87 cherokee...wink links?

i just bought an 1987 jeep cherokee. my brother in-law told me to check out this site.. i am a newb when it comes to jeeps... could you please tell me what to watch for. wink links or what would be consider a strong atributes of the 87 cherokee. it has a four cy. is it a good engine? anything you guys can tell me would be great. thanks marcus

Do you mean weak links? Never heard of a wink link.

Weak links include:
Rusty bolts
Nutserts
Plastic connectors
CPS crapping out
Stock leaf springs
Shock mounts (upper rear)
Stock gearing for off road
Speakers
Headliner
Pressure bottle
Heater valve

...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

More replies may give you more.

P.S. Is this a wink link??

thanks for the post.... yeah weak links

Funny, I just got a '87 from a friend.

Check the exhaust manifold where the pipe from the rear cylinder connects at the bottom of the manifold. It's probably cracked.

Is it a standard or automatic? The standard trans was a Pugeot BA-10/5 That is definately a weak link.

The front axle has a vacuum disconnect on the right (long) side axle shaft. the motor can freeze up, the lines can be ripped loose, the vacuum switch on the Xfer case can go bad, or any vacuum leak in the under-hood system can disable it.

The good news:
The 4 cylinder should have relatively low gearing in the axles. 4:10 seems to be the most common.
'87 was the year everyone yips about for the rear Dana 44 rear axle. I think it was across the board, so you should have one( if the rear dif. cover is round/oval, it's a 35(boo), if it has flat sides it's a -44(yeaa!))
They ditched the NP-207 for '87, so you have an NP-231 transfer case(probably)

wtf is a wink link?

thanks for the feed back.... come to find out the guy told me it was an 87 but i just looked a the paper work and its an 86... is there going to be the same problems with the older model? thanks again marcus

I had an 86 Pioneer with a 5 speed for years. It had a 3” lift with 31”. It was very reliable rig and would go anywhere I asked it to. The reason I got rid of it was because of the 2.5L. I did put the engine through hell and it will probably last forever but it just doesn’t have any power. With the stock gears (4.11) it would clime a wall but getting on the highway was scary. Zero to sixty in about 4 minutes, and that was on the flats. When trying to climb one of our passes, you were stuck in the right lane in second gear, at about 4,000 rpm’s watching the tractor trailers and Winnebago’s pass you. It was so sad.

On the plus side, the 2.5L is very easy to work on and parts are cheap and easy. You will have a lot of fun with it, I did.

At one point or another, I had been through every system on that rig. If you need any help, let me know.

alright thanks.... i will make sure to pm you if i need some help... thanks marcus lucento