Project Comancheap

[TNCave]

Hello all,

 

I wanted to first say how valuable this forum and its members were for me both deciding to buy an MJ, and through the purchasing process.  I discovered what to look for and what to watch out for.  Thanks to all for keeping the candle lit for these trucks and serving as a fantastic freely available resource. 

 

Several months ago I decided it was high time for me to have another woods worthy truck.  It's been several years.  I'm a family guy and my pickup days had been behind me, but some of my children are now grown and I'm getting pretty tired of pulling a trailer with an SUV several times a month.  I have a Tacoma company vehicle and an older SUV that has been serving light 4x4 needs.  I just wanted something for knocking around in, pulling mountain duties, and hauling firewood, etc.  I settled on an MJ fairly early as I like the median size and power-train and who doesn't love a jeep.  Also, I'm a sucker for a straight six.

 

I finally found a local '90 Eliminator that had been somewhat abused, but seems to be well maintained overall.  It has served as a woods truck and farm truck and had a hay spear in the bed in the classified ad.  It has 200,000 miles on it, it's lifted about 2" (I think) with 31's.  It has the buckets, full gauges, console, etc and the interior is really decent: no holes in the seats and no cracks in the dash.  The body is fairly rough, but I don't need to look rich while hauling firewood so that's OK with me.  I was hoping to find a Dana 44, but my truck has the 35.  It's high geared, so I may swap this out in the future if it ever gives me any trouble.  The wiring and vacuum lines are horrid.  The fuse box is slightly melted at the top and had no less than four jumper wires in it when purchased.  I've also found a few jumpers under the hood.  The vacuum lines are also fairly horrendous with most being unhooked and/or capped off.  Luckily the CAD seems to be functioning.  The truck does have a lot of newer parts: gas tank, belts, hoses, clutch slave, rear main seal, etc., so all of that was a big plus.  It has a bit of the ol' death wobble at 50MPH, so I'll have to look into that. I've driven it around 100 miles so far with no problems and it seems to be an overall good ol' truck.

 

My plans are to fix the wiring and vacuum and get everything functioning as close to correct as is reasonable.  I may do some work on the exterior, front bumper and fender flares at least.  For now, I'll be happy if I can get the brake lights and turn signals operational.  I'll also likely add WJ lower control arms as my tires are rubbing the LCA's and I want the full maneuverability of this truck. 

 

I'm sure I'll be coming to you all for help in the near future, I just wanted to introduce myself and my new MJ to the board.  I'll try to add updates as I make progress with my truck.  Now I just need to give it a name. 

 

Cory

 

 

 

[Minuit]

Great to see another TN MJ(I assume you're in TN anyway). Good to see that it's going to an excited owner.

 

The issues you're describing are typical of Renix (87-90) trucks and the fixes are pretty well documented. You'll also want to look at your electrical grounds as they may be contributing to some of your problems and if they're not yet, they will eventually. Someone will probably come around with the go-to documents for Renix elec. problems. If not, I'll send that your way as soon as I get to my PC. As always, feel free to ask us every question that passes through your mind! :thumbsup:

 

You have a manual transmission (AX-15 on a '90, good), so your fusebox melting is easily explained. Likely a leaky clutch master cylinder. Good to see a 5-speed Eliminator. That's the best MJ configuration you can really get in my opinion.

 

[Comanchepur]

:doh: Hello Sir:

At same that you when I decided to buyed a Pick up 4*4 to go to city, offroad, work, boat, Etc the best tool in this days is the internet access to all information about something to wake up the attention.

You have the most important element to start your project the 1990 Eliminator MJ. Do not desperate one thing at time when you finish to fix go to seat looking your truck and take 6 beers to celebrate never look the credit card how much is the cost to fix. :cheers:  :thumbsup:  :banana:  . :MJ 1: .         

[TNCave]

I am in TN, over in the middle east-TN.  I really wanted an Eliminator or a Pioneer, although anything with a 4.0, AX-15, and 4x4 would have been alright with me if the price was right.

 

Minuit, I really dig the fuelly.com website, so thanks for being a contributor there also.  Gotta love the internet.

[relyt120]

More TN people, what joy!

a few of us meet up sometimes 

please put a correct taillight on the drivers side that thing is killing me!

[TNCave]

I'm on the tail light as soon as I can find one.

[TNCave]

Well I had a decent score at the Pull-A-Part today.  Amazingly, they had 2 MJ's on the lot.  The nicer of the two had already been stripped pretty well of all the good Comanche specific goodies.  The other was a bit of a junker, but I scored some good bits anyway.  I found a good set of tail lights, all 4 fender flares, a tail-gate, 1 pillar light, a nice set of cab vent trim, 2 nearly new Kenwood door speakers, some assorted wiring bits, etc.

 

I have no idea if a full size spare will fit well under the bed but I suspected not.  My truck has no spare, but the winch does work so I nabbed a temporary spare from a Grand Cherokee, it was the biggest I could find and has never been on the ground. 

 

With luck I can get the brake lights and turn signals functional soon.

 

I labeled some of the bikes in the photo in case anyone is interested.

 

 

[TNCave]

Can someone tell me the size of the original spare tire for Comanches?  I've seen a few threads now about what size tires will fit under the bed using the spare tire winch, but I'm concerned about clearance, weight, etc.

 

Thanks,

 

Cory

[88whitemanche]

I've got a 32x11.5x15 under my truck and it's been under there for over a year a lot of highway driving and some trail riding and no movement at all...I don't think a 33would fit though it will be rubbing against the brake load sensing valve

[relyt120]

Well I had a decent score at the Pull-A-Part today.  Amazingly, they had 2 MJ's on the lot.  The nicer of the two had already been stripped pretty well of all the good Comanche specific goodies.  The other was a bit of a junker, but I scored some good bits anyway.  I found a good set of tail lights, all 4 fender flares, a tail-gate, 1 pillar light, a nice set of cab vent trim, 2 nearly new Kenwood door speakers, some assorted wiring bits, etc.

 

That may have been me  :oops:

I almost got that tailgate so don't complain! lol

if you need anything let me know I have a bunch of stuff shoved in my garage.

 

ps: nashville pull-a-part right?

[relyt120]

Can someone tell me the size of the original spare tire for Comanches?  I've seen a few threads now about what size tires will fit under the bed using the spare tire winch, but I'm concerned about clearance, weight, etc.

 

Thanks,

 

Cory

 

You should be able to run a full size "spare" on your hoist. I would just mount a tire on a spare rim and call it a day. Those temp tires are crap anyway.

[TNCave]

Yup, Nashville Pull-a-Part it was.  I had a feeling it would have been someone on the forum here.  I don't really need anything at the moment, but I'm sure I will.  I may return for the rubber/vinyl floor mat in the red truck.  My Eliminator has carpet and for my uses the rubber would be much better.  Not to mention the high level of cow manure on my carpet.

 

Thanks for the tire tips also. 

[TNCave]

I had a few minutes this afternoon so I pulled all of the fuses out of my crusty fuse box.  I cleaned the contacts as well as I could and replaced every single fuse.  Some were melted, some were broken, some were missing, and the fuse contacts in the box needed some work so I spent a few minutes making sure that everything would be making good contact. 

 

Shazam!  After a little fiddling, my turn signals and brake lights both seem to be working.  Much to my surprise I even have one license plate illuminator functional.  WooHoo!

[nick05]

nice find.

[TNCave]

Well I had a productive weekend with my newly titled Project Comancheap.  I hope no one else has laid claim to this title.  I changed the title of this thread and I'll do my best to keep it updated. 

 

My truck was infested with rodents and I decided it was time for them to go.  I successfully trapped mice inside the truck, including in the closed glove box, Friday night.  On Saturday, I began pulling the interior out.  I also fixed the pillar lights, installed a junkyard wiper motor, and a proper drivers side tail light to replace the Ford tail light that was in there.

 

I pulled back the carpet and found a nice big rust hole.  Please don't judge the repair/conceal too harshly.  This is only a woods truck after all.  I wanted the carpet out as I couldn't take the smell of manure, urea, and mouse poo anymore.  I got lucky and scored a decent vinyl mat from a Comanche in the junkyard.  Sadly, it did tear a bit on the drivers side while I was installing it, but it's still far better than the disgusting and stinky carpet.  the hardest part of the whole project was removing the sound deadening material from the used mat.  That stuff is a challenge.

[relyt120]

that mat looks really good all cleaned up!

[Minuit]

:agree:  Now you've gotten me thinking I should have cleaned mine better when I tore my interior apart. Is that patch panel riveted on?

[kq.echo.413]

I'm chasing gremlins behind the dash of my 89 pioneer.. Sooooo I seen your floor work looks very nice...that is my new next step.

[TNCave]

_Thanks.

 

_{The patch panel is riveted.  I realize that being a unibody/uniframe construction vehicle that welding would be much preferred, but honestly my truck is a bit of a clunker anyway.  I did hit both sides with some rusoleum on top and undercoating on the bottom.  Hopefully this will help slow the rust processes.}

 

_{Sticking with the El Cheapo theme, most of the parts I used I already had laying around.  The panels are cut from a thick aluminum sign that I had lying around.  The insulation is leftover from a home insulation project.  I paid $7.50 for the floor mat at the Nashville Pull-a-Part.}

[TNCave]

Well, today I learned the derivation of the term "death wobble." 

I've actually driven my MJ very little as I've been attempting to get it straightened out before driving it very much.  Previously, it always had a vibration at 47-52 MPH.  It was sometimes harsh, but seemed live-able for a woods truck.  Today the front end was shaking so bad that I was certain something had broken in the front end.  Oh yeah, and I really thought I might die.  Nothing was broken, at least not any more than before.  I don't have anyone here at the moment to turn the wheel while I check for play, but I did discover a bad u-joint on the passenger side axle. 

 

The death wobble has moved to the top of my list for Project Comancheap.  Hopefully I can fix it without blindly replacing every component of the steering and suspension in the front. 

 

On the plus side, I have a 16 year old daughter who is anxious to learn about auto mechanics and we now have a vehicle with seemingly infinite learning opportunities. If only my wallet shared the same expanse of possibilities.

[RyanL]

First off very nice truck!

 

Second, I would try replacing the track bar first. I had the same problem on my Jeep and after replacing nearly every component it turned out to be the track bar.

[TNCave]

Thanks and I'll give it a good look.

[dscowell]

Here are some common causes of death wobble

 

http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/154-0906-fixing-jeep-death-wobbles/

[Tactical Bacon]

I hate to go off on a tangent, but did either of those Jeeps at the pull-a-part have a decent condition short box? Mine is pretty well ragged out after taking a hit at 45 mph.

[TNCave]

Only one was a short box and it was not the nicer of the two.  I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention to the bed, but I don't recall it being wrecked or noticeably rusty.  I did pull the tailgate and it was fine.