MariaManche

I thought that upgrade by Cruiser54 was for Renix only?

Did you have any wiring damage from the mice?

Good call…. I think this was a good part of the smell.

The more I dig, the more mouse damage I find… I almost have the whole dash out of the Comanche. I am finding a lot of droppings, and wires chewed up. I think the plan is to remove everything, bag and tag, clean/fix and reinstall.

UPDATE ALTERNATOR Installed the new alternator and 60 amp fuses. Removing/installing the alternator was more painful than I thought it would be. RADIO Fixed some speaker wiring that was chewed up by the previous mouse residents and replaced the 7.5 amp fuse on the back of the radio. The wiring that was chewed up created a short circuit that blew my radio fuse. After that, the radio came alive again. Although the radio was finally on and functional, it would not find a FM station. I found the the antenna plug by the passenger floorboard was broken. I plugged it in and secured it with some electrical tape and I am now picking up FM stations. I need to find a permanent fix for this antenna plug. To fix my wiring issues, I have been using these low temp solder heat shrink connections off of amazon. DASH Now that the alternator and radio is behind me, I can continue to focus on cleaning all the mouse debris from the dash. When I first test drove the truck and turned on the AC, all kinds of mouse nest material came blowing out of the vents. Is there an easy way to clean this out?

Starting pulling the dash last night to remove any mouse feces and troubleshoot my radio that hasn’t worked since I bought the truck. Found a blown 7.5 amp fuse located on the back of the radio.

Thanks for the info WranglerMangler! That is much more of a difference than I was seeing on Rock Auto part pictures.

Another 8.8 swap question.. I have been reading some member write ups on the swap and I see that people are saying with larger axle tubes of the 8.8 you will increase your lift about an inch. I really do not want to lift the back of my jeep any higher than it already is.... I also saw that using Cherokee rear leaf shackles will drop you an inch. After comparing the two shackles on rock auto, I do not really see a big difference. Is this - 1in drop with the Cherokee shackles true?

A mechanic at work is offering to sell me a ford 8.8 out of an explorer. 3.73 ratio, posi, disc brakes. Is the $300 a good deal for this? Also, I will need to re-gear the front dana 30 to match. Does anyone have suggestions on ring and pinion manufacturers? I really want to keep this Comanche as "original" as possible.....but I really like the 35" tires and 300 bucks seems like a better route than building up the original dana 35.

thanks for the advice WranglerMangler! I’m going to check that out. Battery seems to be fine, and when I charge it completely, everything works like it’s suppose to. While running, it is not getting a charge at all. Just slowly drops in voltage. Found both 60 amp alternator fuses blown… last night I went ahead and pulled the alternator. New alternator, belt, tension pulley, and fuses are on the way from Rock Auto.

Disregard the Information about the brake lights coming on. They are suppose to.

Having some issues… A couple days ago I accidentally let my battery die, due to leaving the key on for a couple days. I charged her up and went for the previous mentioned drive to break in the new brakes. today while driving to autozone I noticed my speedometer wasn’t working, turn signal arrow on dash will come on solid but no blinker action, and the battery light came on. I pulled a U-turn and headed back home, she died as I was pulling into the garage. while pushing the Comanche the rest of the way in the garage I noticed when my wife pressed the brake, even with the jeep off and Keys out, the brake lights come on. Is this normal? any ideas on these issues? I’m going to test the alternator tonight but that doesn’t seem related to the other problems.

Deep cleaned the bench seat with my wife’s carpet shampooer. Threw the seat bake in to Break in the new rotors. Followed the Powerstop directions with doing 5 45mph to 10 mph stops, 5 35mph to 5mph stops, and then drove without braking for around 5 minutes. I removed the back bulky rubber bumper stops, the rusted out grandpa steps, and the CB antenna that’s no longer needed.

Rear Drums brakes have new shoes, springage, wheel cylinders, brake lines, and drums. I thought about not doing this job because I have plans to swap the dana 35 out for either a dana 44 or Ford 8.8, but I am not sure how long it will take for me to find a good swap candidate. Cleaned up the stickers on the camper shell. I am not a very political person but I can not get my self to take a razor blade to the Clinton sticker. Just fits the era of the truck and looks nostalgic. My wife thinks otherwise. Added my Comanche Club sticker that Pete hooked me up with!

Found this on Facebook marketplace. Is this the rare black steering wheel?

Junkyard Guy Update Finally got ahold of the guy with the private junkyard that I sold my previous two Comanches to about 5 years ago. He informed me that he has not done a single thing to them and probably never will but has no interest in selling them nor parts...... One of the two Comanches I sold him was an eliminator with a dana 44 rear end that I drug out of a field for 250 bucks. These are the two I sold him. Brakes Update Comanche rear brakes are coming along. The wheel cylinder bolts on both sides stripped immediately.... Tried using my PROTO extractors with no luck. First time I have seen this bolt extractor sockets not work. Ended up using a cut off wheel to remove the bolt head. The brake lines on both side also twisted in half from the fitting being seized onto them. Made new brake lines for the rear with my tubing bender and flare tool. Now I just need to put the shoes and springage on.

Thanks for the information! I am not in any rush to get some new shoes but once she is more roadworthy I plan on selling these and grabbing some 35 12.50 A/T. Do you work engineering rubber parts for the automotive industry? Just curious because I am an engineer at a plant that manufactures crankshaft bearings.

Comanche and her stable mates.

Located in Giles County, VA. I am willing to workout delivery method.... pay for shipping, meet you half way, drive to you. I purchased my Comanche without any headliner/board.

You've seen one before? When I first purchased the jeep I did not pay it much attention and figured it was some cheap Walmart cup holder that I would just trash. It was laying in the bed of the truck.

Originally sold in Maryland. I purchased from the original owner in Giles County, VA. That is really cool information. I have been wondering if the grille guard was an accessory option or aftermarket.

Update..... I think this was self-caused and I am an idiot. About a year and half ago, I replaced my camshaft and crankshaft positioning sensor trying to get rid of a rough idle issue. Didn't fix the idle issue and my check engine light came on. The Jeep seem to run fine so I just told myself I would replaced the aftermarket sensors with OEM whenever I got the chance. I ran my codes yesterday and I've got P0016, P0501, & P0344. P0344 is Intermittent loss of cam sensor signal and from what I have read can cause your jeep to go into "limp" mode. Maybe this is the "slippage" I am feeling... I am going to order the correct MOPAR cam and crank sensors and hopefully this fixes the issue. Not sure.

Don’t worry she’s in good hands! You were trying to buy this Comanche?

Would you bother resurfacing it or just replace it with a LUX flywheel? Seem Reasonably priced. One thing I continue to learn the hard is to replace/refurb components associated with what you are repairing...

Well it might be such a quick slip that its not very noticeable in the rpm. Most of the time I am not watching my rpm when it happens. I will try to get better information on that on my way home from work if it does it. I would say this slip happen 30% of the time I drive it. When it first started acting up, I parked it until I replaced my clutch. Now, I am not worried about it breaking down on me but its just extremely aggravating. The reason I went after my rear main seal was because (1.) It was leaking and (2.) After a trip where the jeep would slip, I could smell a burnt oil aroma in the driveway. This is a 6-speed manual by the way. 4.0 I6, NP231, Dana 44 rear