paulsaw

I haven't posted here in awhile but spent last week repairing my stock 86 truck w/2.8 fuel/air problem - figure it might help someone on here. After ordering a rebuild Rochester E2SE carb from National Carburetor and waiting a week I get an email from them telling me "sorry we don't have that carb in stock". My first thought was anger that it was listed on their website as in stock, then I remembered seeing mixture control solenoids for sale on Rock Auto under the emissions category Part # MX27 (their price was only $53.97 so I ordered one). Also ordered a new choke thermostat and carb air intake gasket. AT first I could only find the mixture control solenoids on the Napa website for a whopping $180 ... the rebuilt carb I tried to order was only $260 <--- my logic was go for the carb etc etc. Anyways ... to make a long story short, if you have the 2.8 V6 with the Rochester E2SE carb, you might want to buy one of these solenoids just to have on hand. My old solenoid was broke off at the tip where the small rubber o-ring is... the metal broke in half allowing fuel to pour in and cause an overly rich mixture. I figured if I have the carb out might as well change to choke too just for sh*ts and giggles. After cleaning the carb real good I drilled out the choke rivets tapped the holes for the new choke.. installed the solenoid, replaced a bunch of rotted vacuum hoses... and now the truck starts and runs great even has more power up hills. I also discarded the tiny inaccessible carb fuel filter replacing it with a inline filter. So.. if there is anybody here with a real AMC Comanche ... this one might help you! :rotf:

How much did your Comanche cost in the showroom MSRP? I'd like to find out just out of curiosity. is there a website that has old car price info anywhere?

I have a 86 AMC Jeep Comanche XLS 2.8L, 5spd, 4x4 I'm certian this rear end is a dana 35 (would like to rebuild it) but am not sure of the gear ratio back there 3.55? Is the 27 spline axle stock - is that whats in there? Is the front a dana 30 on this truck? Is the front ratio the same? ANy good sites for stock diff parts? Just want to restore it to OEM specs. Thanks

Halftime update - guess I was worried over nothing... The drivers side manifold (surprisingly) came off easy. The bolts seemed loose and the gasket is full of corrosion and has about four breaks in it. I am now 100% sure this is what's been causing the engine ticking noise. This was kind of a pain in the @$$ but was worth it to find my valves or lifters aren't the problem. Also... the old gasket was installed shiny-side towards the manifold so that is how I put the new one back on.

Preparing myself psychologically to replace exhaust manifold gaskets 2.8L V6 is displaying almost a ticking sound when under load (mainly uphill). There is also an odor of exhaust inside the cab. I am 90% certain it's a leaking exhaust manifold gasket (drivers side). I got the gaskets and some PB Blaster. I am preparing to do this soon, but as it's a problem that can be put off I find that is exactly what I keep doing. I am scared I will bust those rusted bolts. Any words of wisdom for me... I've never tried to change exhaust manifold gaskets before.

whatcha need off a 2.8 5 speed? I'm parting it out and I want everything but the drivetrain... How much for the complete steering box? (not sure if thats a parts you wanna keep or not).

I'd go for a parts truck split on an 86 2.8L 5spd if anybody finds a cheapo for sale but I got dibs on the steering box!

You make a convincing argument. I have put a lot of parts into the truck already. The 3.4L seems do-able but your 3.8L swap is beyond my level of patience (if it's not 100% bolt-on then it's not for me).

About two years ago to the day I was hauling @$$ down a Forest Service logging road when BAM (I thought) my rear end disintegrated. Stopped, put it in gear...engine rev'ed but no movement. Put it in 4x4 and drove home (30 miles) on the front axle. ..... When I pulled off the differential cover I found a broken spider gear pin, retaining pin, smashed side washers, and the small spider gears in the oil. Ordered a new pin, washers, and the small retaining pin and and put it back together. The only problem was the small pin threads into the bell housing... those threads were gone... and I concluded that's what caused the whole problem. The small threaded pin either wore down and broke or fell out, allowing the larger pin to slide, causing it to slam into the pinion gear breaking in half and dropping the spider gears. I was really shocked that the pinion gear wasn't damaged. Well...I didn't bother tapping the bell housing, I just assembled it all and covered the small pin with JB Weld. I also peened the holes of the bell housing with a hammer and punch to keep the larger pin in place. It vibrates at 60-70 mph now (never did before), but works ok besides that. Cost to repair was about $18 for parts and $10 for gear oil... parts were purchased from West Coast Differential via mail order.

I think I'm ready to unload my 86 XLS Comanche. Sure I'm going to miss the neck snapping 2.8L, the plush leather bucket seats, luxurious leather covered steering wheel, and real hardwood shift knob, but it's time to move on. What's the best model and year to buy? I want a 4.0 and a manual trans.

woo hoo

Just speculating as I have not done mine, but from what I read, some people use the Harbor Freight u-joint ball-joint tool with a custom made cup (old large socket?). Not sure how best to raise the truck but I do know thats a tight space to work in up there. I had a hard time just sticking my melon-head up there to inspect them.

http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=10947 I just found an old topic about the swap (above). Keeping the fuel injection makes major sense. That guy musta got scared by the loose wires and just put the carb back on (good pics though). http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=409218

Just found a good webpage on the subject of this engine swap. Here it is again in case anyone missed it... http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Project_XJ/Project_XJ.htm

... I'd be lying if I said the urge to lift has not hit me ... but it goes away fast. ... Thanks for the link. I'm going to buy a pair.

$25 plus $10 shipping for the pair (via ebay motors). Partsamerica has them too but they sell each bushing separately. Their parts have been questionable lately too... nothing serious just little stuff: one of the u-joints was missing it's grease fitting, calipers had different size bleeder nuts that made me think I was going insane when I tried to bleed the brakes. As I mentioned my drivers side LCA is slightly bent. Found new lower control arms w/bushings for $60 + $20 s&h. Does that sound reasonable?

I did notice that the drivers side lower control arm is bent... it looks like somebody (past owner) bottomed out on a boulder and put a slight bend in the LCA.

I read somewhere that the upper control arm bushings are a difficult job because you have to press out the bushings, but the lower control arms just drop in. Need to tighten things up in the front end before I go for an alignment.

Note: I posted this on jeepforum and am adding it here for good measure. Hope it might help someone. Paul S. Hi, new member here... this will be my 1st ComancheClub post. I have a 20+ year old jeep comanche pickup truck that has reached the point where lots of the rubber is rotting away (bushings etc). I currently am experiencing a clunking noise coming from the front end. It sounds like a deep thud... not exactly metal-on-metal but close. It happens over small bumps at slow speed. The front end feels loose. I just replaced my front 4x4 u-joints (with the harbor freight tool) so thats not it. Shocks / springs are good. Steering gears and tie rod ends appear ok. Front sway bar main bushings are good but the sway bar link bushings appear rotted. I purchased a pair of sway bar links w/bushings on ebay motors for $25 (+$10 s&h) and they should be here in a few days. Will report back with the results after I install them. ************************************************** Installed the new sway bar links yesterday. Managed to take a few photos. It was an easy job and fixed the clunking noise. Got a good look at the lower control arm bushings while under the truck (they should probably be next on my fix-it list). pic1 - link before replacement... pic2 - new link... pic3 - lower 18mm nut / bolt has a star driver head on one side - I didn't have any star drivers so I used channel lock pliers after applying WD40 and some heat with a propane torch... these old crusty bolts came out fairly easily. The top nut is 15mm... pic 4 - old link removed (note rotted rubber bushing)... pic 5 - new link installation on drivers side (used the comanche jack and some cinder blocks to move the sway bar up a little so the lower bolt would slide in easily)... Paul S. http://oklounge.org