cob24

For the longest time I have been hearing that knocking noise that is associated with a cracked flexplate. Tommorow Im gonna crawl underneath there and see if I can figure out if my suspicions are correct. If they are this is not a repair that I have any clue how to do (you have to drop the tranny). I got a quote from a local garage of 320 without the part pre taxes. Does anyone want to do it? I will pay. I just cant do it on my own cause I dont have any of the tools oh and have no clue how. If not does 320 seem like a fair quote?

OverlandZJ

That sounds like a very fair price from an established business, considering they charge roughly 75-90 per hour.

Hommersimpson

320 is about right..thats removing and reinstalling the transmission... me myself i would unbolt it ,get two bolts 4 inches longer then the ones holding it in or use some allthread rod and slide everything back and just get at it that way.. i have not done one on a jeep but have on many others and its just a matter of getting enough room in there to get wrench or hope a breaker bar and socket... this way you takes me a hr or so to do.. and if its all jacked up even better.. but its not a easy job eather way.. so guess you are stuck paying someone... :} learn to wrench on it.. $320 bucks will buy you a full set of craftsman tools :}and the special socket you need for top two bolts...
Greg

Cherokeefever

I can do it for you cheaper if you have the new flex plate PM me

BuckB91XJ

Same here. I have a heated garage with good tunes and all the tools. If you have the parts and supplies to do the job, I work for pizza, soda, a little help and good conversation.

cob24

i took it to a mechanic today and the flexplate idea got shot down. Knock is not serious enough to be the plate he said. then i went and got another opinion and he agreed. Both decided it was a very faint rod knocking. Said a lot of cherokees make that racket for 10 more years. I wanted to get it checked out before i spent the money on the lifft and tires. His recomendation was to redo the gears when I put the bigger tires on it to take such the strain on the engine and then start saving up to replace the engine. I would prefer to just stroke it one day...maybe a year down the road.
any thought???

Hommersimpson

Pull pan stick a set of rods and mains in it.. if your oil pressure is good.. then oil pump should be fine.. depends on money ya know... throw a rear seal in.. and if noise gone then you should be good for another 100k on bearings,,, if cranks is ok...

cob24

wow wow wow that sounds complicated. Last time i was under my car i did notice some oil on the pan. However I went 3000 miles without ever losing a millimeter of oil on the dipstick.

I got 380 after the lift and tires, I was thinking about redoing the gears if I could pull it off. Guy said it would put a lot less strain on the engine

winston427

Please check the flexplate yourself or get with one of the willing members in your area to help you. In these hard economic times every penny counts. That goes for all of us and the struggling mechanics. There are to many of them that are dishonest and will tell you that your engine needs to be rebuilt, charge an outrageous amount, and only replace the flexplate. I had 2 shops tell me that they would not even look at mine without money up front because "they knew the engine was bad" from the severity of the knocking. One shop finally quoted me $900 to replace the felxplate. I spent $15 on a flexplate from the junkyard, $130 on a good transmission jack, and invested 8 hours of profanity in the driveway to do it myself. I gained the knowledge of how to do it, saved a ton of money, and now I have a trans jack for any other projects.

cob24

The mechanic told me it was fine and that I shouldnt even be conserned(sp?) with it. He said that some jeeps make louder noises than the one i have for another 200000. All free of charge too. So he had the chance to try to get me to spend money with him and just wound up chatting with me about how great cherokees are

JeepDan

I'm in the middle of replacing my flex plate (89 Jeep Cherokee, 6C, 4L, 4x4) and have gotten all the bolts off, except for the top two, because I can't reach them. What's the special socket I need?

Thanks in advance.

cob24

You might wanna try in the cherokeetech section

OverlandZJ

If your referring to the top two bellhousing bolts on transmission... go to Sears for an E12 socket. Reverse Torx...

JeepDan

Thanks for the quick response.

1987XJ

Pretty much every 4.0 i have listen to has some type of knock to it, unless its a really bad knock