its bad on the wj i know that much we ended up taking my brothers to the dealer i think its seems easier on the xj

 

That's comforting to know since I own one now.......

 

It's not that hard at all. Takes me like 5 minutes the most.

 

Go from underneath with a long extension and swivel when space is limited. I've done these on all types of jeeps.

 

It can be tricky depending on the year. There have been more than a few cuss words spewed with this part. Search for threads which will give you tips on how to expedite the installation.

 

It really only takes 10 minutes to replace one. Took me longer to realize I needed about 24" of total extension. I don't recommend the cheapos on these things though. They'll get your rig started, but open up more problems. Go to the dealer for these... This is coming from a big fan of cheapos.

When I bought my XJ my CPS went out after the first month. At least take it off and have a look at it when you buy. Clean it off and put it back in, just to give you an idea of how the procedure should go.

 

Hmm...

It seems a number of you don't agree with just changing it out right away due to throwing money at it or if it ain't broke...
But at the same time a bunch of you say you keep a spare in the glovebox.
In my book, that's what we call hedging your bets!

My tactic was too replace with a new one, but keep my old one that was working under the back seat. I know that there is no guarantee of lifespan on any of them, but I figured my odds are better for a longer time having one in there that's brand new instead of one that has 13 years on it.

Also, there seems to be a great divide amongst folks as to how hard they are to change.

Mine was a massive b!tch. Now, I've grown up under the hoods of cars, and I'm very mechanically inclined. I've restored several mid 60's Mustangs and early 70's Chevy trucks. I've also owned 4 other jeeps, a Mazda RX7, and a VW. I replaced the motor in my '98 myself, and always do all of my own maintenance on my vehicles. In addition, my brother is a mechanic, and works on trucks and heavy equipment every day. We fought that damn CPS for hours. There was no way for us to get at the bolt heads with a wrench from up top. We tried every combination of swivels and extensions to no avail from underneath, at one point having about 4 feet of extension and being behind the T-case. The socket kept slipping off or some other BS. We even dropped the crossmember a few inches. We finally took the console out, unbolted the shift lever mechanism, removed the trans tunnel plate, and managed to get a straighter shot at them. It was a 10 minute affair after that, only taking that long because that stupid plastic plate kept falling.

We had to change the CPS after the new engine was in because the CPS I bought at NAPA and put on before reinstalling the new motor turned out to be DOA. The CPS change and the top two bellhousing bolts were the hardest parts of the whole swap!

 

Nah, that'd be like saying that Maxtor HDDs have a higher than usual failure rate so the entire deployment of desktops should be replaced with Seagates as soon as possible... try passing that in your budget! :P (Actually would be a good case for VDI)

More appropriate to Windows Updates would be a ground freshening and fluid change, especially on the RENIX years. Cheap and easy and will probably improve something.

 

Mine was pretty easy to deal with....20 minutes of internet research to diagnose...purchased new one on flea bay....used the money I saved to have a shop install it....never had any problems from there.....

 

I just say don't look at the post about it just skip it problem solved.......

 

Haha give it 30 days you will wish you went and got it from the dealer! I bought one off eBay it lasted 3 weeks, got one from sloreally's and its been warrentied 3 times in 6 months, goes out again I'm going to Dodge lol

 

Its easier than that if you drop the front shaft from the yoke you can fit both arms and don't have to fight it and worry about dropping the bolts in the bell housing

 

Did you read my earlier post in this thread???? I got a brand new MOPAR for 17$. It's already been going strong well over a year.

 

That's because the 4.0's lifetime is unusually long, lol. I've got 233K on my original. That's longer than some other motors run.
But you are right, the CPS will probably eventually crap out at some point before the engine does.

 

happened to me a couple weeks ago. went to start it one morning. wouldn't start, just dead, drove home the night before just fine. had 10ohms on the test pins when i checked it, somehow it just fried itself. was the oem 1994 cps too.