Tomahawked

So are you going to be able to use the top half from parts truck to repair the missing one on lifted truck? :clapping:

Then go grab a Cherokee rear driveshaft from boneyard and get the tube changed to correct length.

If tube isnt bent just take to a driveshaft shop and have the end replaced.

What year and motor?

The reason for piston to swell up is due to heat pressure, and brake fluid. Not necessarily in that order. Chrysler was one of the first to change over to phenolic pistons. And the first to have major problems shortly after.

With this line of thought, I might as well replace every wearing part on the truck. Lines were fine. Not even cracked on outers. When lines do go bad, its usually from someone pinching them shut in the past when doing repairs, or letting the weight of caliper hang down by only the line. The inner layer ususally has to be broken for the line to get clogged. If it deterorates, the fluid would be very dirty, contaminated and hold some residual pressure immediately after driving. Trying to rotate the wheel showed a lot of drag but no pressure when opening bleed screw. So now you know an easy test to help diagnose brake problems.

I had to remove studs in frame and use different holes when swapping in the auto. You don't use all of the holes that are in crossmember either. Definately a major difference in the tranny mounts.

Just finished the same conversion on my `88. Find a donor Cherokee up to 1990. They should be plentiful, so don't just jump on the first one you find. Sit back and wait until you find what you want for the truck on one vehicle. I don't know why you would prefer the 4 banger, but if the bellhousing is same, there are plenty of donor 4.0 liters around that have rest of the parts needed. Mostly its a plug and play swap unless you convert from auto to manual or other way.

The belt was new. Water pump is new. Belt keeps jumping back one groove on crank gear towards block and riding over the lip. Everything appears to be lined up, but obviously not. I did notice A/C compressor has a pulley with one groove wider than the others. Belt is centered on the flat pulleys. Any possibilities before I get too ambitious and remove everything. I need to change compressor before summer hits and will make sure that pulley matches the others.

Do you know for sure the rear end is bad? You may have snapped a ujoint and just need to replace the yoke on axle. If so thats a quick easy fix.

I took all of the above suggestions under consideration. But since I always think outside the box, decided on this fix. Removed the wheel and there was the usual black dust and burnt smell. I had just machined the rotors and replaced the pads. So was expecting there to be some problem with calipers sticking eventually, and common to plastic pistons with high milage. Just didnt expect the trouble to be almost immediate. I removed the caliper and noticed how badly the pads glazed over. Whats really ridiculous is there is only 35 miles on them. Removed caliper and tried pushing piston back in. Just curious how tight it felt. Not good. So I used the air hose with blower and popped out said piston. It measured about 0.004" larger(thickness of a fat hair for reference) in size than should be. In the lathe it went and shaved down to the right size. Polished it with some 600 grit and was done. Wiped the inside of caliper out and slid piston back in using existing seal and square cut oring. It went back in much easier than before. I would normally replace rubber parts, especially for a new dust seal. The oring is not normally subject to wear or swelling unless fluid has been contaminated. But nobody locally had them in stock. I also heard a clunk when applying pedal after changing pads originally. I noticed the usual worn gouged area where inside pad rides on caliper mount. It was stepped more than I cared for, so grabbed the MIG welder, ran a bead over, and built up where the step was. Ground it down smooth. The welded surface was extremely hard. Actually much harder than spindle itself. Maybe a good thing. The file wouldnt touch it. But now there is no ridge for pad to bind up on and piston is not sticking. So tire spins freely when pedal is released. I guess that makes me a happy camper. But not so fast. After doing the extreme test run, I noticed the left side is starting to act up the same. So tomorrow, I will do a pete and repeat on it and should be good to go. I know I should have done both at same time, but a big storm was fastly approaching. Now you are wondering why I would go to this much trouble. Just slap another caliper on and get on with my life. Well that is one way to approach it. BUT, I would not have educated myself at all. Just spend some money and learn nothing. When I repair something I really want to learn more than I need to get by on. Not only did I repair the problem. But did so in the same time would have taken if I drove down to the store and purchased a replacement part. So for the same amount of time spent, I did the repairs for nothing out of pocket. AND got a complete understanding or what was wrong and what it took to fix. If I had done all of this and didnt correct problem, it would have been irritating. But I would have eliminated the more obvious reason and looked further into what more serious issues there might be still lurking.

One inch in front is all I need to get the truck level. Any simple options that have proven to work? The suspension is all stock.

I have a right side caliper sticking after driving thru too much stop and go traffic today. I could either swap for a rebuilt caliper $17, replace with just a new plastic piston $15, remove old piston and machine the 0.005" off OD it has swollen over the last 20 years of use, or just machine a new one out of stainless steel. All are easy enough to do. I hate just replacing with rebuilts, especially if something simple to repair. The rebuilt caliper will not have a new piston. It would be just cleaned, painted, and rubber parts renewed. Replacement piston fixes problem and should be good for many more years, but cost is nearly the same for a rebuilt. For the 30 minutes it would take to drive and pick up another caliper, I could have the old piston taken out, machined and replaced. Machining a new one out of SS stock is te most time consuming, but a permenant reapir good for the next 50 years. What would you do?

I just finished piecing an 88 together from 90 motor and donor parts. It does exactly as you described. At idle in gear with brakes on it will drop down to around 600 or less and run rough. Everything loose in cab starts shaking and rattling. I put it in neutral and idles up just enough to stop running rough. But after a couple seconds it will idle back down to around the 600 and be rough again. If it sits long enough the idle rises just a little and smooth out for a few seconds then drops again. Its not a surge or wandering. I have other vehicles do similar without the real low idle that results in a rough condition.

Sorry about the slight misinformation. The nothing I wrote was not a dead battery but the alternator not putting out. I gave up on trying to get the alternator going for the the moment. Later I started all over again. After rechecking the usual, I tore out the instrument panel and decided to focus on why the two gauges were not functioning. Since only two little screws hold gauge, I removed volt meter to check if it worked. Hooked to battery and worked fine. I checked across the connection on back of mylar circiut board and nothing. Followed back to the connector and with key on it had voltage. I noticed the copper strip powered both oil pressure and volt gauge. At least I found a common denominator between them. I scratched thru the strip at intervals along path to first gauge. All the way to the oil gauge there was continuity, but not at the gauge itself. I removed the connection screw and there was the problem. A tiny crack across copper strip where the washer had cut thru. So I just loosened the screw and pushed washer over the break and tightened it back. Now everything is working, battery is fully charged and I am a happy camper again. Its suprising how such a small imperfection could cause major problems. I realize now why the alternator was probably missing on the donor Cherokee. Someone had removed it thinking was bad. I swapped most of the Cherokee parts over to Comanche since all of the 4wd lights and things that were different. It also reaffirms how thorough someone needs to be when troubleshooting something without knowing exactly what is causing the problem.

The problem was not a drain. It wasnt charging. It showed charging voltage once then later only actual battery voltage. I had voltage from switch RUN to alternator. Tried everything I knew and nothing would make any difference. What was odd is the 2 wire connector with a DVOM showed 12 volts across both wires. Even checking off each battery cable confirmed this. When engine running it had voltage across the wires. This didnt make sense, because what showed to be the ground wire should have been going thru the coil on volt meter.

Wrecking yards are full of them around my neck of the woods. If you don't find anything, I could probably be pursuaded to grab one next time I am pulling parts.

This problem definately gets technical, especially long as it took me to find the culprit. Here is the scenerio. I had acquired a 90 Cherokee for all donor parts to build my 88 Comanche. Changed from a standard to automatic also. I used the complete engine harness back to firewall from Cherokee. Got rid of that big connector above brake booster. I wired in the extra pieces to dash harness needed for the automatic that replaced the old 5 speed. Had both harnesses layed out together tracing wires hoping to get everything correct. Basically stripped the 90 dash harness and added what was needed to the 88 harness. Lots or splices and solder joints to repair all damaged pieces. Nothing staked or crimped for any repairs. So I basically changed the complete motor, transmission, transfercase and D30 front axle. So converted to 4wd just like most people. Everything installed and motor ran. I did not have an alternator from any of the parts. So grabbed one from boneyard. Installed it and was reading 14.4 volts with meter. As I had time over the next couple of months finished all of the loose ends. Everything was working, so I thought except for volt and oil pressure gauge. I took in on its maiden voyage last Friday for a 120 mile round trip, and got the inspection sticker while out. After dark, I drove back and started having the usual issues of surging power, loss of lights that ended up draining the battery dead. Borrowed another battery and drove the other 30 miles remaining back. Checked the junkyard alternator and was not putting out voltage. SInce it was used and bearings were noisy I replaced it with a brand new one but still nothing. I started troubleshooting and found nothing that I knew to be wrong. Left it alone and started fresh the next morining. Rechecked everything, reinstalled then alternator was charging and reading 14.2 volts with all of the lights on or off. All was good. I finished up some other details and was ready to call it fixed. Later in the day when finished I checked voltage one last time and nothing. Removed alternator twice kept checking and could not find out why it would not charge. So ask questions and see if you can figure out what I finally found wrong. This is one reason why I would never do auto repair for a living and won't pay someone else to work on any vehicles of mine. Think hard and give it your best shot. I learned a lot and will probably never run into this problem again.

Friday I am making my first distance maiden voyage. Aside from driving down the street to put 5 gallons of gas in, this will be the only run it will have taken since all of the parts swap over. I had, what seems to be a common problem with the e-brake cable and snapped the end off when depressing down by hand. Since it has the Chreokee console now, had to make the hand brake functional. Didnt take too much. I made it more complicated than really needed. Cut the existing cable housing to 16". Used the old cable. Drilled out the busted cable pieces and silver soldered the end back on. Then used the cable swivel off foot brake mechanism. Bent the tab so it would bolt to end of threaded rod from hand brake. The cable was shortened to match the length needed. I slid the old shortened housing back on down to where is was attached under truck. Its only purpose is just to keep from wearing a groove in floorpan. Everything is working and hope to get an inspection sticker in the morning. Loading the chainsaw and 4 wheeler in back of truck and making a day of it cutting down some trees to build a large carport off side of my dads shop. Or to have a way back in case truck breaks down on the way.

If you have any amount of slop like described, it would be an intelligent decision to go ahead and replace it. Especially since you already have the pan removed. A little common sense goes a long way.

OK, you have a fuel pump running. Now you need to figure if there is any fuel pressure. Depress the valve on fuel rail after the key is turned to run. It should spray out, not just dribble down. We can do baby steps with this. So one thing at a time.

If there are any buzzers making noise when you turn the key, fuel pump won't be heard. Fortunately the fuel pump is very accessible and easy to remove. Have someone tur the key to run while you feel for the relay to click. Check fuses, etc. Depress the valve on fuel rail to check for fuel pressure after turning key to run. It should spray, not dribble. If nothing, remove fuel pump from tank after removing fuel down below hole in tank. If truck has been sitting up a long time, its possible varnish is present. I had a clean tank even tho truck had been sitting up for 5 years. It started and ran, and a few days later would not stay running and stall out. Problem ended up being the short piece of rubber fuel line where pump connects to hard line on sending unit in tank. The rubber line had basically disintigrated.

This is the exhaust and what I did to make fit. The reason for using these parts is simple. I had them. Actually found them ready for the trash truck to pick up in front of someones house one afternoon. I don't even remember what possessed me to turn down this particular street that day. Never went that way before or since then. Anyway the single from where convertor was supposed to be is split and welded. Even kept the factory clamps for that nice original look. Each piece is bent at 15 degrees. I cut the pieces and used the mig welder to connect everything. I swedged the front pipe larger and flattened to get the best fit without restriction at the Y. Was very easy and didnt take about 30 minutes for everything. The hard part was welding to existing system under truck on my back. I would have prefered a lift, but too much to get that up and going right now. More pics and information to follow...eventually.

This time last year I picked up a wrecked Cherokee and 2wd Comanchee. The `90 Cherokee was donor for engine tranny and all the 4wd parts. `88 Comanchee Eliminator already had motor and tranny removed and gone. So I had to add engine wire harness and splice in extra wires for the auto replacing that great Peugeot stick pos. I got rid of that large connector for engine harness and went straight to back of fuse block with replacement from donor. Swapped out front axle and changed rear axle gears from the 2wd 3.08 to 3.55. Added full console and newer gauge cluster with newer dash pad, and lower panel from a 96 model that was included with all the parts it had extra. Replaced with newer A/C components. So ended up with the `90 Renix 4.0, auto with 242 x-case. Didnt have a doable driveshaft, so went looking in my scrap pile of extras. What I came up with is what I believe is a driveshaft from a mid 70's F100. All I needed to do was remove about 4.5 inches and weld back together. I used a chopsaw to cut driveshaft tube. Then machined the cast carrier for u-joint on lathe to remove old weld. Tapped into shortened tube. Clamped both ends down on a flat plate with large C-clamps. This aligned everything to both axis. Tacked in a few places, then burned it all the way around. Before I bought these vehicles, somone had planned to swap engine and other parts over. They started but never got anywhere close to seeing the light at end of tunnel. Originally somoene had already bought brand new front/rear tube bumpers, and tube steps. The last guy that had these also bought most of the normal wearing parts for motor. There were boxes of extras like waterpump, serpentine belt, valve cover gasket, alternator, air filter, oil filter, fule filter, and other small items. So it was basically waiting for someone to get grease under their fingernails. One day back in September I pulled the motor and tranny then swapped out front axle. Since then I have been piecing it all back together. 2 weeks ago I inally got it titled and registered. Last week I welded in a very large new take-off muffler and tailpipe from a full size Blazer. This exhaust had 2 smaller 2" pipes in and a larger single 2 3/4" tailpipe. I went to the local muffler shop and grabbed some scrap pieces. Bent two 2" pieces with a 15 degree angle. Cut them and welded together so I had a large single from motor split into the two smaller 2" inlets on muffler. I had to cut the tailpipe and shorten where it connects to back of muffler. It ended up fitting up much higher than stock system. It is routed above rear leaf and dumps down right in front of rear spring mount. I didnt like mig welding on my back, but wasnt as much of pain as expected. I figured it might have some resonance or light rumble from larger pipes and catalytic converter eliminated, but is extremely quite. This afternoon I wrapped up most of the loose ends on interior. I pushed down the E-brake with my hand and broke the front cable. So now its going to get the pull handle from CHerokee swapped over to console. After dark I drove it down to the gas station to fill up. With exception for a couple of squeaks and rattles it drove well and everything is working. Rearend didnt make any howling noises, loaded or unloaded and housing didnt get hot, so should be fine. Truck is still all original and has the usual clear flaking off and base coat faded. There is no rust anywhere, and no body damage. All it needs now is a decent coat of paint. With these tube bumpers there was no place for license plates or lights. So I fab'ed up a piece of sheetmetal that bolts up under tailgate. Then punched out holes and filed to fit the stock license plate lights on each side. The things I still have to address are turn signals that arent working and a bearing on an idler pulley that sounds like is going out. I will follow up with some problems I encountered on the way and what was done to correct them.

A fusible link is designed to break if the maximum rated load of a given wire size is exceeded. So if the 4 ga wire is rated for more than what alternater produces, just fuse for it instead.