Comanche MJ build thread.

[jeepmike887]

alright, starting to get to the bottom of this, might not be the bearings, the markings on the shafts are not too severe, but their is one about 4-5 inches from the end of the shaft, which is the wheel bearing, and another about 20" from the end, just inside of the leaf spring perch in the axle tube.

one of my friends is a lube tech at a dodge dealer, and he was asking some mechanics about this today, they said that limited slips take a special additive, as well as gear lube, did you put some of the ls additive in gene? if not, then its probable a combination of that and sitting for so long is making the limited slip tighten up. their are actually disks in the limited slip, that resemble clutch friction plates, I could watch them as I was spinning it and they appear to be stuck together, Im gonna put some additive in tonight, and try and break them loose.

 

[Pat]

Hopefully that is your culprit...had "similar" issues with my Dodge and it was fixed with fresh fluid and additive.

 

[Big Hank]

alright, starting to get to the bottom of this, might not be the bearings, the markings on the shafts are not too severe, but their is one about 4-5 inches from the end of the shaft, which is the wheel bearing, and another about 20" from the end, just inside of the leaf spring perch in the axle tube.

one of my friends is a lube tech at a dodge dealer, and he was asking some mechanics about this today, they said that limited slips take a special additive, as well as gear lube, did you put some of the ls additive in gene? if not, then its probable a combination of that and sitting for so long is making the limited slip tighten up. their are actually disks in the limited slip, that resemble clutch friction plates, I could watch them as I was spinning it and they appear to be stuck together, Im gonna put some additive in tonight, and try and break them loose.

Factory fluid in that diff. Unless the truck owner changed it, and I doubt he ever did. I promise its tight, any limited slip sitting that long will be tight. Don't use to much additive. It wont just fix it. You need to go out and do about 20 full lock left turn circles and do about 20 to the right. These need to be done with as little power as possible going to the rear end. Power to the rear pushes the clutches togehter and the additive can't get in to where it needs to be.

I have never heard of bearings inside the axle tubes on a FF D60, so don't worry about markings. I could be wrong, but i'm pretty confident on this one.

Gene

 

[Big Hank]

Hopefully that is your culprit...had "similar" issues with my Dodge and it was fixed with fresh fluid and additive.

The expensive synthetic stuff that claims to have the additive, plus the actual tube of additive if I remember correctly?

 

[Pat]

I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure we put the good stuff in there. We also did the 30(?) full circles in each direction in the Wal-Marts parking lot. That will get you some looks.

 

[jeepmike887]

just got it done, let it idle in first, and second on jackstands, seemed to run smoother, I'll have to wait for another day to drive it in circles, still tuning the motor in, waiting for some parts so might be a few days,

and your right about the bearings, when I put the shafts back I noticed their was nothing tight to them in the tubes, so I don't know what the markings are, probably nothing.

the motor is overheating, I think the t-stat is stuck closed. it jumps up to 230 - 240 in 5 minutes of idling.

also its running really rich, and loading up. possible bad tps, my buddy has almost convinced me to put a carb on it. thoughts?

be alot easier to tune, much less electric to worry about, don't think it would be too much of a problem on hills.

 

[Big Hank]

just got it done, let it idle in first, and second on jackstands, seemed to run smoother, I'll have to wait for another day to drive it in circles, still tuning the motor in, waiting for some parts so might be a few days,

and your right about the bearings, when I put the shafts back I noticed their was nothing tight to them in the tubes, so I don't know what the markings are, probably nothing.

the motor is overheating, I think the t-stat is stuck closed. it jumps up to 230 - 240 in 5 minutes of idling.

also its running really rich, and loading up. possible bad tps, my buddy has almost convinced me to put a carb on it. thoughts?

be alot easier to tune, much less electric to worry about, don't think it would be too much of a problem on hills.

Its got an adjustable fuel pressure regulator on it. Is it set properly for that idle?

Have you pulled a plug to see the color and such. Verify if rich and maybe compensate a small amount with a different plug.

TPS cleaner before you drop the serious cash on one. I have seen that system run fine in a truck before i got it. Dirt would be my guess.

As far as Carb. I'd rather push the truck by hand.... just my opinon. There are hundreds of classic car guys who use that engine and are a great help online. Tons of manuals out there. Probably download one for free.

I've wheeled with many Carb'd rigs and its never been fun. Starting the things a hundred times a day and flooring it to keep it running is not cool.

I have been with less then a handfull that actually ran okay.

 

[jeepmike887]

pressure regulator is set correctly at 43 psi, tps is not reading .5 volts like it should be, ill check a plug tomorrow, their are some smart guys over on pirate that have taught me alot about the tpi system. Im not fully decided yet.

my buddy is saying its all great with a carb, but im not sure, I would like to get rid of all these sensors, and stuff, so when I get in some deep water, none of that gets messed up, also it would clean the motor up quite a bit. make things more easily accessible for trail repairs, and be easier to tune.

then again, if I switched to a carb, would it be that much more difficult to start? even if properly tuned? I think with the vacuum pressure and if I chose the right carb hills would be a non issue. plus the cost, if I need new injectors ever, I could get a complete carb and manifold for half the cost of injectors alone.

the guy thats trying to convince me has a very well put together carb'd 383 in a boat that runs amazing. so Im leaning that way right now.

 

[jeepmike887]

hey gene, Im working on tuning this motor in a bit better, could you give me some specs on the motor, not sure if you remember or not, but I need to know compression what cam is in it, pistons, exc. . . anything you can remember about it.

the thing rolls just fine now, additive helped out alot, also putting it in high gear in the t case helped alot too lol! doh. just different from cherokees, all the way forward is lo instead of high, ahhh whatever. just need to get the motor running good, and need a new power steering pump to get the power steering working.

also gonna redo alot of the fuel system, higher pressure lines, and probably a new tank cause I don't trust ours, and an in tank fuel pump cause the one in the cab is really loud. other than that, im gettin anxious to wheel this thing.

 

[Pat]

Engine:

.060 over

"RV CAM" so who knows, just good for low end power...

Flat top pistons. I think "sealed power"

stock heads with heavy porting and polishing, huge valves. Came off of a good friends mid 300 hp small block.

Ignoring the TPI it should be very close to a strong 240hp truck engine. I would imagine the TPI has the potential to bring out more power. .

Hope this helps.

Big Hank. signed in at Pats house.

 

[jeepmike887]

awesome, thanks.

 

[jeepmike887]

well, been a while since Ive updated this, been getting a lot accomplished lately.

I started over on the fuel system, got braided stainless steel lines, high pressure AN fittings for everything, and a 16 gallon poly tank all from summit. mounted the fuel pump under the bed on top of the framerail. much quieter in the cab now. (I did have to cut a hole in the bed for the tank) sorry gene, :dunno:

found a new power steering pump, and now the steering works great, I don't even have hydro assist, and this psc box makes for one finger steering. its awesome. turned out much better than expected.

I just finished up the new exhaust yesterday, put the old on on my buddies wrangler, and it fit on almost perfect with little modifications.

my new exhaust consists of 3" back to the muffler, thrush welded muffler from farm and fleet. and 4" mandrel bent the rest of the way back. It sounds killer, much better than before.

got the front driveshaft mounted, and the crossmember modified to clear the driveshaft. steering was beefed up a bit, but the 2" TR hits the left side leaf spring at full lock, so I had to grind down a bit on the bottom of the tie rod.

As far as overheating goes, we still have a few issues, I made a fan shroud and mounted the fans on that so the fans pull air from the whole surface of the radiator instead of just where the fans are. that made a noticable difference, as well as getting a higher psi rad cap. was still getting a little hot today, up to 220 on the first run. we then took the hood off, and drove it for a half hour and the highest it got was 195. so, I'll be working on some hood vents and maybe put my extra 14" electric fan on top of the hood pulling the hot air out. I can't think of a very clean way to do that though.

we worked on getting the timing correct today, and finally learned the right way to do it. got it running really smooth at idle, and then up to 3k, but still having a few problems. if you get on it too hard, the motor falls on its face, but we should be able to work that out.

I am confident the timing is correct, and is as good as it can be. I think the problem might lie in the computer, or have something to do with the knock sensor, ( or lack there of). the computer chip is still stock to my knowledge, and I think if I had it reflashed for the cam, valves, etc. . . . that may help. tpiguru over on pirate does it for around a 100$ i think.

anyway, I will work on getting some pics up tomorrow of the new fuel system, and all the other stuff Ive been working on, but for now, heres some pics from messing around today, probably put about 5 miles on it, just driving up and down our gravel road.

 

[jeepmike887]

alright, heres a few more pics of the new stuff.

I had to cut out part of the crossmember so the front driveshaft would clear, decided to weld a 1/4" plate to reinforce it since I cut alot of it out.

It clears very well.

heres a shot of the extreme front driveshaft angle, I tried cutting and turning the inner knuckles but could'nt, I just found out a few days ago, that its welded on the outside too, even though it didn't look like it.

any way, this shafts should work alright for my needs. and when I get a front 60, I will take the time and cut and turn the knuckles.

heres the new fuel lines at the rail

heres how everything is under the bed, the hole in the bed for the fuel tank, I used 3/8" brakeline to the filter, and mounted the pump on top of the framerail up in the cubby hole. might put some insulation to deaden out the noise a bit, but its not bad at all. can't even hear it when the motor is running, and in the cab is fairly quiet.

heres how everything will be in the bed, tank on the left, some ammo cans for storage, and the battery. Im probably going to cover the bed with plywood that is treated so I can powerwash it, so everything in the bed doesn't get caked with mud everytime out.

girl I know stopped by showing off her dads truck, 6" lift with 36" h1 tires. she is tiny, it was pretty cool seeing her driving that big truck around town with her friends.

made a little gusset on the tie rod where the draglink connects, Im not worried about it ripping off anymore. also went with some john deere yellow to match the badlands sticker.

heres part of the exhaust, everything was fully welded off of the vehicle, and their are no leaks anywhere period, I made it a point to make sure all my welds didn't leak. 3" into the muffler and 4" out. Im gonna have to get a video up one of these days so you guys can hear this motor. it sounds swweeeet!

thats all for now, I'll be working on it some more this weekend tuning the motor a bit better, its throwing some codes right now, 12, 36 and 54. maf sensor ARRGHH, not looking forward to that. I'll be sure to get some more pics up then.

 

[jeepcomj]

very nice build so far. keep it comin.

 

[thethinginthewoods]

My jeep wants to have your MJ's babies! ha ha. that thing is pretty sick!

 

[Big Hank]

Very nice. Very Very NICE!

 

[Big Hank]

Try some MAF cleaner first. That thing worked before. Guessing dirt grease and crap while it sat didn't help any.

 

[jeepmike887]

I'll try some maf cleaner, but I think it is probably fine,

the check engine light is on, and its throwing codes

36 and 54.

the wiring is far from being complete, Im actually surprised its running as well as it is.

the vss is not hooked up, which I just found out plays a role in the air/ fuel mixture, I don't know what to do with the park neutral, its still like it was when you had it gene, wired together, should it be grounded too? thats what Ive heard.

EGR is not connected anywhere, I don't know where it would go anyway.

I don't have a knock sensor, which is causing the timing to be slightly off, and possibly run rich.

heres a link to my thread over on pirate.
Im sure I sound like a complete idiot to those guys, but Im learning as I go.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=783056


If you could lend any more info about how you had the painless setup before gene, that would help,

also this is the 2nd motor this harness was used with correct? If so, was the previous motor stock, or did it have cams, and other stuff done to it? also this is the first motor you used with the tpi right?


Im gonna try and put up a video, let me know how it works.



thanks for the comments guys.

 

[jeepmike887]

hey gene, did you have the egr hooked up before?

 

[Big Hank]

hey gene, did you have the egr hooked up before?

Mike. No idea on the EGR hook up or the any oxygen sensors. If you are having running problems over a certain RPM be very very careful. Make sure you are not dealing with detonation "knock" problems. It will scrap things very quickly. I am pretty sure a knock sensor can retard the timing to compensate for knock. Maybe retard the timing a little and see how the revs are? I know knock sensors usually just go into a blind hole and some people drill and tap unused bosses on some engines. The old street rod forums are the ones who really know TPI.

Did you get a fuel pump that can supply the required fuel for a TPI? stupid question but just wanting to make sure. Also have you verified the recomended fuel rail pressure for the regulator setting? Also I really don't know what kind of upper end power to expect with that cam, RV cam with ported heads and large valves. Everything about it is screaming for low end torque. Did you end up going shorty headers? That will also create more low end.

I just know it would run. Watching you in that video is about how much I know about it running.

Good luck man, very very cool to see it moving.