Salvagedcircuit

I'm in the process of bringing my Comanche back to road worthiness and started servicing the braking system. The brakes worked beforehand but were not that great. For some reason, after all my work I have no brakes at all. Even after trying to properly bleed everything including the prop valve, I have extremely soft brakes. Initial Condition: Front rubber hoses rotted and chipped, the rear rubber brake line is in similar shape. Hard brake line looks stock and has the armored metal appearance. The hard line looks in great shape somehow even after 34 years. Rear brake drums are within dimensional specification and do not have much wear Rear drum shoes were warn but usable. passenger side asymmetrically warn Rear passenger side parking brake miniature cable snapped. Front brake pads were about 50% life, front discs not that warn Master cylinder lid very rusty On first opening of lid, inside fluid looked brown and muddy. The smaller compartment was bone dry and had a lot of brown residue. Rubber gasket had fine particles and mud like residue on it. rubber gasket was pulled out. Some rust flakes from the lid fell into the fluid on first opening even though I tried to avoid that. Brake booster very rusted externally Procedure: Replaced all rear drum brake cylinders and shoes Replaced all drum brake springs and hardware Brake drum cylinder forks not included in new brake cylinder kits. Original ones were bent but I could not find replacements. Tried to replace rear rubber brake line with the block end that mounts to the rear. Rear axle hard line that threads into the rubber cable block was stuck and started to feel like it was going to shear so I stopped before damage. Re-attached rear cable as it was previously. Replaced front disc rotors and pads, front passenger & driver rubber cable, and driver caliper. Driver caliper bolts were completely wrong and previous owner used plastic spacers! Cleaned out master cylinder compartments with paper towel and simple green. Added new DOT3 brake fluid At this point, some fluid was already lost from replacing rubber brake lines. Bled brake lines from passenger back, then driver back, then passenger and driver front. Repeated process for prop valve and put key in ignition to turn on dash light. Light never illuminated. I tried several times. Bled brakes with 2 people. The stop-start method. I repeated the entire process a second time to try to get the dash light to illuminate. It never illuminated. During the bleeding process, when pumping the brake, I only seldomly was able to push the pedal all the way to the floor for that second stage engagement. A few times It was hard to pump the pedal, but it would not stay that way. At this point I don't know what has failed in my brake system. I am under the impression that there is most definitely fine particulate in my brake lines and my master cylinder or brake booster may be clogged or has been for a long time. My plan right now is to disconnect all the components in the braking system, use a large air compressor to blow out the hardline and just start over. I will be replacing the hardline on the rear axle that would not loosen from the prop valve. I bet the prop valve needs a rebuild too, but I don't know if those components are still available anymore. What could be causing my problems? Clogged prop valve? Damaged brake booster? I read something about a leaky booster / check valve. Is that possible? I don't mind replacing the brake booster and master cylinder now as they are likely 34 years old, but I'd like to use new mopar parts. I have been jaded enough by the dorman / crown / clone part quality of the coolant tanks. I don't want a life-saving critical part made to such poor quality standards. Thanks for any input!

You guys are the best. Thanks!

Close, but not quite. Mine and the one in the listing has 2 ridges on the back face of the bumper. The one you linked has 3 ridges. It looks pretty darn close though.

I have that exact same bumper, but the PO must have either pulled out a stump or had one too many drunk nights with a sledgehammer I'm just thankful my tailgate is straight!

Hi. I've been slowly resolving issues with my comanche and I've come across some oddities. Was there ever a retaining clip on the ignition coil? I notice there's dedicated plastic tabs on the main spark plug wire from the coil and it leads me to believe there was some plastic or metal clip over the main wire from the ignition coil. Was that stock? should I make one? I noticed that my distributor sender has a 4 wire connector, but only 3 wires enter the sender housing. There are no cut wires at the body of the sender either. I'm thinking the previous owner replaced the sender electrical connector for some reason. I looked online and of the images I saw, some senders are 3 wire and some are 4 wire. What's going on? Why the disparity? Should I replace my sender? When comparing engine bays to other cherokees and comanches of the same era, I noticed mine is missing an air vent hose that connects to the side of the air box intake. There is a circular port on the side circled in the attached image. My comanche is missing that entire hose. What does that hose do? Where does it connect? Is it the direct cabin air input? I have a power trans and comfort switch on my dash. My switch is completely toast and I can feel it not engage anything. Does anyone know is there's a replacement switch made or is it a junkyard only part? Should I just solder it to power mode? Does anyone know if the rubber linkage bushings for the tailgate are available anywhere? Are there any 3rd party ones? I'm tempted to make my own out of a block of rubber and just laser cut some. Thanks for any input!

Yeah! I goofed. I should be able to use the pinion yoke from the liberty rear setup and then just either buy a shorter driveshaft, have my current MJ rear driveshaft shortened or live with a few inches of lift

Exactly. I am going to keep my rear axle for now, replace the broken parking brake cable and pass inspection. Then I'm going to keep an eye out for a 3.55 KJ rear axle, have a correct length drive shaft made and do the swap then. Last thing, what is the spline count for the KJ rear axle? Will I be able to shorten my current driveshaft or will it not be able to mate with the KJ differential housing? Thanks!

I received the "DEA A2883" mounts in the mail a few weeks ago. I'll keep it short: I returned them. The photos here show the mounts as they arrived, new in the plastic bag. They were never installed. While they look close to the the 90s+ mopar parts, the fit and finish is very poor. The mopar ones have stamped "made in canada" with the chrysler star on them. There are no stamps of origin or insignias anywhere on these engine mounts. The rubber looks newly formed into a warn mold. The edge finish is very frail and jagged and is reminiscent of cheapo tires. Also, the smell was a dead giveaway: it smelled like harbor freight. That off-gassy smell of a cheap labor produced rubber part. The durometer of the rubber does not seem that high. I was able to press my thumb into the rubber portion of the mount about 1/16in. While that is not exactly a repeatable measurement, and my thumb should displace the rubber a little, it should not deform that much considering the weight of the engine should place a considerably larger downward force over a 2in x 4in surface rubber area. Besides this, I ordered a "DEA A2883" mount and received an omni5 mount. It's possible that all the mounts listed here are identical and of identical quality. I returned this. If your last resort is to buy these, buy the cheapest one you can find. No sense in spending $30 on $5 cheapo mounts.

Thank you for the clarification. I corrected my above post. Sorry been looking back and forth at axles, I had to resort to excel to sort possible combos I'm going to sift through the 1988 MJ service guide tomorrow and compare the rear axle length of MJ vs KJ vs 2000 explorer 8.8.

You sir are awesome. Thank you very much for the input. I plan on visiting local junk yards and doing a drive shaft spin test before I remove the rear axle

My axles are 3.55. I think 3.55 should be fine for normal driving. I don't plan on going above 30in tires with this. I checked car-part and there seems to be a bunch of 3.55 KJ rear axles from 2005-2007. I'm going to check rotor sizes on orileys to see how comanche front / teraflex rear kit / liberty rotor sizes compare

This is exactly what I was going to ask you! You previously mentioned: What entices me about the KJ rear end is that it includes discs and its the same 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern. My two concerns are: Will it make the wheels sit too far out of the wheel wells? I plan on running OEM 10 spoke or pizza pie style rims. I only plan on daily driving this and occasional towing. Not planning on wheeling. Maybe my next one :D. Will the liberty discs clear the factory 15in factory comanche/cherokee rims? I am a sucker for OEM period correct rims. I don't know why. The designers got it right. I have been wanting to put rear discs on my comanche because the rear drum shoes are nearing replacement. I went ahead and grabbed a teraflex 4354410 kit since I have non c-clip D35 rear axle, but I decided to return it because my press broke and dang its a lot of work for not a lot of gain. I realize that the KJ rear axle is not bolt-on for the comanche, but It seems the MJ metric ton rear axles have reached unicorn status. I just want to minimize time spent fiddling and the KJ route looks the least fiddly other than finding the stock MJ rear D44. This all ties into track width. I noticed my comanche is drastically different in the front and rear. The front tires stick out 2-3in while the rear ones are flush with the tire well. I have removed the tires and rims and there are no spacers or adapting plates on any axle hub. Is this normal? I'd prefer the wheels to be close to flush with the wheel wells. The front's are a bit too cheeky for me. My comanche came with barely used Dick Cepek 31X10.50 tires and procomp 15in tires. The wheels are too big for my tastes and look strange because of the reduced backspacing of the procomp rims. I'll be selling these soon after I find an OEM set. The only suspension related changes made look to be the added 2.25in plastic spacers to the front coil springs. The rear leaf springs are below the axle and it does not look like a pack was added. There are shackles on the leaf springs but they don't look extended. Thanks a ton for all the input guys!

Curious, is the XJ dana 44 axle the same overall length as the MJ dana 44? I want to be able to run the stock 10 spoke or pizza pie rims, and it doesn't seem that any other axle will allow for this without a lot of modification. -ford 8.8 rear axle will need perches, shorter length, has 3.55 gearing option. -Chrysler 8.25 axle not much better than dana 35 non c clip, needs perches, spline count conflict -wagoneer Dana 44 axle has wrong wheel hubs (6 bolt), needs different perches etc... Not wheeling, just driving and occasionally hauling Thanks!

Whatt. That doesn't look like a stock option to me...

You sir are awesome! I just ordered the rear disc brake parts I needed. Sweet. Thanks again!

Awesome thread! Did you mean the OEM 10 spoke OW1402 alloy rims and the OEM 5 spoke OW1512 alloy rims? https://www.originalwheels.com/jeep-wheels/comanche1990rims.php I am thinking of doing this conversion next weekend and It would be great if the stock 10 spoke rims cleared the disc brake setup. Thanks a ton!

Man this thing is absolutely righteous. That grill and the rear glass louvers pushes it right over the top. Nice job!

Those are all great options, but I do not plan on rock crawling. I plan on daily driving my comanche and it would be nice to minimize vibrations. The brown dog / more / stinky fab / ironman mounts are all the same mcmastercarr cylindrical rubber bushing in a tube mount. I need something that dampens more, which is why I'm after the original style mounts. I'll update this thread when I get the dea mounts in.

Some of the photos of the DEA A2883 mounts on ebay say "made in canada" I will report back on the forum with photos when I get my mounts in, hopefully in a week or so. I'm trying to maintain a spreadsheet of parts names, part location on vehicle, mopar cross ref numbers and purchase locations. You know, in case I end up desperately needing an excuse to grab a short bed to fill out the flock

Thanks for the input! That's good to know. I called a few smaller jeep dealerships and they were more helpful than the large-corp conglomerate jeep dealer. it's a shame that the engine mounts were discontinued. Its a pretty essential item. I think I'm going to buy a set of DEA A2883 mounts and report back on the forum. In the mean time if anyone else has purchased similar looking mounts, feel free to chime in. I'd love to know how they have held up.

I already sent him a message. I'm just curious if anyone purchased the DEA A2883 style mounts and how their experience has been. Maybe it's close to oem? I sure hope so! I'd prefer my bones not to be rattled

Mine is 34 years old. I believe it sat for at least 2 years before I purchased it. The entire cavity below the filter in the air box was stuffed with a mouse nest.

Hey guys, I'm in the middle of finding replacement motor mounts and transmission mounts for my comanche, and it turns out the mopar engine mounts are officially discontinued. https://www.moparpartswebstore.com/p/42361739/52019201AC.html I called some local Jeep parts dealers in new york and they mentioned there are 2 left in stockin new jersey for $114 each. That's frankly insane and I don't feel like handing over my money to a bunch of block heads that refuse to give me mopar part numbers for "company policy" reasons. How does FCA allow this kind of behavior? Not providing OEM mopar part numbers? Insane. Engine mount dampener mopar# 52019201AC 52019201 52019201AB 52040267 Automatic transmission dampener mopar# 52002334 52003065 52003066 I have been looking up mounts for the past week and from my searches, it seems that the reproduction engine mounts, such as the crown automotive 52020018 mount and all of the derivatives on ebay and amazon, are terrible. From reading reviews and finding youtube videos, the rubber shears after about 6-12 months. Maybe the quality of rubber used is terrible or too low of a durometer. https://www.crownautomotive.net/Front-Motor-Mount/52020018.html I discovered something interesting in my searches. A company called DEA products makes a motor mount that looks incredibly identical to the mopar mount. It is called the "DEA A2883." I don't know if this mount shares the same fate as the other cloned mounts but it looks suspiciously similar to the engine mounts listed on mopar parts sites. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dos-a2883 It also looks suspiciously similar to the Omix-Ada 17473.11 Engine Mounts https://www.amazon.com/Omix-Ada-17473-11-Engine-Mount/dp/B000FPY56K Has anyone successfully installed this mount and has it failed on them? I'd love to know. I would really like to not have to reinstall motor mounts for a few years at least Thanks guys!

Update: The video above showed a rear 89 cherokee rear axle. The rectangular bolt pattern on that axle is 2" x 3+9/16". I was under the impression that the XJ rear axle is identical to the MJ of similar generation. Something interesting on the Quadratec website for the teraflex kit mentions: "The years between 1987 and 1991 are the dark years where anything is possible from Jeep, so check the bolt pattern with the drawing before ordering a kit. " Is it possible for my bolt pattern to be different? Even though I definitely have a non-c-clip rear axle, is it possible that my bolt pattern is not rectangular? Here's some photos to explain the differences. I went ahead and measured the rear of the drum brake and it turns out my original hunch was correct. I have the rectangular axle bolt pattern, 2" x 3.35." I wonder why quadratec labeled 87-91 as the dark years? Update 2: This right here is why I jointed this awesome place! @WahooSteeler has already solved my problem, it just took me forever to find the answer. Teraflex actually sells the correct backing plates separately. Thanks a ton guys!

Hi Cruiser! Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, I have found that the backing plate bolt pattern on the ZJ rear disc brakes do not match the backing plate bolt pattern on the non-c-clip rear axles on my comanche. The youtube video above shows it. The rear disc backing plate was from a Zj and needed to be drilled and modified to fit the non-c-clip rear axle. I checked several ways and I am nearly 100% sure that I have non-c-clip rear axles :/ I'm looking into the teraflex disc brake conversion kit, but it seems I would be locked into rotors and pads from teraflex for the life of the vehicle. They don't list any other alternative source of pads for when they wear out. seems kinda silly. Thanks for any input!