1989 jeep cherokee

[Tye]

After being out of the jeep game for about a year and not having an Xj since I was 18, I finally have one again. I managed to trade my craptastic bronco II for an 89 Cherokee. It's a 2 door that supposedly has a 4.0 HO transplanted into it with an (again supposedly) ax15. It has a low pinion Dana 30 from a 98 zj up front and a stock Dana 35 with a Detroit locker in the rear. It has a rustys 4.5 inch lift kit. It's sitting on some craptastic 31" tires of various makes but can fit 33"s easily. The body has no clear coat left and they rattle canned part of the front clip.

The only major issues is that the brakes don't work and the steering is so worn out it has a death wobble that is so bad it feels like you're in a 10.0 earthquake. the brakes jus feel like they have a ton of air in them. It has a new master cylinder and I don't think they bench bled it.

I plan on buying some 33's for it ASAP. I was thinking of getting some mastercraft courser mt's but I'm not totally set on anything yet.





Here is the only major dent. (I think it's already a member of the tree huggers club)


The interior is to bad, but the seats lean way to far back and are kinda ripped up.


And here are what appear to be custom made long arms, I don't think Im going to use them because I plan on building a 3 link eventually.

[Tye]

Well I have been having some major death wobble issues. I replaced the tie rod end on the trac bar and it's better but im still getting it. I think I need to pick up a new steerig setup from picknpull soon because I can't afford all new stuff. My tires might also be causing it since they are way worn out and one of the tires is very badly cupped. So basically I have my work cut out for me.

[Brennerbadboy]

try jacking it up and chk your wheel bearings, mine did the same and they were woreout

[Tye]

Good call, I'll take a look!

Edit- I was testing the steering linkage and it all felt tight with just a tire off the ground. But I got both off the ground and it has a couple inches of play. Ordering some new tie rods and I hope that's the issue.

And the wheel bearings feel nice and tight.

[92sdime]

balljoints? perhaps ive heard most deathwobble comes from blown out trackbar bushings or they track bar hole gets wallowed out. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVJx8buTE8I long video and i hate the guys voice but i hope this helps!

[Tye]

I got everything figured out! I had worn out lower control arm bushings. I ended up replacing the steering with V8 grand cherokee tie rod and draglinks, it's about twice as thick and way stronger. I replace my front u joints. Snagged some 35" bfg's, 3 are the km1's and one is older than those lol. Got some sweet black steel d ring rock crawler wheels all mounted up. And trimmed my fenders on the front so the tires wont rub!





And heres a pic of the front flex, it's not to bad for only 4.5 inch lift springs. The rear barely flexes at all though.

[Tye]

I also managed to snag a new drivers seat, because honestly who cares about the passengers comfort right?

It matches in the style. But no I am not colorblind, I know one is gray and one is silver.

[Tye]

Well the death wobble is still an issue. It's way better than it was, but I hit third gear and it just starts shuddering. I have run out of ideas of things to replace at this point.

[Tye]

It's been a while. I lost my job and tried to sell just about everything i own. Luckily nobody wanted this POS!!! lol

I fixed the death wobble for the most part, still wobbles at about 55 but the tires aren't balanced so I'm gonna pretend thats the problem.

The Front axle gears don't match the rear axle. The kid i bought it from decided not to mention that. Today though my cousin picked up a whole new front axle that should have the right gears, and if it doesn't i guess ill just have to re-sell it.

I am gonna head to school starting spring term for diesel service. I have a lot of family members in the industry so that should help me find a job when I'm done.

So this hunk o metal will stick with me and get very slowly built.

[Tye]

So I got I swapped in the new front axle and my binding issues got worse. I took a look at the gear ratio on the rear and it's 3.07 not 3.73 like the PO told me. So my cousin has donated a spare Ford 8.8 he has with 3.73 gears to the cause. I bought some new spring perches and ubolts and i will be doing the swap on sunday.

It also had the power wire from the igniton switch to the battery take a dump and took us quite a while to figure it out.

Should be on the trails later this month.

[studebaker]

8.8 swap is easy on xj. Get it up and going. I have one 2

[Tye]

So yesterday was a very long and busy day for me.

I put some fuel in the jeep and the gauge did this. I think something might be stuck...


Drove the jeep over to Longview/Kelso to the shop that my uncle and cousin work on a race truck in (Worlds fastest modified diesel truck, 16 cylinder detroit diesel engine. www.jointventureracetruck.com/). But before I could do any work we had to help out with the current projects, which today was tearing down the trailer they use to haul the truck to the salt flats. Holy rusted metal batman!

and here is a cool panoramic of the trailer and one end of the shop with the race truck in pieces in the background


So after tearing that trailer down I finally got to work on the jeep. Took the old Dana 35 out and tossed it off to the side.



Here it is with no axle.


Now to the 8.8, Here is my cousin cutting off the old spring perches and the sway bar brackets. (Yes i did some of the work on this, I just couldn't take pictures of myself).


Here it is ready to be cleaned up.


Unfortunately i didn't get any pictures of the perches mounted up or us re-working the brakes.

Here it is all bolted in though. We decided to make some custom shock mounts to improve my ground clearance, so I will need new shocks in the near future.



Also a closeup of my new shock mounts.


Here it is all done. I gained another 1-2 inches with this thing too.




and to top all of it off I get to come home to a BRAND NEW bed.



This project took us about 5 hours of work, and really wasn't that hard at all. You lose about 2 inches or so of width but it is barely noticeable. I tested out the 4wd and everything functions properly now! Getting ready to schedule a brown scamp trip very soon.

All that's left it to fix some of the small issues like only having high beams (bad switch), and fixing my tail lights and blinkers.

[Tye]

Headed up to browns tomorrow morning. Gonna see how this thing can handle the rocks!

[Tye]

Had one heck of a time yesterday, and not one rig made it home in one piece. Whether it was my jeep breaking an axle shaft, my cousin Toyota losing breaks, or my friends Toyota catching on fire, having the hood fly open going down the highway or it spewing oil into the cab...

Got in a few good hours of wheeling though.

Here is where my carnage began. Up on firebreak Five at the rock garden.


upon closer inspection you see why I was stuck.


And after trying to get myself unstuck this happened on the drivers side. (and I'm the idiot who didn't bring any spares)


So after that I didn't wanna call it a day yet so we continued on the trail and i was doing great until 1 spot it got a little to slick and a little to steep. I was trying to back up to get a good run and my rear windows were completely fogged. The only warning I got was my cousin yelling tree a millisecond before I hit it.








So after that I really want to lock the rear end, and get rid of the crappy Dana 30 front axle and find a dana 44. Also my drive shaft is way to short and was making noises the entire time, so it's on the list too.

If anybody has a dana 44 or knows of somebody you should let me know. I won't have any cash until may though so I'm not in any sort of rush.

[Tye]

So I have decided this jeep will be a blood sacrifice and I will use it's guts to create a bad ass Comanche. Gonna take the engine, tranny, t-case, and axles and throw them on my 2wd Comanche. Just entering the planning stages, more to come later.

here's a pic of the Comanche.