oleskool Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 Drain the coolant and run thermocure to treat the rust properly. I just replaced the entire cooling system and ran that through before I swapped water pump, thermostat etc. my coolant looked like that when it can out and after a week of running the truck the block is scaled black and the coolant after flushing is running nice and clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 6, 2021 Author Share Posted October 6, 2021 1 hour ago, oleskool said: Drain the coolant and run thermocure to treat the rust properly. I may just do that after if this Prestone doesn't do anything. Bottle says to keep in there for a couple of days and drive it for a few hours. What I've been doing so far is just rinsing with water and that's done a decent job so far, but like you said, need to scale the rust. I've got a new thermostat to go in after it's clean. Wasn't planning on replacing the water pump since it's working fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleskool Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 3 hours ago, PocketsEmptied said: I may just do that after if this Prestone doesn't do anything. Bottle says to keep in there for a couple of days and drive it for a few hours. What I've been doing so far is just rinsing with water and that's done a decent job so far, but like you said, need to scale the rust. I've got a new thermostat to go in after it's clean. Wasn't planning on replacing the water pump since it's working fine. Goodluck. That stuff worked great for me. I left it in for a week and let it run at least an hour a day even if it was just idling while I worked in the shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 8, 2021 Author Share Posted October 8, 2021 Finally put the OBD reader on there. Says running lean, but I think I have an exhaust leak so I'm actually running a bit rich. Idle fluctuates from about 500-720 which would make sense because too much fuel is probably being sent, thus bogging it down. Either way, too much fuel based on the trim, it appears. If I've read correctly, that's the voltage of a bad O2 sensor which could also be the problem. Otherwise, everything looks in order which is a huge relief! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 She went topless today! Also had a much needed reworking of some lighting harnesses. Removed a very $#!tty trailer harness wiring job and reworked some grounds. Still missing turn signals and reverse lights. Tomorrow, I’ll continue to troubleshoot those two issues. I’ve put 25 miles on throughout the neighborhood and only had to adjust a few things so far. Still very scared to take on main roads, mainly because I put it together but really because I keep fearing that I missed a bolt somewhere even though I’ve checked. That, and it pulls right. No idea on that one. Only thing I can think of is maybe the LCAs aren’t long enough. Toe is spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 brake dragging? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 7 minutes ago, Pete M said: brake dragging? Not that I can tell. Would be the front-passenger not rear-passenger, right? Obviously easier to adjust the rear. I'll have to jack it up and spin the tire to observe any excess drag tomorrow, but I certainly don't hear any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 Exhaust is in! I almost can't even tell it's running sometimes. It's just the Walker pipe and the $16 muffler from RA. Fit is tight at the hanger, but these butt clamps do a great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted October 11, 2021 Share Posted October 11, 2021 I might splurge for an official alignment check. might be that the front tires are just a bit off front-to-back compared to the opposite side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 12, 2021 Author Share Posted October 12, 2021 I actually did call a place right by the house and they said “We don’t work on cars that old” “Do you work on 2001 Cherokees, any Wranglers…?” Needless to say they referred me to somewhere else. That’s fine because I still need to tighten the steering column first since it’s all over the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 Still no blinkers or reverse lights. So the C100 has been fun... Going to brainstorm a waterproofing method from the brake fluid. Tired of the electrical issues. May get some gasket material and use that on the opening at least. Had a weird grind shifting today. I do have the thumping when getting into gear, so before buying parts, I grabbed some VR1 20W-50 and Lucas Oil Stabilizer to try out. Yeah, yeah, 10w-30... Already praying I'm "forced" to throw in an AX15, but I'm going to let the little guy run it's course and experiment while it's still going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 14, 2021 Author Share Posted October 14, 2021 So as it turns out, the blower motor and turn signal fuses are hardwired together. Slightly confusing as the FSM does not label as so. Because of this, I ended up cleaning up the blower fuse pins (blower was already working just fine) and now I have turn signals. I didn't have a good view of what was going on until I removed the C100 female side from the fuse panel. After working through that nightmare, I still don't have reverse lights unfortunately. Getting about 9v at the fuse and then drops to almost nothing at the switch connector. So I need to begin tracing that into the engine bay to see what's going on with it. Went ahead and changed the tranny fluid. It certainly did make a world of a difference! The fluid didn't look terrible when draining, but I did have a lot of metal shavings which is a little bit of a bummer. Front axle seals came in today so now I need to start on that. Losing a lot of fluid in the rear but not a heavy amount in the front. Will try and get the passenger one done tonight though. Rear ones come in tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treowx Posted October 15, 2021 Share Posted October 15, 2021 Its magic how these Comanche can be taken from Ugh to Love with just a bit of work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 16, 2021 Author Share Posted October 16, 2021 This is not fun at all... Steering wheel is loose, but got to this point and the e-torx are tight as can be. Thinking it might be the bearings. Got too dark to look. Will have to check in the AM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 16, 2021 Author Share Posted October 16, 2021 11 hours ago, treowx said: Its magic how these Comanche can be taken from Ugh to Love with just a bit of work! And maybe a bit of coin, cursing, and patience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 16, 2021 Author Share Posted October 16, 2021 Well, the steering wheel sure was an interesting one. I found out I'm missing some sort of bearing sleeve, which means someone was in there before me. You can see in the photo that the little ring was my issue. It wasn't seated under the bearing at all. So after I finally got to that point in the assembly, I just took a dowel and hammered it in (silver one around the steering shaft in photo). Steering wheel has almost no play in it anymore. I'm sure the sleeve is supposed to keep that ring secured, but honestly I've taken the steering column apart 4 or 5 time now and it's kind if a breeze to get to that point if this happens again. I also took the time to clean parts and re-grease them. I finally also have reverse lights. Turns out that when I put it in gear that the switch doesn't activate unless I pull the shifter as far as it'll go. Wonder if that's just the clutch. I know I certainly need a new clutch kit since I can smell it every time I'm in 1st or 2nd. It also got funky after doing a fluid change. Plus the stuttering. Not exactly looking forward to that either. And now for the "crap" part. I removed the left rear axle shaft today to change the seal. 1st, didn't know that I would need a press to do so. That was a bummer already. Oh well, I can still get that done. And then I noticed something very odd about the bearing itself... It is somehow split. Great, now I have ANOTHER part to replace. At least it's not the end of the world. The bearing has to come off anyway to replace the seal. Just sucks to have to fork out the dough. To end on a positive note. I'm now at 85mi driven and am not so scared to take it on the road anymore. Got up to ~55 and no DW, so that's a plus! I wonder what 5th gear is like... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 and just like that now you're an expert fixer of steering columns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 18, 2021 Author Share Posted October 18, 2021 Long Post Unfortunately a noise began as I was driving Saturday night. It was like a ticking/knock, but only happened every one or two seconds. Not like an engine knock. I had no idea where it was coming from, so I took the wheels off and checked torque on everything. No play anywhere. Had my brother come over and take a listen as I drove in front of the driveway. It did a really nice high pitched squeal that sounded like something was caught up. He isolated it to the rear left wheel. That's the one with that bad bearing. We had the hardest time getting the rotor off. Took nearly 10 minutes. So I'm thinking "The brakes did something funky and something got loose to cause this". When we got the rotor off, the brakes were just fine. Here's where it get's interesting. One of the bearing pins got loose in there causing the noise. Upon further inspection, the bearing had been replaced at some point and the job was done so $h!tty. When I had the shaft out the other day I hadn't even bothered to look closely as I was focused on the one seal. Well, that's because there is only ONE seal. They didn't even install the inner seal. Hell, the bearing retainer wasn't even pressed on all the way. So all that oil just washed the grease away and caused bearing failure. Fortunately, there is a guy 20min north of me who is restoring an 88 and had a D35 with almost half the miles mine does. So I went up and got that yesterday for $50. Less expensive than new bearing pressed on the shaft. Inspected the shaft and bearings and seals are in great condition. Wanted the 8.25 he had, but since I already have new brakes and can just swap in the plates it's much easier (and I don't have a welder). Plus it's got 3.55s with will be a nice (slight) upgrade from the 3.07s. Just won't have 4x4 for now, but he does have a D30 out of a later XJ for sale with 3.55s... Decisions... That tube sure is marred up pretty good. You can even see the tool marks on the outside of the tube they left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleskool Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 Ahhh, the joys of working on old jeeps and what their past owners have attempted to fix cheaper / quickly lol. I've been going through the brakes on my newly acquired truck and that turned into a $#!& show real quick. Needless to say I have re flared almost every hard brake line on that truck at this point haha. I think I am up to $2k in my $500 truck haha. That's ok though, they sure do bring a smile to your face when you are driving them through town! Glad to see this thing back up and moving! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 19, 2021 Author Share Posted October 19, 2021 11 hours ago, oleskool said: I think I am up to $2k in my $500 truck haha. That's ok though, they sure do bring a smile to your face when you are driving them through town! Don't remind me how much I have into this thing. Could've just about paid my car off by now I've put about 100mi on it so far and I've had an ear to ear grin every single one of them. Almost 20% of my expenses has been tools, but I'm okay with that because I never have to worry if I have the right stuff to fix something at this point. Comanche or otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 19, 2021 Author Share Posted October 19, 2021 Out with the old, in with the new. Not sure what to do with the old one. Thinking of just saving the cover & innards. Probably the right shaft as a backup since its bearing was good. If anyone needs the brakes with the plates let me know. They have little wear on them, just a bit of weathered rust. Otherwise just going to scrap the whole housing. Pretty straightforward. Decided to roll it left-to-right instead of removing the rear leaf bolts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 man, that axle is pretty darn knackered! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 15 hours ago, Pete M said: man, that axle is pretty darn knackered! Nah, that's...uh...factory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 Time to get the floor done. Been dreading this one. Fortunately most is on the surface. Soaking in PB currently and will begin the wire brush makeover today to see where we stand. Hoping that frame rail is good enough to not have to remove... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howeitsdone Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 The floor rust is mostly de-scaled now. I just need to get a convertor and finish it off. Maybe I can just spray a black reformer on there, dunno. I'll have to make the 4 hour round-trip to my brother-in-law's to have welder access. Trying to do that next Saturday. I also picked up a Dana 30 out of a '98 from the guy who sold me the D35 last week. It's got 3.55s so I can get my 4x4 back. It'll need new UCA bushings and new BJs, but those are simple replacements. Honestly, the disassembly was 10,000x better than doing the '88. So much less stressful. And it took me maybe 30min. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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