CO MJ

I sent them a photo and they just told me to put some weight in the bed and drive around, sounds like a terrible idea to me so I've asked them to clarify. There's one video of another guy installing the same lift, and his shackles lined up at the correct angle, so I think I agree, something funky going on here. I think either I need to unbolt them, and try to hook back up with shackles in correct position, or I have the wrong springs and I won't be able to do that.

They're new, they were not shipped in a box or with any kind of protection so they were a little beat up on arrival. I don't think I can just leave it the way it is and not expect the shackles to be smashing into my frame though. I haven't measured, but it's likely 8 inches or so, super off looking in person, pic does no justice. I am going to follow up with a pic of the shackle angle and see what they think.

Got a reply from Rustys this morning, they say the springs are correct. I guess I will have to try to pop them back out to where they are supposed to be. If I remove the shackle bolt, I don't think I'll ever get it back in though. They were hard enough to get installed in the first place with the shackle all the way over like it is now. Any suggestions?

Per the instructions I torqued the ubolts and shock mounts while on stands, and was saving the leaf spring bolts for after I dropped it Old were 53, new are 51.5. Seems close enough that the old ones might be just relaxed, but I also believe these are the incorrect springs. Good call. Googled the number on my spring and found this thread https://www.jeepforum.com/threads/comanche-leaf-and-shackle.2973769/ . No resolution, but I have the same number on my springs, and it looks like they may be for a 3.5 inch lift. Will shoot them a message and see if that's the case before I attempt any fix.

Pretty sure I have stock ones then. After some searching I see the shackle angle is completely wrong. Wondering if I take a bottle jack between the frame and the springs and push it out if it might cam over and sit where it's supposed to?

I just finished installing Rusty's 4.5" spring pack kit, and my rear end is quite a bit higher (eyeballed maybe 4-5 inches, worlds worst panorama to show the difference below) than the front. PO installed a ford 8.8 in the back with the axle over the springs, dana 30 in front, not sure if that matters since the center of axles are the same height off the ground since the tire radius is the same front/back and axle diameters are pretty close. Wondering if my shackles might be the reason. I can't find a solid answer on what's stock. Mine are about 4.5 inches center to center. They also sit at quite a low angle to the frame, not sure if that's correct either, photo attached. If someone can confirm if this is what I should have expected from this kit, that would be great, as well as advice for making things a bit more level. Wouldn't mind an inch, maybe two for hauling motorcycles and camping gear, but right now is just too much. Thanks!

What bedliner did you use? Has quite a nice look to it.

In the middle of a lift install, and I'm pretty sure PO installed thicker aftermarket isolators. I'd like to put ones of the original size back in, but having a hard time finding info on them, and the ones that I'm pretty sure are the correct ones (https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/energy-suspension/chassis---steering/coil---leaf-springs/coil-spring-insulator/642019b6ca75/energy-suspension-coil-spring-insulator/ens0/26103g/v/a/2239/automotive-truck-1989-jeep-comanche?q=coil+spring+insulator&pos=2) are gonna take quite a while to arrive. Is there a universal part I might have luck picking up faster from a local parts place that closely matches stock?

That's great to know, sounds like my best case cost sceneario is finding a block and leaving everything else alone. I'll look into which years/models those come from. Tough to find just a block though, would rather buy than pulling so I don't end up with another crapped out block though. It's been a while since I tested but compression seemed alright. Currently without compressor so I can't do a leak down, but I am testing exhaust gas in the coolant and I just had the head decked, magnafluxed, and leak checked. Fingers crossed maybe I just got a $#!& head gasket, but I was getting gases in the coolant before I pulled the head so I think most likely culprit is a cracked block. Will find out this weekend for sure, just trying to have my options ready if it is. I think another consideration is that my HVAC components are all in pretty sad shape, and I'd like the nicer relay box/coolant bottle mounts from a newer XJ to clean up the bay a bit so it might be worth trying to pull it all from the yard, if I can beat the scalpers to it.

I have an 89 renix 4.0 and I'm pretty sure the block is toast, so likely looking to swap the engine soon. Is a renix block the same as any other years? I haven't been able to find any remaned blocks for this year. If a block only replacement isn't available, I'd like to swap the engine entirely. Cheaper being better, ideal for me would be < 1k but willing to adjust my budget for a better engine, up to maybe 2k. Just trying to determine what is possible at various price ranges and then decide if it's worth it to me. Ultimately this is just a daily for me and doesn't need any serious performance capability. Aside from pulling a junk engine from LKQ, it looks like I could purchase a number of compatible 4.0s from various years of xj/zj/tj. I suppose I will likely need some of the electronics as well, nbd, would rather get away from the renix parts before they become super scarce. I guess the newer the year the better? Any significant changes in any of these? Any particular model/year I should look for to get best bang for my buck? Aside from a 4.0 block, should I consider a diesel or another engine that fits? I'd prefer not having to modify the body but I don't think fabrication wise I have any seriously limiting ability so would consider some less extensive swaps. No idea what the cost of something to this effect would be. Thanks in advance, any suggestions appreciated.

Finally finished the head gasket, but it looks like I'm still running hot. I've been maybe 5 miles and temp gauge is still high and matches my IR thermo. Any thoughts? I went with all new hardware, had the head magnafluxed and leak checked, new gaskets, vacuum lines, flushed all the cooling passages including the block, bled through the temp sensor on the block, and I was very thorough installing everything.

Forgot to say look for a lower mileage head. My engine has 150k and if I'm going to pull the head anyways would a lower mileage head make any difference? Edit: I also did a compression test a few weeks back and I was getting good even compression across all 6. I have not done a leak down. My spark plugs also looked great. I'll check again soon though to see if that's changed

Copy that! Would there be any advantage to a lower mileage head if I could find one and have it refinished? Trying to decide what to do if my head is damaged and unfixable. Or the block for that matter, how does one find cracks that aren't visible to the eye in the head?

Thanks guys, will do once the money comes around. Would it be worth maybe looking around the yards or for a local part out to pull another head?

It must be a very small leak, there are almost no bubbles and what there was I assumed was just burping

Well I guess that's all she wrote. Looks like it's head gasket time. I suppose I should send the head off to be checked for cracks or just buy a refinished head? Removing the stat did keep it cool but I guess this needs to be addressed

Yeah, I have pulled the sender from the block every time I've refilled. Here's another question while I have the stat out. How far should it actually open when boiled? I've never done this before, but from watching a few videos I feel like maybe my stat isn't opening far enough. The little cylinder inside the stat retracts maybe 4-5mm and I can see 1-2mm all the way around for water to flow, while most of the videos look more like 5-6mm or so, but I also don't see any videos with a similar style stat. My local place doesn't have the mopar stat but I have one on order, may just put this on hold until it arrives

Ok, new water pump wasn't the answer. Still up to 260 after just idling for a few minutes. I'm gonna pick up a new stat gasket as well as another new stat and retest them all this afternoon. @cruiser54 for the exhaust gas test, do you know about how much driving I'd need to do for the test to actually pick up the gasses in the coolant?

195

Sorry, it's buried in the OP but I do have a brand new stat. I boiled the old and the new and they were both opening correctly but I put the new one in, all good!

Thanks! I flushed the block with oxalic acid yesterday and that seems to have gotten a lot of the build up. If I'm still hot after it's back together I'll try that route as well. Any reason to switch if the one I have is operating correctly? I'm going to look into a mopar temp sender as well

So the picture doesn't do a whole lot of justice, it's not really rusty and more of a yellowish powerful substance that I'm guessing it's minerals deposited from water? It looks wayyyy better than some of the ones I've seen videos of, but any suggestions for cleaning her out really well? Maybe leave the stat out and fill it up with coolant cleaning stuff and water overnight?

It's a little grimey inside my stat orifice but water coming out clean. Pump doesn't look awful either. Going to go ahead and replace the pump anyways since I have the part. So I don't think the pump was the problem, so I now I'm thinking either head gasket leaking into the coolant passages, or possibly bad o2 sensor? Since I failed emissions with high CO I'm thinking maybe bad sensor causing me to run hot => high CO? I bought a kit to test the coolant for exhaust gasses as well, so will do that once I have everything back together.

Cool, thanks, I picked up a tester yesterday. Once I check the water pump I'll drive a bit and see what it says! I've been using an IR thermometer to read the temp at the block sensor. My needle spends most of it's time at or in the red.

Thanks cruiser. I'll look into the tester. A few friends told me that you'd have to drive quite a bit for the gasses to leave enough trace for the tests to pick up, but certainly beats taking the head off and not finding a leak, I'll give it a go. I think I will pull the pump first this weekend. I bought a brand new rad cap with the radiator. It's definitely not leaking any water past the cap, and it looks like the system has taken in some of the water from my expansion bottle, not sure if there's any other way to know if it's working properly. I suppose since I'm currently water only it could be boiling but not overpressurizing the cap and causing an issue? I will probably try another flush and a 50/50 mix after I do the water pump this weekend.