Caish

Meet my latest project.....


Hows this for a $500 CL treasure.
88' Comanche with 279k on the clock, 4.0L BA-5 2wd.
It wasn't in terrible shape, I think most of the miles came from the tow bar.
No carpet but the seat was good and no rust on the thing, it came from Texas.
So we exchanged bills, and I drove it home, it had a strange issue, mash the gas it pulled left, let off and it pulled right....
The power steering pump was leaking too.
This was the worst tire spinning thing I ever seen.

So last weekend I pulled the carpet from the parts XJ and sprayed it down with the hose and let it dry and installed it.
Nest I went to tackle the power steering, found a loose like and a leaking seal. So while assessing that issue, I found a serious issue, the steering shaft hart parted at the rubber bushing. So to the parts XJ again, to get a shaft. Drop the column and install it without much fan fair.
I priced pumps, local Salvage yards wanted $35, Heck I could get a rebuilt one from, Autozone for $37. So off to the parts store.

I replaced the pump and got it lined out, but it still had that quirk of tire spinning. I changed the rear tires to a set of light mud grips I had handy.
That helped some, but not much it still would not back up a gravel hills.

I backed it into the shop to toss a muffler under it, I had one from a Lincoln laying beside the shop, so why not reuse it, there wasn't any pipe under the truck behind the cat. So with a little sawzall work, and the welder. I had the muffler hanging from, the OEM mounts and a few angle cuts and I had a workable piece of pipe that would connect it to the cat.
Its quiet now but with a nice rumble to it. So its not obnoxious.
I grabbed the left rear tire and spun it, oops, something is not good there. The opposite tire didn't spin too.
So I started thinking it had a broke axle. Off comes the rear cover. Some turkey had welded up the spider gears and the weld broke on the left side, so the spider was not touching anything.

I wish you jerks that do stuff like that would hang a sign on your rigs after you do it, DO NOT BUY THIS I THINK I'M A MECHANIC......

So off to the shed and find the Trac-Lok carrier I had stashed away for my XJ. A couple new bearings a few hours later all it kosher and the little truck has traction and is coming along nicely.

I'm fixing it for the oldest son and his first car/truck.
I let him drive it today for the first time, we took a nice little 10 mile trip.
Truck: $500
Power Steering Pump: $40
Steering Shaft: had already from $300 parts XJ.
Trac-Loc Diff: $50 off ebay
many hours working on it: ??????
The joy on the sons face driving it today: PRICELESS.

He is already asking if we convert it to 4WD.