The Littlest Comanche

[Pete M]

that floor looks familiar   

[Lthompson741]

Looks good! Glad you got it on the road.   I finally started working on mine getting it on the road and mine is in similar shape as well.  Glad it made it to work and is dependable for a $700 truck.

[gogmorgo]

On February 6, 2019 at 12:15 PM, Lthompson741 said:

Looks good! Glad you got it on the road.   I finally started working on mine getting it on the road and mine is in similar shape as well.  Glad it made it to work and is dependable for a $700 truck.

It's very much not a $700 truck anymore. Haha. I pretty much doubled that just getting it home, and then changing out the cooling system. And that was before the engine came out...

For context, work is less than a mile away. It's not much of an accomplishment to make it there and back, but really not good if you can't. 

I was planning on swapping on the winter tires today and hitting the highway for the first long (ish) trip, about 100 miles, but my roommate's fancy 2014 Juke bricked itself in the driveway in the cold and is now blocking it it. Stupid modern cars that don't completely turn off when you switch them off and drain the battery...

[Lthompson741]

On 2/8/2019 at 12:14 PM, gogmorgo said:

It's very much not a $700 truck anymore. Haha. I pretty much doubled that just getting it home, and then changing out the cooling system. And that was before the engine came out...

For context, work is less than a mile away. It's not much of an accomplishment to make it there and back, but really not good if you can't. 

I was planning on swapping on the winter tires today and hitting the highway for the first long (ish) trip, about 100 miles, but my roommate's fancy 2014 Juke bricked itself in the driveway in the cold and is now blocking it it. Stupid modern cars that don't completely turn off when you switch them off and drain the battery...

 Yeah I under stand about the price doubling.  My $500 MJ is almost 1K now and I just took it for it’s maden voyage this past weekend.  Still needs brakes and a windshield to be driven far.    That doesn’t even include the appearance (it’s a rot box).

 

My daily a 2012 F250 bricked it’s self the other day during our “Polar Vortex” and not having another car in the household kind of sped up getting this thing running as a back up.

[gogmorgo]

Our of curiosity the other day I fired up the MJ mostly just to see if it would start. After a week or so of temperatures dropping to -40 overnight, at -15°F, it cranked over kinda slow but still fired up. The Juke is still a brick tho...

[gogmorgo]

Well the Juke has been un-bricked and I had a chance to move the MJ out of the driveway so I could clear the snow so I could put the MJ back in the driveway and have a small tire changing party.

The are the factory wheels that came on the base model ZJ. I think they look better on the MJ.

Because my other MJ is parked I'd pulled the non-winter tires off of it and stuck them on the ZJ, because these wheels have winters on them, and I didn't want to burn them off in the summer... plus they looked ridiculous being only a 215/75r15 with a 2" lift. A couple weeks ago when I put 31's on the ZJ, I stuck them on the little MJ's factory wheels that had come loose along with it. So now the aftermarket wheels whatever they were are piled in the garage, the bigger MJ is back on its own wheels and tires, and the ZJ and little MJ have swapped wheels. But both my drivers have snow-peak-rated tires now which is great, because I live here:

Where there are peaks. And snow.

And when I say that, what I mean is the last month I think that it did not snow at least one day here was July 2017. Traction is underrated. I definitely like the look of the Jeep steelies a ton better than those silly alloys that stuck out too far. It rides better too now.

I didn't mention it, but the brakes did only need bled. After a bit of use they've stopped making noises as well. I did check them while the wheels were off, and everything checks out, so I'm thinking the noise was just a bit of rust on the rotors from sitting. 

Today was also the first good run on the highway. I put more miles on it today than the whole time I've owned it, haha. It did pretty darn good for itself, although the heater did seem to be fading at speed. I'm thinking vacuum leak, although it still has the heater valve, so I might bypass that and see what gives. The vent selection and blend door seemed to be working fine. The heat's hot sitting idling though, and it didn't have problems warming up when it was -30 out, so I'm thinking the new thermostat is fine, it's just seeing reduced flow at reduced vacuum due to increased engine speed. 

[JMO413]

Good to hear you got the brick moved so the Comanche could be free. That is some beautiful scenery in your pictures! 

[gogmorgo]

Small update. Picked up some parts at the wrecking yard. I've added a back of cab panel, where mine was missing, and got a driver's belt buckle. So now if there's three people in the cab the middle passenger isn't hanging onto my belt to make it look legit. 

 

I also managed to track down my power steering leak. It was tough to find because it was getting on the pulley and serp belt and going everywhere. Turns out the pump itself was leaking from the shaft seal. I tossed in one that came on one of the engines I picked up. Gotta say, fighting against empty power steering sucks... It took me a bit to get used to how light the steering is now. 

I also built a canoe rack for it. Yeah, carbohydrate foam is terrible, but I do appreciate the rustic look. I've also used it for 12' lengths of lumber to fix my fence.

If I were to build another one I would put a 9' rail along the top, to bring it all the way to the front of the cab, and I would've worked out to be able to slide 4' wide sheets inside (it's 45" wide inside... didn't really plan that), but this works alright. I've got it held down with turnbuckles to the factory tie-downs, and I can lift it in and out on my own. It also works great for solo carrying the 17' canoe, just walk up to the back of the truck and slide it on/off... although typically I've got an assistant for that. 

 

[Pete M]

I've been giving thought to a similar framework for my MJ trailer.  a bit shorter though since I don't have a cab to clear. 

[gogmorgo]

On June 12, 2019 at 8:20 AM, Pete M said:

I've been giving thought to a similar framework for my MJ trailer.  a bit shorter though since I don't have a cab to clear. 

The one issue I have with cab clearance is that one of the 2x4's is bending down towards it. I don't know if it's warping with changes in humidity, or if the canoe strapped down is bending it too much, or if I just chose a crappy piece of wood. I've been debating replacing that side, and I'm thinking about swapping out both top rails either for longer 2x4's or possibly using 2x6's. 

Since the above photo, I've also added some cross-bracing/gussets. It was fine parked, but the rack got wobbly on the highway after I strapped down the canoe. 

 

I also did some proof-of-concepts on paddle racks to attach to the lower side rails, to put the paddles in the largely dead space over the wheelwells, but never really got something I was happy with. 

The top one is a 1-1/2" hole drilled through a chunk of 2x4 then cut in two, and the lower one is a couple of those screw-in yard tool holders, both with short bungee cords to hold them in place. Either option was okay-ish for holding a single paddle, but I wanted to get more than one paddle in the same spot, and that wasn't really working out. 

 

Without the cab to worry about I would make the frame much wider, probably put it right up against the inside of the bed rails. You don't realize how much narrower the roof is than the bed until you run some vertical pieces up it... I didn't want the rack hanging wider than the roof, especially not right above where my head goes as I'm getting in. A buddy of mine has a commercial canoe rack on his X-Trail that has the cross bar just above the rear edge of the back door, and I pegged my forehead on it every time I opened the door last weekend, whether I was getting in or not.

 

Something else that I would do in hindsight... Figure out how many 6" carriage bolts I absolutely need and only buy that many. For whatever reason they cost more than double what a 4" would at our local hardware store, which I didn't figure out until after the fact because they don't have obvious prices on the bulk bins. I just got all 6" for easier counting and ended up paying a ton extra just to cut 2" off most of the bolts...

[gogmorgo]

Sigh.

Noticed a coolant leak the other week, coming off the back of the engine. Not great. Got it up in the air last night to try to see if it was the head gasket or a freeze plug.

Nope. Turns out there’s a third option... and it’s worse.

Guess my $300 Kijiji engine combo was in fact all it was cracked up to be. 

 

At least I got two engines off the guy... but also... do I trust the second one?

[Pete M]

I wonder how well that welds up...  I mean, what's there to lose?

[eaglescout526]

Honestly, maybe a good weld right in that spot just might do it. Theres plenty of metal there since the engine mount is right there. 

[gogmorgo]

Cast iron does weld, but you need to preheat and post heat, peen it, reweld... bunch of work and the engine needs pulled and torn down anyhow, possibly machined if it got warped.

There’s also a system where you drill and tap to put in a tapered plug just past the end of the crack, drill and tap another one slightly overlapping the first, and repeat until you’ve covered the entire crack. 

But again, it would be engine out anyhow just to get clearance to do the job. Considering though this is the second time I’ll have the engine out in as many years, and that it’s got some ticks to it, it burns some oil, etc., I think I’d rather make sure the engine going back in is going to last a while longer.

The plan is to pop the second engine apart to make sure it’s kosher, replace what needs replaced, then drop it in. I’ve already got an entire gasket set sitting in the parts cupboard and bearing sets aren’t hugely expensive. I’ve also got the original engine out of the truck sitting (in pieces) in the shed if this one isn’t great. It just needs some machine work, but it ran nice and quiet despite the melted piston.

 

I’m also questioning how well repairs would hold up. You can watch the crack open up when you hit the gas and the engine torques away from the motor mount. I don’t think stop-leak or anything else would hold it.