Comanche Trailhawk: DD and Mild Wheeler

[cody4359]

Are you kidding me? The pictures on jcr’s website is crappy and It barely show anything. 

 

And beside its not all about the mounting brackets and some hitch plate. 

 

 

nope not kidding you. clearly all thats on the INSIDE (not backside and outside like you described) are the mounting plates, and hitch.... and the pdf shows perfect examples of what it'll look like. so, I'm curiouse as to what's so appealing to the inside of a bumper that you can't picture since it's not all about the mounting lol

 

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[MeanLemons]

1 hour ago, cody4359 said:

nope not kidding you. clearly all thats on the INSIDE (not backside and outside like you described) are the mounting plates, and hitch.... and the pdf shows perfect examples of what it'll look like. so, I'm curiouse as to what's so appealing to the inside of a bumper that you can't picture since it's not all about the mounting lol

 

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I want to see how strong the bumper is, and if there’s any gussets, triangles, internal supports/bracing. Cause I know the DIY front bumper is weak as $#!& because of nonexistent gussets/bracing. I’m just curious about the MJ bumper that’s all. 

 

I find it amusing that you don’t think I should ask for that kind of stuff, when it’s a part of my research before I make an informed decision before a purchase.   Seriously

[cody4359]

I want to see how strong the bumper is, and if there’s any gussets, triangles, internal supports/bracing. Cause I know the DIY front bumper is weak as $#!& because of nonexistent gussets/bracing. I’m just curious about the MJ bumper that’s all. 
 
I find it amusing that you don’t think I should ask for that kind of stuff, when it’s a part of my research before I make an informed decision before a purchase.   Seriously

well figured as much... and I'm just giving you crap because if you actully looked at the directions, or what comes with the kit, you'd see there are no gussets other than the hitch plate...

it's a solid bumper in my opnion, I wish it stuck out another 1.5/2" for a more sure footed step, and I had planned extending the sides to protect the quater panel, tieing into the unibody. but I'm lazy and have now crunched the lower part of the bed from crawling up an obstacle. I'll quit muddying up Trail hawks thread now

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[PCO6]

On ‎2017‎-‎11‎-‎26 at 9:57 AM, Trailhawkmj said:

...

Today I'll be welding up the jcr diy rear bumper

 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.   I have JCR bumpers on my XJ and really like them.   I can see the front being interchangeable but not the back.   I'm thinking of fabricating a "look-a-like".   The above pic alone gives me some good clues.   

[Trailhawkmj]

Test fit.  I really like it.  I'll snap more pics of the backside tomorrow when I pull it off to finish weld.

 

[cody4359]

nice shackle mounts :)

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[Trailhawkmj]

Finish welded the bumper today.  No wind and clean nozzle this weekend so minimal frustrations.  Phone ate my pics of it though and I'm too tired to get everything back out so just take my word on it.

Also swapped in the led bulbs.  Holy cow!  They are so bright now.  Pics don't really do them justice but they are similar to modern car brightness now.  

I just put them in one side for the pics

 

Brake lights:

 

Running lights:

 

The led running lights are brighter than the old stock bulb brake light.  The new flasher also made everything flash and work correctly.  I'll be painting the bumper tomorrow and adjusting the seat mounts yet again.  Can't quite get them right.

[Trailhawkmj]

Backside:

 

 

 

Painted up and installed:

 

 

Still debating on where to put the license plate.

[PCO6]

That turned out great!    I see what you mean about locating the licence plate.   I have JCR bumpers on the front and back of my XJ.   The back plate is no problem of course (goes on the tailgate).   On the front I have a plastic panel that holds the plate and goes into the receiver.    If I want to tow or push from the front I simply take it out.   You could do the same on the back and temporarily hang your licence plate from the bumper when you tow something.    

 

It's like this one but plastic ... and only cost $3!

http://www.autoanything.com/towing/69A4566A0A0.aspx

 

Question about the flasher you used - do you have brand and part# or even a description of what it's for?   I'm assuming there isn't a listing for MJ's.   

[90BlackMJ]

Yep, bumper looks good. I'm thinking about that one for my project since the factory is MIA. Not quite sure though. I have a long way to that point lol

[Trailhawkmj]

On 12/8/2017 at 12:48 PM, PCO6 said:

 

It's like this one but plastic ... and only cost $3!

http://www.autoanything.com/towing/69A4566A0A0.aspx

 

 

Question about the flasher you used - do you have brand and part# or even a description of what it's for?   I'm assuming there isn't a listing for MJ's.   

 

I think I'm going to whip together a mount like that, thanks!  Also I totally missed the last part of your post there, sorry.   The flasher I used was for a 97+ xj which doesn't look anything like the flasher I dug out of my orginal mj harness.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W2B52SK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Did some small things yesterday.  Replaced the old weird 2 prong plugs and coil rail.  Some of them were over double what the gap should be.  New belt and tensioner.  Secured fan shrouds so the fan stopped trying to eat it.  Then I got my broken dipstick out... but I broke the dipstick tube when putting things back together.  Broke out the welder and patched it together where it cracked.  Should be ok until I can source another.

 

 

 

It really likes the new plugs and coils.  It has never started so fast or run so smooth. 

 

Today I cleared my check engine light by replacing the chewed wire to a sensor on the trans and clearing the code with my bluetooth obd thinger.

 

Biggest win for today was decals!  Really happy with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sliced my hand pretty good on the packaging the swaybar discos came in so those are waiting to get installed probably next weekend.  Not too much left to do at this point.

[PCO6]

13 hours ago, Trailhawkmj said:

 

I think I'm going to whip together a mount like that, thanks!  Also I totally missed the last part of your post there, sorry.   The flasher I used was for a 97+ xj which doesn't look anything like the flasher I dug out of my orginal mj harness.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W2B52SK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I'm with you.   I'd build one long before I'd pay $50+!

Thanks for the lead on the flasher.   It's odd that Amazon won't ship that to Canada.   I'm sure I can pick one up at NAPA now that I know what I'm looking for.

 

Your truck is looking great.   It's come a long way!   

[Trailhawkmj]

Catching up a bit over the last few weeks.

 

I finally had a driveshaft made and installed it.  No longer pulling myself around in fwd.

 

Still need to setup the final mounting and routing of the brakelines once I get my parking brake setup finalized.

 

Re-installed the swaybar with a set of quick disconnects.

 

 

Went through several maintenance things such as changing diff oil, tcase oil, trans, oil and did an engine oil change.  All of the fluids were pretty gross.  The engine oil was changed back when I first put the engine in a few months ago and only has maybe 2hours and 2 miles of running on it.  Kinda bummed a bit with how it looked when it came out.

 

 

Pretty sure it's the notorious cracked head or headgasket.  I'll come back to that.

 

Spent a little more time underneath and decided to pull the inspection cover from the trans to snug up the flex plate bolts to see if that helped my tapping noise at all.  2 were snug and 2 took half a turn.  Pried on the flex plate a bit to look for any cracks but I didn't see any.  It didn't make a difference.

[Trailhawkmj]

Got antsy pantsy over the weekend so I hooked up the fuel filler hoses and put fresh gas in the tank.  Also spent some time setting up the license plate and lights on the bumper.  I couldn't get the hitch mount I made to look right to me so I caved and just mounted it to the side on the bumper.  Also trimmed my seat mount down almost another inch and I'm pretty close to having the seat where I am comfortable.  Decided to hit the road for the first time with it since it was 2wd and a 4cyl back in april.  The oil still looked clean and clear but I still decided to keep the test drive short and sweet and stayed in "leisurely stroll" mode.

 

 

 

 

It went ok overall. I was super excited to drive it.  It was a huge morale boost, which I needed.  It was 5 degrees outside with a windchill in the negatives and the interior was nice and toasty.  The engine ran strong and didn't have any hiccups and the trans shifted when it should both up and down.  Only got up to 45mph but no vibes and it tracked decent down the road.  Brakes are strong and seem to be biased correctly.  I love the tires.  I used my blazer to prerun my little route to see how sloppy the roads were and when I got the forest road the blazer was sliding around.  Not so much in the truck.  

You can see in the one pic through the rear window how the driver's seat is a few inches lower than the pass.  I finally have the seat set up just right for me and it was comfortable driving.  Huge plus.  

Now for the debbie downer parts.  I confirmed that the engine is burning coolant.  I could't get the exhaust hot enough in the driveway but after driving down the road a few minutes I can smell coolant in the exhaust.  It never stopped billowing white the whole drive.  Knowing there may be underlying issues, I kept the drive to about 3 miles and under 15 minutes.  The forest road is  only a mile behind the house.  

These shocks also have to go.  They are way too harsh.  I stole them from my yj and I put them on the yj because they were super cheap and meant to just get me by a few weeks until I measured for nice ones.  We all know how that goes so that was a few years ago.  

The 33's and 3.55's are not a very good combo.  It wasn't super sluggish or anything but I'm putting some gearing changes on the list of things to start thinking about.

I'm more than likely ordering an aftermarket head this week and a bunch of gaskets.  I'm going to take the head and oil pan off during the coming weeks to see what I see.  Going to check lifters, cam, cylinder walls, and pistons out real good.  Also going to inspect the exhaust manifold for any cracks or leaks.  The knocking/tap noise has settled down considerably so I'm not really sure what to make of it.  Still deciding if I will pull these parts off while in the truck or if I'll be pulling the whole engine out and working on it in the garage.  Depends what I find I guess.

Anyways it was a fun little voyage.

[Dzimm]

This is coming together very nicely.  Hopefully the coolant issue isn't serious.  

 

Could you possibly go into some detail on how exactly you lowered the seat? I'm a tall guy myself and struggle to fit in my 97+ MJ.  My knees are in the dash and my head only inches from the roof.. 

[jbain]

On 11/3/2017 at 11:51 AM, Trailhawkmj said:

Thanks guys!  I've been slacking on the updates here a little bit.  I've been slowly putting it back together and attacking the interior before and after going to work.

 

Started with lining everything with the insulation stuff

 

 

 

Had to rebuild the cab vent things since the plastic flappy parts were toast or missing.  Used really thick plastic from a bag some snowmobile stuff came in.

 

 

 

Painted the drip rails, door handles, tail lights, and grill pieces with sem trim black paint.

 

 

 

Recovered my headliner and visors.  Also won an auction for the rear cab trim and panel so I painted the plastic to match and used leftover headliner material to recover the panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to pull the dash at least part way out one last time to fix a few things I forgot about but after that the interior should be pretty much finished up tomorrow or Sunday.  Still need to come up with a rear driveshaft and finish wiring up the tail lights.  

 

If you don't mind me asking where did you get the paint to match the Agate interior?  I bought Color Bond 163 Chrysler Agate and it was way too light.  Build is going very well.

[Trailhawkmj]

I'll snap some pics of it once I finalize the brackets and they don't look so ghetto.  I basically just cut off the rear 2 mounting legs then welded some square tube in their place.  I tried just cutting sections out of the legs and welding them back together but I still couldn't get them short enough.  I think my issues stem from mounting the seat farther rearward than usual so the rear legs are landing on the section of the cab floor that starts slanting upwards whereas the floor on the xj stayed flat.  I'll have the seats out and carpet up this weekend to work on the parking brake cable and some wiring so I'll try to remember to get some detailed pics.

[Trailhawkmj]

4 minutes ago, jbain said:

 

If you don't mind me asking where did you get the paint to match the Agate interior?  I bought Color Bond 163 Chrysler Agate and it was way too light.  Build is going very well.

 

That was the same stuff I used I think.  Got it from amazon a while back before the price on it went up.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G6ILI24/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

It matched ok for me but you can tell it's not the same in various lighting.  It's also coming off very easy in a few places if you even so much as look at it funny.  I might redo everything if it ever warms up again.

[HOrnbrod]

Bummer on the coolant / oil issue. Are you going to do cylinder pressure and leakdown tests to try and isolate what's happening with the head?

[jbain]

Yep that's it, guess I'll give it a try.

[crumbscomanche]

This truck is so beautiful, well done. The attention to detail is prevalent bumper-to-bumper. Can't wait to see where you take it!   

[Trailhawkmj]

i have really been slacking with keeping up on the updates in here 

 

A few weekends ago I finalized my seat mounts.  I ended up cutting off the rear legs of the seat bracket completely and replaced them with some angle.  I was able to place the new mounting bolt location over the floor brace under the cab so that the seatbelt anchor side had a solid place to mount to.

 

 

 

I also spent some time trying to get my fuel gauge working again but no luck.  Not sure if it's a gauge, sender, or wiring issue but it has only worked on the day I first got it running.  I'll eventually come back to that.

 

I rewired the factory foglights harness with new connectors and installed some cheapo cubes for now to fill the bumper holes.  I'd like to go with a quality light at some point later on but I'm also not sure how much I'll even use these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I last left off I had determined that my engine was eating coolant.  I picked up a few new tools and a book and I started digging into it on Friday.

 

 

I started with a compression test before taking everything apart.  I had some issues with getting a good seal with the gauge on the wet test for #1 after spilling oil everywhere 

 

 

After compression testing I drained the oil and dropped the pan.  This oil has less than an hour run time on it and was already showing signs of coolant in it.  I fully expected to find metal deposits if not not chunks of a piston skirt in the pan.  This was not the case as there were no chunks to be found, just some sludge.

 

 

 

Pics from here on out get sparse as anyone who has done this knows what kind of mess it makes.  At this point I wanted to do some more investigating and my book provided me with some pretty nice instructions on almost everything related to deconstructing a 4.0.  Not knowing if the PO ran this thing with coolant in the oil or not, I wanted to get a look at the bearings.  I started by removing the girdle thing and then pulled the connecting rod caps one by one.  Most of the bearings looked pretty decent and If I understood the book and my gauge correctly they mostly measured at the edge of the desirable range.  I did manage to clean myself off and snap a picture of the worst looking bearing.

 

 

I also carefully moved the swung the connecting rods around to feel for any resistance.  They all swung smoothly and continued to swing after letting them go.  I lubed the snot out of everything and reinstalled.  I pulled the main bearings and they all looked almost new.  Once again I lubed everything and reinstalled.  Also changed out the rear main seal while I was there.  While i was swapping out the rear main seal, I noticed that I could get a really good look at the flexplate with the inspection cover off.  I double checked that the plate had no cracks and I was able to get a good torque on all of the converter bolts.  Before I put the pan back on I had someone rotate the crank from the front and watched each piston as it moved up and down in the cylinder while watching for any side movement or play.

 

  I temporarily put the pan back on with a few bolts.  My replacement head from clearwater arrived and I plan on swapping the head and all of the upper gaskets out sometime this week.  I figure after I swap the head and get the top buttoned back up I can drop the pan again and clean out any coolant or debris I may have spilled into the engine.  I'll also be inspecting lifters, pushrods, cam lift and cylinder walls while I have the head off.  Hopefully I'll be making another test drive this coming weekend.

 

Anyways if that bearing looks like garbage to you and you wouldn't run it, please let me know.  I've never been into an engine like this before and following along with this book and various writeups online have given me some confidence to mess with these things but I still don't know what I don't know.  This is also sparking an interest in me acquiring another 4.0 to build up with some fun parts over the summer and swap in with this one. 

 

[87Chief]

Bearing looks a little worn to me. I would go ahead and take it to a machine shop. Get the crank turned (If needed) and see if you have a rig on the cylinder walls. More than likely a rebuild is in your future, especially if you have a tick, get new lifters while you're in there.



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[sinkrun]

Awesome work just read thru your build tonight not sure how I missed it. I see your only about 25 miles away. 2001 engine? Those 0331 heads are JUNK I have seen that color oil many times. I had several 01`s do that put a older head on them.  Ran one for 30,000 miles had another I bought blown up pistons were starting to melt. 2000-2001 heads had issues toss that head and yes the bearing looks a little unhealthy. The machine shop near me that built mine has  great rep and is very decent with price if you want his info i can send it. Either A good rebuilt used 97-99 head or a 2002 and up they fixed them. Lots info on the net.

[Trailhawkmj]

59 minutes ago, sinkrun said:

Awesome work just read thru your build tonight not sure how I missed it. I see your only about 25 miles away. 2001 engine? Those 0331 heads are JUNK I have seen that color oil many times. I had several 01`s do that put a older head on them.  Ran one for 30,000 miles had another I bought blown up pistons were starting to melt. 2000-2001 heads had issues toss that head and yes the bearing looks a little unhealthy. The machine shop near me that built mine has  great rep and is very decent with price if you want his info i can send it. Either A good rebuilt used 97-99 head or a 2002 and up they fixed them. Lots info on the net.

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure I had the infamous crack between 3 and 4.  I tossed the head over the weekend and replaced it with a clearwater casting.

 

 

 

The '01 style manifolds were such a pain to take on and off with the cats in the way.

 

I eventually got everything back together and took it for a drive the next morning.   

 

No more coolant where it isn't supposed to be.

 

I spent a few days debating what I should do with my engine.  i thought about just throwing some new bearings and lifters in it but that didn't sit right with me.  I was getting a case of the "may as wells".  If I do lifters, I may as well do a new cam.  New cam may as well do new timing set.  Factor in the rod bearings and maybe crank machining and pretty soon the full rebuild option was looking pretty good.  I've been wanting to rebuild an engine for a little while now as it's something that I haven't ever done yet and this will be a good opportunity to learn and do so.  My plan is to come up with another 4.0 and acquire parts while the shop does their machining.  Then I'll build it on a stand in the garage when I have time.  When it's all buttoned up then I"ll take a weekend and swap them out.  Hopefully the current engine behaves itself for a few thousand miles.  It's running really well right now and the noises it was making are pretty much gone, which doesn't mean all that much as they might be back in full force the very next time I start it up.  Since I'm going to be doing some engine work, I have begun doing some reading on stroker motors.  I'm still not sure if that's a direction I want to go or not but I'm still in the early research of it.

 

In other news I hope to have my windshield and rearwindow installed either tomorrow or early next week depending on weather.