trick for me.

I vote up top. I think it looks nicer.

Thanks guys!!! This is an honor I’ve dreamed of since 2011. I’m happy to be a part of this community! If we head back to the states in the spring, how about I just stop by?

89 Sportruck 2.5L 4-speed 2WD This one is in the yard across from Peninsula Automotive in Naknek, AK Unfortunately, it’s not going anywhere under its own power. Fortunately, there’s nowhere for it to go in this town anyway (no roads connect to the mainland), so it’ll probably sit in this yard until it dissolves back into the ground. There’s not much salvageable except the tailgate, but again, there’s no way to get things out of here without spending a fortune.

Not 100% sure on the last digit. It may be a 2, but the windshield was pretty messed up in that corner. This one is on the Alaska Peninsula Highway in Naknek, close to King Salmon, AK. 2.5, 4wd, stick shift It’s rough. Probably never going to move. I’m trying to find out who owns it to see if I can nab parts.

lol. Thanks! I have no shortage of adventures. I’m doing commercial fishing up in Alaska this season. Gotta pay for the next trip! Unfortunately, no MJs up here. Several XJs, 2 SJs, and a couple J10s though.

Hell yeah! Looks like a great time!

Ok time for a final update. Its been an absolutely wild 3 months. I still can hardly believe it all happened, let alone that it’s over, but there’s a time for everything in life, and this thing is gonna be on pause for a little while. This week, we drove to the capital, and largest city in Costa Rica, San Jose, which involved one more ferry ride, because a major bridge is closed for repair work. To suspend the truck’s 90 day Temporary Import Permit (TIP), I have to store it at an “Almacen Fiscal” which is just an import/export duty-free warehouse. This was, by far, the hardest part of the trip for me. The paperwork wasn’t too difficult, but handing the keys over to some kid who jockeys imports around the yard all day like he stole them is definitely going to fuel my anxiety for the next six months. But seriously, we actually did a lot of research, and found a yard that reviewed very well, it looks very secure, and the price was very economical (After the first month, it’s about $90US/mo). It’s government bonded, there are cameras everywhere, and they guys in the yard even agreed to disconnect my battery after parking it. I also put a few psi extra in the tires, and topped up the fuel tank, so I think it’s ready for hibernation. That said, you guys are my witnesses. Here is the odometer and location when I handed off the keys: I’ll let you all know what happens in December! I can’t wait to find out for myself! In the meantime, I’ve gotta go recoup some of the money I spent.

That looks like a perfect fit. How was the material to work with? Did you have to score it to get the harder angles? Or just use heat?

This is one of my favorite builds on this site. Congrats!

Compared to the Canada-US border, down here it’s a whole different world. Mexico is the only one you can prep in advance online, and they require a lot, but they were the most organized. You need a tourist permit for each person (called an FMM) which you can get online for like $40 and a TIP (temporary import permit) for the truck. The TIP is handled through a third party agency with offices at the border, and at consulates in the US that are in border states. I couldn’t get mine online because the truck is older than 10 years, so we went in person in Houston. You have to buy private liability insurance, pay a fee for the TIP, and put down a deposit, based on the vehicle value, that gets returned when you exit and cancel the TIP. When we got to the Guatemala border, we returned all paperwork on the Mexico side, crossed the bridge, and went through the whole process again. Rinse and repeat at every border. Each crossing took from 1-4.5 hours depending on the organization level at the offices. Each border had its own nuances. Sometimes you pay a fee for the stamp or the TIP, other times no. Costa Rica has mandatory, government sponsored liability insurance you buy at the border. Nicaragua has mandatory private insurance with hawkers all around the office at the border. Guatemala and Honduras had no insurance available. There is also supposed to be the CA-4 visa sharing program, where Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, all function as one zone with one stamp in and out, like Europe, but that turned out to be total BS. We had to get passports stamped in and out at every border, and get a TIP for the Comanche for each country. You also need printed copies of everything (drivers license, passport, vehicle registration, etc) at each border. I actually brought a printer with me that I bought for cheap off Facebook before the trip, and a 300W cigarette lighter inverter, so I could print anything that I forgot right on the Comanche bench. And if all of this makes me sound pretty organized, don’t be deceived, because we were totally making it up as we went. The night before each crossing, there was a lot of googling going on to make sure we had what we needed. My favorite one had to be the entrance to Honduras though. We got stamped in and started the TIP paperwork at 7:45am on a Friday. They said they’d do the best they could, but there’s a power outage planned for 8:00. Idk how that’s a normal occurrence at a government office, but ok. 8:04 they have all the info entered on the computer, but just before they hit submit, the power goes out. No problem, they have an office down the street with a generator. I hop in the truck, the agent takes his desktop computer, and gets in his car, we drive to the other office. Long story short, after a lengthy process tracking down keys, and getting the genny on, we still had no power, so I took my multimeter out of the truck, and I went ahead and started troubleshooting. I found the breaker that wasn’t latched, and got power back on in the building. But still, no internet. So eventually the agent took off and found somewhere to finish our paperwork. He was back within the hour, and we were finally done. The guys were super nice, and none of this was their fault, but 4.5 hours to get this silly slip of paper was ridiculous. You definitely have to be flexible. That was the only time we had to significantly change plans though. If you can be patient with bureaucratic BS, it’s not bad. Speaking Spanish makes a huge difference too.

Yeah! We're still up to our shenanigans for a few more days. May 30, the truck goes into storage at a customs warehouse to suspend the temporary import permit. Then I can begin 6 months of anxiety until I see it again in December. We stayed a few days in Bahia de San Augustin, and I had the alternator fixed in La Crucecita! It really is a beautiful place. I can't wait to go back! We've been cruising around the Nicoya Peninsula for most of this month. The plan is to see more of the rest of the country on the return trip. I'm super happy to be driving a rugged, simple vehicle, with decent ground clearance. Most of the roads here are dirt, and typically is disrepair. Also, with the rainy season starting now, a lot of the river crossings (bridges are rare on the small roads) are starting to get deeper. I continue to be impressed with what 2WD and cheap summer slicks can accomplish. One more week of fun, then it's back to the whole "contribute to society" thing so I can get money. I'll post one more update probably when the truck is tucked away in the storage yard.

This is sad news. He was such a huge help to so many people. I know I'm not alone saying that his tips have helped keep my Jeeps on the road. Condolences to the family.

It’s not much of an update, but I washed off 9,000 miles worth of dead bugs and dirt, and gave the engine bay a quick wipe down, rainXed the windshield, checked fluids, tire pressure, etc.

And then we arrived! Guanacaste, Costa Rica. For the number crunchers, that's 9k miles, 7 countries, and just over 2 months. Considering I installed basically half a new Comanche over the last fall/winter, with hardly a test drive, I've gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised by how few issues the truck had. If I had my druthers, I would have preferred a 4.0/5-speed configuration, but I honestly have to say I was thoroughly impressed with how much abuse the little 2.5 could take. Next up: many more Pilsens by the beach, and then the truck will go into storage for the rainy season. I will turn some much needed attention to my bank account, and then the plan is not set in stone yet whether the truck will return north, or continue south, so we'll see what happens, come December. Thanks for reading!

We made pretty short work of the remaining countries, because we were significantly behind schedule, and needed to catch up. On the return trip I'd like to see much more, especially on the Atlantic coast. El Salvador was short but sweet. We drove straight across Honduras in one VERY long day. We stayed a few nights in Nicaragua, including a ferry ride to a volcanic island, which was super cool. I was a bit sketched out when the ride TO the island was shared with a crane. I know quite a bit of OSHA regulations, and I have some international maritime safety training, so my concerns were not unmerited, but we made it, no problems. I also got a surprise cat inspection, but my exhaust checked out ok.

If you’re still gauging interested for reproductions, I’ll put my name in.