Tex06

Have any under bed tire carriers? I still haven't found one 😅

Heat gun and a razor blade. Or an electric drill with a wire wheel, but that's gonna throw trash so be careful where it's going.

Good news is, drilling out the 3-4 rivets really wasn't all that bad. And putting new rivets in was even easier (thank you harbor freight and your big rivet gun)!

Clean up the grounds and connections. That helped with mine (I went LED anyways, but it still helped).

OOF. Good luck. With mine, it was the gear that drove the bead chain that had worn down (my windows would "skip" and chatter when I turned the handle).

They're actually pretty common in the performance world as are differential coolers. Typically Jeeps don't need such things because the low RPMs that both the tranny and the rear end see. Trans-Cool NV4500/NV5600 Manual Transmission Cooler (genosgarage.com)

Probably better in another thread but I saw case temps above 140F when I was running motor oil in mine. Redline dropped it to around 118F (back to back weeks in New Orleans summertime heat, same commute to work each day). As for the OP's original problem, this sounds very similar to what I had happen except my '92 would cut in and out sometimes while driving (causing the whole truck to buck) or sometimes would go completely dead as he described. Turned out to be a bad solder joint in the main harness that was the common 5VDC for the TPS and MAF. When the engine was up to temp and the computer would go into closed loop it would lose signal from both sensor simultaneously (if I unplugged one, it would actually run better b/c the solder connection was high enough resistance that it could supply both sensors, but was enough of a connection that it could supply just one). I ended up using a power probe to check the voltage at both while they were hooked up and was only seeing 2.7VDC when it should have been 5V. Once I figured that out, it was a 20 minute fix to open up the wiring harness and resolder the connection. I've got a writeup on it somewhere, this was 4 or 5 years ago at this point.

Thanks for following up too! We appreciate when folks come back and close the loop on an issue they had!

Possible the P.O. had an issue with it and swapped it for a fuse....and then set this on top of the fuse block only to fall down on you later?

I can't speak on the transfer case for this but I know a lot of folks recommend synthetic motor oil in the AX-15. I did this 2x and both times I recorded case temperatures 20-40 deg F higher than with gear oil. As a hydraulics engineer who deals with fluids and lubricants daily....motor oil isn't great for lubricating gears or being under high pressure. It also tends to breakdown faster due to the additives in it (hence why most manufacturers recommend an oil change every 6 months, regardless of mileage). Dextron III/IV is cheap, that's what I use in mine. Make sure it's topped up and flush every 30k miles if you're concerned. Most additives are just a heavier weight synthetic oil with "proprietary ingredients" added which adds negligible protection at best, can cause extra damage at worse. I've seen where the additive in the main oil (all oil products are some type of "base oil" with additives to make it Shell, Chevron, Pennzoil, etc.) will react with whatever the additive in the "additive product" is and produce gunk or sludge which blocks ports and passages. Not as big a deal in a transfer case as an auto tranny or a motor with an oil pump, but I'm not a big fan of throwing money away on something of questionable value.

Damn, not bad for the little GM V6. My Fiero had a 2.8L in it and I would regularly pull 28-30 mpg out of it.

I'm gonna guess junk yard on that one, unless someone here knows of a Dorman part#.

I'd call that progress!

A weak slave cylinder will not let a stopped vehicle shift into 1st or will be very difficult to shift into if synchronized. I would suggest bleeding again (several times probably) and if that's not it, then pull the transmission and see if the clutch is aligned correctly (usually misalignment causes chatter, but can also cause hard shifting). Agreed here. Buy a $125 Harbor Freight 12ton press and the rest really isn't too bad if you're careful and take your time. If you have any experience with motors, rear ends, or other mechanical assemblies, it's not bad at all. There's plenty of videos and other resources to follow.

Factory water shield also keeps wind out of the cabin and makes a big difference with AC efficiency.

I thought 96 was the OBD I/II crossover year? That's probably the 2nd most common year I see after '01 (locally). And yeah, I knew about the head issue.

Is the 97+ different than the earlier years? I.E. should I look for 97+ from Rockauto?

The S10 Blazer had a trailblazer package I think (haven't seen one in person but have read about them online)....but that's like the Silverado package on a C/K10 or the Ranger package on the old F100. Not the vehicle I'm talking about. The 4.3L was as common as bellybuttons in those things. Both were only in production together for 1 year (2001). From what I've read the cracked head was an early design flaw that was fixed in later years (one of the reasons I'm lookin at 06-09 mainly). I'll be looking for 2wd vehicles only (cheaper and I don't need another 4x4, I've already got 2). Rust is common on XJ/MJs as well (doesn't someone's tag here say "Pull your carpet and check your floorpans before it's too late!"?) so any vehicle I look at I'll be crawling under and over to look for potential corrosion problems. Good info on the instrument cluster and fan clutch. The trailblazer also sold a lot more per year than the XJ around the same time. So even if they had the same number of issues, you'd see a lot more of them come in. Production Numbers Number of XJ's built in given year (all countries): 1997 - 258,958 1998 - 182,845 1999 - 186,116 2000 - 165,590 2001 - 120,454 Trailblazer Calendar Year Total American sales 2001[11] 115,103 2002 249,568 2003 261,334 2004[12] 283,484 2005 244,150 2006[13] 178,493 2007 151,985 2008[14] 119,905 2009 22,287 Why specifically the 98-99? I see quite a few '01 XJs around so I've been looking at those mostly. Agree on the resale point but I'm only planning on having this thing for a year or so. Still leaning towards the XJ....mostly due to familiarity with the platform.

The trailblazer never came with the 4.3 V6. Yeah, I wouldn't expect the GM interior to be very good.....but then again I drive a Jeep and it's not very good either I feel like the same is said about XJs quite a bit. Anything in particular I should look out for? Reading online reviews there's electrical gremlins and some tranny issues with the 4L60E.....again, I drive a Jeep, electrical issues and tranny problems are familiar faces.

The Cummins 2.8L is not a cheap motor....you should be aware of that. It will have plenty of power and return great fuel mileage. There's a race series (can't remember the name for the life of me) that they run 200-500 miles a day offroad across the states for a week or two at a time, many of these super buggys have 2.8L Cummins powerplants due to the reliability and fuel economy. Expect to spend around 15-20k for a swap if you do it yourself, lots of custom pieces and parts, the motor isn't available in a JY so you'll have to shell out ~9k to Cummins for a new one, plus a lot of fab time. This being said, if money and time weren't an issue, this would be my motor of choice. Tons of torque where ya need it, they tow very well. LS....they're cheap, plentiful, and the sky is the limit on power. They can be purchased and swapped in a week or less, swap kit so everything is nearly bolt-together are available, you can pretty much pull one on Monday from a JY and have it running in your jeep by Saturday. Fuel system stays the same since it's all gas. Parts are readily available. Either one will work, it's all about what kind of money and time do you have. A word to the wise....towing a 5k lbs trailer with the Comanche isn't going to be fun, no matter what motor you have. The truck only weighs in around 3300 lbs and a trailer like that will be a bear to stop and keep on the road. I've pulled an XJ behind mine and it was definitely pushing the limits at anything above in-town speeds. Just my $0.02

Yeah, now that we have a pic with the tailgate down I can see that. Pretty nifty idea although I don't think it would be very practical for "truck" uses.

Bringing this back from the dead, but man this is a cool camper! Do you still get much use out of it?

Looks like an LS setup....and he's still running the 4wd setup. I think this is in Columbia based on the ads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4MqZ1Mv3jA&t=4s

Am I the only one interested in how they did the wood bed?