Siskiyou Mike

Thanks for the headsup about DeadJeep.

If a transmission oil change would help it shift better, well, I am all for trying it. Should I go with the original fluid? (I believe my owner's manual says to use 75w-90 gear fluid)

Thanks for sharing the video. Perhaps I really should consider the AX15 swap (or anything with an external slave cylinder). I believe I can purchase what I need to do the swap, but I would then only feel comfortable with using someone with enough experience to do the swap correctly.

The oil in the transmission is old. It was replaced only once, which I believe was about 50,000 miles ago.

Good point! I am still on my original internal slave cylinder, but I sure would hate to have to replace one soon on a rebuilt. Perhaps I could start collecting the needed parts and then locate someone with BA10/5 swap. Thanks for the input.

My Comanche has been a workhorse since I bought her in 1989. This week alone she has carried a few loads of gravel (at least 2500 pounds a load), moved topsoil, and carried a load of wood. She has about 170,000 miles, and the only sign of wear is that the BA10/5 transmission has been gradually getting sticky and a little bit more difficult over the years. I know that most everyone says that the BA10/5 is junk, and that it would be foolish to not switch to something like an AX15, but I just do not have the mechanical skills to do any transmission work let alone a complicated swap (I do my oil changes and plugs, but I have learned that sometimes it is best to "let the baker bake" rather than attempt to do something I am not trained to do). Anyway, I have seen that it is possible to buy a rebuilt BA10/5 for a reasonable price online and I was wondering if this would be the easiest route? Or should I ask a transmission shop what they would charge to switch over to an AX15? I assume either way that the transfer case should/would be rebuilt as well, and a new clutch put in? The truck has worked very well for me for so many years, so I do not mind spending a few thousand to keep her on the road, but I am unsure of what would be my best option. Lastly, would you wait until the transmission gets bad before addressing the problem or would you fix it before it breaks? Thanks for any input you have, and here is a picture of my Comanche working today.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/485411511540738/permalink/3772505299497993/?sale_post_id=3772505299497993

87MJTIM, Thanks for passing along the tip and how to fix. I will give it a try this weekend.

I have a 1989 MJ with a very, very dim clock. The buttons advance the hours and minutes, and the clock changes time as it should, but I can only see it in absolute darkness. Can I fix it by putting in a new bulb? If so, someone on here said it required a #74 bulb, but when I look that up I get either a very tiny LED or a quite large LED, and I doubt if they both fit. If I can get a #74 is that my best and brightest option? Thanks

BeatCJ, No, I got rid of the Jayco pop-up camper years ago when I bought a VW Westfalia camper. The VW camper soon proved to be too small for my wife and two Golden Retrievers, so I got rid of it and bought a new F150 and an Artic Fox trailer. After 1 year of towing the trailer I sold both the truck and trailer at a fantastic loss, and I started to wish I had the Jayco Pop-up truck camper back. The Comanche with a slide-in camper was unstoppable, and we used it to camp on the most remote BLM, and we once drove 10 hours on old dirt roads to reach the ocean (which required moving rocks, cutting away one tree, and hours looking at old forest service maps and wondering where we were).

I purchased my 1989 Jeep Comanche (1J7GJ36L2KL536008) long bed with the Big Ton package in May of 1989. For years my wife and I used it to haul our Jayco Pop-up camper around the Pacific Northwest, up into Canada, and down into Mexico. When I attended the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, I used the truck to carry the generator, a couple hundred gallons of water, and a zillion other things for our entire camp. Today I use the truck to mostly harvest firewood from our property, haul a yard of gravel at a time to fix the driveway, and carry lava rock for rock wall building. The truck has never failed to get us places, but she now has 170K and the BA10/5 does not shift as smoothly as it once did, and there are a few more squeaks and rattles. She still goes to the dump every week, and she keep company in the garage with our 2021 Jeep Cherokee. I hope keep her running until they take my driver's license

This Comanche has been a great truck for all its 170K miles. It has hauled hundreds of tons of rocks, gravel, and firewood up and down our property for 31 years. For years it would carry a yard of gravel at a time and I shoveled it out on my driveway. I would also load it with lava rock over the side rails without any problems. In 1995 or so we bought a Jayco pop-up truck camper and used it to travel every back road of California, Oregon, and Washington, and even drove it all the way down to the tip of Baja. This winter I am finally giving her a bit of time and effort. So far just changed the oil, wires and plugs, fuel filter and air filter. I will be taking out the old half-working parking brake and putting in one that I got off of Ebay this week, and I will also be replacing the ignition key. Everything else works fine, though the BA10/5 does not shift as smoothly as it once did, so I might try switching to a lighter transmission fluid as I heard some people claim they got good results after dumping the standard 75-90 oil. I am also thinking of putting in new shocks, never changed them, and there is a new noise after switching out the OEM 225 75r 15 with 235 75r 15s, which do not rub but might have made the shocks top out or something (as you can tell, my mechanical knowledge is both shallow and thin). Anyway, the Comanche has always been part of our home, our work, and our play, and I want to keep her looking good and on the road.

The truck was made in February of 1989, and I bought it in May of 1989. It has a bit over 170k on the odometer, and it has only failed to start one time--an eight year old battery just up and died. It is the long bed, bright white color, long ton with the window sticker. I know it has the Dana 44 on the rear, but not at all sure what is up front. Except for infrequent oil changes, it has received little attention until now, though it has almost always been garaged. I normally spend winters in Mexico fishing, but this year I am staying home in Northern California and working around the house to keep busy. So far I have changed the Comanche's oil, put in new plugs and wires, and in a new fuel filter and air filter. I also had new tires put on, the last ones were on for 15 years, but instead of the OEM 225 75r 15, I had them put on 235 75r 15 (although the tires do not rub, I do have a new noise when any small bumps are hit--perhaps the shocks toping out?).