I will be getting an old 88 Jeep pioneer. It was my grandpas when he was alive, one of his druggy workers stole it one night and took it for a joy ride and did some damage to it. Driver side door handles gone, rear hatch no longer opens, my dad says the rear end was destroyed but I haven’t looked at that yet. What are going to be the first things I want to fix on it? I am getting this car as my first project car as I know NOTHING about cars. I want to get it daily driver ready first, then off road capable. Where do I start? It has 170k miles on it. Thanks guys, looking forward to being apart of this forum and learning about cars!

 

Start here. www.cruiser54.com Read it afew times over & over.

Check these two sites for parts, along with other part outs.
www.searchcraiglists.org It allows you to search Craigslist.
www.car-part.com It connects salvage yards across North America.

www.youtube.com will be your friend for repairs.

The older exhaust manifolds were common to crack. At least mine did, so you might want to be aware of that.

A good set of tools always helps. You'll need to go beyond just getting a tool box already filled with tools. Prybars, professional screwdrivers with the nut near the handle for better leverage. Speciality brake tools.

I had an '87 Pioneer about 15 years ago. The steering wheel always had "float" in it, as compared to my other Jeeps. The windshield leaked, so I filled the area with like 2 tubes of silicone caulk to stop the leak. The rockers rusted out. I had a whistle around the "smokers" windows. I put about 100k on it before I sold it at 215k. I'd be surprised if I put $2000 in it, other than tires, gas, & oil changes. I believe the only non-stock thing I did was but 30x9.5x15's on a stock suspension. I had slight rubbing in the rear when going through "dips" at speed.

 

Having a 30 year old vehicle, entry-level automotive skills, and expecting a reliable daily driver that you can offroad on the weekends are a bad mix. I would at least have a backup plan for when (not if) you have an issue. You've got a fun project and learning experience ahead of you! I'll second the recommendation to go through Cruisers website, as fixing all the electrical grounds and eliminating that C101 connector will go a long way towards making it more reliable. Then fire away with all the questions and we can help you troubleshoot and repair. I see way too many people making the common rockie mistake of blindly throwing parts at it until they accidentally fix the problem - for example replacing the transmission when it was just a $30 sensor that would have taken 5 minute to test. I might have a pet peeve about that :}.

 

Door handles are easy ...just be very careful taking off those old door panel clips so you don't ruin the door panel. I bought new ones on Amazon and they're nice. Doesn't hurt to replace them anyway, b/c most are faded and brittle by now (they break when they get brittle).

The rear ends are a common failure. Known weak part on these XJs. If you get it fixed or replaced, you should be able to get another 120k-150k out of it. Read through all the posts and learn. I agree it's probably not a good DD but it's a good car to learn how to repair b/c it's pretty simple and easy to work on.

Good luck

 

My number one advice to people that want to work on their own vehicles is get a FSM (factory service manual). Digital or ol fashion paper version which I prefer, greasy hands and phone or tablet screens don't mix for me.

 

Lots of good advice here.

Get the FSM, you will regret it later if you don't.

Also, make a budget. How much will all of the repairs from the accidents cost you? How much are you willing to put into it as far as making it off road capable.

It might not be a bad idea to take it to a trusted mechanic and have him give it a good once over to see what else it may need before you sink any money into it.

These are great trucks to learn on, since they are relatively simple.

Also, post some pictures when you get a chance.

 

Hi you can see this video about the model
if you want you can use vimeo downloader. like https://en.savefrom.net/11-how-to-do...meo-video.html There really are many videos that can help you.

 

I agree, it would be miserable for it to be my daily driver. I misspoke on that, I want to get it to drive reliably which I meant daily driver ready and then start upgrading it. I already have a daily driver so I’m in no hurry to fix it. And I have been reading cruisers website, I’m going to do all of his recommended tips first, then replace the rear end and then replace belts and fluids and go from there, eventually marking off all of cruisers tips.

 

I'd replacing the belts & fluids first. Since the Jeep was stolen, I'd make sure there are no major engine issues. It'd be pointless to put in a rear axle, only to discover the engine is toast. Start with the FREE stuff first, cheap & easy stuff next. Build your tool supplies up. Granted the rear axle swap is easy, it can be time consuming if you don't have the right tools. Rusty bolts equals more leverage, torque, & maybe some heat you might have to apply. It's amazing what a 3 foot breaker bar will remove, as opposed to a 8 inch wrench. FYI, when I did my leaf springs, I was too lazy to drop the tow hitch, so I cut one of the rear (driver side???) spring bolts, went to the hardware store & bought a replacement. I also had to torch a bolt out, in order to drop the old spring out.

 

That is a good point. Last I knew it still started up and sounded good from what my dad has told me. As long as everything sounds good I might start there. Belts need replaced for sure though. Don’t know the last time they were replaced and when I looked, one of the belts was split