2000 Jeep Cherokee. It wasn't supposed to be a project.

In reply to jfryjfry:

Front pump bushing was worn out and bleeding pump pressure into the front seal.

This morning I put it on ramps and checked both axles. Good news for a change. Both axles had recently been serviced. The gear oil was even still clear, so the service had to be fairly recent.

I big loud BOO to Chrysler for putting a rubber, push in, fill plug in the back axle. Cheap bastards.

While it was still cool, I pulled the wiper assembly to find out where all the slop was. 75% of it was because the motor was loose. The rest is just worn linkages. I'll probably change it sometime in the future.

OK, this thing is starting to piss me off.

Yesterday, I took it out and put 250 miles on it. That included about 60 miles of interstate. I noticed a rhythmic rumble/vibration at 70mph. Not horrible, but still a sign that something wasn't right. I also noticed a thump, thump, thump, under medium to hard acceleration. It was repeatable at walking speed while power breaking it.

I figured U-joint. So this afternoon, I pulled the driveshaft. The rear universal was a little tight, so I changed it. It didn't help, at all.

I'll have to look at the driveshaft angles tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow happened today. Last time we visited this, it needed the driveshaft looked at. Since then, the starter has also puked. It got a starter a couple of days ago, and today I checked the driveshaft angles.

The transmission output and pinion shaft were off by almost 7 degrees. I only had 4 degrees of shims on the shelf, so I stuck them in. That solved 95% of the vibrations. I'll have to order another set of shims and stick them in.

Eventually, this POS will stop breaking, if only because I've replaced everything.

Just curious, how many miles are on this thing?

In reply to Basil Exposition:

230K

Back on the Cherokee. Today was a fun day. Not.

To start, I had to dig out this. This being the HVAC box.

It is located here. Apparently the first thing installed in the interior of a Cherokee is the HVAC box. Boo.

The good news is the plastics are still pliable and nothing broke getting it apart. We'll have to see how the reassembly goes. 

Success. We now have heat. 

Apparently, the engineers put two too many screws in it. 

Total time, including a oil change and charging the A/C, about 6 hours. 

I put about 100 miles on it today cruising around the Francis Marion NF. Everything is running like it should. 

I got it a little dirty.

This afternoon it got a through cleaning. It cleans up pretty well for a 17 year old vehicle with 245K miles on it. 

looks great.  Thanks for the updates.

Keith's thread is making me want to work on this again. 

A couple of weeks ago, I added a larger roof rack. It will let me haul my 10X10 canopy up top when the seats are full of people. 

I'm getting the urge to do some more trail riding and camping as well. As much as I love the Samurai, it's just not practical for living out of for a week or two. It's just too small. The XJ should fit the bill. It's going to get some of the treatment that the Samurai never did get as far as camping. 

It's going to get the refrigerator, battery and solar set up. As well as some storage to keep everything organized while on a trip.

I started with the refrigerator. It's the largest item by far and has some vents that can't be covered. My fridge is a Base Camp 43qt. It's not the most efficient or the smallest, but it's paid for and does a pretty good job. 

The plan was for it to land here and for the battery to sit in front of it, but one of my camping requirements is having a table or two. I have a plastic folding table that is perfect. It's tall enough to cook on and folds down compact. So I did this.

The battery is still in front of the fridge, but cut into the wood floor. It's a 100AH AGM battery that should run the fridge for a couple of days without any problems. It will be charging from the engine as well as 200 watts of solar on the roof. 

Next up was a drawer system of some sort. I'm not a cabinet maker so I stopped by Lowes to see what they had that was ready made. This is a closet drawer kit. I glued and screwed it together rather than following the directions. I also added a back to it for durability. I have my doubts about how well it will stay together, but it will do for now. 

That's as far as I made it today.

There is more to come. 

You've been spending too much time on Expedition Portal. So have I. Looks like a good setup. Now you need the roof top tent, an awning and a bunch of LED lights, lol.

I didn't remember this thread but reading it now makes me feel better about the process I've  been through with the ZJ.

Sweet build. Who makes the rack and where did you get it from?

The rack came from Amazon. Link. 

It was fairly cheap and I got what I paid for. It will do for now, but I'll probably end up replacing it in a few years with something a little more durable. 

In reply to Toyman01 :

Cool. I appreciate the info. 

In an effort to quell some of the rattles, it got some carpet today. Not sure how it works on the rattles, but it does look a little better. 

Another form over function upgrade. 

I've hated the old faded plastics since I got this thing. I've tried several cleaners to no avail. I considered bumper upgrades to something steel and industrial looking, but I prefer the factory bumper look. I also considered painting them, but they have suffered 18 years of bumps and bruises and weren't looking the best. So, I ordered the plastics and replaced them. I also stripped the side molding. It was starting to remove itself so I helped it out some. 

Before.

After. 

It makes it look like it got another lift to me. 

In reply to Toyman01 :

Huge improvement, and looks much better without side molding.

Agreed. They're such a simple design that they look best without all the fiddly bits.

Not much has been happening with this lately because of SanFord. 

My son wants to borrow it for a hiking trip next week. I thought I should replace the 12 year old tires before he drove it 250 miles loaded with 4 guys and their gear. 

BFGs were $180 each. That's more than I wanted to spend. After doing some looking the Falken Wildpeaks have pretty good reviews and are $80 cheaper per tire so that's what it got. 

Man does it ride and drive better. The old tires must have been as hard as rock. 

Due to life, too many cars, and such, the Jeep has been mostly ignored other than hauling the grand kids around. Last week it developed a bottom end knock that sounded terminal. I noticed it on the way to my parents for Thanksgiving. My wife has been the primary driver and she hadn't noticed it. It wasn't a loud rattle, but noticeable at an idle. Oddly enough it seemed to go away at higher RPMs. After listening to it for 150 miles I figured I should probably find out what was going on before it left us on the side of the road. I popped the hood and after using my trained ears it was definitely coming from the bottom end. I reached over and blipped the throttle and noticed the crank pulley moved out about 1/4 inch. 

It wasn't so terminal after all. The harmonic balancer came out in two pieces. Problem solved.

After two years of use and abuse, the XJ is back on the schedule. Lemons is done. I've decided to back off on autocross and racing events for the next year or three and get back into camping and exploring the world we live in. The XJ is going to be the tool for the job. 

Near plans are the run the 1000 mile South Carolina Adventure Route this winter. Then the 390 mile Georgia Traverse next spring, followed by the 900 mile Kentucky Adventure Tour. These will be in preparation for running the 5000+- Trans American Trail. I have been wanting to drive it since I bought the Samurai. I think the XJ will be a better machine for the trip. 

With these trips in mind, the XJ is going to be getting some work. Part of the transformation started today with upgrading the roof rack.

 What was up there was serviceable, but it wasn't durable and was already rusting from the inside out. The factory crossbars are not up to the job that a cross country offroad trip would entail. 

Old busted.

Nakedness! 

New hotness. New hotness is a JCR Adventure Rack. Much more durable and better mounted than the last setup. It should have no issues staying in place no matter what. 

I have also made the decision to replace the bumpers with something a little more durable. JCR bumper kits are being assembled now. The front will be getting a 12k pound winch. The rear will be getting a swing away spare tire mount to get the spare off the roof. 

The bumper kits ship as precut flat sheets that have to be bent and welded. The rear came out of the box looking like this. 

After some bending, welding and grinding, you end up with this. 

The plan is to get both of them completed this weekend and sprayed with bedliner next week. 

I have also completed the charging circuit for the house battery that will be powering the refrigerator on these trips. No pictures of that. It consists of a isolation solenoid, a couple of fuses and a #8 wire run to the back of the truck. 

Also on the update list is a roof top tent for the speed of setup and ability to camp anywhere. I plan on at least one locking differential, probably the rear, and a wider tire setup, probably mud grip rather than ATs. It's on a 2" lift and 30/9.5r15s at the moment. I'm probably going to a 31/10.5r15. I don't particularly want to lift it any higher, but will if necessary. 

More to come as things happen. 

Today was rear bumper day. A crooked bumper would have driven me crazy every time I looked at it so getting it straight was a must. Rather than welding the mounts on the bumper and then trying to fit it to the XJ, I pulled the factory rear bumper, bolted the new brackets on and then got the bumper hanging right. Once everything was straight, I welded the brackets. That let me get all the measurements perfect without having to shim or wallow out holes. All the gaps will be dead on straight and even.

It did require hanging the bumper a couple of dozen times so I did get my weight lifting in for the day.

With that done, it got several coats of acid etch primer to prep it for the bed liner coat. 

Next up was the front bumper so I got started on that. 

It is a fold and weld just like the rear. I got it bent and about 50% welded before the gun started getting a little hot to hold. It got hot enough to melt the plastic cover over the conductor tube. I'm dumping a fair amount of amperage to these welds to make sure they get good penetration. Having the winch pull the bumper apart would kind of suck.

The plan is to get this finished up tomorrow and be ready to spray the bed liner on tomorrow afternoon. 

More to come.

Many feet of welding wire later and a hand full of flap disks and we are here. Front bumper welded and ground. Ready for a test fit. 

Probably not perfect but damn sure good enough for me. 

It then got a nice coat of acid etch primer. 

It was only 2 pm at that point so it was time for the finish paint. Since there was no way I was going to have the finish grind on these good enough for a gloss paint or powder coat, the decision was made to spray them with bed liner. I bought a Raptor Liner kit from Amazon that came with a spray gun. It's a two part urethane similar to what the pros use. This stuff is outstanding so far. We will have to see how the durability is but so far I can definitely recommend it. It may be the easiest spray on coating I have ever used. Mixing is as easy as filling the bottle to the top with hardener and shaking it up. The bottle then screws straight on the gun. No measuring, no spray bottles to clean. Just shoot a little thinner through the gun to clean it and and you are done. The finish is also exactly what I was looking for. 

Edit to add. Don't get this crap on you. I'm going to be speckled with black spots for the next week or so. 

I should be able to get these mounted this week and the winch should be here next week. 

More to come. 

That’s some really nice work Toyman.  Awesome.