Where to begin?

Hello all, I'm new to XJ's and new here.

After much thinking, I decided that I wanted to buy an older XJ to use as a hunting/camping/dog-toting rig, so I looked around for a while until I found
this one

According to the title, it's a 1990 Jeep Cherokee . It's a 2 door, 5-speed manual 4X4. VIN 1J4FJ27L5LL231931. It's got 175K miles on it.

Apart from being filthy and having some dents and dings here and there, it seems pretty solid. I know it needs some alignment hygiene and the A/C needs to be looked at, but it starts right up and the transmission doesn't make any disturbing noises.

Cosmetics being a second priority to mechanical dependability, what should I have checked out? What should I be concerned about?

I'm going to get some new seats and replace that dash and steering wheel, eventually, but my main concern at this point is to have a reliable 4X4 that can handle some dirt-road driving in the backcountry. We have some pretty scary dirt roads here in Idaho. I'll get to the more extreme 4X4'ing later on.

Check your floors first thing, they rust out quite often...

My repair article. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=954332 Hopefully your floors don't look any worse than mine...

Just pull up the carpet once the seats are out.....

Check your coolant pressure bottle for crack and pinholes, these are easily obtained thru a $tealer or thru the aftermarket parts houses.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to drain and refill ALL of the fluids if they haven't been done recently.

I am sure the guys here will have more to add.....

poorboy_616 said:

Check your floors first thing, they rust out quite often...

My repair article. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=954332 Hopefully your floors don't look any worse than mine...

Just pull up the carpet once the seats are out.....

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OK, it did not start auspiciously. The first harbinger of bad news: the bolts holding the seat down (14mm?) were rusted....

On the passenger side, I ended up breaking one of them and the last one was stripped as could be, so I just ripped the seat out completely.

Since I'll need the driver's side seat to drive it to the shop tomorrow, I didn't go the whole hog on that side, but I was able to rip out the rubber carpet and the padding underneath, to reveal:
RUST!
AND MORE RUST!

PoorBoy, you were right about that!

I'll have the shop rip out that last bolt and weld in new shiny ones for new seats.

Then, I'm going to do the same thing to my floor as you did with yours. Looks great.

I begining to wonder if the thing was worth the $900 I paid....

More tomorrow....

your lucky, thats not bad at all. mine had a big gaping hole in the drivers side. id just scrape the rust off(i used a wire wheel), rust convert it, and go from there. from the pictures i dont think youll need to do much(if any) patching.

edit: i second changing the fluids. mine is a 90 and i doubt the diffs, transfer case and tranny were ever changed before i did it. keep an eye on your injectors too, renix injectors have a tendancy to leak.

biztyke said:

your lucky, thats not bad at all. mine had a big gaping hole in the drivers side. id just scrape the rust off(i used a wire wheel), rust convert it, and go from there. from the pictures i dont think youll need to do much(if any) patching.

edit: i second changing the fluids. mine is a 90 and i doubt the diffs, transfer case and tranny were ever changed before i did it. keep an eye on your injectors too, renix injectors have a tendancy to leak.

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That's good to hear. Thanks!

What is a good brand of rust converter? I've never done anything like this before. I didn't see any holes in the floor, but I didn't do any sanding yet, so that remains to be seen.

The guy that I bought it from said he replaced the fuel injectors with "Ford 19lb. for better spray pattern" whatever the heck that means!

He said all 6 injectors were pressure checked and cleaned, but I'm going to have it done again as well, just to make sure.

What about suspension/shocks and stuff? I spent way less on the vehicle proper than I intended and I still have about $1200 that my wife has given me permission to dump into it immediately. Apart from getting a good tune and having the fluids and stuff replaced, what else? Ideas?

My short term goal is to have a "decent" dependable XJ that I can haul my dogs around in and tote my canoe to go camping in state parks.

The long term is to have a very reliable, very sturdy camping/hunting rig that is fairly off-road capable.

I plan to do "some" of the work myself, though I am not very handy with a wrench these days, but the engine/transmission work will be done by a reputable shop.

Thanks for the input. Keep it coming

I'd strongly recommend buying a factory service manual (about $50-70). Most of us have them for our model years. Even if you plan to have shops do most of the work for you, it's good to know what's going on - and there's no better source for deciding what work to attempt yourself, after reading about what's involved.

Among the fluid changes, I'd include changing the diff fluid front and rear and the transfer case fluid (besides engine oil and transmission fluid). I'd also replace the gas filter.

couldnt say about the converter, i just bought the first can that said "rust converter". sounds like you are ok with the injectors, those ford 19lb injectors are used very often by folks around here as they are cheap, good and drop right in(the spray pattern is better, as its a 4 nozzle design......doesnt really increase performance, but does seem to run smoother than stock). in fact, i have some on order right now for a friend's jeep.

i bought mine about 2 months ago, and my suspension was shot. all 4 shocks were gone, and the rear leaf springs sagged 2 inches. check all 4 corners, press them down hard or jump on em, they should only bounce like 1 and a half time before they stop. you can also visually inspect the shocks, if they look too rusted they replace them. check your rear leafs, stock measurement should be 17" from center of axle to bottom of fender flare........if its a lot lower than that it could cause a rough ride(it did on mine). and if you want to lift it at all, now would be the time......(ask if you need info on budget boosts/lifts).

check all your u-joints(front wheel axles, front and back driveshafts), i had to replace two on mine. lift the front end, check for play in the wheel bearings. check your steering linkage for any play, grease all joints or replace as necissary.

i could go on and on, but i think that covers the safety and reliability issues. as far as the engine, if it seems to be running good now then dont worry about it aside from oil changes and regular maintenance. these 4.0l are bullet proof.

and as far as ideas for improvements/modifications. well, its endless. this is my first jeep, got it only two months ago and everywhere i turn on the net i find something new i wanna do to it. search the forums, read the stickies and youll never be short of projects for your jeep

Where is a good source for a factory service manual?

TIA

FSM can be found on eBay or www.techauthority.com, although that year might not be available because of the age. PM 5-90 and see if he can point you in any other directions.

After changing all fluids and u-joints, you may still need to budget new unit bearings for the front axle but I'd bet you probably still have enough left to do a 2" Budget Boost and some 30" tires.

Jim www.yuccaman.com

I paid $600 for my 87.....

Mine was worse than that.....( I have pin holes, but nothing major. I will patch them with Lab Metal and go from there...)


The paint and rust removal cost me about 15 bucks. I had the rust converter sitting in my shop as well as the first can of paint.

OK, I'm back after a 3 month absence.

Things happened and I had to sell that white one about a week after I got it.

I have been keeping my eye open and today I found this one:





It's got 174K miles, but I got it for $900. The interior isn't bad at all and it's even got a new CD player.

This one is a keeper.

Apart from getting the A/C back in working order, what else should I be thinking about?

all the stuff suggested from your old posts at least you know where to look for rust and to be wary or breaking off the seat bolts pb blaster is your friend :gonnablow

Make sure the transfer case works right in each setting: 4 hi and 4 lo. Crawl underneath and check for frame rust and floor pan rust. Along with what everyone else has suggested, if everything checks out then go for it!

sup jacksonville

kennzz05 said:

sup jacksonville

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:wave1: