johnj92131

Don't know if I reported it here or not. Over the last several months when my son was using the truck, it would fail to restart for him on hot days. He would turn the key and nothing would happen. But, if he parked on a hill, the truck could be push started with no problem. Once the weather cooled down, he could start the car normally. He would bring the truck back to me, I would charge the battery over night. Then the truck would start normally for me. So I would give the truck back to him and all would be fine for a while. This happened several times with the same results. About August 12, the "Ignition switch" issue raised it's head again 10 days ago. Son dropped truck at my house and it failed to restart. Battery was low, so recharged. That didn't help. But I could hear starter relay clicking, so it was not the ignition switch and looked like a bad starter. Got the correct information and part number for a new replacement starter and had truck towed to shop for repair. Turns out they found a broken wire to the starter. Replaced the wire and truck now runs fine. Except now the tach has stopped working when I got the truck back from the shop. So I need to look for a loose wire when I get the time. This last Saturday morning I took the Comanche on a 165 mile round trip. Happy to report the truck ran just fine. No incidents at all. Transmission and the new external slave cylinder have been working exactly like they should. Even the vent fan has finally started to work properly! Guess all the driving and bumping around did some good after all. I will fill up the tank, record the odometer reading on Tuesday and actually start a MPG check on Tuesday. Likely will take me more than a month to burn 20+ gallons of diesel. Should also have the truck weighted again now that I have the WilderNest camper shell mounted on the truck. Curious to see how much the WilderNest weighs. __________________

Welcome! And don't forget to post pictures. We love pictures.

Tom, A couple of years back when I was refilling my cooling system, I forgot to open the heater. Net result - I never got the cooling system properly filled. So my over heating problems did not go away till somebody showed me I need to run the heater. That never crossed my mind in San Diego.

Gentlemen who think the price is fair, as is, where is Step up with your cash and buy it. Be the willing buyer who establishes the market price with the willing seller. Otherwise, we are all just blowing smoke. Not knocking anyone for expressing an opinion. Just trying to get real here.

I have been looking at a second gas tank for the Comanche for years. Best options I have found: 19 gallon tank from 90's F-150 pickup to replace spare tire Gets you to 35 gallons. At 14mpg, that gets you to 490 miles Carry one 5 gallon Jerry can for security. Gets you to 580 miles. Don't like that? 22 gallon Dakota tank and move Stock 16/18 gallon tank to passenger side Relocate exhaust system as required. Chapest solution? Carry 6 Jerry cans I have 2 Jerry cans for more than 20 years. Never used them to fill an empty tank Your miliage may vary

See GrayWolf's latest information in this post:

BINGO! Best reason in the world to buy the car!!!

Not in a compact truck! Not made for us fat floks either!

Glad to see you made it back east with little trouble. Enjoy the grandaughter. They are a whole lot of fun.

To attach the seat fore and aft adjustments to the MJ seat brackets. Without those, the seat is stuck in one position. Next time you are at a salvage yard - pull a seat from a Grand Cherokee to see how the slider mechanism works. Or search here for one of Bo's very old posts about adapting Grand Cherokee seats to the MJ. I have a spare set of Grand Cherokee seat rails at home, so can send pictures. Likely Wednesday.

Brandon, Don't know about the Dakota seats - BUT the Grand Cherokee Seat and 95+ Cherokee seats that bolt directly to the floor require a piece of flat stock or square tubing sitting on top of the Comanche seat bracket to "bridge" the distance between the new seat rails. Trying to say the 86-94 MJ/XJ seats bolt directly to the narrow Comanche seat brackets. The bolts/rivets on the later seats are set very wide a part and require the flat stock/tube to attach to the MJ seat brackets. "ASSUME" Dakota seats have same construction. Have pictures at home. Will send you them when I get home. In mean time go back to GrayWolfs first post and see his pictures. JJ

Be sure you read my last post in the above thread for lessons learned. Particularly about problems getting a bleeder screw/valve for external slave! John Jackson

Here is my very recent thread on the conversion:

You say newish water pump, but don't say anything about the thermostat? I had a few over heating issues a couple years back and the thermostat was part of the problem - but not a.ll the problem. I did not burp the heater core, so had air in the system for a long time. Also wound up replacing the radiator as part of my solution along with new hoses and a radiator cap. After that was done, the truck was reasonably cool. Only time the temp climbed was a very long grade (like sea level to 4100 feet) or with a 3000 lbs load in stop and go freeway traffic.

Sounds like all had a good time! And no hard luck stories. That is good. I flew into Pittsburgh Saturday afternoon with some friends from San Diego. Went to Mt. Washington on Grand View road. Very nice views of the city. Spent most of today just exploring some of the sights in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Just found this thread. Nice build. One Question: What is the latest information on registering a diesel conversion in California? Did you check with BAR or DMV? Last I heard, 3+ years ago was Sacramento was not approving any diesel conversion. Love to hear updated information.

Went thru this master cylinder problem just a couple of months ago. My shop replaced the master cylinder and power brake booster. All has been well since.

Below is a picture of the two different 86/87 tachs I have: https://www.flickr.com/photos/18856762@N05/11532287494/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/18856762@N05/with/11532287494/

Business frequently succeed, in spite of themselves very often. Learned that quite a few years ago. Just because the shop does some things well - doesn't mean they do all things well. Issue for us, is to figure out who does what well and go there.

Don, Congratulations! Heck of a step. JJ

Beautiful British Columbia. Over the years, this has been one of my very favorite destinations. Found the stupidest cop in the world near Revelstoke, Cop on foot in middle of long 4 lane highway down grade trying to enforce a 90 kmph speed limit with a radar gun. Caused a 2 car fender bender and a 3rd car went to the left of the fender bender right towards the officer. Officer ran right to the other side of the highway into on coming traffic. Nobody was hurt, but that officer nearly got killed because of his own stupidity. I stopped at the RCMP station in Revelstoke to file a report. No idea what happened.

Properly working A/C will be the best thing to cool the truck interior. No doubt about it.

Guys, please take this advise from an old guy for what it may be worth after a lifetime of experience. There is always a better deal "down the road". But how far down the road do we want to wait for a few dollars? My wife and I purchased houses in our 20's, 30's, 40's etc. All the time, we finished the rehab just before we sold the house. We never really got to enjoy the finished house. Our final house, we did the full rehab when we moved in. We got to enjoy what we wanted while we lived there. So fix your truck now the way you want. More money comes along in life. Better Comanches don't come that often.

Bo and Don, Our own sanity is priceless. Well worth the price.. Yes, been there, done that. I like my sanity. Happy to pay for it. All water under the bridge. Like the Eagles song, Yesterday is gone. Don't stop thinking about Tomorrow. No matter how we look back, we learned good lessons from our past.

Last Wednesday, Matt Whitbread was out here for other reasons. But he spent the day solving my clutch issues. We converted the internal slave cylinder to an external slave. Clutch now acts as expected. Matt had changed the internal slave with a new one twice and both were Garbage. Even the new external slave had multiple problems. Frist the NAPA external slave did not come with a bleeder screw. Wasted a couple of hours trying to locate one. Finally got a used external slave from a local Jeep salvage yard who waited half an hour after closing for us. Just as we were a quarter mile away from the yard, we find the road closed by police and fire department because of a car on fire. Finally make it to the salvage yard, buy a used external slave and go back home. New slave is not working. Inspection finally shows new slave did not have bleeder hole drilled out from factory. Drill out hole by hand, install used bleeder. Finally, bleed clutch totally. First test was delightful! Works just like it is supposed to. Amazing. 3 different, brand new slave cylinders with problems right out of the box. Shifting is great now, but more testing needed. Did I say it has been great watching Whitbread working on this project?