CommaComanche

Oh the trip was easily worth it. Even if I didn't come home with a Comanche the trip would have been worth it. But, I love my truck. So, double worth it.

I was terrible at keeping this thread updated while on the trip. I guess I will give a bit of an update now about how the trip went. I picked up my buddy from his house in St. Clair Shores (I live in Harrison Township but grew up just north of 10 mile and east of Jefferson in SCS..to answer Blue XJ's question)...We left his house and hit the road. Now, we are not the type to plan a trip in any way, shape, or form. We just knew we had about 48 hours to make it to New York City, see the city, and then turn back to head home while stopping in Scotch Plains, New Jersey to pick up the Comanche. We just picked randomly (with a little knowledge) picked a road and started heading in the general direction of NYC. I should add that my buddy had worked the night before and it was roughly 5am at this point. I had just worked a 12 hour shift and got off at 4am. But, like I mentioned earlier we only had 48 hours to get the trip done. We drove until nature called for my copilot. We found a Meijer somewhere in northern Ohio and stopped. Proof of the stop: What he did not know was that some genius decided to put the "Out of Order" sign for this particular stall on the outside of the door. When stall was unoccupied the door was opened to a wall and the sign was not visible. We laughed for a few miles. This is basically the only entertainment that there is in Ohio,. We continued driving for a few more hours. The copilot slept for a little bit until we got about 50 miles into Pennsylvania. He took over on the drive so that I could sleep. Sleeping was a major failure, which I already knew it would be. He is one of those drivers that speeds up to 75 then slows down to 70 and repeats. Hell, he even uses the gas pedal to accelerate while going downhill only to have to brake heavily at the bottom to make a turn. So, I didn't even try to sleep. The rest of the trip to NYC was fairly uneventful and looked mostly like this: The sky actually looks a lot cooler in this picture than it did while we were there. Apparently my galaxy likes to make life more vibrant. Moving on. We made it to NYC...well the traffic jam leading into NYC somewhere around 7pm or so. After about an hour or so of cutting people off, getting cut off, and constantly being within 2 inches of a fender bender we made it onto the island via the Lincoln Tunnel. Finding parking was easier than we expected so we ditched the truck and went for a walk. We were near Tribeca at this point. We took a walk around the Freedom tower and saw a huge bronze plaque of sorts dedicated to those who responded on 9/11. We found some authentic (I think...it was actually in NYC..so that means its authentic right?) New York pizza and finally ate something. It was pretty darn good and surprising reasonably priced. As were the several hot dogs we ate while in the city. We walked for a good while and eventually got on the subway and managed to get ourselves to Times Square. Pretty cool place even though a lot of the businesses were closed since it was about 11pm by now. We had planned on getting a place to sleep outside the city and then come back the next day for a while before heading out to buy the Comanche and drive home. We decided that we were better off just staying in the city so we didn't have to deal with the traffic again. Found a room about 1 block away from Times Square that was a hell of a bargain at 280 bucks for the night which included valet parking! Later I saw a ton of people sleeping on the library steps and figured that would have been perfectly suitable for me. Next time...... The next morning we had to go do a little shopping. The women we left back home never mentioned it, but we were sure they were expecting SOMETHING from NYC since we were there. I scored (flipped a coin to decide) a locket from Tiffany's (for just a little less than the price of the comanche) for mine and he got his a pair of Converse (shes a converse kinda chick). With our mental safety secured for the return home it was time to leave the city and go get my truck. Got to Scotch Plains NJ and met up with my great uncle (whom I only met about 22 years ago - I'm 25 now) and checked out the truck. I didn't take any pictures at this point even though I probably should have. The test drive went well enough that I didn't try to negotiate at all. Well, honestly...I had a thousand dollar money order in my pocket and it is pretty hard to negotiate when that is your payment style. I was hoping to drive the Comanche home and started to do just that. Which went awesome! The radio even already had country music (my music of choice) playing when I started her for the first time. Windows down, slider open, radio up..It was perfect..for about 13 miles. Then the trans started slipping and refused to allow me to go more than 35. Pulled into the closest Uhaul to get a trailer. No dice. They didn't have one. A couple phone calls later and I found one about 5 miles away (for 500 bucks....shoulda reserved one a week earlier when it would have been about 250..oh well, its all part of the adventure). We drove to the next Uhaul very slowly and got the trailer. When we loaded her onto the trailer we found the problem was a hole in a trans cooler line (there is another thread about this problem in the MJ Tech section). The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Mostly night driving while pulling the car hauler with the Comanche loaded on it. The only interesting part of the drive was a hill getting out of Scotch Plains. I hit the bottom of the hill doing about 45 with the pedal to the floor. By the top of the hill we were doing about 15 with the pedal still to the floor and still slowing down. If the hill were 10 feet longer I'm not sure we would have made it up. I drove all night until we were just outside detroit on 75. By that point I had been awake for about 20 hours, 12 of which I was driving. The copilot took over for the rest of the drive which I actually was able to sleep during because of an accident on 75 that caused bumper to bumper traffic. I fell into the deep sleep and slept through my buddies annoying spring foot driving technique. He punched me in the chest to wake me up when we got to his house in SCS about an hour and a half later and I drove the rest of the way home to Harrison Township. I got the oil change done and started work on the trans line repair. Here is what she looks like right now (except the cab is full of boxes of parts..new door seals, grill, tail lights, headlight bezels, and side markers) Now I am just working on her a little bit every day before I have to be to work in the afternoon. Hopefully she will be on the road by this weekend. Hope you guys enjoyed the post (or at least enjoyed the pictures if you didn't feel like reading the novel I just wrote) Just felt that since I started a thread about a road trip I should probably give you guys a road trip story to go with it.

I saw one in my driveway this morning.

I had a ridgid one floating around my garage somewhere.. Couldn't find it and figured the one from the auto parts store would work... I'll take it back tomorrow and pick up a ridgid... I'd rather have flare fittings than compression.. Might be overkill.. But i already have the parts .

Thanks a ton for the info. I'll go with replacing the lower control arms to start the bushing replacement. Saved me some money there guys. Greatly appreciated.

Got the broken section of trans line cut out today. I went to auto zone and picked up a new piece of line, a flaring tool, some fittings and a bender. But, the flaring tool won't flare the line on the truck. It is only putting a slight flare, but nowhere near enough to make a joint with. It seems like the tube is slipping out of the tool. I have it as tight as it can go but no dice. Is there probably something I'm doing wrong? I have flared copper before with no problems. Maybe it's just a cheap crappy flaring tool?

With my complete newbieness to automotive mechanics I just know lots of bushings under my truck look terrible... Those included... But i don't know if a kit like this is the way to go or if I should just go to auto zone with a list of bushings needed.

Those aren't the only bushings that come in that kit though.

I didnt even know that would exist. That is awesome. Thank you. This is a damn good forum

Anyone use this kit or a similar one? Most if not all of my bushings look terrible. Wondering if getting this kit would be better than just getting the bushings one by one. http://www.andysautosport.com/jeep/1997_2001_cherokee/suspension/complete%20bushings/complete_bushings/daystar/dyst00000209.html

I'm going to chase it back and see where it goes and how difficult it will be to remove.. I'm assuming the po left it because it was a pita to remove

Went to go pull out the damaged trans line and quickly discovered it is not a project to get into when I have to be to work in a couple hours. But I did manage to get to the store and get all of the trans fluid, ordered the trans pan gasket and filter, and completed an oil....errr...sludge removal and replaced it with oil. With the trans line being so difficult to get at to replace I had an idea. Could I cut the trans line I have and use a flaring tool to replace the damaged section? This would be a whole lot easier and I don't see any reason why it would not work just as well. The hole is on the top side of the 90 degree bend. Also, the cut line next to it....Is there a reason for that? Or just an old line? It doesn't appear to do anything at all.

Got some holes in my floor. Need to replace the metal starting at the doors to about 6 inches in on both sides. Both plugs are rusted out.

What engine and trans? It is the 4 cylinder 2.5L TBI....don;t know what trans it is...This Comanche is a learning experience for me

That is more what i meant. What do you guys recommend I inspect for signs of wear? It is an 86 with 130k on it

Great news. I just added a couple quarts of trans fluid so I could clearly find the leak. When I did all of the bad sounds from the transmission were eliminated. I got it up on the ramps with no problems. I had to put it in 4 wheel drive because I was sitting in a bit of a muddy gravel puddle from cleaning the engine and the rear wheels were just spinning. But, that is another good thing because the 4 wheel drive works. When the PO changed the radiator it looks like he ran a new trans fluid line as well. There is a cut off unused line under there that I am going to remove just because it looks like crap. I also found the leak. There is a small pin hole in the line that connects to the passenger side of the radiator. It is at the 90 degree bend in the line before it runs down the drivers side of the engine. Looks like I just need to change out that line and my transmission problems will be solved. Another good note. When I cleaned the engine off...It is beautiful (for being close to 30 years old). It still needs some more cleaning which I will get to, but I am super excited and happy with the way the project is going. I was pretty stressed out when I had problems 13 miles into a 500+ mile trip. Hopefully I can get the line replaced and trans flush / oil change done tomorrow before I go to work.

Preventive maintenance refers to "maintaining," not necessarily "replacing." Simple example -- the older XJs and MJs did not have a grease fitting on the upper end of the track bar, where it attaches to the frame. Those track bars typically lasted maybe 75,000 miles. I don't know when they changed, but the replacements, and those on newer XJs, have a grease fitting. The one on my wife's 2000 XJ is over 100,000 miles and just as tight as the day I picked up the vehicle from the dealership. My '88 XJ is still on it's first replacement track bar and the vehicle is now at 287,000 miles. Grease is "preventive maintenance." Replacing a part that doesn't need to be replaced is not. I agree don't replace something that doesnt need to be replaced. Just because a motor has 200K on it doesnt mean it is time to rip it out even though it starts every time. I was more so talking along the lines of things like my belts. I can clearly see cracks in both of them, so those are getting replaced. I would rather replace them now than have them break while I am on the road. I just cleaned (somewhat) my engine and engine bay and can clearly see things so much better now. I don't think it has ever been done to the vehicle before. But, Now I am seeing a lot of rubber bushings that have more cracks in them than the face of a 95 year old that spent every day in the sun. So, those are also going to be replaced asap. While cleaning I noticed that the radiator has the built in transmission cooler and the radiator is practically new. Now that I can see the parts it looks like the line that runs from the drivers side back to the trans is what is leaking. Hopefully if I replace that and do a full trans flush (the fluid in it looks more like crude oil than trans fluid) it will run great. Here is a short list of the immediate projects that will be happening over the next 2 weeks. Oil change Trans fluid flush Coolant flush Belt changes Spark plug inspection / replace grounds inspections / repairs Fix a slightly high idle (hopefully a simple fix) More engine / parts cleaning Light bulb replacements (tail light is out) lube as necessary (hood latch and cable for sure...door hinges / mechanisims and such) Kill switch - poor mans anti-theft

I am a fan of preventative maintenance.

Picked up the comanche and got it home. Was going to try to drive it home and that idea was killed about 13 miles into the trip when the transmission started slipping and I couldn't get past 35. Pulled into a uhaul and loaded it onto the trailer. Once I got it in the air I found out what the problem was. Transmission fluid is literally shooting out of it. Found the problem is coming from the line coming out of the trans cooler. I am going to replace the trans cooler and the lines. While I am at it I am going to go through and replace just about all of the parts on the engine that typically wear out in time. What do you guys recommend for the replacement trans cooler kit. Also, what parts do you recommend I replace right off the bat as preventative measures? This is going to be my DD and needs to be reliable as possible.

Currently passing strattonville pa. Good drive so far.

Location st clair shores mi. Departing shortly.

Team leader for the ram 1500 4 door pick ups. Basically I'm a repair man that gives bathroom breaks. UAW Local 140

Lol.. Ya haven't seen it on craigslist cause it was never for sale.. Buying it from a family member.

The truck is in scotch plains new jersey. Decided to shoot past it on the way and check out nyc since I've never been.

After I get off work at 4am the road trip to pick up my comanche begins. Looking forward to the trip and to turning the comanche into my Chromanche. A little nervous about that long of a drive in a truck I've spent so little time with but it should be fun. Anyone else start of their bond with their manches with a long road trip? I'm hoping to stop along the way at a couple junk yards and try to save some parts from destruction and decay.