jodawill

Not sure why my post was merged here since it's about a Jeep Comanche.

I removed the dash bezel and made a huge mess just to poke around. Good times

That's such a good looking truck. Now I want one with a roll cage!

I came across a song about a Comanche recently. As far as I can tell, it's the only song ever written on the topic. I was surprised no one had posted it here yet. The song is Comanche by Kelsey Waldon. All of her music is on Bandcamp. The whole album is fantastic. Here's the music video:

I just found Minuit's post on repairing these radios. There are two in his post that look like mine, except they have the Jeep logo. Very strange that mine doesn't have it. I sent him a message. Hopefully he can help!

Does anyone have experience repairing the original stereos? At least, I assume it's the original. It's dated 1989, just a few months before the truck was purchased. There aren't any identifying markings on it like the Jeep cassette players I see on eBay. It mostly works, but I can't read the channel number because the backlight doesn't work. I tried replacing the bulb, but it isn't sending any power to the light. Also, the cassette player seems to be stuck on eject. It won't let the tapes lock into place. It's a very compact design, soldered together at some points. Is there someone out there who specializes in repairing these? Looking online, I've only been able to find people who work on tube radios.

Thanks! I ordered that one. We'll see how it goes.

I need to order a transmission mount. I see Rock Auto lists two different versions from Anchor - 2570 and 2858. They look the same to me. They also don't even have a section for the automatic transmission, so I'm not sure if either of them are correct for my AW4. Does anyone know which transmission mount will work?

I found an old thread where someone recommended buying the 4 hole fuel injectors here, but they aren't in stock anymore. What's the current recommendation for fuel injectors on the 4.0 liter? I see a few listings on eBay, but that can be sketchy sometimes.

I'm going to check into it when I get the new cylinder, but as far as I can tell so far, that isn't possible with these. They're not meant to be serviceable. Either way though, that original key isn't going to work in a working cylinder.

I plan to change the ignition lock cylinder soon. Unfortunately, that means my grandpa's keys won't work anymore. I was, however, with some difficulty, able to track down the same key blanks he used. There were several eBay listings of similar blanks, but the others weren't made in the USA. They're not 100% identical, but that really just seems to come down to poor quality control or the lack of precision and attention to detail when they originally manufactured these. They're close enough that I couldn't really describe the difference in words. The original Jeep logo keys are much easier to find. He never used his, but I'll recreate those too when I get the new lock.

I haven't, but I was planning to buy them along with the battery cables. How much of a difference do you think the battery cables will make? Does the resistance really increase even without visible corrosion?

I replaced the master cylinder the other day. How do you like that old brake fluid? I had been planning to work on the brakes for a long time because they were never great, but I kept putting it off while I did other work. Then a week or two ago, I almost drove through an intersection twice because the road was wet. (I had never driven it in the rain before.) I was being very cautious, driving really slow up to the stop sign because I knew the brakes might not be very effective. That still wasn't enough, and I barely stopped in time. It was scary. So I decided not to drive it again until I did something about it. After seeing what disgusting that brake fluid was, I can't believe it was working at all. The master cylinder was also leaking around the plunger, so I'm glad I had decided to replace it.

I stumbled upon jeepcables.com last night and it got me wondering whether my truck might benefit from some new cables. I think my headlights are dimmer than they should be and I've occasionally had issues starting it up. It seems like the starter takes longer than it should. The starter itself looks great, so I wasn't convinced it was actually at fault. For those of you who've upgraded the battery and headlight cables, what benefits did you see? Is it worth doing? How would you convince yourself it's necessary before spending the money, and how did you decide which gauge to buy? I assume 4 gauge is enough for a stock Comanche.

Do you happen to know what size they are?

This page says the lock comes both coded and uncoded, but I can't find any uncoded ones for sale.

Has anyone here tried to either repair the original lock cylinder or replace it with one with the same bitting? I need to replace mine, but I don't want to lose the ability to use my grandpa's original keys. As an aside, the copy he used as his daily key is so worn down it wouldn't work on a new lock cylinder, so I tracked down an identical key blank so I can recreate it. He never used the original keys, so I can still copy the bitting from them. I'm not sure how to go about this. It looks like all of the cylinders on Rock Auto are configured for the included keys, and I'm not even sure whether those keys are even the same type (B46J). Is it possible to buy a wafer set to repair the original cylinder?

I didn't know that. I'll double check it. Thanks! That's interesting. I didn't know that either!

It's just a 2wd. Thanks for the heads up on the dipstick! I suppose it would make sense to just remove it first.

I get to demonstrate my ignorance again here. I have no idea which transmission it is. It's an automatic and the truck is a 1990 Pioneer. But as for the specific transmission, I don't know. I have plenty of extensions. I've been stocking up on all the basic tools as they go on sale at Harbor Freight. I just picked up the wobble extension set a couple weeks ago.

Still making progress on this as I have time. The other day, I asked my son if he wanted to help me change the oxygen sensor. He wasn't interested, but my daughter (who's 7) was really excited about it. She loves this truck. So I loosened it, then I handed her the wrench and let her have at it. She had a lot of fun. I got some great pictures of her first experience as a mechanic. I sprayed Seafoam into the intake. It didn't smoke as much as I had expected, so it must have been pretty clean. There was a lot of squealing coming from the pulleys. I replaced one of the bearings and that seemed to eliminate the worst of it, but it was still chirping after I did that. The belt wasn't very old, but I replaced it anyway, and now it's silent. Replacing the oxygen sensor quieted the engine quite a bit, so I'm able to hear now that there's a vacuum leak. So I need to figure out where that is and address it. I'm still seeing power steering fluid leaking after I rebuilt the power steering gear box. I think the pump is leaking out the bottom, so I'll have to rebuild that next. The ignition has been having some minor issues. Occasionally, I'll just hear a grinding noise and it doesn't turn over. I turn the key again and it works perfectly. So I pulled out the starter to look at it, and I noticed the flywheel has a lot of chipped gears. So I decided I'm going to pull out the transmission to replace it. I'll replace the flywheel, the starter, the ignition lock cylinder, and the ignition coil all at the same time. I read that even a bad ignition lock cylinder could cause wear to the flywheel. So if I'm going to the trouble of removing the transmission to replace it, I'm going to replace all of it at once. It doesn't look like I'll be running out of projects any time soon.

I was looking at my starter the other day when I noticed that the flywheel has a lot of chipped teeth. It may not be the end of the world, but I noticed that the rear main seal is leaking, so I might as well remove the transmission and replace those things. It was my grandpa's truck, and I'm trying to restore it to like new condition, or as close as I can possibly get. This is the first vehicle I've ever worked on by myself, so I don't know very much. This will be the biggest job I've ever done, so I'm looking for advice. I watched a few YouTube videos and I bought the 800lbs transmission jack from Harbor Freight while they had the 20% off sale this weekend. I have a friend who said he'd help me with it since it's a two person job, but he also has no experience. Beyond the basic instructions I'll find on YouTube, is there anything you guys think I should know before I do this? And what other work should I do while I have the transmission removed? Is there any maintenance or inspection I should be doing to the transmission itself? What are some other maintenance items or parts that could be replaced that can only be done while the transmission is removed? It may be a long time before I'm able to remove the transmission again, so I want to make sure I complete every task imaginable while I have it out.

Alright, it's been a long time since I've provided an update, but I've been very busy with the truck. I started with almost no knowledge on any of this stuff. I've had the truck for a few years, but I've just gotten serious on the restoration about six months ago. I used to hate having to do anything to my vehicles, but I've found that it's actually a lot of fun if you invest in good tools. I bought an Icon 72" roller back in November and I've been filling it up as needed (or as things go on sale!). Now it feels good to have an excuse to play with my tools. I'm not sure if I'll even remember everything I've done, but off the top of my head: Replaced the gas springs on the cover Replaced the tailgate bumpers Replaced the foam padding under the cover and thoroughly cleaned the bed (This was the first time in my life I'd ever seen the cover taken off. If I had a place to keep it, I'd love to keep it off more often because it looks cooler.) Replaced the weatherstripping on the driver's side door (This took me an extremely long time and was way more difficult than I ever imagined, probably because I'm just bad at it. So I'm not very motivated to do the second side yet as long as it isn't leaking. My work looked awful and I kept redoing it over and over again until it finally looked right.) Glued the knob back onto the shifter (The teeth had broken off of it many years ago, as I'm sure has happened to just about everyone here.) Replaced the power steering hoses Fixed the driver's side mirror that couldn't be adjusted from inside Put Seafoam in the oil and the gas tank Changed all of the light blubs Replaced the harmonic balancer Rebuilt the steering gear box with new seals (power steering fluid has been leaking like crazy) Replaced the o-rings on the fuel injectors (which had also been leaking) Replaced the pin on the door hinge (Someone had stuck a bolt on there instead with no nut. ) Cleaned and glossed the tires Waxed the exterior Installed a 1990 license plate on the front Fixed the upside-down grille. I just finished changing the harmonic balancer last night, so I'm curious to check whether it fixed the issue where I was getting a metallic resonance at exactly 64mph. I haven't gotten it up to that speed yet. It seems to be running a bit smoother, but it's still not running like new. I'm going to try putting Seafoam in the air intake whenever I can get someone to hold the pedal down for me. The serpentine belt has been squealing ever since I took it off. I don't know why it's only doing that now. It's in great condition and I believe the tension is correct. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I noticed last night that the valence is split almost completely in half, so at some point, I'll have to pull it off and weld it together. I'll have to replace the fasteners that hold it on also because they're brittle. I bought some new seatbelts from seatbeltplanet.com a few months ago. I knew that the color wouldn't be a perfect match going into it, but the belts they sent me had THREE different colors of plastic - two different tans and black. It didn't even match itself, let alone the vehicle. So I had to spend $18 on shipping to return them, which was very frustrating. They asked for a photo, then they were like, "Oh yeah, that's normal. Sorry about that." (If anyone has an original tan center seatbelt, please let me know!) At some point, I'd like to fix the rust on the outside, but it's right under one of the decals, and I don't want to replace them until I'm ready to paint the entire truck, and I have no idea when I'd ever be able to do that. Is there a way to true up the rims so the hub caps will stay on? I still have three of the original hub caps, but I'm afraid to put them back on because it looks like the fourth fell off due to the condition of the rim. Is there anyone out there who does this kind of work, or is it possible to find an identical replacement? Also, is there anyone out there who can repair the original stereo? It won't accept tapes. The spring just pushes them back immediately. And the back light doesn't work. I tried replacing the bulb, but those connections aren't getting power.

Where did you get those tailgate bumpers? I see some on eBay for $40. I'm not sure what the quality is like. Edit: I found a post about the Key Parts one on eBay. It sounds like that's the closest to the OEM parts, so I ordered them. I'm glad I saw your post! I didn't know you could buy those. Mine are in rough shape. Thanks!

I'd be curious to know how much was in there, but I wasn't really motivated to pour that sludge into another container to measure it. That would have been a mess, and this stuff smells awful. It does feel great to have changed it though, for sure. I love the opportunity to scrub things down. I want to detail clean every inch of this truck eventually. It's not bad by any means, but I just love a clean vehicle.