JE39

Fine by me, I hardly ever use it anyway... :)

Thanks for the info! Does the speedo out of a 87 idiot lights cluster swap in? If yes, I'm not too concerned about the speedo cable connector :)

4.0. So a 2.8 should work I guess :)

Hi! I'm looking for one of these: I think it's quite the unicorn, but I'm not keen on the later full-gauge cluster. If they used also post-86, fine by me (don't know), doesn't have to be pre-87. You must be willing to ship to germany, though. If that's a problem, I can probably get hold of a US adress to ship to (relatives). Thanks!!

So that was that... :D Solution; Wrangler cable: http://comancheclub.com/topic/53226-speedo-cable-snapped/?p=543265 And I installed a rear view mirror, as this was missing when I bought the MJ. It's a Wrangler mirror and apparantly a bit wider, had to mount it to the inner roof structure, else the sun visors would collide with it. Screwed the bracket in place, I don't like glue. And took her through the local vine yards to get a feel for her. Temporary plates have now expired, need insurance than I can get her registered and street legal (they put you in jail if you drive an uninsured vehicle, also you can't register a vehicle without insurance in Joymoney, nor get away with driving one un-registered). That's all for now, more to come for sure though.

Hi! So this time it did actually snap... My supplier sent me a Crown 53005084 for a Wrangler - which fits. It's a bit longer than the stock cable was. I routed it a bit differently and all is good. Bung in the firewall fits, both ends fit - perfect. Thanks for your input!

Standard Motor Products, at about 80€ (~$90). I'm used to Mercedes prices, so I consider this a fairly reasonable price. Unless you tell me "Standard Motor Products" is junk... :D.

IAC looks like it's been replaced not too long ago. But the TPS is shot, I'll replace it. It's cheap enough.

No cruise control, unfortunately. I've ordered a cable that should fit, I'll report. I have a full gauge cluster headed my way, I really don't like the idiot lights :dunno:

Hi! Not yet, but I will try that, thanks for pointing it out :)

87 renix 4.0. The engine is hesistant to start, it takes a bit of cranking, like 4-5x. Then it stutters a bit and most of the times dies rieght away, if you don't give it some throttle. After starting it a second time, it's mostly fine. Idle does surge slightly. This issue exists with both warm and cold engine. Priming the fuel system a couple of times doesn't make a difference. I'm going to replace the fuel filter (looks old), air filter and rotor & cap. Plugs & leads are relatively new. I've allready replaced the pipe coming from the valve cover and the vacuume line runing to the pressure regulator. Any more suggestions, maybe known issues? I'm completely new to Jeeps :) Thanks! C101 plug is cleaned as good as possible, but still a bit gummed up, though.

Yesterday. Installed universal rubber extension to the wheel arches, to make it at least borderline legal. This is actually what it says in the paperwork, rubber arch extensions. In germany, every modification has to be declared and approved by an engineer and registered in the vehicles documents. Wheels & tyres are legal, with this rubber extension at least. Tyres are 255/60s on 8x15" steels. Then I found a muddy ditch and drove the MJ in... To take a couple of proper pictures. It's ugly side in the sunshine; looks better in the pictures. Someone's had a go at fixing it, but some spots are high, some still low. This requires some more work. Good thing I work as a panel beater... Drove it home, parked it on the street. Bit later wanted to drive it back into the garage - again no starting. This time - not at all. Bypassed the NSS, bypassed this & that, switched relais, traced wires, jumped things - nothing. Starter worked by jumping the terminals, but the key did not make the starter motor run. So... Maybe NSS still? Pulled it, cleaned it and reinstalled it. Having no clue about those cars - maybe the dreaded C101 plug?? Cleaned it as good as possible (what the f, what were they thinking??) - but as expected no luck, still no starter motor... In the end I finally traced it down to the big silver relais; opened it up, cleaned everything inside, cleaned the connectors. And after I put it back in, she seems to start every time now. Maybe I finally fixed it, I guess I'll find out. At least I know how to start the engine; just put the green wire on the center of the relais on the positive terminal of the battery...

Drove it into the garage on friday. And... Nice colour match, huh? :D I wanted to fix two things; the broken speedo and the loose tilting steering column. So off came the steering wheel. Had to use a puller to unseat it. Next I had to remove a circlip, that holds the turn lock, which is tensioned by a STRONG spring which preloads the upper column bearing, a ball bearing. Had to improvise, but it worked very good! To get to the speedo, I had to remove the fascia surrounding the gauges & switches and what not. To remove it without breaking it, I had to drop the whole steering column, since it didn't get past the column shifter shroud. To get to the steering column, I had to remove the lower dash panel. So basically; I had to tear apart everything... Turned out it was the speedo, not the cable. It had jammed going from 99.999 to 100.000 mls. I oiled it, and the more oil & grease I put on all the little shafts & gears, the better it moved. Unfortunately, it looks like the square at the end of the cable rounded off when the speedo jammed. The speedo cable is not snapped, like I assumed, but damaged. And of course the speedo cable is a discontinued part and not available anywhere. Sigh. Worst case is that I need to find a speed sensor and make use of the later model two-piece speedo cable. Or find something else with the correct length. Which might be an YJ cable. So far the speedo seems to work again, though. But the odometer is still not turning. Sigh. Anyway, next task: fix the engine vacuum kraken... The seller had included a replacement part. Didn't cure the bad starting, but it seems to idle a lot better now. And speaking of bad starting; after I cleaned this relais connectors, the starter turns over every time now. So far my "no crank"-issue has not re-appeared. Next up; the dreaded upper column wobble... So I dismantled the steering column further. I cut a torx socket apart and welded it to a bit of flat bar, which I then ground down and bent untill I could reach two of the torx bolts. It worked, the wobble is mostly gone. I didn't realy fancy to take the upper column & tilt mechanism apart, it looks terribly complicated. The whole steering column thing it just incredible, so complicated for such an "agricultural" car... Amazing! Anyway, speedo works, wobbly column fixed 99%, engine runs better - all in all a productive day. Also found Jugoslavian money under the dash...

This was wednesday: I took a mate with me, after I had finished work. It was about a 1h drive away, so not too far away. A lot of petrol head chat - and we bled the sellers Mercs clutch, sadly without any success. After a bit more talking, we zip-tied my temporary plates to the Jeep and headed off. It was at this point that I knew I had done something incredibly stupid. I bought my most expensive ever car, my worst looking and most beat up car ever. We drove both cars to my place (about 100 mls), had a coffee and then went for a little dirt road drive to watch the sunset. Today I took it to get to work. and when I wanted to head home after finishing time, it didn't start. No turning of the starter motor. I fiddled with the neutral safety switch, fiddled with every fuse & relay I could find - and after an 3/4h the starter eventually turned and the engine started. Sigh. Already least reliable car ever. I headed to my mates place, some birthday party. His sisters boyfriend showed up with daddys 911 - though the crowd gathered around the Comanche. Show stopper :D But when I wanted to head home in the evening - same thing. No starter motor turning. Eventually we figured out it was a rotten connector on a relais. So I headed home - when the speedo cable snapped. Awesome. No speedo, no cars to follow... Wipers only work when you push the screen wash button, the glas roof doesn't close properly, engine doesn't like starting... In all honesty; it's the worst car I ever bought so far. And I love it! :) It's a got a bit of a "Roadkill" vibe to it :D

Ok, update; the odometer jammed at 099.999 mls and the square of the cable rounded off... Greased the worm gears in the speedo, odometer & speedometer working again. Just don't know what to do with the cable... JB-Weld? :D

Hi! My speedo cable snapped... My RWD MJ doesn't have cruise control, but I can only find cables for cars with cruise control & 4x4. Are they interchangeable?? Thanks!

Hi! First post here, it's probably not going to be the last... I'm usually found in the Mercedes world, but I was lusting for something different, having done about 200.000km (124k miles) with various Mercs in the last couple of years. So... I found this Comanche, never heard of it before. It was advertised for a long time, I stumbled across the ad a couple of times. and the more I looked at it, the more it grew on me. So - I called the seller and arranged a test drive. I drove an XJ and a ZJ & WJ of mates a couple of times, it was different to what I'm used, but somehow - relaxing. The Comanche was no different. I had to think about it, but eventually I though "**** it, why not?". And so bought it. I'm yet to collect it, but here's a picture from when I parked it after the test drive (on a wet dirt road). Has done close to 100k miles. The Taxi is my current daily driver which did it's millionth kilometer on the way back from the Comanche test drive (about 621k mls). ^pictured is it's good side, the bed got a hit on the passenger's side which I will have to fix. And no, there are no beds to be found in junkyards over here, even XJs are a rare sight. Getting parts will be much harder, for the Mercs I just go to the dealer. Who still has almost everything on the shelves after 30+ years. Worst case is a 2 days wait for parts to arrive, pretty luxurious. It's got a column shift and bench seat without cutout, since it's RWD. I always wanted a car with bench & column shift. So this was also a reason I bought this. More pictures as soon as I collected it, which will hopefully be during the next week. And then there's a lot of work ahead. At least it still has a year worth of Security Inspection (TÜV) on it, so I can register & drive it "as is" after I insured it. Cheers!