Canadian '91 longbed

[gogmorgo]

Not really knowing too much about the Comanche, I just bought a :Canadaflag: Canadian '91 4x4 a couple weeks ago. I don't know too much about the history, since the last owner really didn't know too much. The truck's got ~474,000 km (293k miles) on the odometer, but the PO claims the motor was rebuilt about 150,000 km ago. (90k miles) Or it's a rebuilt engine from a different year that was put in, he said both a year newer than the truck and the first year after Chrysler bought out Jeep, so I don't know, and was kindof hoping you guys could help me out with that, just for my own curiosity. And as far as I can tell, it seems to have a 5-speed auto, which I think is a bit weird, looking at the factory trannies... :nuts:

For the mileage, it's in pretty decent shape, although the rockers are mostly bondo (discovered that when I tried standing on the passenger side running board and nearly tore it off). There's a bit of rust here and there, but nothing too bad, the bed's got a couple bubbles above the fenders, but everything's still magnetic there.

Everything works, except the interior lights don't always come on (and sometimes turn off without the door closing), and the radio only came on once when I was going over some washboard, but otherwise I haven't been able to use it, and the spare tire cable seems to be seized, which is why the spare rolls around in the bed. And sometimes the ignition refuses to lock all the way, so I can't get the key out.

The round orange lights on the front don't work either, or else I can't find a switch for them. the one without the cover has a burnt out bulb, but I haven't bothered to check the other bulb or replace that one.

Right now I'm operating on a starving student budget, so I don't know if anything will be done to it soon, but it's an awesome truck, got me and my stuff moved 600km to Saskatoon, and has been good to me so far, so

Door sticker's a bit useless, eh?

Yeah, it's a real :Canadaflag: model

Figured out pretty quick that I needed to add my own cupholders ;)

Oh, yeah, I tore a mudflap off driving through some trees the day after I got it (4x4 works great!) And i've taken the running boards off it, since they looked a bit funny imo and kinda got in the way, and the passenger side one was falling off anyway. They're those tube kind, and the front brackets were bolted on with those stupid torx bolts, so I had to break the (really $#!&ty) welds on the tubes since the torx were rusted solid and stripped. The back was just regular hex bolts, so I'm guessing they've come off before if they're factory. They said "westin" or something on them. I left them back home, and don't have pictures of them.

 

If anyone's got questions or anything, I'll do my best to answer them, just learning as much as I can about my truck!

 

EDIT:: I just looked up the numbers on the manifold that I assumed would have something to do with the engine... guess they're just parts numbers, and it's a pretty standard part, although not used prior to '91, so it's looking likely that it's a '92 engine if it's not original, but I don't know how to tell.

[gaucho919]

Really nice comanche! I like the Speedometer in KM, you can tell the year of the motor by looking at the stamped number on the passenger side of the block, It's a smooth surface just forward of the distributor, if you can tell me that number I can tell you when the block was made.

[gogmorgo]

Looks like 0I2MX19, but the first letter might be a U. It's pretty hard to tell. There's lots of space in front of that on the pad, so I don't know if that's the whole thing.

[gaucho919]

If those numbers are right it would indicate that the motor is a High Output(the MX) and it was built on Dec 19, 1990.

[gogmorgo]

interesting... So that almost makes it look like the block might be original to the truck? (late December '90 engine would go into an early 91 build, right) Would there be any way to tell that?

This is the first Jeep in the family, so I know almost nothing about them, and am trying to find out as much as I can about the truck.

[gaucho919]

I would imagine it is original to the truck, it definitely came in a '91 model truck because it is a high output motor(91 was the first year) made in really late 1990. I don't know if there is a way to tell if the motor is original to the truck, hopefully if someone knows they'll read this.

[gogmorgo]

Cool, thanks!

I don't know if it's good or not knowing that the motor might actually be original... in some ways it is, because that means I've got a mostly original and fairly rare truck in decent shape, but it also means that the motor's got almost 300k miles on it. The previous owner said it was rebuilt around 90k miles ago but I found a note in the owner's manual (assuming that's the one that came with the truck, which is likely given the truck in question and that I've also got the warranty booklet) that says some guy (no name) bought the truck in '01, and the odometer reading he put in was only around 70k ago, and there's a safety inspection from '06 in the glove box from the guy who sold the truck to the people I bought it from (needs done in MB when the vehicle changes hands), so that rebuild (if it happened) would have been more than 10 years and 4 owners ago...

But then it's not using oil and it runs pretty good, so maybe it was rebuilt? Also the guy was saying that he got the oil filter before he changed the oil, but realized he had the wrong one because it wasn't the right engine or something... It's still a couple thousand miles short of the next oil change though, so I don't really want to take the filter off yet.

The 5-speed auto also kinda has me wondering... I've got to get down under it to see what's up with that one of these days.

[gogmorgo]

Emailed Chrysler Canada about my truck, and they sent me this list of factory equipment:

 

Commemorative Edition Group

Light Group

Skid Plate Group

Monotone Paint

Kicker/SRT Livin' Loud Audio System

130 Amp Alternator

Power Front Disc/Rear Drum Brakes

Low Back Bucket Seats

Reclining Front Seats

Carpets - Floor and Cargo Area

Mini Floor Console

All 4-Speed Automatic Transmissions

4-Speed Automatic AW4 Transmission

Lock-Up Torque Converter

Command-Trac Part Time 4WD System

Floor Mount Automatic Shift Lever

230MM Front Axle

3.55 Rear Axle Ratio

175MM Rear Axle

4.0L I6 Power Tech Engine

Tinted Glass Windows

Tinted Windshield Glass

Front Door Tinted Glass

Fixed Door Vent Glass

Rear Sliding Window

Sun Visors w/Illum Vanity Mirrors

Left Remote Mirror

Right Remote Control Mirror

Manual Remote Mirrors

Air Conditioning

Instrument Cluster w/Tach

180 KPH Primary Speedometer

Digital Clock

Var Intermittent Windshield Wipers

Cigar Lighter

Headlamps On Warning Chimes

Courtesy Lamps

Glove Box Lamp

Ash Tray Lamp

Cigar Lighter

Underhood Lamp

Headlamp Off Time Delay

Halogen Headlamps

Daytime Running Headlamps, High Beam

Black Front Bumper

Black Front Bumper

Front License Plate Bracket

Black Grille

Black Windshield Moldings

Rear Qtr Solid Window Insert

Belt Moldings

Hi Black Gloss/Black Mirror Molding

Federal Emissions EVAP Control System

Engine Block Heater

Speed Control

All Radio Equipped Vehicles

AM/FM Cassette Radio

4 Speakers

Power Rack and Pinion Steering

Alcantara Wrap Steering Wheel

Standard Duty Shock Absorbers

Rear Shock Absorbers

Tilt Steering Column

Full Size Spare Tire

Tire Carrier Winch

P225/75R15 OWL Wrangler AT Tires

Goodyear Brand Tires

15" Aluminum Wheels

All Aluminum Wheels

Pickup Box

Build To Canada Mkt. Specifications

 

And of course they said that "the information on factory equipment is limited due to the model year of the vehicle." and recommended I contact the Chrysler Historical Foundation, which I guess I'll be doing...

 

Mostly it seems fairly accurate, although I don't think I've got any skid plates, and they don't say anything about the bed liner, but judging by the way that one's put in, it might be a later addition. Oh, and the speedometer obviously goes to 200KPH, but it did stop at 180 when I "had" to see how fast it went. I just assumed I'd hit some kind of limiter when it stopped accelerating right at 180, but maybe I "pinned" the speedo, so to speak...

 

As I said before I'm on a starving student budget, but I hope to eventually restore it all the way to factory. Maybe I'll lift it a couple inches, or mount a push bar, but I'm still not sure about that. It's something about a fairly rare vehicle that makes me want to leave it alone...

[gogmorgo]

New tires, 235/75-15 General Tire Grabber AT2's, a full set of five. No more mismatched tires and sizes for me!

 

So now she sits a little higher, (ike an eighth of an inch... heheh) but I feel much better driving around in this stuff:

 

As she sits now:

Note, not clean, just snow-scrubbed and wet.

[Kernel]

just change all the fluids, filters, and give it a tune up (new cap, rotor & wires) and drive it. i know starving student but this way u'll know it's been done.

 

good looking rig.

[gogmorgo]

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

Cap and rotor looked brand new, so I didn't worry about them, but there's a set of plugs and wires sitting on top of my pile of textbooks, waiting to go in. The PO had all fluids changed at a jiffy-lube type place a couple weeks before I got it. So all is good there. :)

[gogmorgo]

Well, new plugs & wires are in, and she's running a hell of a lot smoother. Barely any of the center electrode was left on the plugs, so they've definitely been in there a while... There wasn't too much build up on them, though. Also put in a new serpentine belt... got sick of the squeak. I'd gotten so used to it that now it's weird it's not there...

[gogmorgo]

Realised I hadn't put up any photos since I put the new foggers onto her, so went out, found the deepest ditch I could and took a poser on top of an approach.

Nope, still haven't washed it... heheh

 

Unfortunately, a couple days later got a little stuck, then pop, clunk, thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump and I was very stuck...

Guess that means that u-joint wasn't as good as it looked... Glad that didn't happen on the highway but instead about 20 feet from my final destination on a 700 mile trip...

[Rymanrph]

 

Are those plug ins for engine block heaters? I've lived in the south all my life, so I've never seen anything like that (the plug ins, not the snow).

[gogmorgo]

Well, that's what they're intended for, but back in September when it was still warm out I saw a volt plugged into one in a faculty lot, so I guess they also double as electric vehicle infrastructure??

The ones on campus are supposedly "smart" which I think means they cycle on and off to save power, and there's something about surge protection and shutting off if the connection isn't right, but I'd have to reread the bumpf they gave me when I paid for my spot...

 

At any rate, just about everywhere you pay for parking have them, as do most hotels. This is also the reason you see extension cords sticking out of the snow, or strung through trees along the sidewalks in residential areas...

[91Pioneer]

Hey man, you really need to update your thread :yes:

[Minuit]

I for one would like to see more of this truck also!

[gogmorgo]

Well, there's not much to see. It's still almost entirely stock. The whole starving student thing has just about been a reality a few times, and time is also not always much more plentiful than $$ have been. But I've collected a bunch of pics from the last year and a bit and I'll try to state everything that was done. So here's for a very long post.

 

 

Couple pics I found from 2012 that I liked.

 

 

 

For Christmas 2012 my Dad got me a new fuel tank because mine's a bit rusty and seeps a little. It's never dripping, but there's always a wet patch on the side of it when it's got more than a 1/2 tank. This is what I found after dropping my tank and opening the box with the new one.

 

It's an XJ tank. My dad ordered it through the local farm supply co-op who have a connection with Napa. He walked in there with everything he needed on a sheet of paper, everything checked out. The order that went out was for the right tank, with the Spectra Premium part number and all the info about my MJ. Someone at a Napa warehouse got the order and decided "Wrong part for application, sending this one instead". There was a note on the packing slip. Then when we contacted Napa directly after we returned the tank and the farm supply had no luck with them, they told us they couldn't get it. It would have been nice to let us know sooner, instead of sending us the wrong item! I still don't have a new fuel tank over a year later. It hasn't been that much of a priority because the leak really isn't all that bad.

 

 

 

I posted the broken axle above. I swapped a single piece shaft into my CAD housing. The CAD still worked, but I was climbing over snow in the wrecking yard to get to it, so I just grabbed the first jeep axle shaft that would go in. I think it was from an early ZJ, but I don't remember. But when I was changing it, one of the most time consuming things was honestly getting this lug nut off:

 

 

Honestly not much happened for the next few months. Put in new headlights, Silvania H6054XV's I think. I tried adjusting them properly when I put them in, but broke the adjusters. So broke me borrowed some zip ties and that was that. I eventually swapped in some adjusters I picked up off another MJ at a wrecker, but that wouldn't be until a few months later. I was still living in dorm at the time, so I wasn't driving much, and if I did, it was in the city so I didn't really need to see all that well. 

 

 

Oh, and this happened on my way home for reading week.

 

 

I was following some econobox following a one-ton dually with an empty livestock trailer. The highway was glare ice, so not ideal conditions, and in hindsight I was following too closely. But a gust of wind comes and kicks the trailer over a little, maybe a foot. No big deal, the guy pulling it may not even have noticed, and if he did he didn't slow down at all. But the idiot in the econbox freaks out and stands on the brakes. Don't know how they managed to slow down as much as they did, because I barely touched my brakes and locked them up. No one was in the oncoming lane, so I took it, but overcorrected for the swerve, and went sideways and backwards into the ditch on the other side of the road. No damage to anything except my pride. Had to get a tow out because I couldn't get up the steep ditch due to the snow. I don't know how I kept it on the wheels... it was a pretty crazy ride. I was one of six vehicles in the ditch on a five mile stretch. A mile further on, someone had rolled over in the ditch. It was a pretty nasty stretch of ice.

Come to think about it, a couple days later my tail pipe came off. The weld between the tail pipe and the end of the glasspack failed, and the front of it kissed the pavement at a buck twenty. I pulled over, wrestled it off the old mounts, and kept going. I still need to do something about that. I just never associated those two events until now. 

 

Few more pics from this period.

 

I'd been parking like this a lot. Trying to keep my bumper from sticking out into the lane. Due to a small amount of melting, the road back there was pretty rough, and the snow was making it pretty narrow.

I got the OK from one of the parking agents so I was in the clear.

The last couple were taken to illustrate a point I was trying to make to people in my parking lot where the stalls are vs where everyone else was parking. There's a fairly narrow entrance to the back section, with parking on either side. People like parking there, because it's close to the path to my building, but there was enough snow drifted over the spots that they were parking halfway into the lane, making it really difficult for a vehicle as "wide" as my MJ to get through. And it was basically impossible to get a vehicle as long as my MJ out of the spots opposite because there was a 90° turn into the now very narrow lane. Also, if anyone's interested, those were taken in April.

 

 

 

I started having some engine issues sometime between February and March. The engine would cut out during acceleration, and sometimes stall out and it wouldn't restart easily. It would also stall if I tried to climb a snowbank or otherwise push against something. Hornbrod helped diagnose the code 54 as a bad sync sensor in the dizzy. Because it was easier, and more importantly due to a Rock Auto closeout sale cheaper, I upgraded the distributor to a '95+ version in early April. Plug and play, but a better setup because the dizzy doesn't need pulled apart to change the sync sensor. This mostly cleared things up.

 

I was still having a couple issues so I put a new fuel filter on. It didn't hep, but the old one looked really old, and when I pulled it off I poured out a cup of gasoline so dirty it looked like it a cup of overly rich hot chocolate. Fuel pressure was the same before and after.

 

At some point in May, after having moved myself back home, the issues with the engine got worse. It was cutting out as before, sometimes being very frustrating to start, and sometimes making a nasty knocking sound while it was acting up. No codes this time, though. I put a Napa Echlin cap and rotor on because somehow a hole had melted in the side of the cheapo cap that came with my new dizzy. Still don't know how that happened. Also new Champion plug wires. But it didn't really fix the issue. I was still driving 70 miles to work and back every day, and it wasn't seriously affecting things, so I was kinda ignoring it.

 

I eventually decided it must be the fuel pump intermittently cutting out, so I drove into the city to pick up a new one. I ran a couple other errands first, and then headed for the parts store, when suddenly the engine started making a noise like a jack hammer if I took it over about 1500 rpm. I poke around at stuff and figure out it's coming from the back of the engine bay, but didn't know enough to know what was going on, so I took it to a shop. The verdict? The engine and bellhousing are hanging together by three threads on a single bolt, and the noise is them pounding together. The dowel pins are trashed, two of the bolts was sheared off, and the threads on the other are stripped. The mechanic insists the only way to fix it is to pull the engine out. So this happened:

 

 

As he's pulling it apart, it turns out both motor mounts are trashed, and there's something up with the water pump (don't remember quite what it was, but I had him replace it because I'd been wondering about it, and heck, the engine was out of it anyway so why not). But this was quite a rather expensive saga that wasn't quite over yet. But all the running issues were sorted out. I'm attributing them to the crank position sensor, (mounted to the bellhousing) not being able to read the timing windows on the flexplate (mounted to the engine) because the two were moving in relation to each other. Also, the mechanic broke the plastic cover for the injector harness, which pissed me off, not so much because it happened but because no one said anything about it. The thing was broken clean in half when I got the truck back, and it obviously isn't in the above picture. It's not like you wouldn't notice doing it.

 

The MJ mostly behaved itself for the rest of the summer, apart from the leaky rad (I was feeding it a gallon per hour of driving) and the buggery NSS. I also put in some headlight adjusters after driving 400 miles down one of the most important two-lane highways in western Canada with my brights on the whole way without getting flashed because they were pointed pretty well straight down.

 

Something else which is almost completely my fault, during an oil change I bumped the switch to turn on those lights on the bumper. They've got covers on them, so I didn't notice they were on, and killed my battery. One of the covers melted, warped, and fell off, and I think the bulb may have burnt out. But that was the least of my worries. The battery posts got corroded and so I pulled them off to clean them. But when I pulled the positive terminal off, the ancient corroded bolt broke. I was literally in the middle of nowhere, by myself with very few tools. I couldn't get the broken bolt out because the PO, knowing the terminal was loose, instead of tightening it just beat it back down with the tire iron every time he couldn't start it. As a result, the metal had folded down and around the bolt head. I sat there with the nail file on my leatherman (which will never forgive me) until I'd dug the softish metal off the bolt, and then borrowed one from somewhere else to tighten it. I don't remember what the bolt is from, but it's still holding the terminal onto my battery. :oops:

 

 

Some pictures I took over the summer. At some point my trusty old Canon quit, and I got stuck taking pictures with the terrible camera on my Sonim:

 

That's the result of a game a girl I met at a folk music festival wanted to play when she found out I had a 4x4 truck that was also a Jeep, see how far you can get without driving on a road that doesn't have grass down the middle of it. At least that's what she was playing. I was playing "see how lost we can get" but was trumped by her impressive navigational skills. She got us back long before the sun was anywhere near the horizon. Then I found out her boyfriend is much bigger than I am, so that was that.  :redX:

I gotta say, though, I really like cruising down these "turkey trails". You get much closer to nature without serious discomfort, or much risk to your daily driver while still almost doing highway speeds. And they're public roads, just the lesser used parts of the grid. At any rate it was a decent way to kill an afternoon with a good looking girl. There's a video I'll post up here as soon as my carrier-pigeon speed internet gets it uploaded.

Well, the video's finished uploading... not quite sure why I bothered. Took me six hours and it's really not all that impressive, just driving in a straight line on a not-quite-road-anymore gravel road down a road allowance. Unless you consider that the phone was just sitting on my dash and leaning against the windshield.

 

 

Towards the end of the summer I started getting a clattering sound from the engine, but I needed money for school, so since I wasn't noticing any loss of power or driveability, and it was only intermittent, I didn't do much about it. I was also a little in denial having had just paid so much to have the engine pulled out and put back in not all that long ago, and didn't want to deal with it. An oil change showed no metal shavings, so I wasn't too worried. I did check that the engine and tranny were still bolted together, though.

 

Moving myself back to Saskatoon for the school year.

 

In September I swapped out the leaky rad for a new one. The reason it was leaking? It wasn't bolted down. Neither was the a/c condenser. The two had been pounding against each other, and the a/c condenser won. Punched a massive hole in the rad. I'm not really sure how I've still got a working a/c system given how much movement there was, but I'm not complaining. This was honestly the smoothest anything I've ever done to the Comanche has ever gone, to the point where I'm suspicious of how smoothly it went and seven months later still waiting for something to jump out and say "You @#$%ed up!!!".

 

Closed course. Do not attempt.  . :MJ 1: .

Some say I push this old girl too hard... It's hard to tell, but that needle's pointed at 185km/h. 115mph. Don't know how accurate it is but there ya go. Top speed. Sometimes we need stats  :dunno:

 

 

Some time in September or early October, before the snow flew at any rate, a buddy and I went over the engine bay with a stethoscope trying to find the source of the mysterious clattering, which was decidedly getting worse. It was coming from the bellhousing area. Not good. A few days later I pulled the inspection plate off, and discovered a crack in the flexplate. Also not good. I ordered a new flexplate once I'd determined that I could afford it, with plans to install it over Christmas break. That didn't happen due to a family vacation, but I did get all the tools I figured I'd need to swap it out for Christmas.

 

One morning in October, I split a heater hose on the way to class. It dumped right onto the fan, and then everywhere. I pulled over in the mist of ethylene glycol, discovered what happen, pulled off the clamp and cut out the offending three inch section of hose. There was enough slack that I could stretch it far enough to work, but I couldn't squeeze the oem clamp far enough open to get it back on with my hands, and my pliers had disappeared from my tool kit. I walked to the nearest farmhouse, borrowed a pair, and made it to class an hour late. I sat down, wrote a midterm in the remaining 20 minutes of the period when the rest of the class got the whole hour and a half, and still got 20% more than class average.  :yes:

 

First snow of the winter that started in 2013 and hasn't yet ended in 2014.

I installed the HD tow hooks a few days prior. Good thing I did, too. I left about five minutes after my roommate did that morning, and found her in the ditch, halfway through calling her dad to figure out what to do. I pulled out her Honda, and she was able to make it to work on time. I was 20 minutes late for a lab I didn't want to go to anyway, so I skipped it, said I couldn't make it due to the weather, and arranged to go to a different session that a good friend of mine attends. My roommate's an elementary school science teacher, so it's thanks to people like her that there's anyone going to the lab in the first place, so in my mind it's worth it.

 

Shortly after the first snow and nearly ending up with a Chevy Traverse as a hood ornament when some idiot pulled out of a parking lot and cut across three lanes without looking so he could immediately turn left, I felt the need to fix my non-functional horn. The horn cam had vanished from the steering column, so I got one from a junkyard XJ. I also had a couple horns sitting around that I'd pulled at a different yard during the summer, and I wired them both in. So I've got a three-tone horn now. It's very useful. There are some people in this city who really shouldn't be driving.

 

Aaaaandd...

Parked. Yes, I left those tracks. It was only slightly an accident. :teehee:

 

A couple silly decisions on my part lead to me blowing three hoses on one day I think in early November, dumping $70 worth of antifreeze onto the highway, and overheating the engine enough I got a code for the temp sensor malfunctioning when it wasn't. But it meant I had an excuse to replace all my hoses which I'd been intending on doing, and there was no permanent damage.

 

When I got back after my two-week Christmas vacation, my battery was completely dead. I'm not sure what caused that, but that's the longest I've ever left the MJ without starting it, and I've never had a problem before or since. Despite it hitting -40 while I was away, the battery seems to have survived.

The day after refusing to start, the MJ set itself on fire. In a very specific location. The headlight switch connector. I was able to blow it out, but a new switch was in order. So I got the new switch, and put it into the burnt up harness with bare wires. I made my own headlight relay harness upgrade out of 10awg wire to unload the switch, and put that on as quickly as I could get it together. It took a bit longer to track down and install a new connector for it. Until I was able to do that, I avoided using my headlights, and left the dash bezel off for easier extinguishing of fires. Fortunately there were no more.

The old headlight switch. Notice the charred nature. It still worked, which I found surprising, but I guess it was mostly the melted connector burning. Either way, though, I didn't trust it. Also the coil for the rheostat was mangled so I kinda wanted a new switch anyway.

 

Ice racing camping in January. On Blackstrap Lake. Predominantly we were out there because racecar, but some of us just wanted to go camping.

Don't park this close to a camp fire... inevitably some jackass will park in front of you when the fire's being expanded for the evening. But it made for a decent picture. Or at least an artsy one.

Relevant video with the MJ in the background, but only if you know where to look.

 

 

 

More engine troubles in January and February. Stalling on the highway, intermittently running like $#!&, completely bizarre refusals to start where if I walked away for twenty minutes and tried again it would catch on the first crank, that sort of thing. Everything checked out, despite a collection of engine codes. I attributed it to the broken flexplate. It was very broken this far on, to the point where I was shifting into neutral when stopped in order to avoid the clatter. It could be quite loud at times.

 

Discovered this guy on campus while out for a rip in fresh snow. :drool:  The want is over 9000.

 

 

Don't know what I'd do with it, though.

 

 

Reading week 2014, the week of the major repairs:

 

 

Technically not reading week yet, as it was the evening of the last day of classes before the break. Valentine's day. I spent the evening with my one true love.

The jack stands were a little excessive, but I got them for Christmas and hadn't used them or my new jack yet. The jack and stands came as as set, Michelin branded, 3.5 ton. Pretty decent stuff. At any rate, I changed her oil and put on a new harmonic balancer. The rubber in the old one had degraded and the pulley had walked back far enough the belt was cutting into the timing cover. Belt's fine though. The whole operation was hampered by the girl I'm renting a room from who was very tipsy, and in hindsight probably feeling very lonely that night, but at the time I was completely oblivious and was wondering why she was being so annoying. It took a week of her acting like she was mad at me before I even realized what might have been going on. And sometimes I wonder why I'm single   :shake: But you don't $#!& where you eat.

I also had an idea to fix the broken plastic strap that keeps the glovebox lid from over extending:

Ring terminals crimped onto 10awg wire. Heat shrink tube to make it look pretty. I had the stuff sitting around from making my headlight harness. I just cut the strap off the ends, slid the ring terminal over the round part, and used the ends of the original strap to keep the new one in place.

I initially made it a little too long, but I just cut one of the ring terminals off in a place for a decent length, and put a new one on.

 

Not sure why I took this pic, but whatever. It was taken that week, and it's kinda cool. And part of this post's purpose pertains to posting pictures.

 

I was busy with Racecar the next few days, and a couple assignments I needed to finish, but on Wednesday I tore my dash apart to put in my new headlight switch connector. This didn't go as smoothly as I expected since for some reason I decided I didn't need to pull everything apart in the right order. Also, I tried to do it outside at -10°F, which just makes things miserable when doing delicate work that gloves impede. But I got it in, and now don't run the risk of the bare wires in the dash setting things on fire. It looks a lot nicer with the dash bezel on. Amazing how much cheesy fake wood trim can class up a ride. 

 

Thursday I collected the last few bits to drop my tranny and change the flexplate. Friday morning, as soon as my roommate left, I had the MJ in the garage up on jack stands. I went about it very slowly so I didn't screw anything up, and it took me four days. This is the first time I've removed such a major component of a vehicle. I did screw some things up, but only the ancient brittle plastic clips on the tranny cooler line connectors. By the end of the day Friday, I didn't manage to get the tranny unbolted, as I was having trouble getting at the top bolts.

Friday evening's pile of parts.

After some time on the internet, I just dropped the tranny far enough to make it easy. And it was. I had the tranny down by Saturday afternoon.

I figured out I'd put the tranny jack in backwards when I went to put the tranny back up, and had all the angle adjustment in the wrong direction.

Sunday was spent trying as best as I could to get the flexplate unbolted. Eventually I gave up and borrowed a buddy's impact gun. Unfortunately I could only get a hold of a 3gal compressor, so it was pretty slow going. The last bolt was very stubborn, and after an hour of the 10-second bursts I could get out of the compressor, I gave up again.

The last stubborn bolt and how I got it out. You can't see the crack in the old plate because the load spreader disc is in the way.

I wound up using a ratchet strap between one of the flexplate's timing windows and the lower control arm mount to prevent the engine from turning, and muscled the last bolt out with a breaker bar. I used the same method when torquing down the bolts for the new one. The old flexplate had cracked all the way around, with the centre of it being a separate disc from the outside. The crack was jagged, so it was still able to transmit torque. But it still seemed a little miraculous that I was still able to drive around. I didn't think to take a picture of the broken flexplate, but I keep meaning to see if it's still sitting in the scrap bin at school so I can.

I also cleaned up and resealed the NSS while I had the tranny off. RTV FTW. The tranny was back up Sunday evening, and everythign else (crossmember, tcase skid, starter, driveshafts, exhaust) went back on Monday morning. The "quick" connectors for the lines, as I mentionned, were pretty badly damaged, but I was able to shove the lines in and get them functional, if leaky. Unfortunately, the lines were leaking not only directly onto the exhaust, but directly onto the cat, which lead to a James-Bond style smokescreen going down the road. Not sure how I never got pulled over for that. But the new flexplate not making noise was weird, but awesome at the same time. After the swap there's way less drivetrain vibrations, and all the running issues are completely gone.  :banana:

 

 

 

 

But the next issue, which is actually still the same issue... I confess I wasn't the greatest at keeping my atf levels topped up, despite knowing the connectors were leaking. This lead to the transmission falling out of gear and/or not grabbing the gear unless I was pushing the engine at 1500-2000 rpm or higher. I've finally (last night) put new connectors on. I had to wait for them to ship from New York, as I couldn't find them locally. I went to a couple parts stores in town, and was met with glassy looks from the counter drones. No luck with the parts guy at the dealer either. He honestly recommended going to the two parts stores I'd been to, so I gave up on locals. And I can't ever call them "quick" again, as I had to unscrew them, shove them onto the lines, then screw them back in before they would stay shoved in. The tranny still isn't shifting great, but I still don't have quite enough dex-III in there yet. Last week some time I unplugged the tranny computer so that once it was in gear it would stay in gear, which helped a bit, but I'm really missing second gear. Third is great, but first is just too damn low.

 

That reminds me, up at the beginning of the thread I mentioned the tranny was a 5-speed... well it's not. It's a regular aw4, and as far as I can tell, original. What I was thinking was the tranny grabbing a 5th gear was just the torque converter locking up. What can I say, this is the first automatic I've driven that has a tach.  :dunno:

 

And while I may have forgotten one or two things, I think that's about it. This thread is now up to date.

 

 

 

What modifications have I done?

 

 

Well, back when I bought it, there were ugly round orange lights in the front bumper, bolted to where the plastic nudge cap things should go. I've replaced them with some cheap parts-store lights, with square black plastic housings. I feel they match the truck a lot better, but mostly they're just there for show. They aren't even hooked up right now because some drunk decided to point them both down last summer and the wires got torn out. So that was replacing ugly aftermarket with not-so-ugly aftermarket. I think that happened around November 2012

In the engine bay, I've got the '95+ distributor and that's it.

I've got a headlight relay harness that I made myself that will support 180W bulbs, and with a couple quick and cheap mods that I didn't bother with because it was unnecessary for barely more than stock lights, it'll do 360W.

I pulled a wood-grain dash bezel out of an XJ at a wrecker. It looks good.

I've also got the HD tow hook kit installed. Don't remember which brand it is, but it's the typical style. Got it off eBay.

 

 

What plans do I have?

 

 

 

I'd like to get one of the SMS headliners. I'm sick of having to wear a hat so I don't end up like Quasimodo when I'm driving.

Also the General Spring deal on here, as my leaves are shot. Lift a little in the front to match with new coils, new shocks all around. Maybe eventually bigger tires, but not till my Grabbers need changing.

Beefier (and not bent!) anti-roll bar on the front, something on the rear if I can swing it.

A quick ratio steering gearbox is also in order. Mine grinds when it nears full lock and it's cold, so it needs something done anyhow.

I'd also like to get some headlights to match the harness up there... it's currently at around 35% of it's rated capacity. I'm thinking Hella e-codes and 100W h4's, maybe add in some lesser lights to the brights circuit.

One more thing, I'd like to get an NP242 tcase, or some other full-time 4x4 setup. Being able to turn the front wheels on pavement would be nice.

I'm also partway through building a hitch for my MJ. I've got all the parts cut out, I just haven't got around to welding it up yet.

I definitely need to do something about my exhaust. Oh, and I need a new fuel tank, and battery cables. And a tool box would be nice so I don't have to stash so much behind the seats. And get my spare tire hanger working.

 

That's pretty much the sum of what I consider "short term" plans, as in things I'd like to do as soon as possible. But I'd also like to put a canopy (maybe canvas) and brush guards on it. I really like the safari or overland appearance, but this would still be mostly a daily driver, and road going characteristics are more important to me than heavy wheeling. But keeping it able to do light offroading and not being afraid to keep it on the roads all year round are important as well. As well as not having too much of a non-stock appearance.

That said, I'd like to swap the D35 out, and in it's place (still looking into if it's feasible) putting in an AMC20 with the Torsen diff from a HMMVW. This would put a heavier axle and Torsen in with factoryish parts. I've got a fair amount of experience with the Torsen T1 unit in racing and like it a lot.

I'd like to swap out my front axle as well. There's quite a bit of play in the gears, and some of the bracketry on it is rusting. It would be awesome to get a Torsen in there as well, but I don't know if that'll happen without one-off parts. More than likely I'd find a non-cad D30 to replace it and do some kind of "normal" selectable lock/lsd setup though. I'm also watching the TorVec stuff to see if there's something useful to me there.

I'm a big fan of superchargers, and would like to get one going, along with a custom equal-length runner intake fed by a snorkel, and custom exhaust header, going beyond the tuning abilities of the stock ecu. Individual cylinder tuning, and all that.

I'd also like to do something about the front suspension, and by that I mean getting rid of the track bar setup. It's always seemed silly to me to have a centering link that shifts the axle sideways as it moves vertically. It leads to bump steer, and moves the roll center around in two dimensions, albeit predictably. I'd likely set up a Watt's or Mumford link, but I really haven't given it all that much thought except going to an a-arm setup, which doesn't work with a solid axle. I'd like to keep the solid axle as it's part of Jeep's heritage, but I really think panhard rods are the wrong choice for a vehicle with so much suspension travel, especially in the front.

But that's all a long way off. My budget is very limited, and I'm mostly dreaming at this point.

[91Pioneer]

Now that's an update! :thumbsup:

[huricane4]

Nice update and i like to see a Manch in the snow!

 

But i think you really need a Trackbar design front suspension atleast if you plan to lift it and not run fully hydraulic steering.

[Minuit]

Dude, you're a bad@$$. Seems like it's a never ending adventure. That thing has a crap ton of km's on it.

[gogmorgo]

Dude, you're a bad@$$. Seems like it's a never ending adventure.

 

What makes you say that? Best compliment I've had all month, though.

And yes, it has been a bit of an adventure. I knew what I was getting into when I picked up a vehicle with so many miles on it. I just didn't expect quite this much of an adventure... in some ways I don't like it because it's been pretty hard on my already pretty tight wallet, but in many ways I'm grateful. I've learned a lot and it's really shown me what I can get done when I set my mind to it, which has really helped me get through some rough spots. I honestly may not have made it through February had it not been for the victorious rush from successfully swapping out the flexplate.

I really hope the adventure settles down a bit now (knock on wood) because I've just been elected suspension team lead (head of suspension design) for my Formula SAE team, which really will cut into my already limited time.

 

 

Nice update and i like to see a Manch in the snow!

 

But i think you really need a Trackbar design front suspension atleast if you plan to lift it and not run fully hydraulic steering.

Thanks!

I don't think that's going to be much of an issue. All the track bar does (by intent) is locate the axle side-to-side. So long as the axle is kept centered by something else, steering shouldn't be any different without it. The drag link and tie rod would still do their jobs through the range of travel. I can see a bit of bump steer happening due to the arc the drag link swings in that the axle no longer would, but that effect could be seriously minimized with a bit of a pitman arm drop and a pair of tie rods going direct from pitman arm to steering knuckles. Either way, that's a long time in the future, and I'm not planning more than a couple inches of lift. But thanks for the heads up.

[Dillithium]

Snapping a u joint is impressive!

 

Not sure if I should compliment you on it, but pretty damn impressive! I've had to cut through a few of them, hard as diamonds.

 

Looking forward to reading more, love the snow pics.

[gogmorgo]

In fairness, it was a pretty old u-joint. What I remember from looking at the broken pieces, the one biggest crack was rusted partway in, and shiny and freshly sheared looking for the rest of it as though the crack had been there for a while. The needle bearings were also kinda rusty under one cap, so the thing wasn't sealing so great.

[gogmorgo]

Got some pics, but they're on my phone and my computer's packed away, and I haven't quite figured out how to upload them from my phone. Eventually they'll get posted.

 

I did it again. Popped another steering u-joint, and it again took out both pieces of the axle shaft. Driver's side this time. This was almost a month ago, yeah, I'm behind on updates. At any rate, between a job interview and final exams within a couple days of each other and in different provinces, I wound up putting about 1000 miles on the broken bits of axle before I had the time (and tools) to do something about it. This lead to an interesting issue... I couldn't pull the old shaft out when I finally went to swap it. Pulling the diff cover revealed an obvious issue. The broken shaft bouncing around (and repeatedly smashing into the center spider gear pin or whatever it's called) led to it rolling itself a lip around the end of the splines, preventing them from sliding out of the gear. A hammer, chisel, several hours, and a dictionary of cuss words managed to push the lip back down, and I was able to pull the shaft out. I did both sides, swapping in the CV shafts from RockAuto. I also put in new hubs to avoid breaking breaker bars trying to get the axle nuts off. The improvement is huge.

 

What else have I done... Ah yes, a new throttle position sensor. It honestly starts and runs better with no tps than it does with one it doesn't realize is bad.

 

A couple days ago I picked up a "new" anti-roll bar and links off a V8 ZJ at a wrecker. Links came off an XJ. The 26mm bar I got should be 38% stiffer than the 24mm I had, at least before it broke... end links rusted out or something and popped off. Those of you arguing it's fine to run without one, all I have to say is crosswinds. Driving without the arb is pretty sketchy at best. I noticed that something was wrong when I discovered that turning the steering wheel back and forth about ten degrees could get the MJ rocking side to side like a canoe going sideways over a wake without any change in direction, and I could keep up the harmonic oscillation until I though the wheels might start lifting off. Checked underneath, and sure enough brokenness. An explanation for all the body roll I was suddenly noticing. But back on topic, I was hoping to find a 28mm arb, apparently they came on up-trim XJ's with towing packages. That would be an 85% increase in stiffness over my stock, and 35% over the 26mm I did get. Oh well... I'll keep an eye out. I'm hoping I can get the "new" one installed tomorrow morning before I finally leave Saskatoon and head "home" for the summer. Not sure it'll happen in the morning, though. I'm starting work on Monday morning, which is actually tomorrow morning at this hour, and I've got a few mj-unrelated projects in the shop here to finish up before I leave. Just taking a break now for some fresh welds to cool down.

 

Something that needs done pretty urgently is new battery cables. They've always been a little jenky since I bought the truck, but I left my glovebox open for a few days this week which killed the battery and the resulting corrosion pretty well did them in. I've needed a boost the last few times I started the MJ, so if it gives me trouble again tomorrow, I'll just pick up some terminals for the time being.