97-01 hood release 101

Day before Turkey Day drive to Chicago - 400 miles - when the hood wouldn't close. Playing w/stuck release and the handle pulls off. Screwed. No parts, etc. Came real close to installing hood pins and ripping the whole under-engineered system to shreds. At least hood was open, no headlight removal. Tracked down a release from a dealer in Mpls, $48, and dug in.
Talked an ex-MOPAR friend to get me "the procedure."
Couldn't find a good 101 on the 97-01 hood release proced.
so here it is (my notes in para):
Removal - Hood release cable.
1- Drill out bellcrank to hood rivet heads and remove Hood Release Cable Bellcrank. (Use a towel to cover your engine) (The "Bellcrank" is the contraption that moves on the hood. 2 big rivets hold it to the hood.)
2- Disconnect bellcrank from latch rod and hood release cable. remove bellcrank from hood. (It's actually a cool little deal holding the cable to the bellcrank.)
3- Disconnect hood release cable from clips on hood. (The plastic deals, pull them out gently, sideways and up.)
4- Remove left cowl side trim panel. ( I had to guess on this and try not break anything. This was a pita. Take off the two screws on the door sill, and you can pry the cowl trim panel off. That's where it was a pita. I couldn't figure out how the recessed fastener in the back is attached, Blind area w/a clutch pedal, prob easier on an AT. seemed like it needs a skinny, long deep set - but not sure. Ended up using a bungie cord to hold the panel away, stretched from the transfer case handle. It worked.)
5- Remove cable bracket screw from cowl side panel. (Tight with panel in place, even held back. Three TORX bits, T30 I think. Third one is blind.)
6- Route cable through dash panel and remove it from under instrument panel. (I just cut the cable near the grommet on the cable ubder hood. Pulled out easy. You won't be re-using any of it, even the grommet through the firewall.)

Installation
1- Insert replacement cable end through hole in dash panel (firewall) into engine compartment. (Bright light under hood, feed to a friend. Piece of cake.)
2- Route cable forward and seat grommet in dash panel. (Watch how you feed it if the panel is off or just pulled back, like I did. Then seat grommet. Use a needle nose pliers, carefully pushing down at same time.)
3- Position cable bracket on cowl side panel and install screws. (The two front ones are easy. Back one is a monster w/ panel in place. I admit I left it out. Hasn't seemed to matter. Held in there plenty strong.)
4- Install left cowl side trim panel. (Takes some maneuvering to get it back under door sill it still attached. Can be done w/o breaking anything.)
5- Connect cable and latch rod to bellcrank. (Clean the bellcrank w/some WD-40 or equiv. Pretty self-explanatory, you can reassemble everything easy when not attached to hood.)
6- Position bellcrank on hood and install rivets. (Don't have a rivet gun. Used short thick screws until I can borrow the neighbor's rivet gun.)
7- Attach cable to clips. (On the hood, adjust while positioning, so no kinks in cable. The opposite of the removal.)
8- Test release cable for proper operation. (Drink beer, and start your mad letters to the Chrysler engineer that designed the foolish thing. "Dear sir(s), I just spent the better part of a day fixing it so I could open and close the hood on my (insert year) Jeep Cherokee. Plus I had to pay your employer for the privelege. I'm fairly certain I did not spend an excessive amount of time opening and closing the hood -at least compared to other XJ Jeep owners...")
Good luck.
Sorry no pix yet.

The problem with most XJ's and their hood release is that owners don't properly maintain the release mechanism. In a nutshell, they don't LUBRICATE IT, and it gets corroded and sticky. Then they try to muscle it, and the cable breaks or the bellcrank jams, or both.

The XJ hood release is a bit different than most in that it runs a PAIR of latches, but the need to lubricate hood releases is common to most vehicles, especially when they are in the salt belt, or when they get old.

Yup the hood release on my 99 was pretty shady when I first bought it, actually all the hinges releases so on were not to healthy, went over to a friends to get some work taken care of. He said he had done a buddy of his's Grand a while back and how much of a pain in the a-- it was so we went through and did every crevice latch etc. etc. with some white lithium grease. No issues since.

On a side note, a release cable from an 85 XJ will work on a 97-01 with very minor modification.
6 months with no problems yet (I was too cheap to buy a new one)

yes, they need to be lubed right to work consistently, and I thought I WAS lubing it correctly every few months. However, i think in looking at what I took out, I beleive mine was either kinked or melted from underhood heat. I noticed that the new Mopar replacement has a sort of alum heat shiled near the back of the hood, could it be from heat? In retro, after takign the whole show out, it was very brittle but the bellcrank piece on the hood is what needed to be lubed, and it took alot to do the job. Hope it all helps.

can someone post pics of what exactly needs to be lubed? thanks.

oh ive got an 01