Basslicks

I was about to say, "Nah, you'll be fine" and then I realized that your jeep has the poly tank, not the metal one like I have. Not real sure what the heat of the exhaust would do there. Doesn't really look like it's too awfully close though.

Mine is about that close, but it's the steel tank:





Before I re-did the exhaust, the tailpipe got loose on me and melted the plastic "skid-plate" a little... but it was literally touching it before that happened.

Brandonrcm

I'm gunna keep an eye on the tank for any signs of melting for awhile. If it seems hot or anything I'll fab up a new shield. Because nothing stock works with my F'D up unibody.

Brandonrcm

Ordered timken wheel bearings. My advance auto ones are bad again. I've warrantied the sets out 5 times since last may when I bought them. Shouldnt be going through them that fast.

Also heres a list of the crap done to my crapbox.

1997 Cherokee SE

Driveline/Motor
4.0 with no oil pressure
Aw4 trans (Recent fluid and filter change)
NP231 T case
Iron rock offroad hack n tap SYE
stock front driveshafts front & rear
Doorman header, cat delete, stock style muffler ran out back.

Front Axle
HP D30
3.55 gears
Lokka Locker
Aresfab 1 ton steering
Riddler Diff cover
Timken Wheel bearings
Chevy 1500 brake lines
Iron rock offroad Double sheer trackbar & bracket
3 hockey pucks bumpstops/extended stock bumpstop
Bilstein 5100 11" Travel shocks with stem eye adapter

Rear Axle
29 Spline 8.25
3.55 gears
Open diff
Iron rock offroad 10" Travel shocks
Upper Bar pin eliminators
Dakota brake line
Creepy offroad bumpstop spring plates
1 bolt bump stops.

Suspension
Iron rock offroad long arms
5.5" Iron rock offroad coils
4.5" Iron rock offroad leaf springs
2" lift shackles
Iron rock offroad add a leaf
HD offroad no lift shackle relocation boxes

Armor
Aresfab front stinger bumper
Aresfab front fender armor
HD offroad mid frame stiffeners
HD offroad rock slider rocker replacements
HD offroad hybrid cage
Homemade rear cut & fold bumper

Wheels & Tires
15x8 3.25 B/S Eagle Alloys
33x12.r15 Cooper Discoverer STT

MISC
24" Led light bar
Rugged ridge floor mats
Sony radio w/ scosche/apline speakers
Front & rear sound bars
All 4 doors removeable
2 sets of front axle shafts/ 2 driveshafts as spares
Removed carpet and bedlined floors

Brandonrcm

I've been having nothing with problems with my jeep lately so not really any updates.

I've been chasing down a knocking clunking clanging noise for 2 months now. So far i've replaced upper and lower control arm bushings, passenger side flex joint, new shock bushings(new shocks), trackbar bushing is perfect, and steering is all new, wheel bearings are new timken, and ball joints are tight. Still there, pretty sure its the T case linkage clunking and rattling around. It seems pretty loose and it would make sense with my jeep sometimes not wanting to go out of 4x4 when I shift it to 2. I'll be taking that off tomorrow to see if it goes away.

Still have drive line vibes, need to shim rear end after the add a leaf, haven't gotten around to it.

Pulled my passenger side hockey pucks out, drilled at tapped coil bucket to 7/16 for easy re installation.



Drilled and tapped all the seat bolts to 7/16, seats no longer flop around and are finally solidly mounted. Feels great.

Had passengerside long arm flex joint come apart the other day. Ordered new plastic races and reinstalled it. nice and smooth




Past month my rear main seal has been leaking BAD. Thinking its not the seal now, looked at oil filter adapter and its covered. oil was running down block and coming out middle by rear main was


I completely got rid of the adapter, and put filter directly on block like some people do, but the filters pretty fat so its REALLY tight up against motor mount. Going to find a smaller filter or order the o rings to fix the adapter. Saw a puddle under the jeep this morning I think the oil filters leaking because it might not be able to seal correctly with it pushed onto the motor mount bracket.

Degreased the underside after having oil leak for a month...


Replaced my chunked out upper control arm bushing today. That really sucked because of having to put the stupid iron rock long arm back on. Also the metal housing the bushing comes on was flared out somehow so it didnt want to press out. Had to press the sleeve out, then the rubber, then air hammer it out.



Finally got the new one in

Brandonrcm

Idk what even makes sense to update anymore. Every day with my jeep is a struggle.

Rear mains leaking fluid like no other, half a quart a week atleast. Replacing that, pan gasket, and oil pump this weekend at my brothers house.

Can't find the stumble it has at idle, completely goes away once you hit the throttle or are driving. Idle fluctuates up and down about 150 rpm span. Cleaned throttle body and IAC, tested map sensor, iac, newer tps. plugs wires cap rotor all newer and good. No check engine light occasionally throws cylinder 6 misfire, changed and tested cylinder 6 injector nothing fixes it.

Finally got it shifting all the time, adjusted the new NSS I put in back last november, also finally starts in neutral now too.

Trying to remove all the bedliner right now on the outside, I absolutely hate it and its peeling off because its garbage, going to sand down lower doors and quarters and redo them in gloss black.

Can't find a driveline vibration either, changed out 3 different rear driveshafts and have front completely out right now, angle is damn near perfect too.

Finally fixed the clunking noise on passenger side, bilstein had sent me a slightly too large shock bushing installed, changed it out for another and clunks gone.

Removed all the stickers got tired of looking at them, got a lot of crap for it from my friends, but honestly it looks better without a bunch of stickers and its my jeep so I really don't care what someone with a 2" lift and 31s thats never been to an offroad park tells me. Stickers do absolutely nothing for my jeeps performance or capabilities, and I built it to be capable, not to say BYE FELECIA anymore.

Honestly came to a point the other day where I wanted to list it on craigslist. I don't want to get rid of the jeep at all, but its been absolutely nothing but headaches since I started building it and been unreliable as ever. I can't even save up money for a decent car because every cent I get is dumped into this thing. But I guess it's going to stay, brother whos owned 4-500 cars actually talked sense into me on keeping it.

unidentifiedbomb

Sorry to read your Jeep troubles, good luck

VTJeep

Man have I felt this way before… Somedays I wanted to discover it had exploded overnight.. So frustrating… Made worse by the fact this jeep is pretty sweet aside from what you listed.. A thought occurred: The unfindable cause of idle issues- have you checked the ignition coil? This caused issues bad enough that I couldn't drive it any more and it sat for a whole year until one day I just happened to see the housing on coil was all cracked.. Good luck man!

Brandonrcm

I have not replaced the coil, it looks to be in good condition, and I've pulled each plug wire and ran the jeep, they all had it great spark.

VTJeep

Damn.. I so easily overlooked mine I didn't even see the visible damage.. Total crap shoot but I was hoping…

DirtyKK

I understand your frustration and have been in your shoes. Do NOT sell your Jeep.

I sold mine just over 3 years ago and have regretted ever since. Every 6 months I would browse craigslist looking for one and could never commit to getting another. Last week my friend told me he was buying one so naturally I browsed again. My old XJ was posted up 3 hours earlier. I took that as a sign and bought it back.

You've got a kick *** Jeep and I enjoyed reading your build thread while I look for ideas for mine.

benertel

how do you like the iron rock lift kit? im looking at buying one but dont know anyone that is running one.

VTJeep

This is a legit (though irrational…ish) fear of mine! I was encouraged to "just sell the thing…" on more than one occasion because we couldn't find the source of issue.. If I sold it and then saw it driving around I would be crushed.. Never been so possessive over a vehicle before. Borderline obsessive even.. Though I know I'm far from alone..

Brandonrcm

^ One of the main reasons I can't ever sell it. Because I know once it's gone the chances of me getting it back are slim. And I know within days after it was sold I would know I made a mistake

neocracka

Just like me, starting to reliaze that my jeep is nothing but problems. I took it off roading, went through a foot or so of water, nothing big. It ran fine all day trailing it out, went to a friends house, turned it off, was asking my friend to help me determine the no heat in the truck aswell as no ac, truck started up several times, was driving it 3 blocks away to go home and noticed my turn signals werent working. Then noticed the guages were all out, the lighting was on, was weird. got it home checked the fuses tried to turn it out, no go, gave crank but no turn. Had it towed to a shop down the street at $116.50/hour determined fuse box in the hood was bad, replaced with a 98, mine is a 97. Had to solder all the wires back to the new box, got it to start, got a used cluster and pcm gauges are still not working. I'm at about $2,700 spent in the shop so far. And one main problem isnt fixed. But, that's not the biggest chunk of change yet lol. I just spent like 9k and got g2 dana 44 front and rear axles new with detroit lockers in both, about 1900 for front and rear bumpers with tire swingout and rotopax can holders, spent about 1k on lights to go on, 275 on a heavy duty 250amp alt and 75 on the cable upgrade, 600 for the dual optima batteries im going to swap in and 160 for a custom snorkel, i have more then this to go in, just have to find the time to put all it on and do a trans and engine rebuild on a spare engine. ive thought about returning everything and then parting out and selling the truck running but hate to see it go

Basslicks

Yeah man don't sell it. I definitely understand your frustrations. Mine has so many hours of work ahead of me on it sometimes I feel like it might just be worth it for me to accept whatever I can get for it and save up for another one... that doesn't have holes in the floor and is already 4wd...

But then I look at how many hours I have into it and how much fun me and my kids have had in it. This is the only vehicle of mine that my kids know... my oldest son doesn't remember my little pickup truck - he was about 3 and a half when I got rid of it and got the Jeep, my younger son was about 2 when I got it, and my daughter wasn't even born yet. That Jeep was family owned before I bought it, and I'd like to see it passed down in my family when my kids get older. If they don't want it, fine.. but it'd be a great first vehicle for one of them. I definitely didn't have something that cool.

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