[Andytron]

Well, since this forum doesn't get much action anymore I'll do my part and post something.

After about six years of relative inactivity, I put my XJ back into service recently.

I replaced/installed the following:

New water pump
New heater hoses
New radiator hoses
New thermostat
New idler pulley
New serpentine belt
New muffler and tailpipe
New shocks
New steering damper
New rear driveshaft u-joints
New P/S wheel cylinder
New flexible brake hoses
New hard brake lines
New caliper bleeder screws
New fuel tank vent line
New fuel filter
New license plate lamp bulb
New climate control panel bulb
New rear wiper blade

I also fixed the broken antenna connection behind the P/S kick panel, fixed the intermittent low beams/no high beams, fixed/replaced the D/S front door lock rod clip, changed the oil and coolant, bled the brakes and aired up the tires. The spare had less than 5 PSI in it, I'm glad I checked it.

It still runs like it did the day I bought it.

If the floors weren't so rusty, I might get another 200K out of it.

 

[Andytron]

I've put almost 2K miles on my Cherokee since I put it back on the road and so far, so good.

I changed the cap, rotor, plugs and wires today since I couldn't remember the last time I had done it.

The plugs looked ok but the contacts on the cap and rotor were pretty nasty looking so I'm glad I changed them.

Seems to idle a bit smoother now as well.

Now to decide if I want bother to try and fix some of the oil leaks.

 

[Andytron]

I just replaced the clutch master and slave cylinders as the clutch had been acting strange lately. It finally decided not to disengage at all the other night. Everything seems to be working correctly now after master and slave replacement. Fortunately, bleeding the system wasn't too bad even with no bleeder screws in the master or slave.

Not bad for twenty year old original parts that have never been touched or the fluid changed.

Still ignoring the oil leaks for the most part but I might have to do the rear output shaft seal on the t-case as it is leaking pretty badly. It needs an engine rear main seal again but I'm not sure I'll bother.

I also replaced an oil pan, rear main seal, oil filter adapter o-ring, front swaybar endlinks, transmission cooler lines and rear washer fluid pump on an '01 Cherokee.

With the late style exhaust manifold, the oil pan was quite a treat to remove.

 

[Andytron]

The Walker catalytic converter I put on with my original Rusty's Off Road exhaust kit circa 1998-1999 finally went belly up last week.

The outlet broke off where it met the cat body. A hundred bucks later (fifty after the rebate) and I'm back rolling.

I think this is the first vehicle I’ve owned long enough to wear out this many parts I’ve already replaced once.

 

[Andytron]

The front bearing or bushing in my original heater blower motor finally started screaming the other day (as I knew it would someday) when I turned the fan on now that temps are dropping.

So I replaced it the other day as well as replacing the tailgate latch dome light switch. One of the contacts had rotted off shorting the switch so I couldn't turn the dome light off. Since it appears you can't buy just the switch and a NOS latch is around $70, I took another damaged switch off of a damaged/incomplete latch assembly and made one working assembly out of the pair.

I think I'm almost at the point where I need to change the 6-7 year old front wiper blades too.

Nix, living in the rust belt as I do, seeing another pre-97 Cherokee on the road does not happen often anymore.

 

[Andytron]

Still going.

Installed radiator number four in my XJ after work the other night. The previous one had started leaking in the lower corner of the core.

One stock radiator, one GDI all metal three core, one replacement GDI plastic tanked three core and now another stock type replacement.

I think tomorrow is balljoints, hub bearings and front axle u-joints on my dad's '01.

ETA, did indeed do the balljoints, hub bearings and axle u-joints on my dads '01 today. No real surprises, I only had to use the air hammer to drive out one of the balljoints which is better than I expected. It didn't fix the clunk in his front end like he hoped, but I'm pretty confident it's the track arm as all the TRE's, shocks and anti-roll bar links are pretty new.

I'll get to it eventually.......

 

[Andytron]

I see the forum has changed looks again. Hmm.....

Anyway last weekend this weekend I did front pads, rotors and cleaned some of the rust out of the caliper guide pin holes so they can actually float again instead of being stuck and making the pads wear funny. Also decided to finally chase down the my lack of parking lights in the front for the last number of years. One new parking light socket (old one literally disintegrated from rust), a new bulb, a handful of bullet connectors and some heat shrink and all my front lighting works again. It might actually be brighter now too. The wiring harness connector that would be under the stock airbox had become so rotten I had to cut it out and bypass it. I had two, maybe three broken wires and the rest were really rotten at the terminals as well. Also cleaned my K&N filter because I have no earthly idea when the last time I did that was. Cleaned my idle stepper motor too as it was getting a bit lazy during cold starts. Rotated the tires too.

Found some parking brake cable hanger springs I forgot I had stashed so I may install those tomorrow after work as the old ones rusted away.

I'm toying with the idea of replacing all the TRE's in the front end again (all the dust boots have failed and fallen off) along with the front sway bar links. Time will tell....