Daisy, my '91 Comanche Eliminator

[Moosieus]

For a while now I've wanted a classic car - classic to me at least, maybe "enthusiast" is more appropriate taxonomy. Unrelated, I wanted a practical truck for hauling stuff when occasions warranted. I don't have space or attention for both, ergo I started mulling over ideas for a classic truck.

 

I grew up in a '97 Cherokee Sport that my mom has to this day. I've memories in that thing from childhood, to high-school, to commuting to my first career job. In spite of that, I somehow made it to TYOL 2025 without learning about the MJ. One evening I'm scrolling Facebook Marketplace while chatting with a friend, and...

"Holy $#!&, they made the XJ into a truck!?"

 

"Oh yeah, the Comanche."

 

Everything came together in an instant: I'd found a capable and unique truck with good parts availability, and a throwback to my childhood at that. It's also a relatively simple beast fit well to my novice skill set. I was smitten to say the least.

 

I introduce you to Daisy, circa the trip home in May:

 

Daisy was daily driven around Southern Maryland from 1993 to 2001 per my recall of the expired CarFax report. In 2003 she was sold at auction to a couple who retired to North Carolina. They drove Daisy gingerly over the next two decades (~2,000mi/yr IIRC), but did no more than what was needed to keep her rolling. That's my guess at least, based on the "next service" card in the glovebox and general condition of things. She was sold to the now prior owner in October of last year who replaced the alternator, fixed the headliner, and drove her to college for a semester.

 

As a fun aside, they said they took Daisy off-roading in North Carolina sand dunes exactly once before deciding consolidate projects. For context, Daisy is an automatic, 2WD, open diff Comanche. You can probably fill in the blanks as to how well that went :)

 

I'll backfill my progress here soon, but it's more than I can do in this immediate sitting - I've a laundry list of stuff done, and a laundry list of things to do. I'll conclude this post with my vision for Daisy: My aim's to keep Daisy street-able with some modern niceties, learn as I work, and take the time to do good work.

[fiatslug87]

Add it to the registry when you get a chance. 

[eaglescout526]

34 minutes ago, Moosieus said:

good parts availability

 

Oh how that never used to ring true. Well Ive heard sensors for the early HO are becoming like Renix parts.

[ghetdjc320]

12 hours ago, eaglescout526 said:

Oh how that never used to ring true.

I was thinking the same thing. Remarkable that you can get body panels and tail lights galore now. As for HO sensors, the mopar ones are definitely low stock but I’ve found some of the aftermarket has produced some decent sensors and parts to keep things running 

[Moosieus]

Alright, time for backfill:

 

For day one the engine was running rough and idling around 1k. Initial investigation revealed an improperly seated air filter, and black residue on the intake hose and throttle body. Spark plugs looked fine. My dad and I ran two cans of intake cleaner that’d been sitting in the garage for time immemorial. After some choking, sputtering, and careful application of throttle, she was idling happy at 500 and running much better.

 

Got a new air filter installed and properly seated. I’ve stuck to fueling up at “Top Tier” participating gas stations, treating each fill up with Lucasoil injector cleaner, and avoiding short trips. In the months since I’ve taken the truck out for day trips, and several late night Italian Tuneups on the interstate ;) It's all together made a TREMENDOUS difference.

 

At some point an earnest rebuild’s warranted, but for now she’s running well within tolerance of a high mileage example.

[Moosieus]

Here's an interesting anecdote - I've a cheap Borescope I purchased at one point to chase down a plumbing issue in my house.

 

I ran it down cylinder #1 on June 1st, and it looked like this... Pictured from bottom to top: The piston, cylinder wall, head gasket, (covered in gunk), and the cylinder head. I'm no ASE Master Tech, but to my untrained eyes, that looks awful. Everything was covered in oil and gunk, spare the valves (not pictured):

 

Here's #1 as of today, September 1st :O There's still apparent carbon deposits on the piston and cylinder head, but the cylinder wall is clean and the head gasket's visible. Also looks like the carbon's starting to disappear near the edge of the piston.

 

And yes, the engine still has oil in it... I checked 

 

Now I can't empirically identify what fixed this, and I've no idea what cylinders #4-6 look like... But I am extremely pleased.

[Moosieus]

One look at the coolant was distressing enough to warrant a "super flush". I ended up replacing all the coolant hoses in the process, admittedly later than I should've. It took more time than I care to admit, but I got this money shot for my labor.

 

Pic was taken after the samples had time to settle. Fresh water's on the right for reference.

 

In the months since I've replaced the water pump and swapped in a new old stock 195F Stant Superstat. I also hosed the radiator and condenser (what's left of it) out with A/C coil cleaner. The condenser was especially packed with grit and grime, blocking airflow from the radiator. All said and done, even with the E-fan out of commission, I'm operating solidly between 195 - 210F.

[eaglescout526]

Might want to run some evaporust through that block. 

[Moosieus]

One of the prior owners installed a cheap Bluetooth head unit and made this rat nest in the process... Speakers were cutting in and out and generally sounded like death.

 

I'm guessing they blew some fuses in the process b/c I found this as well 

 

So began the process of stripping and soldering up the harness for the new head unit. I learned in retrospect that well executed crimps may have been preferable, but I went with what I knew in the moment - perhaps whoever used wire nuts would've said much the same. All considered, I think my soldering skills are good enough to hold up.

 

Here's the completed harness given what I had to work with.

 

Finally, the fruits of my labor. I know floating screens aren't for everyone, but I'm partial to my Apple CarPlay. I'm also fixing to install backup camera. Visibility is amazing out of the rear, but I'm deathly paranoid about dinging up the rear end. The screen slides up need-be, but the climate controls are otherwise operate by feel.

[Moosieus]

50 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Might want to run some evaporust through that block. 

 

TIL, TYVM. I probably should've ran with that stuff instead. 

 

This was my rough super flush process:
1. Drained and added a bottle of Prestone 'Total Cooling System Cleaner' w/ distilled water, drove for a good while.

2. Drained and flushed the various paths with a garden hose nozzle.

3. Refilled from the garden hose, idled for 10 - 20 minutes, drained and sampled.

4. Repeated steps 2 - 3 a nauseating amount of times.

5. Blew out residual water out with compressed air and filled with Prestone coolant.

 

Evaporust (Thermocure?) probably would've expedited this process dramatically with better results.

[GonzoTheGreat]

8 hours ago, Moosieus said:

 

That clothespin trick is awesome. So simple, and so genius. I'm gonna remember that. 

[Moosieus]

Boy golly, today was full of revelations.

 

I picked up four 10-spoke "Turbine" wheels a while back (and eventually one more for a full-size spare):

 

Bought some 225/75/R15 Firestone Destination LE3s to put on them. Scrubbed the sin out of them and got them professionally refinished:

 

Got around to putting them on today. The studs took a fair amount cleaning (sans lubricants, surfactants, or solvents) and the coat had to be knocked down a tad around the center to fit a few. I snugged the lugs to 88 ft-lbs per the service manual I've handy.

 

I started on the right front rear and worked way around. I took a quick break before wrapping up to get a drink, and snapped a quick glam shot:

 

Things went sideways with the right rear - more to follow in a moment here.

[Moosieus]

Prior to today, the brakes were... bad. I assumed it was a combination of bald '08 tires plus worn brake pads/shoes perhaps. The symptoms were as follows:

1. Some shuddering that was ebb and flow, come and go.
2. A general stopping distance of "eventually".
3. On the way home from a day trip a few weeks ago I got caught in a downpour on an interstate, in infamous Maryland traffic. I made it home safely, but the utmost ginger application of the brakes would lock and skid.

Some folks I know kinda just waived off the latter as an "old truck" thing. I was simply too accustomed to fancy-@$$ electro-missile modernity and braking late... Which had me feeling a certain amount of uncertain. Like man alive, I know this thing won't stop for grade schoolers of its own volition, but a wet road shouldn't feel like total ice.

 

Fast forward to Friday, I picked up the wheels and was driving home. At one point I felt a strong I'm-going-to-need-a-tow-truck shuddering from the right rear. It stopped as quickly as it started though, and I wrote it off as just a patch of rough road. I noticed some fluid near the right rear tire when I got home though. Thought I'd perhaps ran through some engine oil - think I have a small leak from the oil filter adapter O-ring (known to be problematic).

 

I was very, very wrong:

 

In case your smell-o-vision's on the fritz, that's not brake fluid, it's gear oil, F***!

 

Unrelated, through my Googlefu I've come to learn that the height sensing valve was "deleted" and the line capped at the rear:

 

At the same time, they kept the stock MJ distribution block:

 

So priority is as follows for now:

1. Fix the right rear axle seal.
2. Fix the rear drum - clean and install new hardware. Not sure if brake cleaner can salvage the shoes and drums though...
3. I reckon I should refurbish the driver side rear drum to match.
4. I don't intuitively understand the consequences of no-rear-proportioning-valve. Probably no bueno, and I gotta discern the best recourse there. Seems like the topic's been beat to death, perhaps without reaching a great consensus.

All said and done, I'm starting to feel more "like a truck person" on account of having very real truck problems now. I'm learning so much!

[Moosieus]

Oh yeah, it took me entirely too long to deduce that this is was indeed gear oil and not brake fluid as I'd initially thought.

 

Thing is, I know the smell of gear oil. I even thought to myself "ugh, this brake fluid smells like complete butt, reminds me of gear oil".

 

A bit of internet research later and TIL the rear axle shafts ALSO have gear oil in them, not just the differential.

 

Such is the nature of my cross-sectional experience 

[Moosieus]

Started in earnest on fixing up the axle seal and brakes today, having taking sweet time to educate myself.

How today started:

 

How it ended:

 

Pending review by friends, family, and forums

 

I did err against swapping the brake cylinders. I sided on "leave well enough and working alone" on account of my newness.

[89 MJ]

Looks good. As long as those old wheel cylinders weren’t leaking, you should be good to go

[Moosieus]

41 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

Looks good. As long as those old wheel cylinders weren’t leaking, you should be good to go

 

Gotcha, tyvm!