DirtyComanche

Poh-ta-toh, poh-tah-toh. If the HO speedometer drops in the Renix housing and is easy to add wires (and a connector) to, that will likely be easier than messing with the fuel gauge or sender. But it's going to depend what a guy has on hand for parts and what he's trying to accomplish. If you had a HO fuel sender, or were using another gas tank, it might make more sense to use the HO cluster. Either way, it's on my list of things to scrounge parts for.

I believe they are in fact outfitted as such, and I believe there was pictures on NAXJA. That said, if I don't quit my jerb I'll probably be working down there next winter, so I WILL be looking for them. And if I can get one, I might well attempt to smuggle it back for 'research.'

Yes, there's lots of confusion with people assuming that J trucks were Comanches, and people assuming that a Grand Wagoneer is a Cherokee or vice versa, along with SJ Cherokees being confused with XJ Cherokees, and whatnot else. The XJ I bought from a very grumpy guy who refused to answer any questions on the phone and had no pictures. I thought I was going to buy a SJ Cherokee because the ad said it was an 82 Cherokee, and there's no XJs in those years. I showed up with a trailer, and it turned out it was a turd of an XJ, but hey it was still cheap enough that I wasn't going to go home empty handed.

Both of those options likely exist and were installed in MJ Comanches. When they say "XJ Metric Ton Truck" they mean Comanche, as they were using the MJ designation for military stuff because they're Dana/Spicer and not AMC/Jeep. Somebody on here posted an 86 MJ with a D44 in it that appeared to be factory by all indications, yet it was not the same D44 that was used in the 87-92 Metric Tonne MJs. I bet the BOM quite possibly would have matched that first one. Yes, we commonly believe all 86 Metric Tonnes got the AMC 20, but there is likelihood that some got a D44, but few enough that disorganized AMC never included it in their parts manuals. AMC was notorious for bolting in whatever was around, switching suppliers mid year or midday, buying whatever fell off the truck, etc. Also dates from Dana/Spicer don't always line up with what the vehicle manufacturer uses, as Dana will build axles in batches to supply production for an assumed timespan, which may not be the actual timespan.

I''m assuming you meant 88, because you certainly could get a D44 front in a FSJ in 81. Well, you could in 88 too, for that matter, the Grand Wagoneer used them until the end of production in 91ish. That said, you couldn't just install one in the XJ/MJ chassis, since there was some rather serious differences between them. With you on that. Along with posting the Dana BOM numbers. They will tell you a lot about what it actually is...

Might just be an arrow. I hope you didn't throw out that box off the one you scrapped.

If it doesn't boil over or blow coolant out of the rad with the cap off, it can't be getting that hot. If it's getting hot and the water pump is dead, it will heat the coolant above boiling in the block and when you pull the cap off it will flash to steam and blow coolant everywhere...

Yup, that needs a cleanup.

That section would probably blind you if it was silver...

Looks good on those 35s.

Especially when you're going from a cold place to a hot place... All the problems of your cooling system are suddenly exposed.

Those solenoids do tend to fail. Lots of guys upgrade to solid state contactors instead.

Good thing it's only got like 63HP, or those portals would get destroyed.

It's good to know that Walker stuff fits that well. Is it all aluminized pipe, or is it just bare steel? It's a little unclear on their site, but it looks like it has some sort of coating on it in your pictures.

Wow, that track bar bolt, no surprise you had death wobble. That radiator looks a little crusty, and like it has seen some trauma (cores squished together at the top). However, I would be tempted to leave it... At the same time, you should look at your coolant pressure bottle, if it's looking like it's starting to crack (they all do eventually) it might make sense to just order up a newer style radiator, a universal overflow bottle, and convert it to an open system. Maybe. Maybe throw some new loom over that wiring harness that's exposed (in front of the radiator), if that gets chafed it can easily short out and melt the whole mess into a blob... Make's for a bad day.

I don't recall them being any harder than anything else, but I'm used to having to put vaseline on my arm so I can get it through an undersized access hole to get at some fastener that nobody has ever actually laid eyes on. I normally get at them from the top, not lying under the truck. Firstly pull more stuff out of the way for access if you haven't already. The airbox is the obvious big thing, but even things like the washer bottle being out of there might allow you to get a better angle. You can try a magnetic extension or two, like these: https://www.mactools.ca/en-ca/NoValue/NoValue/f0b0964e-1523-48c8-aac4-a2fb01851610/Magnetic-Extensions That way you can just fish the socket/bolt with a short extension on it to where it needs to go, then turn the extension with your fingers to start the bolt. You can also tape the bolt into a socket and do the same thing. Even a wobble/ujoint socket. You can also sometimes just stick the bolt on the end of a telescoping magnet and finagle it into place and turn it with the magnet, you definitely won't cross thread it if you do that.

Yes, a comealong being ejected at highway speed could be pretty spectacular.

I like how this got hijacked into a beer thread. I used to drink that all the time when I worked in PA. Can't get it west of the Mississippi I'm told, and I've certainly looked. I quite enjoyed it for being a competitively priced brew.

You'll be into it for a bunch of time, but what the hell.

True. I've never understood why people choose to drink Bud here when it's at a premium price.

I believe those tabs take the place of the problematic plastic clip. That said, you're trading one evil for another.

There's lots of good beer available in the US now.

What are you going to do for suspension then? 33s are a good choice for keeping the front axle alive, IMHO. Update us on that E-locker, curious how well it holds up. I really like electric lockers in general, unfortunately lots of them aren't built that well (Eaton has gone through 3 or 4 revisions of that locker, at least).

That winch looks brand new again.

Installing o-rings dry is asking for them to catch, roll over, and split/tear. I use light silicone grease most of the time, but a drop of clean motor oil or even a tiny squirt of WD-40 will save you a lot of trouble.