I'm starting this thread so we can discuss weaknesses on cherokees for newbies like myself. I've driven a tj for years now and pretty much know the rig inside and out and also what to watch for when abusing it. Now that i have a new XJ, i need to update my brain files on what to watch for.

soo...what are weaknesses on cherkees that we should keep an eye on while playing?

I can start this off by saying the dana 35 in some xj's are weak and known to immitate Rice Krispies cereal. snap crackle pop!

 

if you wheel the 35 is gar-bage

if you wheel hard or alot, beef up the unibody, trust me

pre 97's need more cupholder options!

stock rear driveshafts basically twist apart once they touch a rock.

 

OK i trust you on the unibody tip, but why? What happens during hard use?

 

under hard use the unibody will tend to flex and bend but it wont bend back, so in essence it will tweak the unibody in a manner in which it isnt supposed to be tweaked.

-Kyle

 

are there any known instances where this happened? I'm curious what happened and wha were the signs? Door won't shut properly or something like that?

 

i have seen pictures of the unibody tweaked so much that none of the doors ligned up and the rear hatch didnt align.

-Kyle

 

as of right now.

i have a 2" crack in my driveshaft hump.

my front leaf spring mounts are separating from the body

my rocker panel is so bashed in it pulled my door frame closer making the front door hit the rear door when i close it.

one of my doors still line up, but thats the one door i replaced (no dents) all the other doors are original and i beleive the alignment issues are to blame the dents more than the rest of the jeep.



and i have cracks at the top of the d pillars.

 

what kind of wheeling do you do and how often?

 

wheeling consists of light trail driving to jumps, twisted up rock crawling, rev limiter hillclimbs and such.

i go out on a trip maybe once a month or so