Vakarian Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 So a couple months ago I finally got myself a Comanche and have been researching among this forum about different ideas for upgrades and repair. This will serve has a tracker for the work done, process for any work completed or plan to be completed, as well as most importantly, a place for feed back from others on ComancheClub! I have limited knowledge even though I enjoy working around cars, but I look forward to the enjoyment form learning as I go and from the great insight the members here contain. Please leave any comments or questions that you have! As for the name, I am a nerd among other things and choose an Autobot Transformer. Trailbreaker was from the late eighties but transformed into an old Toyota Helix which is the closest to a Comanche for any Transformer. Anyway that is the enough from me rambling so here are some pictures for what I am starting off with. More pictures will be coming when I can copy the link to insert them. Only initial spots that need work are around the rear fender on top and the drive side floor. I am nervous about pulling the carpet up but I know it needs to be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 Looks like a solid starting point. :thumbsup: And you have a much coveted visor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted June 30, 2017 Author Share Posted June 30, 2017 Looks like a solid starting point. :thumbsup: And you have a much coveted visor! Thank you DirtyComanche! I was confused about the visor when I first got the truck because I never knew they could come with one. But I really like and the truck. Heading to a junkyard this morning to see what parts are left on two Comanches they stated they had in my local jeep group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanLemons Posted July 1, 2017 Share Posted July 1, 2017 The visor is rare. Keep it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 3, 2017 Author Share Posted July 3, 2017 The visor is rare. Keep it I planned on keep the visor even before rare I found out it was. It just through me off when I first saw it but I like the look of it on the Comanche. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 3, 2017 Author Share Posted July 3, 2017 ►UPDATE◄ Haven't done much work to the Comanche as I have been waiting on parts and working on a 99 Cherokee sport to pass inspection. The Comanche has still been overheating so a new water pump from Autozone will be going in hopefully this afternoon after I get off of work. I have a new stock replacement radiator also coming in that will be put once it arrives. Hopefully that will also be today but with my luck probably not. Pictures to come once works begins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 5, 2017 Author Share Posted July 5, 2017 ►Update◄ So the radiator showed up Monday afternoon as I had begun to start work removing the old one. With this being my first radiator removal from a MJ/XJ, the process probably took longer then expected as I had to determine what all had to be removed. Here is how the temperature gauge would be constantly while driving around during the weekend. It got to the point where I had smoke coming from under the hood twice and thankfully I had coolant with me. So down goes the MJ for cooling system replacement. I removed the electric fan and mechanical fan shroud without to much issue and began removing the bolts that secured the formed channel above the radiator. Thought it was connected to the radiator underneath somewhere since it wouldn't come off for some reason. Figured I should lower the light guard on the front to get the grill off for better sight line. Turns out the secondary cooler I read that had to be disconnect where two bolts on top. Had to grind off one of the nuts as the stud in the radiator started to spin. He is a picture of the culprit. After cutting the nut with a grinder, the cover cross member and the radiator were removed with no trouble. I decided to leave the radiator out while I work on removing the water pump since it gave me more room. With help from my dad, we were able to remove the water pump pulley and I started to remove the pumps mounting bolts. That is when I learned the power steering pump had to be unbolted as well. The power steering pump wasn't much trouble after determining which bolts actually had to be removed. Currently still connected, just leaning up out of the way. After that the water pump was no issue to remove. I didn't have to remove the power steering main support bracket, just loosened the center bolts up some to allow it to have play. Cleaning of the old gasket began shortly after. As I was preparing to begin installation of the new pump, I randomly decided to test fit the pulley onto the new pump from AutoZone. To my disappointment, the pulley was rubbing / scraping on two sections of the pump housing. Hoping it was just a defected part I had received, I took a trip back to the store to switch out the pump. The replacement pumps they had ended up having the same issue or a worst scraping problem. Did this at a couple places and ran into similar issues. :fs1: So now the Comanche sits while I continue to wait for parts to show up as the replacement water pump I ordered is out of stock. :wall: That makes two parts out of stock that I order and am waiting on. So the cooling system is on hold and I will take a look at removing the carpet to see what surprises await me on the floor boards. If anyone has any input or questions, please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 New H2O pump or remanufactured? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 5, 2017 Author Share Posted July 5, 2017 New H2O pump or remanufactured? New H2O pump. I figured a new pump would be better in the long run compared to a re-manufactured pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 What brand of water pump is it? I had an issues with one before. I believe it was determined it was actually a TJ/WJ (much newer) casting, and there is slightly different offset on the pulleys between the earlier and later 4L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 10, 2017 Author Share Posted July 10, 2017 What brand of water pump is it? I had an issues with one before. I believe it was determined it was actually a TJ/WJ (much newer) casting, and there is slightly different offset on the pulleys between the earlier and later 4L. Sorry for the late reply but it didn't inform me you replied. As for the water pump, I order one for the engine that was listed for a Cherokee because no place state anything about the Comanche. I figured they were the same and made sure it was reverse flow. I think the brand was like flow something. I was thinking of a gates pump but I kept seeing varying reviews. If I made an error with the pump let me know. It still hasn't shipped yet so I could cancel it for a different pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 ►UPDATE◄ The water pump should be in later today. While between waiting for that and working on a Cherokee, I figured I should begin the process of removing the bench seat. Two torx bolts and eight nuts, what could go wrong? Well all of the bolts but one came loose before I rounded the last bolt on the front inner driver side. Crawled underneath and found the seat stud up right next to the brake lines I believe. Also saw a large new hole in the floor board where a section had apparently recently fell out. Thankfully the passenger side looks clean still from underneath and from what I saw from slightly pulling the carpet back. So that will be tackled after putting the cooling system back together to complete that project before starting the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeeppapa Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 It's always the last bolt that gets ya. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 It's always the last bolt that gets ya. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Yeah so that ill be an interesting event to figure out. UPDATE: So the water pump showed up late Thursday since I was not able to pickup from the post office. Friday I started the reassemble process with the new pump from Flowkooler. I tested the pulley and there was no rubbing or scraping that I previous experienced. Victory! So onward with the installation. Getting the pump mounted to the engine block took a little wiggling to get around the power steering bracket since I decided to not remove it. Also, thank you to everyone who in other post I saw that stated to put the hard line for the pump on before installation. Had to improvise tightening the bolts for the pulley since I didn't have a tool for it. Used a screw drive between two bolts to allow me to tighten them. I apologize for the following blurry pictures. The water pump and the engine back together before installation of the replacement radiator begins. Was no real change other then realizing I didn't sort the fasteners between sections and tossed them all together in a plastic store ham container. I decided to just get a OEM radiator and since I have not had any problems with Mishimoto radiators, I decided to try theirs even though it has the plastic end. The mishimoto radiator seemed to have a dual core over the single that was the original because the fin section was larger. But I don't know much about radiators so I could be very wrong. Well the radiator installation was straight forward just took a little twisting and pushing to align the the radiator around the inner cooler in front of it. At the point of putting the radiator cross member support in I discovered that I had forgot to re-install the rubber bushing that bolts to the radiator and supports the inner cooler. Well I had damaged the threads on the nut I had to cut during removal. So to fix my mess up since I couldn't find one at the junkyard and not in the mood to wait for it, I went to searching for what I could use to make a new one. Scattered in my tool box I found a window regulator motor bolt. I cut the long tread portion off to use the short end since it was almost identical to the original piece length. After using a hammer to get the oval metal section started into the rubber mount, I used pliers to wiggling it into place. Afterwards I put some epoxy to help secure the new stud in place within the mount. Here is what it looked like afterwards before installation into the Comanche. With that I was able to complete the installation of the radiator. From there I have not had any issue with cooling and so far so good. With the cooling issue currently not a problem, I will be moving onto removal of the carpet. Already know of one hole to repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 Hopefully everyone can see the images. I switch to using imgur for ease-ability since using photobucket was almost near impossible to copy the links to add images into a forum post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeeppapa Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Images are good on my iPhone. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted July 21, 2017 Author Share Posted July 21, 2017 Images are good on my iPhone. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thank you for the feedback jeeppapa. Now I have a question for club. So in my downtime I have been looking and researching what I want to do to the Comanche in the future. I have saw that 31 is the largest diameter tire that fits without trimming. What limits the tire? Is it the flare or the wheel well metal? Trying to decide if a 32 inch tire would fit in the wheel well. Have an idea I want to do with the truck just trying to determine if it the wheels I are thinking of would work. This is also excluding the rim issue. Thank you for your time and help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted November 30, 2017 Author Share Posted November 30, 2017 It has been a while since I have posted on here, so time to update the process on my Comanche. First thing is I found a bed cover that works out decent for my truck. Used a few times now to sleep in when I have gone to some overnight paintball events. Still a work in progress to figure out the best way to utilize the internal space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted November 30, 2017 Author Share Posted November 30, 2017 After moving in a house at the end of July and talking with my new neighbors, I got around to lifting my Comanche with their help. The front didn't cause to much issue just took some time doing in the evenings and on the weekends when my neighbors for home and free. Here is what the front looked liked after getting the lift on. Had to charge the battery because one night we left the doors open with the key clicked over to allow the tires to be turned. The rear of course was a different story. The leave springs bolts had seized up into the bushings and was spinning the whole connect. One evening before I was able to get home my neighbors were able to get it all freed and apart. With still being new to vehicle work I was thrown off my the placement of the rear axle when we put the tire back on. The axle wasn't centered and caused some concern with me. Discovered that due to the way the leaf springs are mounted with the front point connected into the frame, it causes the wheel to travel in an arch when compressed. Thus allows the tire to not collide with the wheel well. It bothers me not being centered but oh well. I will live and enjoy my truck. Drove it with the original tires on it for a while as I continued trying to decide on what to do about the wheels. I took the spare 33 x 12.5 tire off my 88 wrangler just to get a visual for the truck. It fit on the drive way but I did not liked how it sat or looked overall. I eventually decided on getting narrow tires that would still fit inside the wheel wells. While at work I got a text from my girlfriend with a picture of the tires which made my focus at work drop. My co-working and I just started talking upgrades and our vehicles. When I ordered the new rims they initially only sent one rim so I didn't cancel the order since they were apparently out of stock after I placed the ordered. So here is how the truck currently sits and the lift makes it easier for my tall @$$ to get in. My girlfriend has mixed feelings about the truck being lifted. She loves how it looks and all but hates trying to climb in. Planning some treasuring hunting tomorrow to look for axle upgrades to finally replace the Dana 35 rear axle. I am hoping to find a 97+ manual to get the matching 4.10 geared axles with the larger u-joints. From what I have been reading, a Chrysler 8.25 should only be around $200 for a good price. Let me know if that doesn't seem right. Well that is all for now but I will be updating on how my search went as well as future plans. Thank you for viewing and reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skorpyo Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 Nice looking MJ! You've done well by her so far. Not sure if you've considered it but Ford 8.8s out of an explorer can be found with 4.10 gears a bit more easily than XJ axles. They'll require about the same amount of work to swap in since you'll need new perches on either. They're about 1.5" narrower than XJ/MJ axles, but lots of folks compensate with spacers, rims or just go with it as is. ps. I should add that the 8.8 I picked up for my MJ was only 150 after core IIRC and I had a choice of several, finally settling on one with 3.73s and disc brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted December 4, 2017 Author Share Posted December 4, 2017 On 12/1/2017 at 3:44 PM, Skorpyo said: Nice looking MJ! You've done well by her so far. Not sure if you've considered it but Ford 8.8s out of an explorer can be found with 4.10 gears a bit more easily than XJ axles. They'll require about the same amount of work to swap in since you'll need new perches on either. They're about 1.5" narrower than XJ/MJ axles, but lots of folks compensate with spacers, rims or just go with it as is. ps. I should add that the 8.8 I picked up for my MJ was only 150 after core IIRC and I had a choice of several, finally settling on one with 3.73s and disc brakes. Thank you for the feedback and information Skorpyo! As for the Ford 8.8s I hadn't really considered it much since because every time searched on it was usually topics for the wranglers as well as discussions/ arguments of this or that. But I will keep an eye for those as well. I know on the Dana axles they had a stamp on them to tell the ratio. Where would the ratio be located on the Ford 8.8? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 The ratio stamp or tag on any axle is only good if it's been verified by popping off the cover and physically eyeballing the gears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skorpyo Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 If you're checking in a JY and the axle is still under a vehicle you can check the door tag on an explorer and the axle code would identify what it is. Here are the codes for an explorer: 43 Open 3200 3.08 41 Open 3200 3.27 42 Open 4.10 46 Open 3.73 45 Open 3200 3.55 D4 Limited Slip 3200 3.73 D2 Limited Slip 4.10 L73 Limited Slip 3.73 Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakarian Posted December 4, 2017 Author Share Posted December 4, 2017 1 hour ago, HOrnbrod said: The ratio stamp or tag on any axle is only good if it's been verified by popping off the cover and physically eyeballing the gears. That is very true HOrnbrod. Thanks for that reminder! Skorpyo, thank you for the code breakdown for the explorer axles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbain Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Nice looking Machine. I'm building an Overlanding rig with plans to sleep in the back, so keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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