Zenobian_84

Wow, how time flies. Been a long time coming, but better late than never, I suppose. Eventually, at some point this weekend, I'll upload some pictures of the old girl, after I wash it, of course. It's definitely seen better days. Been off the road for some time now; was still regularly being as a daily until around 2023(?) I want to say; got another SUV to replace it with as a new daily (96 GMC Jimmy) to which I've basically rebuilt completely except for a few things on the front end. Life got busier; finally tied the knot with my wife almost 2 years ago after being together for over 12 years now. Been pretty consistent with jobs; left the dealership life a few years ago to an old job I used to have wayyyy back when when I first started out, but as a lead mechanic now. Life is pretty good, aside from not enough money, but what can you do, right? Welcomed a little girl into our lives a little over a month ago, so she's definitely keeping us on our toes. As far as the Comanche goes, it's in a pretty sorry state, all things considered. Paint still looks relatively good on it (TOTALLY NOT AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR INDUSTRIAL, BARN-GRADE PAINT ), but I removed the transmission out of it because the slave cylinder went, AGAIN, shortly after I got the GMC. As it currently sits now, I have the trans. apart waiting to be rebuilt at my shop, or at least, I WAS going to rebuild it, but now looking at the state of the truck as it is currently, I'm fairly certain the original 2.5 still in it will need a modest rebuild before it was to go back onto the road. Been mulling over selling it, as it has a lot of sentimental value to me, especially now with both of my parents having been passed for some time now; it was one of the last real things they helped me out with buying before I lost one, then the other almost 10 years later. But realistically, I have to thin the collection, rather than let it sit and fester for who-knows-how long. Current plan is to probably cut the cab off the truck and part what's left from the cab-forward, and turn the frame / bed into a small utility trailer when I have some free time early next year, unless something changes. Second option is to either part it, or sell it completely with the additional collection of parts and things I've hoarded for it over the last 15 years. However, only time will tell. Still mulling over the options with the little free time I have between work and family these days, but other than that, life is going alright. Hopefully no one's been waiting for a long-form update on this thing, but you never know.

Still on the hunt.

Thread resurrection from beyond the grave, but I'm still kicking around. I don't have much in the way of time to do as much now that I've been bouncing up the ladder from shop to shop the last 8 years or so. Now that I'm mostly settled back down, I might go back to doing some of these again, but I can see that SoCalJeepComanche has a good thread dedicated to most of the signage / decals from production trucks. I'd say "never say never", but at some point I might update with some new designs or go back to finishing some of the ones I was in the process of doing.

Hello friend; Pete sent me a message letting me know. Dunno how much you're looking to get, but if you're looking to get rid of it, 'll try to make it happen!

I'd say the 86 3-tone striped trucks are pretty rare; I've personally only ever seen one running around down here in the southeast, some years ago, and maybe one or two that a member had on the forums throughout the years. I'll always be a sucker for the "Chief" paintjobs; I always thought those were sharp.

About 100k miles back when I first got my MJ, I would average around 115-130 miles on a quarter of a tank of gas. Not bad for a primitive pickup. I second the idea for a flat-bed. It wouldn't look bad if done right, honestly.

Looking to get my hands on a secondary flywheel for my Renix era 2.5 transmission. Until I get around to doing a complete drivetrain swap at some point in the next decade or so, anyway. Local pickup preferred, but shipping would be to 32736. Something that hopefully doesn't have 300k+ miles on it would be preferred, but let me know what you've got.

10-4; thanks bud.

From what I can tell from the last time I put one in, is that the friction disk was fine; the flywheel itself had a few hot spots, but like previously mentioned, it's never been resurfaced. It has been the slave cylinders that have failed the last several times I've had to pull the trans. The last being on Christmas day of last year, to which the slave lasted all of 6 months before failing again after a 20 mile jaunt on the interstate going 60. Pulled off the interstate on my exit and noticed it had that pedal "judder" like a bearing going out. About a week later, it developed an internal leak and lost all pedal pressure. I don't doubt that my flywheel itself is either out of spec, or high-spotted, but I was mostly curious as to whether or not someone has had any luck finding a replacement in the last 5 or so years I've been on / off the site. Sadly, most of the junkyards down here in the southeast are getting devoid of these trucks / setups. Renix era ANYTHING at this point is becoming a hard thing to find; luckily I have made a good stash the last 10 or so years of frequenting yards to hold onto the things I know don't exist in any fashion anymore. Sadly, the oversight of pulling flywheels when I had the chance wasn't one of the things I was super concerned with doing.

After doing a bit of research on this, I've come to the conclusion that any flywheel found online listed as "NEW" or "FITS" the Renix era trucks (86-90) is probably wrong. Spent around 10 years give or take DD'ing my truck, and along with 10 years of use and abuse, I've gone through around 4 clutch kits (2 friction disks, and 3 internal slaves). Never had the flywheel resurfaced in the 10 years that I owned it, and am pretty sure the last time it saw a machining was when it was originally made in 86-87 to be put on the truck in production. I'm currently in the process of bringing the truck up to the dealership I work at (Kia, sadly), so I can pull the transmission and flywheel out to take it to a local shop to see if it's still in specification to be turned. Sadly, I no longer have any contacts at the Chrysler dealer I used to work at, as the 2 friends there who had originally started at AMC and then merged into Chrysler retired in the last year or so, so I can't pick their brains to find out what the specs on the flywheel are for resurfacing; neither AllData or ProDemand have the specifications listed aside from torque values, and I do not have an FSM to reference. My question is thus: Are there any reputable sellers of a 2.5 Renix era flywheel left out there in the world? Aside from some dubious listings on ebay, I have not been able to locate any, and am sadly left with thinking that the only replacement would be a lucky find out in the world, or buying one secondhand. I remember the thread JeepDriver made about a possible mass buying of a company he had reached out to that was willing to make some, but it died due to lack of large interest.. I assume the listings for the 91 and up flywheel are because of a different bolt pattern to the newer MPFI 2.5 engines, or perhaps because they went to a concave design of the flywheel instead of a flat one like the Renix era trucks have?

IMO, I would keep an eye on it; worst case scenario, they are normally available at the parts stores. When I had my stint up at Chrysler for 6 months a while back, I worked on a guy's old 88 who bought it brand new. Was having some of the same issues you described (along with a slew of other issues due to being a Michigan truck for close to 20 years), and found out that the posts inside had a lot of corrosion on it, along with finite cracks on the ceramic assy. itself, causing some intermittent stumbling and rough starting when trying to crank. Replaced that and some of the vacuum lines on the engine and eliminated the issue. Originally they were put in place as a noise reduction piece for the fuel pump, and without it, you can hear the pump "whirr" louder when running. If you don't want to replace it down the road, just splice the leads together and shrink wrap it to keep moisture out.

I wish; worst case scenario, I'll clean it up and throw some sealant on it. Was told that the rubber seal around the glass was cracked and frayed from the FL summertime sunshine. I assume that's why the duct tape was put there to "seal it". Like I said, I haven't pulled the tape, because I didn't want the water to come streaming in. I'm sure the tube seals are probably clogged as well. Going to scope out the pick and pulls down here this weekend and see if I can find a replacement. If I'm lucky they'll have a WJ and ZJ I can take measurements of.

Have had my '95 Orvis ZJ down for a while now doing work rebuilding the transmission, and was going to pull the interior to take a look at what the PO described as an "inoperative, and leaky" sunroof. Was told the gasket failed, as it has reflective duct tape around it, but I have not yet pulled it. Had to fix some of the holes in the roof anyway, and got all the leaks sorted out, (major, anyway). Question is, if the track / sunroof assembly is junk, are the WJ assemblies and sunroofs the same as the ZJ's? I just helped a buddy strip one WJ to put everything into another, and that got me thinking that near everything seems similar; but I have not had a ZJ apart like that in some time and cannot remember if this is true or not, sans wiring, probably. The SR gasket is no longer available anywhere, and I have no idea if the motor is still good (was handed a box of parts with the ZJ when I got it, extra security modules, FOBs, etc etc) and was told it "works", but haven't verified it since I owned it. Did some digging around and was informed at one point that the early 2000s Ford Escape sunroofs have a similar gasket, but it's a much tighter fit. Not sure I want to spend over a hundo to find out for sure though...

I feel you brother; life is pretty rough down here in the southeast for the dealer guys as well, so don't feel too bad about things out in the west. From what one of the independent tool-truck guys told me about the 5 dealerships he goes to on the weekly, some have "laid off" upwards of 15 people, with more to be out the door soon if business doesn't pick up for this "essential" trade. I work for a non-dealer shop, but worked at both Ford and GM once upon a time, so I know how hectic things can get.

Insanely jealous; those lights are pure sex. I keep kicking myself for passing over a SWB roll bar some years back due to lack of funds... Really just need that to complete my build, along with a factory brush guard.