New to me 88 XJ Laredo (warning long and pic heavy)

Well lets first start off with myself I am very new to all this. For a year and a half I have owned a JK. Bought it brand new with all the bells and whistles. I will probably eventually sell it hence want to leave it stock, but I felt the urge to throw on a lift kit and "big meats". So I decided to go with something a little older that I can work on my own and not be to scared to mess it up a bit.

My background:
- not very mechanically inclined most ever has been oil change and radio installs but eager and willing to learn
- have been on this site and others trying to educate myself on 4x4 mods
- have some welding experience
- only ever been wheelin on a quad and drove through some fields in my JK

Ok with that out of the way lets get to my "new to me" xj and let me know what yall think!!

I want to give my JK a rest put almost 40,000 miles on it in a year and a half. So I want my XJ to be my daily driver and play thing and the JK to be like a weekender and nice day ride.

XJ
Faded Gray
88 laredo totally stock with ziebart rust proofing (tar like substance all over the underside)
148,000 miles
4.0L (242 Cu. In.) 6-Cylinder
Automatic (not sure on which auto tranny)
I used the vin decoder I found on jeepfan and the part of the vin number that indicates the tranny is not on the decoder list the letter of the vin that denotes tranny is a R if anyone knows what that indicates
4WD Cherokee Wagon 4-Door
Bought it down in Maryland for $1275 maybe some of you guys saw this one on ebay
New water Pump
New Brake Power Booster
New Front Shocks (but they look old and rear leafs are flat)
There is next to no rust on this beast, you will see in the pics that the only rust found so far is a very small amount on the lower rear corner of the rear passenger side door jam and there is some surface rust on the passenger side rocker panel, also the rear most corner near the gate on the passenger side

Everything is stock and well maintained, the reclining chairs are nice.

There is some sort of stock electrical switch for the tranny to the right of the steering column I forget the 2 options but i would guess you turn it on for more power or torque or something no idea.

Already ordered chiltons repair manual and am looking forward to getting started on the interior and bugs

Plans for this XJ will include but not limited to:

drain and flush all fluids
fix those cut wires/tubes? you'll see
rip out interior carpet then repair and rhino line or hercu line the floor
work out the bugs
new head liner
new weather stripping and rubber around windows if I can find it
'92 coolant system maybe
aux. tranny fan
suspension lift 2.5" to 3.5" not sure yet
maybe body lift 1"
rims tires don't know which size yet would like 33's
safari roof rack
install fogs
clean off factory molding and rhino line bottom 1/3
paint
maybe trim fenders but I would like to keep orig. if I can
possibly front and rear bumpers depending on bank account after everything else

Well any info or thoughts would be greatly appreciated like I said I am just getting started with all this and I need as much education as I can get.

Enjoy the pics and comment comment comment!!


Looks like shes smilin


Not bad


You can see a couple dents no big deal I'll pop em out if i can


I need an decal on here.


A little rust bottom right in corner I pulled back the rug looks just like surface rust


looks good


not a mark


little rust here looks surface but some paint bubbles




RUST!! get out the sand paper and elbow grease


not bad


yuck needs a new headliner and dome light

looks clean a little oil leak and coolant leaking


zeibart rust proofing everywhere


no dents


needs a cleaning and some paint




the ziebart is everywhere I guess they drill holes all around the rocker panels and spray it in and underneath everywhere


it's some sticky stuff cant wait to crawl around under there


Zeibart did a good job everything looks rust free i emphasize looks - we'll see


new exhaust


Ok here is an issue I found under the hood can anyone ID this connector it is in between pressure bottle and engine close to the firewall. It looks like there are 3 small wires coming out of it they are green yellow and blue


as you can see the blue and yellow have been cut, does anyone know what this is and what its for and why they might be cut - if you look they look like little tubes not even wires - no ideas here


Here she sits in the barn at work waiting for insurance and reg

Thanks for viewing and please let me know what you think!

-Gunner

cool jeep, very little rust for your area.
that connector is for the 4x4, it goes to the vacuum actuated front axle. put it in 4x4, if it works, the vacuum system has been bypassed.

welcome, what youve said about the JK is absolutely true, it's easier to pull the trigger on projects on a $1k vehicle, i cant imagine moding a $20k vehicle, but some do!

Yea I forgot to mention I didn't think the 4 hi worked now i know why.

well this xj lived it's past 22 years in the DC area hence next to no rust but we'll see what happens in the next 22

thanks for the info

Nice find- very clean. I have an '88 Limited and have gone through a ton of this stuff recently.

Those little cut "wires" appear to be vacuum tubes. They are not familiar to me, so I will assume they are for a vacuum-actuated front axle. Search for d30 and vacuum or 4x4 and vacuum. If that is what those are- they obviously aren't working now, but that system is a weak point and there is an easy way to fix it.

For now I'd say to figure out where you're leaking oil and coolant and fix those where you can. I noticed in one of your photos those junky stock coolant hoses up in the passenger's side near the firewall and pressure bottle. Mine were rusted to hell too. It was easier for me to just get the right hoses (mostly 5/8" inner, some 3/4" inner, and 1/2 to 5/8 steps) plus brass plumbing fittings and replace all those pre-made, twisted-up T's. Now I have standard size hoses and common fittings - when they wear out or fail it'll be much easier to replace.

Figure out which axle you have in the back. Some of these old ones came with the nice Dana 44, but most (mine included) came with non c-clip Dana 35's. It'll only really matter if you want to go bigger than 33" tires. Opinions may vary a bit, but most people agree that sticking money into a D35 is wasteful (locker, gears, etc)- so you may to upgrade to a Chrysler 8.25 (common - came in XJ's later on- direct bolt in and stronger).

You may notice the brakes suck once you get bigger tires on. That's 'cause these Renix Jeeps got single-diaphragm brake boosters- they're junky. You can replace it with a dual-diaphragm booster and master cylinder from later Jeeps ('96 worked well for me).

Good luck with your build- this is a great place to start.

if the only damage is whats shown, get a small peice of tubing to fit over that, and sleeve it in with a peice of heat shrink, im not sure a replacement is available, and it only see's mild vacuum.

that thur, has a dana 35 rear end, go easy on it!

Scratch the body lift from your build plan, that could be tricky.

lol, missed that

i was wondering how long it would be till some one pointed that out^^^

It's in beautiful shape!

Good find. Lots of potential...

You are off to a good start. The most important part of all of it is that you are willing to learn how to wrench on it. I say, "Keep the JK." They are NICE and wheel pretty good.

Ian Christiansen said:

Scratch the body lift from your build plan, that could be tricky.

Click to expand...

I've heard of some people getting away with a 2" body lift on XJs.

E

he doesn't have the vac axle with a 242, so all the ranges should be actuated via lever. No vacumes. If you couldn't get it into 4hi then your levers are bunk or your tcase is bad

Except that he has a 231, and clearly has a CAD Dana 30 axle from the pictures above.

I think you read the 242 cu in displacement of the 4.0L engine to be the transfercase number.

Either way, the 231 and 242 are shifted by a lever, the vacuum only serves to lock the axle disconnect in the front passenger side axle tube.

Thanks for all the info everyone. I haven't had time to do anything yet and I am going away this weekend so after work next week I will start ripping the interior out, and checking out those vacuum tubes, but I have been driving around a bit and everything seems good so far.

I have been researching what I can and I am thinking about the Skyjacker 3" Value Flex Rear Leaf Lift Kit with Nitro Shocks with some AT 31's that I can use on my stock rims.
http://www.quadratec.com/products/76017_863.htm

Anyone use this kit or have some opinions about this kit? Things I should add, not get, don't need, or need to consider first?

I wish I had enough know how to mix and match and create a kit but Im just not at that level yet and the stock suspension in this jeep is horrible I need to change it up soon.

thanks

This page will help you get some stickers
http://www.naxja.org/html/membership_faq.htm#Q2

proof.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f7/xj-body-lift-installed-480008/

If you can't get teh CAD system working properly, and chances are it's hosed there's an easy enough fix.

Pop the CAD motor off on te axle, move the shift fork over and secure with with a clamp so that the collar engages the splines on the axle shaft. Put the CAD motor back on the plug the hole, then cap off all of the vacuum lines that you have that are cut. This will lock your D30 together, just like all of the later model D30s. It's a dirty fix for your 4wd problem, but it works. The CAD motors are expensive to replace, I've got two good working used ones if you need one.

Otherwise you can replace the axleshaft with a newer one piece, but you need a different seal. If you do this your front driveshaft will spin 100% of the time, so make sure it's in good shape. This is no different than later Xjs, Chryco deleted the vacuum axle engagement.

i used to have that exact same lift. i wouldnt go through quadratec to get it though. cost me a little over $1k and wasnt worth it. it will ride stiff for about the first 6 months and you will hate yourself for it. i would go with a RE or even rough country

skyjacker is kinda known for skyjacking there prices haha.

honestly, since this is a project and you have a stock wrangler to drive, why not go big!