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Koda's 1997 XJ thread.


koda6966

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Bought another XJ today, I think I'll actually keep this one.

Specs:

1997 Jeep Cherokee Sport. (four door)
4.0, 4x4, auto. 142k miles. Was a trade in at a dealer in Syracuse, a small local dealer buy's wholesale out there and resells for a little profit.

Pretty decent shape for the year around here, has a little bit of rust here and there but overall not bad. Needs a radio and supposedly a wheel bearing. I can't hear the bad bearing, so it's good in my eyes. Dealer had good hearing, clearly I don't. The hatch struts are bad, but that's normal in my eyes.

My early plans for it is to have it replace my Oldsmobile for a daily driver, which is now for sale for $500. I'm going to install my pioneer that's been in 5 different vehicles and upgrade all the speakers. I have to look around at some sub setups in jeeps for my design but I definitely want a system in it. The wheels need upgrading, it has some old rusty steel wheels that someone painted silver. I'll be on the lookout for some sport alloys. The spare is one, not sure why. Seats are worn out, I'm on the lookout for some nice ones.

I'll also be giving it just a small amount of lift, and eventually a bumper with a tire carrier on it so I have more room in the back.

That will probably be the extent of it. I don't plan on dumping a boatload of money into it. That's what my Ranger's for.

Photos to come later today when I pick it up.
 


koda6966

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Transmission
Automatic
Wow, forgot I posted this thread.

Anyway, here it is the day I got it. It looks prettymuch the same now, just with more rocker rust and the rims look terrible.



It's had a bad oil leak from the valve cover gasket since I bought it, and a bad wheel bearing. I tossed a new gasket on and then it started pouring out oil like crazy. Hm. Just a note to anyone with an XJ, they put the sensor for the oil pressure WAY too close to the oil filter. If the filter is stuck on and you have to go from the top, it's likely you'll unhook the plug on the sensor so you don't break it. Make sure it's snug when you do this. It must have been slightly loose, and I must have bumped mine a few times. Needless to say it was spraying oil out of there. Took a while to find the leak because I kept looking at the gasket I just changed. Ended up changing the oil twice because of this, which works for me because looking at how dark it was I'm sure it needed a flush. I don't think the dealer changed the oil like he said he did. :rolleyes:



Wheel bearings are hub style on these, of course. Changes out the same way as GM ones prettymuch. I'm not sure if newer Rangers are the same way, mines a 93 with bearings so it's like 5 minute job on it. If you own one of these and do a wheel bearing, check the U-joint behind it and you might as well throw on some new ball joints too. I wish I did. Now I have to take it all back apart to do the ball joints. LOL



Put my old pioneer head unit in it, I wont post pictures of the install on here because I've done that with four other vehicles. Upgraded to some pioneer TA-A1674R speakers to go with that. They're 6.5" speakers which is a little bit larger. They fit easy in the rear overhead mount, and I hear you have to modify the door to make 6.5's fit but I mounted to the door panel anyway so I had no problem. After upgrading speakers, I decided I needed some more bass than what they were giving me. I picked up a cheapish box with subs and an amp, and wired that in. The install on a cherokee is fairly easy. I used a large grommet on the drivers side because I couldn't locate the one on the passengers easily. They thump, and it works for now.



The small metal bracket on the left hand side is to keep my toolbox from sliding into my amp. Needless to say with the toolbox in there I have no room for my spare anymore. Not wanting to raise my COG I decided a rear tire carrier was the only way to go. I'll have to fab up some custom brackets for it, and beef up the body a little on the inside but it will be worth it when I get a flat. OEM Cherokee tire carriers are rare, so some of you BII guys might recognize this. Snagged it for $20 at my junkyard. If anyone needs the aluminum mounts, I wont be using them.



Soon I'll be throwing on a new steering stabilizer, and possibly doing tie rod ends/ball joints. I'm having some death wobble problems and want to get it solved so I can throw my AR rims on the Jeep with some new tires. Also planning on some tint, and maybe a mild lift.
 

koda6966

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Did a little welding the other day. I didn't take any pictures during the process but here's the finished product minus the 1/2" and 5/8 holes. The original was much longer, as I'm used to hitches being open on the back. The one on my Cherokee turned out to be closed. I had to cut it roughly in half.

In the long run I ended up not using it (lol) because I didn't like the exposed look. I drilled and tapped the back of the hitch instead, to a 1/4-20 bolt.



And here's where I'm at with the design on the mounting system for the spare tire carrier.



Once I get some measurements and mounting locations I'll do a scale design. I have to take the panels off in the back to see how everything aligns. Basically the plan is to have two of those teardrop shaped mounts with three bolts in each. They're going to go through to the plate (probably 1/4" x 6") with locknuts. The plate is going to have a support on the bottom (welded/braced) that will be bolted through the floorboard. It's also going to have two smaller supports (1/4"x1") that will extend from the top, through the panel, down to the floorboard. I'm hoping that this will eliminate any vertical movement. I still haven't designed anything to help with the horizontal stress on it, I'm hoping it won't be a large factor. If it is I'd like to run a support inside the jeep behind the panel, to the tail light area. This way I can conceal the external fastener.

Any tips are appreciated.
 

koda6966

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Scratch that on the swing away spare. I opted for a hitch mount system that can easily be removed instead. Thread with info on that located HERE.

I'll post the finished result on this page when I get there.
 

koda6966

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Here's a light bar I just finished building. Cheapo Harbor Freight lights, but I plan on one day doing an HID upgrade to the housings.



I didn't want to run too much exposed wiring, so each light goes to an individual ground screw. Tapped the holes to 10-24 before I realized I didn't have any allen head bolts that size, so I had to use screws instead. Should be sturdy enough for ground screws anyway. The one farthest to the passengers side is also going to loop down to the body for the main ground.
 

koda6966

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Woops. I didn't account for the fact that this isn't on a curve. When I measured the OE bar it was after I removed it from the mounts, therefor it straitened out. This makes my steel light bar a bit longer than stock. It also doesn't line up well with the mounts in the roof rack, since they're at a different angle.

What I'm going to have to do, is fill the bolt holes back in (without sacrificing TOO much integrity) and cut about 7/16ths of an inch from both sides, then re-drill the 1/4" hole at the ends.

I'm also going to tek screw the mount to the rail, since there isn't a locking hole anywhere near the front of the rail.

STAY TUNED!

(Also doing some work on a roof basket, but that will be revealed later.)
 

koda6966

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Closer look at the wiring. I tied all of the +12v lines together with a 10AWG connector, BARELY fit. I also used the light bar as a buss for the ground, making it look alot cleaner overall.


Here's a closer shot of one of those 10-32 ground screws. (My camera doesn't do close up well.)
 

koda6966

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Also, I made the two wires different lengths so that when I attach the vehicle-side wiring to the bar, it will be impossible for me to connect the ground wire to the +12v. You know, just in-case.

And yes, both will be heat-shrinked.
 

koda6966

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Woahhh I got lucky. No welding required.

 

koda6966

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Got a firestik and a little cobra CB for christmas. Looks like my next project will be fabing up a CB antenna mount. I've seen alot of guys run an angled mount out from the hatch, and hang the CB under the dash on the passengers side. Both look clean, might do it up that way. I have some scrap (of course) stainless angle somewhere that I have a few ideas for.

;)
 

martin

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Don't know how big the cb set is but I would sit in the passenger seat and hold it where you are thinking of mounting it to make sure that any potential passenger is not going to kick it to death accidentally. My son mounted his sideways on the transmission hump.
 

koda6966

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Transmission
Automatic
It's a cheap little Cobra 19. Here's one mounted up in an XJ how I plan to do mine.

 
Last edited:

koda6966

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The green part of NY.
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1988
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Ford
Engine Size
2.9
Transmission
Automatic
Finished my tire carrier. Details in THIS thread.

 

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