neohic

Edit: "... fully staffed..." The job I was told I had isn't currently available.

Well, moving the vehicles went well enough. Yesterday I get word that 4 Wheel Parts is "fully staffed at this point" though. Ugh... panic mode.

Seems only fitting that I updated this thread during the last trip to Colorado... I'm on the road again Austin and I took off last night with the buggy, XJ, and the Eliminator in tow. Yup, that's right... moving has officially started!

Well folks, that's it for now. This car, the Eliminator, and the Ape are all making their way out to Colorado this week. Had I had my ducks in a row a little better and had more ambition when it counted, then I probably would be driving it onto a trailer instead of pulling it. Ran into a huge roadblock with the engine in the form of cracks and sloppy dowel pin holes. I've got everything for a full rebuilt minus a good, rebuildable engine. In the future, there'll be minimal wiring to do along with whatever happens with an engine. ... until next time, little guy.

Side note for those interested... :smart: I ran into this too. I did the inside of the box along with the rockers up to the lower belt line. I just kind of accepted it until this year... just couldn't take it anymore. I recently put some new tires on and after mounting they had some goofy spots on them. Figured a can of tire shine would help. Tried a little along the rockers too. Now the Herculiner looks like new!

I was wondering where you've been! Good to see you still poking around. :waving:

Yep... I went and joined the JNJ facebook group. Went looking through some pictures. Liked what I saw. :thumbsup:

This looks interesting! I'll definitely look into this once we get out there. Looks like monthly event, yes?

New thrust washer came in the mail today. One hour later and the Ape was back on the road. ... poser shot, I know. In the past, the Jeep wouldn't climb up on those parking lot rocks. Didn't hardly have to give it any throttle this time! Too bad I probably won't have any time to enjoy it this year.

Been driving the truck a little bit lately... 'tis the season, anyhow. I've also been working on it and cleaning up a few more things on it. Went through the sensors and did a few more fixes, along with one very important Colorado compliant piece of emissions equipment. ... it's also bath day. :D

:wavey:

I would assume they were overlooked when transferring them to the 4.56 carrier. In any case, they're not there now.

Big weekend for the ol' Ape... sort of. Things started off with wanting to loosen up the leaf springs. I took them apart again with the intent of slightly lowering the rear and to soften them up some. Got them apart... took out one leaf... reassembled... then it sat with the nose way high. Okay... :shake: Got them apart again... put that leaf back in and removed another... reassembled... then it sat even worse. Ugh... :fs2: Got them apart one last time... broke a couple bolts in the process... put all the leafs back where they were... now it sits exactly how it sat before after three hours of fiddling around only to accomplish nothing but a couple broken bolts. :wall: How about moving on to the front? The valve cover came off to investigate the top end ticking. Couple rockers are were loose so that wasn't all that big of a deal. Everything got torqued to spec and a fancy new valve cover gasket went on. It sounds a whole lot better now!... albeit still has that same tired old engine feel to it, but the knock is just about gone. I'm going to call that one a win. :roll: Then there's the front axle. The open diff has really been the difference in this Jeep between being an amazing trail rig to a pretty good one. I found a brand new in the box Aussie on a local forum for a real swell price that the guy was nice enough to deliver to my door. Everything got taken apart while I waited for him to show which gave me time to replace a couple of torn tie rod end boots and to clean up the axle which was still wearing last season's caked on mud and other such nature debris. Turns out that the guy ended up running later than originally planned so the install got tabled until this morning... so I planned, anyhow. The differential was sitting on my bench with the spider gears still in it as I didn't want to have anything out of place. The pin came out just fine as did the spider gears... but, wait... something is missing here... ONLY ONE THRUST WASHER?!?! :rant: Obviously someone has been in this axle in the past as the long side has been sleeved, the seals look fairly new, and (again, obviously) the 4.56 gears. Why in the hell wouldn't they put all of the thrust washers back in?! None under the internal spiders?... fine. Only one washer on the outside spiders?... that's just a slap in the face this morning. Nope... no locker install today. As it sits... Now I'm dead in the water over a $2 thrust washer. The one that was there looked to be in fine shape. I should have the replacement sometime this week. In the mean time, at least I've got a fancy new sticker on the window. :doh:

Watching this.

It's July and let me tell you... I'm kind of excited about this one! Absolutely nothing plain or simple about this Comanche all except for a description: it's kind of a tank. :D YEAR/MODEL ● 1989 Jeep Comanche Pioneer (short bed) ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● 4.0 Renix (130K original miles), Brown Dog motor mounts, custom exhaust, Flow master muffler, cat deleted, KN air filter, yellow top battery. DRIVETRAIN ● Stock NP231 t-case, stock AW4 tranny Front: HP Dana 30 with 4.88 gears, lock right locker, RCV shafts, Artec truss, Artec gussets, RuffStuff diff cover. Rear: Dana 44 with 4.88 gears, Detroit locker, Superior chromoly shafts, custom truss, RuffStuff diff cover. Axle breather lines routed to under hood. COOLING ● ZJ fan clutch, converted to open cooling system, BM tranny cooler. SUSPENSION/STEERING ● Front: Clayton Pro Series 3 link with 5.5 rubicon express coils and 2 inch puck/spacer. Rear: RuffStuff triangulated 4 link kit with stock Cherokee front coils. WJ knuckle conversion with RuffStuff 1 ton crossover steering, hydraulic assist steering, synergy ball joints, over the axle trackbar bracket, custom DOM trackbar on 7/8 heims, 12 inch Bilsteins front shocks, 14 inch Fox 2.0 emulsion rear shocks, sway bar deleted. BRAKES ● Front: WJ 16 inch brake system, IRO slotted WJ rotors, WJ calipers. Rear: stock drums (rebuilt). Crown extended brake lines. LIGHTING ● IPF headlight housings, Hella headlight bulbs, Eautoworks headlight wiring harness. EXTERIOR ● 97+ front clip, 97+ front fenders, 97+ mirrors, 97+ wipers, 97+ door seals, front and rear fender wells trimmed, hood vents, full exo cage, JCR front bumper, XRC 8K winch, custom rear bumper, bed cage with tire carrier, rattle can OD green paint. WHEELS/TIRES ● 35X12.5 cooper STT tires, 15X8 Rock crawler wheels. MISCELLANEOUS ● 20 gallon Summit fuel cell mounted in bed, Walbro fuel pump, battery shut off switch. FULL BUILD THREAD Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ● Driving up Chocolate Thunder at King of the Hammers 2016 in my MJ. Guys on 40+ inch tires looking at me like I was crazy. My little MJ almost made it to the top before snapping a rear shaft. Good memory! CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● I have had numerous occasions posting on CC looking for a specific part and people will reply that they have what I'm looking for and they will give it to me for free, I just cover shipping. I started doing the same for others and have actually had people include a few extra dollars in the shipping costs so that I could buy myself a beer as a thank you. Good group of guys on CC! Tom... Tom... Tom... I mean, come on... What can really be said about your truck that one can't get just from looking at it?! I'm totally guilty of being a sucker for a tough looking dedicated rig, but this takes is easily one of my favorite MJs ever. A huge congratulations on the truck, the documentation of the build, and the places it takes you! -Ben This post has been promoted to an article

Things just got real, folks. House on the market for almost three months now, over 50 showings, and finally the right people came along with the right purchase agreement. Still kind of in shock about it, but it looks like I get to stop just thinking about moving.

^ You are correct, sir. :doh:

Awesome... just awesome. All that work and effort for a decent daily driver. :yes:

:thumbsup:

My brother still needs to do the finish work, but the plan is to still make up a flat tonneau cover. Until then...

The last couple days has worked out for a few new working systems that include the USB socket, front turn signals, front marker lights, and high/low beam headlights. Had to take apart the column... again :wall: ... to clean the contacts in the dimmer trigger ground along with fixing the pins in the column harness connections. ... loose wiring has since been finished. I also decided to install the windshield after a couple close calls with it leaning against the wall in the shop. The next logical step was the wiper arms and blades. Found myself another unexpected project... apparently I need to extend the arms.

Gentlemen! I recently took a look through the entire massive list of past MJOTM recipients and I noticed something kind of alarming... where's all the four cylinders?! Personally, I think they're awesome! There's just something that a 2.5 Comanche has for charm that that a 4.0 will never have. Sure they might be a little slower, and they might not have all the power that their bigger engine brothers have, but they'll sure do everything a 4.0 MJ can do even if it's kicking and screaming and making all sorts of racket doing it! This month let's have a look at... YEAR/MODEL ●1988 jeep Comanche Sport Truck ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● Stock 2.5l 4 cyl DRIVETRAIN ● Ax15 is external slave swap using a 96-98 Dakota bell housing, 96 np231 out of a grand Cherokee Dana 30 from a 98 Cherokee currently 3.07 gears Amc 20 with 4.10 gears.... COOLING ● Good ole stock cooling and mechanical fan ELECTRICAL/IGNITION ● Stock ignition Yellow top optima battery C101 delete... SUSPENSION/STEERING ● Stock steering Front- Rubicon express 3" coils, Rubicon express fixed lower control arms, stock upper, Sky jacker track bar drop bracket... Rear- 2" rear add a leaf from an xj... Zone off-road shocks INTERIOR ● Originally had a bench seat...swapped in black XJ bucket seats Repainted some of the interior black Pioneer radio and speakers front and rear BRAKES ● Rebuilt stock brakes Chevy brake lines up front and Dakota rear brake line LIGHTING ● Stock headlights with upgraded no name headlight harness EXTERIOR ● Bought this truck primer grey as the PO wanted to repaint it all white like I did. Jegs 15x8 d-window rims, 31" bfg all terrains, fresh Chevy white paint job, Nates 4x4 front winch bumper, custom built heavy duty rear bumper, smittybilt xrc8 winch, 4" pod led lights, 4pane rear sliding window FULL BUILD THREAD HERE Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ●I was in the market for a jeep never thought I'd get a Comanche until a buddy of mine picked up one stock... He came over my place built with a lift and tires and I was hooked! I'll never forget the day he rolled into my yard and I had to have one! So I searched for months until my diamond in a rough. Of course it was a project but I've learned a lot being its my first jeep and I caught the craze... CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● The wealth of information and the guys who help to get these wonderful trucks back on the road in no time drives me back to this website first before any other site. I love seeing guys build these trucks back to their formal glory! I really like this little truck. Tip of the cap, sir! Really too bad you mentioned that you're looking to sell it though. Had we been closer and I had the time to deal with another vehicle, I'd be all over this thing. You've really done a great job with it thus far. Enjoy your month! -Ben Click here to view the article

... still at it. The wiring is going pretty good. A bit slow, but it's still going. Things were getting to the point where the dash needed to be finished so I can make sure I've got all these colorful strings going to the right place. :roll: Mock up... New gauges and all wrapped up... ... and mounted... Logically, what's the next thing to set in the car before hooking things up? Seat belts and at least one seat to make sure everything feels right. New driver's seat view (not that the hanging wires will stay)... My oil pressure and temperature gauges are admittedly kind of cheap. I found them on Amazon, but the reviews both there and from outside suppliers were pretty good. I was having a tough time finding something that I really liked. What I was hoping to do was to either match the speedometer or the tach. Unfortunately, Sunpro gauges are now hard to find as the name was bought out by Bosch and they really cut back on their gauge lines, and VDO gauges really don't look like anything special for their prices. These were inexpensive, came with senders, have LED back lighting, and I think they look at least on par with the simple looks of the VDO gauges. As for the switches, they are a nice quality and I was able to get them in the colors that I wanted. They're only triggers for the relay bank. The blue one farthest to the right will put power to a USB socket that tucks away nicely. Next on the list is to finish up the front wiring. It's nice to have the hood on it again (fingers crossed I've got everything right so I don't have to pull it off again), and it's also nice to give this little guy its face again. I found a neat set of marker lights that are intended for motorcycles that look close enough to the headlight buckets that I'm happy with them. The problem with them is that they're only a single filament bulb and there's no room for adding another socket in them. What I get to do now is gut the housings and turn them into a double filament housing to I can use them as parking and turn signal lights. I've got a plan... just need to do it. Until then, I added a couple tabs on the front bumper so they'll hang on either side of the license plate. Don't see them? That's the idea. :chillin:

He's got a XJ he drives and wheels the snot out of. Yessir! Current daily driver: http://comancheclub.com/topic/45776-the-pirate-baboon/ Unfortunately, it feels a little more tired with every turn of the key. :( Can't imagine what it'll feel like at a higher altitude. Really wish I had time for an engine swap.

Hmm... perhaps you'll beat ME to it. :D I sent him a PM asking what he's wants for it, but if you want it I'll step aside. :thumbsup: