WranglerMangler Posted December 7, 2022 Author Share Posted December 7, 2022 On 12/3/2022 at 10:33 AM, scguy said: Truck is looking really good! That's quite the load Thank you SCGuy, it’s a slow but gradual progression as I’m sure you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted January 22, 2023 Author Share Posted January 22, 2023 Found a factory Comanche bed liner recently. Figured CommuteChe bed would benefit. Wish it fit a little better though. Hopefully this summer when it’s hot I can get it into better shape Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted January 22, 2023 Author Share Posted January 22, 2023 Bed liner did come with the tailgate piece. Do I really want to drill holes in my tailgate? Everything inside me says no. And I feel anxious just thinking about putting holes in it. Maybe I’ll just use this tailgate, clean it up and re paint it black to match ‘Muteche Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 your tailgate is a bit rough already and you live in a salt-free state. I think you'll be ok popping a few little holes in your 'gate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpnjake Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 You can always also weld the holes closed if you don’t make them too big Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted February 9, 2023 Author Share Posted February 9, 2023 Was out scrounging around in the shed today, happened across this old find. Luckily solved my issue of not wanting to drill my other tailgate for the plastic protector. Already has one installed. Has old remnants of the dealership sticker too. Made its way across the country. Florida to Washington. This one is possibly in better shape too. Less dents. (Bottom gate in pictures) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 I love it when I need a thing and then find that thing i the parts pile. be sure to add the dealership sticker to the thread about them. wherever it is. lol. probably in the pub? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted February 19, 2023 Author Share Posted February 19, 2023 On 2/17/2023 at 6:38 AM, Pete M said: I love it when I need a thing and then find that thing i the parts pile. be sure to add the dealership sticker to the thread about them. wherever it is. lol. probably in the pub? It actually happens quite often that I can scrounge together what I was looking for out of the old Shed. Years and years of “I might need this one day” Added to the dealership sticker thread 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 Got home today and felt motivated to get something done. It seems surprisingly hard to find decent mirrors these days. I’ve sort of been holding off because I want to do the ‘97+ mirror upgrade. Figured I would find some eventually. Have been keeping an eye out for months now and haven’t come across anything not already broken. Recently I did find a manual adjust driver side mirror and figured I’d throw it on. Better then what’s hanging off the side right now. Here’s a Pro tip… if the plastic clips that hold your mirrors to the truck break, get some bondo like crap, smear it all over the side of the truck and broken mirror bracket, in a terrible attempt to fix it. And be sure to let whatever glue crap your using run down the side of the truck and dry on there so you can be reminded of how stupid you are for years to come. More pro tips from WranaglerMangler to come. Oh, and when your glue attempt fails, get yourself some sheet metal screws. Anything you can do to avoid spending $20 to properly fix your truck is highly recommended. Removed the door panel and found something I’ve never seen before. Was almost in shock. A completely unmolested plastic liner. Had the door panel off and found it’s birthday. Mirror finally mounted up. Still need to find 2 new mirrors though. Got SOMETHING done. Even if it has to be redone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthwestMJ Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Looking good!!! The sheet metal screws are priceless. My white XJ’s windshield wiper linkage had evolved past that point. It has broken in half after the bushings wore out and was held in place and back together with 3” deck screws and half of a little door hinge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 8 hours ago, NorthwestMJ said: Looking good!!! The sheet metal screws are priceless. My white XJ’s windshield wiper linkage had evolved past that point. It has broken in half after the bushings wore out and was held in place and back together with 3” deck screws and half of a little door hinge. It’s amazing the lengths people will go to not properly fix their vehicles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 Getting close to 20K racked up since June 20th was the first day I drove it to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 6, 2023 Author Share Posted March 6, 2023 Hit 20k miles driven since June 20th today. CommuteChe is living up to her name. No major issues since driving her. Just racking up the mileage without complaint. I’ve been doing 2000-2500 mile oil change intervals with Delo 15w-40 Diesel oil and Napa Gold 1085s. I get gas every morning and check the oil while filling up. As soon as it starts to turn to dark brown I dump it. The ole 4.0 seems to be happy with it. 6/20/22 3/5/23 She does have a little bit of flex plate knock that has been getting worse and needs addressed soon, the front brakes are in need of replacement and the rear main leaks pretty bad as well. Hopefully since the weather is going to be changing soon, I’ll be able to catch up on some wear item replacement over the weekends to come. Did change the gear oil today as well. Noticed the leak on the diff cover started to worsen. Haven’t changed it yet because it was always full and looked to be in pretty good condition. Came out golden brown. Remember when we used to be able to afford groceries, bills, gas, etc AND HAVE MONEY LEFT OVER FOR JEEP PARTS? Aaaah…The good old days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 10, 2023 Author Share Posted March 10, 2023 Added the old Tailgate anti theft hose clamp today. 19-44mm or 3/4”-1 3/4” hose clamp worked perfectly. Was reading through the “are tailgates really this expensive” thread and have been kinda paranoid anyway about having one of mine stolen. I saw Pete M suggested the hose clamp trick. Not theft proof but will definitely slow them down and require tools to remove now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 there's a CC member in the vendors section that is selling replacement clippy thing for the mirrors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 15, 2023 Author Share Posted March 15, 2023 Was at the local 4WD swap meet this last weekend and came across this woodgrain dash bezel for $5. Lower piece below steering wheel is missing. Class this joint up a little bit! Need to get a switch panel for the left side of the steering wheel and I will also get a clock to install, next time I have the bezel off. And obviously the lower wood grain piece to complete the bezel. Whenever I remove the old rounded out rusty interior screws, I like to replace them with Black Nitride coated screws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scguy Posted March 15, 2023 Share Posted March 15, 2023 That's a steal! Looks good too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 15, 2023 Author Share Posted March 15, 2023 11 hours ago, scguy said: That's a steal! Looks good too Thanks. I thought so too. Had to get it. Easy upgrade for cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 20, 2023 Author Share Posted March 20, 2023 Well it finally happened. The old CommuteChe broke down on me today. Driving home from work on I-5 and she started with hiccups and sputtering on me, then just stalled out completely. No complaints, seems like a fuel issue. Unfortunately don’t have one of my 5 spare fuel pump Ballast with me. Sitting here on a bank waiting for my good buddy Cody to come rescue us. Hoping the truck doesn’t get plowed. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 21, 2023 Author Share Posted March 21, 2023 Well well well what do you know. Got the truck home from “the break down” had a nagging suspicion that it was the fuel pump ballast and sure enough it was. I definitely have a few spare in the glove box now! To be expected while commuting a 30 year old vehicle though. Just part of the fun of driving a Jeep Comanche! Now I know exactly how they behave when the ballast is going out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 21, 2023 Author Share Posted March 21, 2023 Truck broke down on me again this morning on my way to work. Not far from home. Apparently it wasn’t the ballast. While I was waiting for my wife to bring me a strap, I swapped the coil out with a known good coil and magically the truck started. Continued on the way to work and actually made it. So maybe it was the coil the whole time and it cooled off while being towed? Who knows. On to the next problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 23, 2023 Author Share Posted March 23, 2023 Yesterday nights issue was transmission related. Was acting so funny that I actually pulled over and made sure it had fluid and I wasn’t burning it up. Erratic shifting between overdrive and drive. No difference flipping it into power mode. Even felt strange shifting out of OD. Felt like it was slipping badly or dragging. Pulled over, checked the oil while idling, it was good, shut the truck off determined the transmission was still in there, then was able to get back out into traffic with no further issues on my way back home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 23, 2023 Author Share Posted March 23, 2023 Truck broke down again while pulling into the work parking lot today. Was acting like it was out of fuel. Got it to where it needed to be for the day and didn’t get back to it until lunch. Started off by checking for fuel pressure in the rail, it had no pressure. Cycled the key a few times and could not hear the fuel pump. Still no pressure. Banged on the tank a few times around the pump with no luck. Decided to try swapping relays and sure enough, it started. I always carry a few extra relays just in case. Thinking about it on my way home and none of this makes any sense. 3 days in a row, 3 completely different problems and “repairs”. Just all the sudden. After driving over 20k miles without a single cough or sputter. Last weekend I was screwing around by the coil and it all started after that. So I started checking around and couldn’t find anything obvious. So I decided to try another Battery. The $40 junkyard “reman” battery has not been lasting as long as I feel it should while cranking. I have a fairly fresh Interstate blemish battery in a different Jeep. While swapping batteries I found the negative Cables were “loose”. Not loose but not tight. Finished the battery swap and it cranks over much better. Re installed the Ballast resistor from Monday, truck still runs, Re installed the Coil from Tuesday, truck still runs. Took the relay from today, put it in the starter relay position and the truck starts over and over again. Pretty sure I was being plagued by a loose ground cable. Or possibly low voltage battery. Or both. Lol. Feel like I possibly leveraged my arm off the negative cable while breaking the coil bracket bolts loose and loosened the negative cable nut without realizing. Who knows. We’ll see if anything happens tomorrow. Been a fun week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted March 23, 2023 Author Share Posted March 23, 2023 While all this craziness is going on, I noticed it looks like the radiator cap is leaking. Recently replaced the radiator and hoses. Can’t believe I didn’t replace the cap. The rubber had cracked on the old cap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthwestMJ Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Uuughhh your Commutche issues sound like the issues I’ve been having with my wife’s green XJ lately. After a new MAP, IAC valve, air temp, water temp, CPS, TPS, Distributor, O2’s and replacing the TPS Again. It ended up being the 2nd TPS was also bad. It was a OEM one too! Hope you get it sorted out quickly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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