Adding a Cherokee to the fleet

Well, it looks like we are inheriting a 95 Cherokee from a family member. All I know is that something is wrong with the power steering and it needs a front fender. It will be picked up the weekend after Big Dogs. It most likely will be a street Jeep but I'm not making any promises.

Since I'm a YJ woman, can anybody tell me what the differences are between the Cherokees and the Grand Cherokees...other than engine size? And what is it...an XJ?

It is a XJ and if it is a 95 it has the 4.0 inline 6. More than likely it will come with a chrysler 8.25 rear axle but you might wind up with a dana 35 or if you are super lucky you might have a Dana 44 on your hands. The front is going to be a Dana 30. All XJ's have leaf springs in the rear and coil springs in the front.

Nice!! for about $200 you can get a 2" lift with new shocks. It is a puck in the front that goes above the coils and an add a leaf for the rear.

is it 2 dr or 4 dr?

That's a good pic of dad. Whose is that? Your sister's? Dave is already talking about putting the 36" swampers on it so I'll probably need that lift.

I have no clue on the doors...I'm assuming 4 but I don't know. I belongs to my nephew and I haven't been able to get much info from him or his dad about it (they aren't really mechanical people). He's supposed to send me a pic when he gets a chance (which could take awhile since he is a teenager). I don't know why he doesn't want it...the power steering is the excuse but I think he just wanted something else. I gave him my Beretta a few years ago instead of trading it in because it was in great shape. After 3 accidents it ended up in the junk yard. He was going to trash this one too but I said I'd take it...kind of makes up for my destroyed car and well, it's a JEEP! I'll have fun messing with it.

36's will take alot of lift (but will look super cool)

To put 36's on that thing is going to cost you quite a bit of money. This is a whole different game when it comes to unibodys.

yeah, that way dave can drive his own rig with you. he might like it more

I highly doubt it...wheeling gives him a headache. He prefers wheeling on the beach. I have no intention of dumping alot of money into this thing...at least not until I'm finished with mine.

They make pretty good daily drivers and will a little bit of money and a good eye you can lift them enough for 31's or 33's on the cheap.

For now I'm hopeful that it still runs well.

Danny, I did find out that it is a 4-door and is gold.

nice, pimp gold

Yeah, how lovely...no wonder he wants to get rid of it.

Actually I'm now hearing more info that Dave forgot to tell me. Apparently he hit a guard rail with this thing (hence the fender damage) and the estimate on the repair was $1000. Basically I won't have any idea what the heck is really wrong with it until I see it in 2 weeks.

lol it's toast, just part it out.

drop in a big block and paddle tires

seriously if you dont want it, I do. The damage to those XJ's are easy to fix.

We had a lot of fun/pain with this.

Here are pics of the new one. It's a 96. In decent shape...I was expecting much worse as far as body damage. Power steering pump is shot and there is an antifreeze leak somewhere. Inside is in decent shape except it was driven by an 18 year old football player and it smells like one. a bottle or two of Febreeze and some air fresheners should do the trick.

I haven't had time to really look at it because the Tahoe blew a rear hard brake line just outside Richmond on Sunday. Oh..forgot to mention that as we started the trip, the front emergency brake cable snapped so I didn't have that to use and even if I had thought of clamping off the line and using just the front brakes...I wouldn't have trusted them to stop the weight of the Tahoe and the trailer/XJ. We had to drop the Jeep and get the Tahoe towed. Spent the night down there and had it repaired yesterday.

Hell, if I were you I'd fix that and sell it and put the money in the YJ.

kat I have a new 4.0 Power steering pump I can sell you. I think it has about 6 miles on it.

K. I have to check to see if it is a 4.0 or 2.5L.

Sweet - glad you guys got it.... sounds like the trip back sucked though.

Let me know when you feel like hitting the junkyard for parts... We could check Crazy Rays near you. There is always Brandywine way down 301 in PG CO that has a lot of Jeep parts too. I need to go to one for some replacement hub bolts and as always more spare D30 shafts.... I still have your long one, but I need the driver side now.

The fix can be done for next to nothing. The front of a XJ is super easy to pull apart and if the places near you dont have what you need there is a junk yard called EZ pull up in pa near Nick that lets you pull the parts yourself so you get practice and I bet you could buy everything you need for less than 100 bucks. Let me know if you head up I might go with you cause I need parts too.

Taking another look at it I'm thinking that you can bend the fender straight with patience and all you need is a grill and bumper. Did the radiator get broken or pushed in to the fan?

Don't forget that I can get cheap body parts new too. Let me know when you have your shopping list and i'll make some calls.

It is a 4.0L. Joe, are all 4.0 power steering pumps the same or do you know what model yours is for? I can have the parts guys see if they are interchangable.

I think I might try Crazy Rays since it is only 5 minutes away. I just noticed it was there the other day.

Also, there is a guy on the Rausch forum that is parting out a 96 XJ and I had already contacted him about getting what I need.

I do plan on straightening the fender...didn't look too bad to me either.

Not sure about the radiator yet but I'll let you know.