Dechion

That reminds me, I really should ask for a few more cards. I went through my stash already.

So you see, I have this problem. My engine warms up fine, the temp gauge reads just over halfway between the 100 degree mark and the 210 degree mark. My defroster puts out kinda halfway warm air. Every other setting (heat, bi-level, and vent) the damn thing is blowing cold. :ack: So far this winter I have just been running the defroster for the little heat I get from it and dealing with it. Something about not really wanting to start tearing into the problem until the world thaws back out. Then a friend of mine heard I had no heat and is willling to let me use his garage to check it out. :wrench: Any thoughts on where I should begin checking? I will only have a few hours in the warm at any one time before I have to put it back on the street, possibly for the rest of winter. What would be the best way to spend my time? My original thoughts were to ignore it till spring when I plan to convert from closed to open cooling anyhow, but if I can get it to be a bit warmer for the time being it would be nice. :yes:

Wednesday I woke up early when the power went out. (makes the alarm on my the UPS for my TV go off). Spent a couple hours making sure everything stayed warm and such at the house. Called in to work about an hour before I had to be there and was told not to bother, and since the power (and with it the furnace) was back on I just went back to bed. Sometime about ten my son and I went out to dig our way to the street, occasionally stopping to go help the fools that were trying to drive little plastic no ground clearence having cars through 2 feet of unplowed snow... then wondering why they got stuck. :shake: I think the most fun of the day was helping dig out the snowplow that got stuck out front of the house. Didn't get any good pics of my MJ as we were clearing up, but here's a few of me and my son diggin out. (I think you can see my hood in one pic, the drift in front of it was level with the grill) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 1000876086

Today I dug my MJ out of a drift that was up to and onto the hood, only to find out that I didn't have to go to work afterall. Not that I'm complaining, at least I didn't make the trip there to find out. Oh, and since I am home and was already outside I fixed the ground behind the tail light. :nuts:

Unfortunately JCR Offroad no longer maes a rear MJ bumper. Too bad, I was going to get a matching front and rear set. If I have to fab up my own I'll just stich with the stock front one.

The Reese 37042 from that post is the same one that I was planning to use. Good to know someone else has already done it and had it work.

Thats exactly what I am looking at now. Well, not right this second, but you know what I mean. Reese has a multi-fit that should work. A friend bought one for his truck and I got to take a few minutes with it and a tape measure before he installed it. Once I get mine and put it in I'll be posting a write up in the DIY section with pics and such. The only issue it might have is hanging a bit low compared to a stock bumper, i'll have to see with it on. Then again I am replacing that bumper with something I fab up out of square tubing anyway, so i'll just make it look good then.

Time for a bit of an update I think. I got the brake problems sorted, though I ended up replacing everything but the pedal by the time it was over. On the plus side, I should not have to work on that system for a while. The rust that is here and there... well, it was hit with some "turns rust into primer" spray paint to help keep it from getting worse till this summer when I can actually address it right. My oil pressure gauge is still maxed out, even with the key off. I am leaning towards a bad sending unit, but have not done the troubleshooting yet. I just finally found the pdf of the electrical shematics, that will help a ton. :thumbsup: The Drivers seat will tilt forward now, I took it apart and fixed the cable. Unfortunately the seatpan is cracked in half on the bottom, not much fixing for that. For now I have an antifreeze bottle wedged underneath it. Something tells me I really should buy a replacement. :shake: The trailer hitch has turned out to be kind of like finding a needle in a haystack, well unless I want to spend $300-$400 on one. I will probably end up going with the Reese multi-fit for small trucks and suv's. How it sits compared to the bumper is not going to be an issue. The reason it won't be an issue is that the rear bumper is shot. Since I am not going to be using the built in class 1 hitch that a step bumper provides I will just take the old one off and fab up something out of square tubing. Thats why hitch position in relation to the bumper doesn't matter. I'll do the hitch first and make the bumper look good with it afterward. :wrench: The spare tire still needs to be cut off, probably when I do the hitch to make room to work. Other than that the fog lights are still not working, though having the schematics I have traced it far enought to know there is power to the switch, and I can hear the relay clicking. Might just be a pair of bulbs. (Right, like it's going to be the easy thing) I think come spring I will be doing some gasket replacing around my valve covers, and it looks like the oil fill cap's gasget does not seal particularly well either. It'll get addressed. For now, I leak out about a quart of oil a month, and I don't feel like working in the cold. The radio still acts stupid, doing the same stupid it used to do. I have a a spare now though, since my daughter decided to total my Malibu (she's fine). I'll probably just swap it out and put the one that's in my truck now on my boat instead. The biggest project for the spring though has to be pulling out the interior, hauling up the carpet, and dealing with whatever I might find hiding there. It all feels solid, but that means little till I see it for myself. Besides, that way I can Line-X the cab floor at the same time I do the bed. Add all that in with a topper I will be picking up this weekend and a day spent in the paint booth. I should be in a lot better shape in a few short months. I really should get some more pics to post as well. I think I'll take care of that this coming weekend.

Watching this one close and taking notes. It's too damn cold out to be working on anything that does not absouletly need it, not to mention the snowpocalypse they are predicting for this week. On the other hand I am only getting about 12 Mpg on my 2wd / 4.0 Eliminator. I am planning on going through an working on that in the spring (along with everything esle that gets put off all winter) Good info here on some things to start with.

Pm sent.

Short bed (61" X 75")

Actually I am really close to just making a hard cover myself out of 1/2" green treated plywood. Either that or do like my father in law did and just make a softcover myself.

the odd thing is that what I really want is a tonneau cover, so height does not really matter. If I can find a topper I would be all over it, but there is nothing within a drive I can afford to make. Closest one I have found is like 4-500 miles away. At 13 Mpg and $3 a gallon thats about $200 in gas to go fetch it. :P Sounds like I could order in a cover for an 82-93 S-10 and have it work out, though it may be a shade narrow.

Once upon a time I remember reading something on this board about someone that used a camper top from... I think it was an older s-10... that fit the MJ's box, but was a couple inches short compared to the cab. I was wondering if anyone could point me back in that direction of that thread. (tried searching, with no sucess) Anyone have a list somewhere of other trucks with the same size bed? Or am I remembering wrong, and there is no such thing?

I don't know if they ship, but there are two at the pick-n-pull in northern Illinois. At least there were there yesterday and looked decent.

There are actually three things I am looking for, and of course they have to be the hardest *&*%$ things to find. I am looking for: A Trailer Hitch, class 3. A rear bumper, (yes, I can hear you laughing) And a short bed tonneau cover or camper top. Yes, I know I can still buy the hitch new, but I would rather not spend $250 on one if I can help it. Same with the bumper (though it would be aftermarket) and a cover. I would rather spend my money here if folks have stuff laying about. Pm me, or drop me an email (futureprimitive1 AT aol DOT com)to work out details.

Thanks much =)

Ok here goes, I am looking for a good writeup (assuming there is one) on installing trailier wiring on the Comanche. Can anyone point me there? So far I have found the following for wire colors, I suppose it's a start. Ground: Comanche harness = Black four wire flat trailer wiring = White Position on plug 159 (behind left taillight) Not included in plug, must ground to body. (and clean up that ground while I'm at it) Common (running lights): Comanche harness = Dark Blue four wire flat trailer wiring = Brown Position on plug 159 (behind left taillight) pin A Right turn signal / brake light: Comanche harness = Brown four wire flat trailer wiring = Green Position on plug 159 (behind left taillight) pin B Left turn signal / brake light: Comanche harness = Grey/tr *or* grey/black (depending on which side of the connector behind the left taillight we are talking about) four wire flat trailer wiring = White Position on plug 159 (behind left taillight) pin C Here is an image of the plug, for reference. Yes, it looks like I am more writing a guide than asking for one. I am just looking for input before I start tinkering with my wiring harness. anyone have any advice?

Thanks much.

Second silly question of the day, whereabouts on my engine (4.0) is my sender hiding? The Chiltons I have access to mentions it but does not give a location or a pic of it.

Thanks much. I'll pull the light housing and check it out today after work, and take a feel around the top of the tank while I am out there. If I can manage to fix either one I will be fine until spring. I just need to not run out of gas during the winter. Bad things have been know to happen to people that ran out of gas in a Wisconsin winter.

I'll be joining you in the rusted mounting bolt fixin club come June.

I seem to be having an issue with my oil pressure gauge. As in, it stays maxed out even with the truck off and the keys in my pocket. Is there anything I can be checking or is my gauge simply shot? I think I read about it being based on resistance, would an open wire cause it to go to max? Or a bad sending unit (shorted) perhaps?

Two questions about my fuel system. 1. When I completely to off the tank I actually get overflow from somewhere that hits the ground. I might have a crack in the top of the tank, or possibly a leaking fitting. I have not dropped the tank yet to find out. The question here is, what kind of issues might I run into dropping the tank? I once had a van that dropping the tank pinched all the lines, that why I am asking if there is anything I should be aware of. 2. less invasive, less dangerous, but far more annoying, My gas gauge seems to be acting stupidly. It's range is about 3/4 tank when it's full, and about 1/4 when it goes dry. The low fuel light never does come on. I have read about checking the ground behind one of the tail lights, but I don't know where it's located (the ground, I can find the tail light :yes: ). So I guess the question on this one is, where is the ground I should be checking and what should I be looking for? Just clean it up and see if it works? Any other advice? These two problems have kinda worked together to run me out of gas twice already, since I can't monitor the fuel level, and just keeping it topped it off causes a leak.

Tried it on my way home from work and it worked like a charm. One stomp and the light went away, and stayed away. Thanks much.