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After over 5 years without a parking brake I finally bit the bullet and pulled the pedal assembly out in an attempt to fix it. I'm not the first guy to document fixing one of these but I took a little different approach and wanted to share my method and progress with y'all. I didn't take any pictures of the slop the pedal had in it before, but you could shift the pedal left to right with your toe and it would release at random... no bueno for a parking brake! I had to remove the fuse block to get to the bolt at the top right of the pedal; on top of that the nut (welded to the body under the fender) broke free and I had to call in some reinforcements to help get it out. Once the drama was over I hosed the whole thing off with some brake clean and ground these two rivet heads off; http://i.imgur.com/BjcivcJh.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/hulgBwoh.jpg?1 After these two are free all the individual pieces can be separated and inspected; http://i.imgur.com/1C2xh2mh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/EaVeRmch.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7TpxgUxh.jpg

I just bought a new MJ that I'm pretty excited about. I drove it home the other night, went to park it in my driveway, and noticed the parking brake is stuck pressed down, won't come back up, and the cable is not attached to it. I havent had much time to mess with it. Anyone know what could be the issue? This has to be fixed soon, because its a standard, and almost everywhere I park is on a hill. For the time being I'm leaving it in gear, and chocking the wheels.

I have a 1989 Jeep Comanche without ABS. It was originally 2-wheel drive, but I began the conversion process by swapping in a front axle from a 1993 Jeep Cherokee with ABS. After that was put and the system bled we went to test it and found we were without brakes. The pedal went to the floor. It could be pumped up without leaking down, but after it was let off for a few seconds, it would again push straight to the floor. We found the proportioning valve was stuck, so it was replaced along with the weak, old master cylinder. The height-sensing system in the back was eliminated by running a new hard line. Also, the front axle was equipped with new calipers, rotors, pads, and flex-lines. I have yet to find any leaks, yet the pedal is just the same. Could it be the fact that I am running ABS calipers (which are a bit bigger) on a non-ABS system? Or is it something else??

In this topic you will read about what I have done so far with my 1989 Jeep Comanche Eliminator Edition. I am simply making this topic because I like to read what other people have done and what their experiences are so I can learn from them. So if you have any questions or comments about what I have done let me know! I HAVE PICTURES!! :rotfl2: I bought it with 32,000 original miles. Exhaust----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flowmaster Delta Series Exhaust High flow cat . :MJ 1: . I had the cat and muffler welded together as well as a down pipe tip welded at the end of the exhaust The cat was then welded onto the flange by the bottom scrap bar that supports the transmission I had my exhaust/intake manifold gasket go bad on me so I replaced that and if anyone has questions on how to get to it just let me know. You do have to take the injectors off which I didnt know. I would also recommend a high quality gasket so you don't have to go through that long process again. Intake------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I bought a high performance oiled cotton air filter that you can clean with a solution. It has a warranty replacement. Good results and I like it. Here is the website: http://www.greenfilterusa.com/ :driving: Regularly clean the throttle plate. Tried the seafoam procedure to clean out the intake manifold to get the carbon out once. Id say its a good thing but do not do that often. Maybe every 50,000 miles Electrical---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upgraded the grounds on the engine, firewall, and inside one of the main wiring harnesses. Refer to Cruiser54's instructions! Added LED lights in my dash. Pretty cool I think. 8) I spliced the brake lights to wire in a four wire trailer plug. I did not cut the original truck brake wire though. I actually carefully just cut the insulation off and then soldered the plug wires on. This way I will always have a complete wire section for my truck brakes just in case the soldering becomes bad. No headache! :group beer: I recently added a supplemental wiring harness for the headlights to get the full voltage from the battery. I bought this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001P29X4G/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item This was definitely a good upgrade! 25% brighter lights for cheap. You could go one step further and buy new e-code bulbs and housings. I chose not too...yet. Old Lighting system with stock lights and wiring harness getting ~10 V: New wiring harness with stock bulbs: :rock on: LOTS of ground checking and such because of a low idle issue. You can find my experience in my signature........ Exterior--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Undercoating! As you can see I undercoated the bottom of the side panels just low enough where you cannot see if you were standing. I also coated part of my door jam so when I kick my feet off so no dirt gets inside my truck it won't scratch that surface. But where that wider coating is on top i guess you can say, is a black plastic cover that screws into those holes. So it covers the coating but I did it anyways. Painted my bumpers a nice black finish. I have a fiberglass cap on the bed. Wax and keep clean! :clapping: NEW TIRES and 2" Lift. BFG 31's with a 2" coil spacer and rear shackles. Interior------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I made my own cupholder! :yes: It is an interesting concept but it works AWESOME. I used foam from a couch cushion and cut it into the shape of the console. Then dug out the holes for the cups. I made the holes a little smaller because this puts side pressure on the cups when you put them in. Results? Drinks do not move at all Insulates the drinks and the cupholder itself is easily removable if not in use New poineer speakers in the door and side panels as well as a new pioneer radio which was a needed upgrade from my 25 year old speakers. Happy with the results. I can supply the model numbers if requested. 20% tinted windows Brakes------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BEST UPGRADE :thumbsup: :wrench: Dual Diaphram Brake Booster from a 96 Cheerokee and new matching master cylinder. I actually wrote a DIY on this and just take a look. Twice the braking power of the stock system. I highly recommend this and this is a really clear writeup with a lot of views. http://comancheclub.com/topic/39437-1996-xj-dual-diaphragm-brake-booster-conversion/ Cooling/Heating---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flushed the coolent system a few times to keep it clean. A problem a came into is that I cannot get the drain plug in the side of the block out. A 3/8 extension does not fit and that is what it looks like should be the right tool. I havent figured that out yet so I just use the petcock in the radiator. During this cold winter :fs2: ... My heat was not normal. Jeeps should be shootin out heat that will burn your skin (not really). But I was getting like 70 deg air or less. Not right. And my temp gauge was showing fine and everything was running normal. Both heater hoses were warm... Now both were warm so you wouldnt think the heater core was plugged but it was.. I reverse flushed the heater core a few times both ways and now I'm getting amazing heat. I still have that vacuum valve so I had to clamp an extra hose in order to reverse flush. That valve also stuck during the -30 deg weather and did not let coolant flow through the heater core. Any questions please ask. Update: My heat works great now. I replaced the heater control valve because it was leaking and I also back flushed my heater core which it what really made the difference. Misc.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I did have issues with my Jeep not starting due to my bad CPS Did all of Crusier54's renix tips and tricks. He did a good job with those writeups and helped a bunch. :bowdown: I have been having idling issues with a low idle. Here is the link to the thread: http://comancheclub.com/topic/42581-renix-dead-spot-and-idiling-low/ Added a Permanent Fuel Pressure Gauge on the Fuel Rail. http://comancheclub.com/topic/12565-permanent-fuel-rail-pressure-gauge/ Upcoming projects (topic will be updating)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buying a high quality gasket for that damn valve cover. It is always slowly leaking oil :fs1: COMPLETED Taking the clear coat off my rims and polishing and re-clear coating 4x4 conversion Again feel free to ask questions :waving:

I have a 1989 shortbed, and the E-brake cable has snapped. It's snapped in the front, almost right where it connects to the pedal. It is still clamped in place by something so i can't just pull it out from the equalizer side. i looked in my manual for the MJ and all it had was the procedure to do the rear part. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

So here's something I've been mulling over in my head for a bit here. I have an 89 comanche with a drum brake 35 in the rear. I have an XJ balance valve installed and one line running to the rear brakes, instead of the funky factory level prop valve setup. The rear brakes have been nothing but trouble. They grab and lock the rear tires occasionally when they are damp, or during hard braking. And now the brake light has started to come on when I step on the brakes hard, indicating that the rear brakes are leaking or need adjustment (balance is out between front and rear). So, given the crappiness of the rear drums and the crappiness of the rear model 35, I'm planning on finding an explorer 8.8 with discs to put in the back. That part I have covered, fabrication-wise... the actual disc conversion is easy My question is, if you were doing this, and wanted to mimic a factory setup as close as possible, how would you do it? Obviously the master cylinder and balance valve on the XJ/MJ was not designed to have rear discs. I've heard people talk about the rear brakes over powering the front brakes during hard stops after disc brake swaps. This is absolutely the worst scenario, especially for winter driving, with a lightweight rig like the comanche. So, there's talk of installing an adjustable proportioning valve for the rear brakes... maybe a residual valve (I am uncertain of how this part actually works or what it's purpose is)... should I put it back to the dual line height based prop valve that came factory? Should I replace the entire balance valve assembly and/or master cylinder with one from a rig that came factory with disc brakes? If so, which rig would work the best? Maybe Jeep Liberty or JK? I want this to be a safe, good performing setup that works like it would have came that way from the factory. Any input?