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New member, previous lurker. 93 XJ HO Basic, advice on where to proceed
Hey all, thank for reading.
I'm a professional brewer for a small 7bbl pub in Salt Lake City UT, and also tinker a bit in my spare time. I love motorcycles (currently have 3), shooting guns, reloading for them, and started welding a little here and there. I've got experience as a mechanic years ago and one of the most common vehicles I would service were Jeep XJ cherokees. So, after owning 15 other vehicles I finally got a Jeep XJ, and it's been kind of a headache as well as a blast of fun.
It's a super base model, meaning all manual doors, windows, no rear wiper, no overhead light switches, just purely basic. Has an AX15 manual trans which really sold me, as I've seen the autos are most common. Sitting at 172k when I bought it, it needed nothing really to pass emissions except idle CO ppm. So here's what I've done:
Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, air filter twice, fuel filter, oil changes, seafoam treatments, diff service rear, front diff siphon drain and refill, transfer case ATF changed, manual trans oil dumped (smelled sulphery, and shifting was difficult) to Mobil 1 10w 30 full synthetic, shifts great now. Also replaced gauge cluster to a gauge system, replaced coolant temp sensor, coolant temp sender (which is off by 30 degrees, thanks autozone), and an oil pressure sending unit. I've flushed the coolant system with Prestone Clean and flush, and refilled with fresh fluid, and swapped the 160F Tstat out to a 195F. Also put in Gabriel ProGuards shocks all the way around. I got lucky with my rear shock mounting bolts. Lots of PB blaster, lots of patience, lots of back and forth, back and forth. Took about an hour each side but they came out, and got a slathering of antisieze.
I have it in the shop as we speak to have the AC evacuated as I need it for summer camping trips. Last year my GF and I took a trip through the desert in June, we had to pull over twice and douse ourselves with water to stay cool.
It's got newer jeep 16" rims with Blizzaks, I've just left them on.
My issues now are that after a long (200 miles) drive to the desert last weekend the voltage started dipping down to 12V while on, and when the engine is hot and idling I'll get a little bit of oil smoke. There's no misses, no hesitations, no burning at higher rpm, and no burning cold. I am running Shell Rotella T5 10w 30, and no additives except when I got home I put a half quart of Marvel Mystery oil in.
I'm also looking into suspension upgrades, maybe a lift maybe not because I like the freeway capability with better MPG (gas is on the rise again), but I'd like to be able to pack my jeep up and possibly tow some motorcycles or a small camper. My rear springs are saggy, and slightly off, not quite exactly even.
Anyways, I bought the Jeep for 1500, and put a lot of time in already. I'm wondering if it's worth putting more time into it, or should I save a bit, sell it, and get into a newer model with OBDII and r134a AC?
Whether it's a keeper or not I couldn't say but I have one thought for you. My 98 was just starting to sag. I think I measured and it was maybe 1/2" out of spec IIRC.
Anyway, I changed the rear shocks to Monroe Load Levelers. They have a spring which has about 60lbs capacity per side and the gas pumps up to increase pressure under load leveling the ride.
Day to day the springs took some of the load off the leaf springs correcting the ride height and they do pump up when I have it loaded w/ gear to maintain a good ride.
Not a fix for badly failing leaf springs but if they're not completely shot it may help. Not very expensive either.
Reviving my old thread. Thanks for the welcome party fellas!
So to pick up where I left off, I painted the jeep desert tan. I also replaced a bad CPS. Other than that the Jeep sat the last 3 months while I buzzed around on my motorcycles.
I mostly fixed the low oil pressure by switching to shell Rotella T 15w40 with 8 Oz of marvel (the wintergreen smell is that stuff that softens and swells old rubber back) so that probably helped my valvestem seals. My voltage still seems to drop below 14 when the vehicle heats up, so I've been looking at a Dakota alternator swap (117a vs 80a), which will help when I start adding auxiliary lights and possibly a single 10" sub.
I acquired some 2 inch shackles for the rear and a pair of front coil springs but the person who sold them to me says they're 2 inch lift springs from rough country, not the 3 inch.... not sure how to tell at this point, but I was thinking I could put the shacks in and call it a day.
I took the jeep for a drive on the free way yesterday and wouldn't you know it I got a nasty speed wobble at 50mph. ****. It's all stock, no lift. Gonna start inspecting tonight, I looked last night and didn't notice anything moving when the steering wheel was turned. Will attempt again.
My hunch is a loose steering box innards, or ball joints are loose. The track bar didn't move at all when the wheel was wiggled back and forth, but I didn't test lock to lock. I saw my sway bar bushings were loose, and I could actually move the sway bar from side to side with my hands while the xj was on the ground. My guess is my alignment got ****y after 4 months of sitting, and my tires went out of balance from sitting all that time along with the ball joint on the passenger side. It always did kinda have a weird clunk when I'd go over bumps on that side. Anyways, to beat a dead horse even further I'd love to hear your advice for locating a death wobble.
Anyways, here's a pic of the jeep after paint and back on the trails.
04-20-2016, 01:28 PM
New member, previous lurker. 93 XJ HO Basic, advice on where to proceed
