New Cherokee Owner and Forum Member

Hi everyone!

I just bought a 88 Cherokee Laredo and thought now I need a community to help me become familar with Jeeps! I've been reading some of the threads here and y'all really know your stuff. I'm happy to have found you.

My Jeep has 159,200 miles on it. Completely stock. inline 6. Auto Trans with 4x4. Seems like a good solid little Jeep. I'm not sure what kind of stuff needs to be done to it to get the engine 100% reliable. Seems to run fine now. I'm going to use it as a daily driver for a while to see what happens. Does it have a timing chain or belt?

I bought it mainly to have a good 4x4 for hunting and occassionally camping. It should get a good little workout during hunting season. Some of the roads I travel are really muddy and rutty. The tires I have are decent for now, but when it's time to replace them (yet another reason to drive daily) I'll get some bigger ones. I've been reading that 30s should fit without rubbing or cutting. I don't think I want to cut, but a lift in the future seems like a good idea.

Well I'm happy to be here and thought I should say Hi before I just jumped in and started posting.

Welcome. The 4.0 uses a timing chain. 30's should fit just fine.

welcome, if you only have 159k you probably don't need to do anything to get the engine 100% reliable

yes welcome... good tires are where so spend some real money

Welcome Dan. That's low mileage for an 88. I'd suggest a tune-up (cap & rotor, plugs, wires), and fluid exchanges. Then drive it another 159K.

Thanks for the welcome guys.

At 160k, its just getting broke-in good. You can run it hard now!

I've been thinking about it and I'm thinking just a good old fashioned tune up. Change oil, flush tranny, flush coolent, new plugs (maybe wires and a d-cap,) Change diff fluids, check belts, brakes, hoses, etc... I'm gonna do all that this weekend I think.

Engine runs smooth. I do have a whirl sound when I get to going about 40+ MPH. Sounds like the rear end.

I'm using it as a daily driver now in preperation for a week long hunting trip next week. I thought it'd be better to break down close to home first. The guy I bought it from said it'd never been off the pavement. I told him it was in for a rude awaking!

Just a quick question, are the nuts and bolts on an XJ metric or SAE?

AlabamaDan said:

Just a quick question, are the nuts and bolts on an XJ metric or SAE?

Click to expand...

Ive found a mix on my 91. Seems like quite a few of the mid 80's to later 90's vehicles are a mix, at least to me anyways.