mica

Took a peek, looks like a big project there. That will be a fun rig.

Went out to where the truck has been sitting, rooted around a while inside the cab and found an ignition key. The missing key is the primary reason it has been sitting completely idle. I had been using around my property for firewood. Threw in a charged battery in the truck and it cranked but no start. I couldn't hear the fuel pump prime, so I wandered back there with a test light, no power the the fuel pump. I ran a fused jumper wire from the battery back to the pump, worked like a charm. I unhooked the fuel line and let the pump get any old fuel out of the tank. Nothing, no gas in the tank, but I could hear the pump. I guess my past self was looking out for me and drained the fuel sometime after I lost the key. Hooked everything up, added some fresh fuel and went to crank it again. Super slow crank, I could hear the starter solenoid very clearly, but the starter didn't want to turn the motor over now. Funny, it cranked great a few minutes ago. Grabbed a cheater pipe and beat on the starter a bit, while using a remote starter switch to trigger the starter. Motor cranked and fired up. Changed a tire on the rear and drove it on up to the shop. The engine was missing on the way up to the shop. Check engine light was on. After moving it I evicted the rodents, Vacuumed out the cab and hosed off the outside. Next is diagnose the fuel pump power problem and the cylinder misfire.

After listing my Comanche up for sale, I got a lot of inquirers, but no one followed through to purchase the rig. I have decided to start working on the rig and bring it back around, might be a bit of a project. I used this rig as my daily driver for years, but I haven't used it in years. 1986 Jeep Comanche XLS '91,'92'93ish swapped in 4.0l H.O. straight six motor 4.10 gearing dana 30/35 AW-4 auto trans vacuum and trans temp gauge Roll cage Permanently registered in MT I have most of the interior bits in storage and a truck box full of misc parts The truck has been sitting for around two years, but hasn't really been used daily for at least 6 years.

As an aside, I have experienced death wobble with an '88 and an '86 MJ. The '88 had worn ball joints and a bad tire, later the tire blew out. On the '86 I changed a loose track bar the tie rod ends, not sure which caused the problem, but it fixed the problem.

Sounds like the tie rod end needs to be changed at the least, cheap part and added piece of mind. Kind of a bummer when one tire decides to steer independent of the steering wheel. if the TRE is endlessly spinning it will be hard to get it tight. As mentioned above you can carefully grab it with needle nose or something, but it is better to just change it out.

Are you smelling/ seeing coolant or steam coming out of the coolant overflow bottle? A handy thing to have around is an infrared thermometer for verifying temps. Helps quickly rule out gauge/ indicator light problems. Plus they are just fun to play with.

Great you got the rig running. Fuel, Spark, compression are the three generic things an engine needs to run. Nobody mentioned using noid lights or a stethoscope to see if injectors are cycling. Figured I would throw that in here for somebody searching in the future.

Crazy, always new I kept those old Comanche taillights around for something. Guess I always figured they would be nice to have.

Dragged the truck out of the woods, took a couple pics to sell it.

Sonora California

Thanks for the reply I am well aware of the work done to the truck as I did much of the work, although not the engine swap. The swap was done by a competent professional mechanic. The rear end is out of a '91 MJ. The truck has the HO OBD-1 engine management. Though the truck had a 2.8 V-6 not a 4.0. I don't think renix came around til '87 or '88, could be wrong. rear proportioning valve is bypassed, as well. will get pics as soon as I can like I said just putting out feelers

I have a 1986 Jeep Comanche, a '94 4.0 was swapped in, and matching AW-4, NP-231. The truck is an XLS edition: cruise control, A/C, sunroof, bucket seats. Internal roll cage 2" .140 wall DOM chrome moly. Axles are Dana 30, W/ vacuum disconnect, Dana 44 rear(stock) 4.11 gearing. The exterior or the truck has lots of little dents and scratches but, is almost rust free. 172,000 on the odometer mechanically sound starts runs and drives save for a leaky rear main black exterior and tan interior. Just putting out a feeler as to how much my truck might be worth.