brucecooner

You guys are right, I should at least look inside it a bit before writing it off. It still starts and runs well, though it sounds like a tin can full of ball bearings in an earthquake. Doesn't hesitate or stall though. It's been unnerving that the various noises seem to be getting louder. The top end was just lifter #1 at the beginning, but more seemed to be joining in last time I listened to it. It's crazy to me that you can replace the bearings with the engine in the truck. Good to know, and that's an easy one to check. The compression has checked out fine the couple of times it's been done, even after the noises started, which led me to think it was a bottom end problem. I'm perversely glad to know I'm not the only person whose 4.0 didn't make it to 300K. The 4.0 overall sounds a bit like the 3.0 Vulcan(?) in my old Ranger. Not a lot of power, not at all efficient, but it ran without any drama for 200K. Only work it ever needed was the camshaft synchronizer, and that was well past 100K. It runs well enough to suit me, if i could figure out it's okay, or replace a part that calmed it down I'd be happy. I just don't want to be ignoring something that will go boom one day. Interesting. How did you figure it out? Would it shake in the mounts if the balancer was bad? Glad to hear you got yourself and the truck sorted out. This motor is, as far as I know, the original '88 Renix, but it could have mismatched stuff that I am not aware of. It's got an aftermarket radiator, I guess the original owner using it as a tow rig decided on that. Other than that I haven't noticed any signs of work, not that I'd be able to though. And we're neighbors, in a way. I'm at the exact opposite end of the valley in Goodyear. I'd be curious to know that machine shop in Prescott? Someone here (Scout I think?) led me to AZ AMC Restoration, seems to do mostly older carb'd V-8 work, but I've talked to Dan(?) there a few times, knows his stuff. I should give him a ring and see what he says. I've thought about selling it, but when I think about after that, I feel like I'd be regretful of my decision. I've never really actually wanted another vehicle like I wanted this damned thing. If I won the lottery, sure, I'd acquire some rare iron. But for something to scratch my crawling the backroads itch that I actually want to drive, it's this Comanche.

The Heartbreaker's just been a big paperweight for a while, waiting for me to sort out my health, and what seemed like a misfire, and the increasingly loud lifter chatter. After a few months I told my son he could start driving it if he helped with upkeep, so at least it wouldn't just be sitting there. He's a maintenance tech at a freight yard and has a couple of old project trucks he's spent some time on, though not enough to reliably keep them on the street (he works nights). He was excited to be rowing the gears in a genuine truck again, and he started his Jeep journey by giving it some new plugs and wires, which fixed absolutely none of the issues we had set out to address. He's always, always suspicious of bearings (some past trauma I think), so at his behest we pulled the oil filter and drained it into a plastic lid, and we had to shield our eyes from the light reflecting off all that brass. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it still seemed like a lot of brass for oil that only had a few hundred miles on it. (pics at the end) Apparently I have managed to acquire the only 4.0 ever that didn't even make it to 190K. Maybe I'm exaggerating again, but it's still disappointing. I'm pretty sure this particular Comanche, though well maintained and running fantastically when I acquired it a few years ago, was a tow rig in its former life and worked very hard for that first 180K miles. So the Heartbreaker really earned its moniker this time. And I'm trying to figure out which is worse, the pain of wanting an old Jeep, or the pain of owning an old Jeep. There are no tall cliffs conveniently nearby to push it off of so I can listen to the satisfying thud as it finds its final resting place, so now I have to figure out what I'm actually going to do with it. I could take the L and go with the default choice, a Tacoma. They're worth their weight in gold, as prices will attest to, but I've just never wanted one. We've got a newish Maverick that's getting the truck stuff done around here now, so I could take the L and dump the Comanche for a Wrangler of some sort, which would be great for adventuring. Some of the JK's seem okay, and I could get a manual to boot. Or I could roll the dice again and get an old TJ, which is what I'd rather have, and I'm sure the one I chose would seem very solid the day I buy it and then turn out to be useless as a box of broken bolts once I've driven it a few miles. I could get a modern truck for adventuring. But I don't want something new with all the bells and whistles and things. I want something old and simple, and unfortunately the Comanche ticks that box. Usually I ignore the giant gray paperweight shading a patch of my driveway, but sometimes I look at it, and I remember the time I saw one years ago and realizing how much I wanted one, and then I'm sad. A great big weed has come up underneath it. Finding it a little funny I snapped a picture the other day and then I noticed how good it still looks, and how much I wish I was driving it around, and I got sad again. I used to have dreams, stupid stupid dreams, about driving this thing to out of the way places in Arizona. And oh god the time and effort I put into this thing, getting it to stop, and sometimes getting it to go, all those hours wasted thinking I was getting closer to bouncing up the road to the top of Mount Ord again. The last thing I did when I thought I had it going good was to put those nice LED taillights on it, which really dressed up the rear end. And here it sits, day after day. Life-wise, things are looking up. My health is at least better than it used to be, so it's time to make some sort of definitive decision. I guess the first thing I should do is at least investigate replacing the front half of the powertrain (I've already swapped the old Peugot for an AX-15, yet another gigantic thing I did on the way to driving it around). I don't have the space, time, or skills to tackle a job this big, but I have a decent job now, and I didn't spend quite all of my inheritance on the Jeep, so I can at least, theoretically, engage the skills of someone who has skills and space. Rebuilding this 4.0, or acquiring another, is the obvious option. Is it still possible to get engines rebuilt reliably? My experience of watching my son attempt to have a Ford smallblock rebuilt would seem to indicate nobody actually does that anymore. At best, "rebuild" shops seem to just power wash a seized engine from a wrecked vehicle, pack it up, and ship it to your door. (no offense if you are a rebuilder, I just have not had good luck with it) Sacrilege though it would be, I wouldn't be opposed to a 2.5 downgrade. It's towing days are done, and I pushed around a Ranger with the 3.0 Vulcan and 5MT (best truck ever) for twenty years so a slow truck would just be like going home to me. I'm not sure if the 4 banger is a big penalty offroad though. At the other end of the spectrum is the Chevy smallblock, which seems like a really popular option for XJ's and MJ's. Though seeing how it barely contains the 4.0, I have to wonder where a V8 even fits under the hood. I guess the 8, being shorter than the inline 6, might fit a little better? Any information out there on amenable options for the owner of a dying 4.0 is welcome.

Got Fiat's request done. I think it captures the FJ's unique look pretty well. Those teeny tiny bead lock wheels are the result of many years of messing around on a laser cutter.

Digging that color, never seen it on an MJ and would not have guessed they look so good in olive. Was surprised by the taillights, very neat.

Nice truck, cool and unique choice for a tire burner. Sounds like it can bring the good for all the attention it generates too. Looks as good underneath as above too, that rear suspension is a work of art.

I have two dream jobs, well, maybe three, maybe four. One of those dream jobs is to be a guide on the Verde Canyon, just riding it every day telling people about the stuff along the way. I will have to investigate the engineer option, that sounds like fun.

I haven't ridden the Grand Canyon RR, but did see it waiting near the lodge last time I visited up there. The thing I love about the Verde is that it goes inTO the canyon, you travel along the river and really get to see everything up close. I've ridden it a couple of times now, and going the whole length out in the open air cars is the only way to ride in my opinion. Second time I rode it I took son. It started raining on us, but we hunkered under the shade canopy and rode it out for a very unique experience. VOLUME WARNING IF YOU WATCH THE VIDEO!

For some reason I never got notifications from this thread (which I thought I was following), until TODAY, thanks to @89 MJ at'ing me. I was busy with work for a while, but I'm unemployed at the moment and spend a lot more time making little laser cut trucks nowadays (which is way more satisfying than most jobs I've had). Currently I'm wrapping up a bunch of requests from a ScoutII owner. @Randy90MJ @Airborne Janitor I can't sell Jeep products in my etsy shop because the owner of the trademark is more concerned with protecting their IP by bullying small businesses than building cars and making profits. (I'll let you figure out who I'm talking about) BUT, anyone who has a request can just DM me here for whatever you want. I'm also on instagram, https://www.instagram.com/brucecooner/ I tag my auto art there under #laserwheelsetsy https://www.instagram.com/explore/search/keyword/?q=%23laserwheelsetsy (account required, instagram bs) I have a gallery on Flickr with a small cross section of my work too. https://www.flickr.com/photos/woodbits/albums/72177720297989790/ And of course anyone can hit up my shop at laserwheels.etsy.com and send me a message. Due to the lawyers, I don't keep a lot of Jeep product lying around, but I can remake any of them. I don't think I ever showed off the little TJ's I made by request... Cherry and walnut, I really nailed the five spokes on these beautiful little guys. A few years ago someone asked for a plaque commemorating their friends' 50th wedding anniversary, featuring a repro of the CJ they used to roam around in. Made a JK Sahara as another gift request... That one's about 4 inches in width. It's not all Jeeps though. I made a little Pantera magnet because I've just always thought they looked badass, but I wanted something a little bigger for displaying so I enlarged the magnet into this shelf piece. Effing beautiful car and art piece in cherry, this one was in my personal fleet for a while but somebody came around the etsy shop looking for a gift for a Pantera fan so I sold it to them. (the parts for its replacement are currently waiting for assembly) I've always thought the XTerra was pretty neat, so did a little model of one. And it's not JUST road going wheels that get attention. After riding the Verde Canyon Railroad here in Arizona a few years back (which I highly recommend), I had to reproduce an EMD F7, a model similar to the ones that pull the Verde... Hardest part here was nailing the Blomberg trucks, but it was an awesome piece. Sat in the shop for ages, I guess the railfans never came looking, so I never made another. Back to the big stuff, my "best" customer has been a fellow in Colorado who has requested giant display pieces of his lovely '55 Chevy 3200 from several angles. The one I liked the most was the tailgate. This model is a foot wide. I also engineered a bracket for hanging it on the wall... I'm currently assembling another one to go in the shop for the Task Force fans. A little original Blazer... It was popular but I only made a few for some reason. I've got the Squarebody version almost done, just haven't been back to the design for a while. A recent addition is this ninth gen F-250 extended cab. It was originally a request, but I put it in the shop too and it sells pretty reliably. Sold another earlier this week, need to make another. I've been meaning to make an 8th gen version. This 2nd gen 4Runner plaque turned out pretty neat. I reproduced the owner's window stickers as best I could at this scale, not easy but it sold the effect. More cars... Last year I reproduced a Fox body Mustang as a gift request, going to someone who had turned theirs into a drift racer. They didn't ask me to, but I faithfully captured as much of its track acquired character as I could. Dirty looking piece but I loved the result. I've been meaning to remove the markings and adjust the front suspension back to stock and sell a Fox body in the shop. Got a request for an old Squarebird a while back. The wire wheels were a pain to reproduce. I'd like to enlarge this one, maybe do some trim in maple/basswood for effect. Oh, a couple years back somebody asked for a few Cobra MKIII magnets as gifts for his friends in the local owner's club. They're about 4 inches wide. Getting the knockoff Halibrands accurate was not easy but they turned out awesome. Badass little piece, one of the favorite designs I've done. I made one in cherry for my personal fleet. A while back, somebody requested a '63 Lincoln droptop, as a larger piece. This was a hard one to pull off, I used some next level tricks to get the chrome fender trim snug up to the body, and put it on a Lincoln star inspired base. Beautiful piece. Unfortunately the requestor lost his insta account to some hackers, who tried to pull the bad check scam on me to "pay" for it. Blocked the account and the original requestor never found me, so this one's in my personal fleet now, which is fine by me. Man, I don't think about just how many little cars I've made on the glowforge, but it's probably well over a hundred different models by now, and I've made well into the thousands of pieces. Etsy reports 2.4K sales, but a lot of my requests happen off of there so don't get track. But it's fun and people love them, so I just keep doing it. Anyway, there's a sample of my work. Anybody looking for something detailed and unique, hit me up! If you're more of a comic book fan... A friend of mine is a huge Iron Man fan, a couple of years ago I made a Mk III helmet as a shelf piece for his birthday. It's about 7 inches tall. The sensor on the front lights up the eyes when you walk past. Scared the heck out of his wife when he lit up in their dark living room one night lol. That design was a HARD one to pull off, stretched my skills a bit but man it sure looks great. My friend loved the gift. @fiatslug87 VERY sorry I never got back to you on the FJ cruiser. It's on my list of things I want to make. If you're still interested I'll put one in the queue. Currently I'm reproducing a Peterbilt 389 dump truck, it's going to be challenging but interesting.

I assume pinions/bearings aren't supposed to do this so yeah, it's got to be addressed. And like I said, making the noise go away is just putting off the problem to another day. The TC has had a very slow seep from the drain plug since I got it back, I'll need to change it after a breakin period and I need to research how to better seal the drain plug. On that note, I checked the level once the noise got loud, but it was still up to the fill plug hole.

Some of you may have been following my ongoing mystery chirp after swapping an BA10/5 for an AX-15 (Novak). The chirp developed over time, getting louder. Upon recommendation I decided to replace the driveline joints and, once I had pulled the front driveshaft out and drove it 2WD style, the chirp went away! Mystery solved, or so I thought. Well driveshaft maintenance turned into driveshaft replacement with a new Tom's unit. BUT, I finally get the new shaft installed and the chirp is back! Solving this mystery requires some more context. I locked the CAD on before the transmission swap, so the front shaft is turning all the time. For some reason the front yoke on transfer case sent by Novak would NOT mate to the stock driveshaft. I've looked at it, and it seems to allow you to seat a u-joint into it, but the bolt holes are definitely smaller, the old yoke has 5/16 x 24 bolts, and the "new" yoke's look like about 1/4 inch. So the shop I took it to (I've used for a while, and generally reliable, and who have done these swaps before) put the yoke from the old NP231 into the new case. And I'm guessing did it wrong. That's why when the front driveshaft was removed, the chirp was gone. The shaft was no longer turning the front yoke. So I'm about 99% certain I've got a singing front yoke in the transfer case. Bummer. At least I know how to make the noise go away now. But I didn't buy a 4 wheel drive vehicle to delete driveshafts. My other option is put the CAD back in use, but I think in that case I'd get one of those cable systems that engage them. I'll admit, I'm only going to be in four wheel drive rarely, so the CAD might get used once or twice a year (if I'm lucky). More importantly though, how worried should I be about this noise? I don't want to get out on a trail and put it in 4 wheel drive and then blow up the front yoke and/or pinion. I'll definitely call the shop and fuss about it, this should be well under warranty (if I can trust them to fix it right).

A FrankenManche, fitting for October. I think if Mad Max ever gets stuck, this is who he calls.

Looks good in that color. I really like the blacked out grill and fender flares. I've debated dipping my flares black, but I don't want them soaking up any more Arizona sun than they already do.

"The cheap man pays twice", as they say. I had also considered that a used one might just be broken in a different way. And speaking of axles, I do plan on putting the harder axle shafts in the front.

I was disassembling my front drive shaft this weekend, and upon cleaning found a crack in one of the ears (?) next to the centering yoke. I think it got hit by an uncapped u-joint while I was hammering elsewhere. It's bunged up inside the ring, and a bit out of round as well. Bummer. The socket joint the ball rides in is pretty well grooved, but the ball wasn't really loose before I took the centering yoke apart. But I probably need a new driveshaft. I'd be okay getting a used one and replacing the joints (which I'd already got for this shaft). But if a new driveshaft is on the table, maybe I could consider an upgrade. I saw a placed called Tom's that sells them ready to go: https://4xshaft.com/products/xj-cherokee-front-drive-shaft I really want to lift this thing, someday, IF I can ever get enough other stuff sorted out, so a new shaft with extended splines in the slip might not be a bad idea. Or are aftermarket shafts not worth the expense unless you're lifting it half a foot and doing extreme wheeling? Anybody got a good recommendation, a place you had good luck dealing with? Or would you just get an old banger off of ebay and replace the joints?

Thanks for the info. I'm leaning toward a new shaft, and am wondering if there's any mild upgrades I could look for while I'm at it. I'd like to give it a little lift some day, and was considering one of these with extended splines. https://4xshaft.com/products/xj-cherokee-front-drive-shaft Very overkill for my getting around town, but I still hold out the hope I might get it off the pavement, someday.