CodeXJ

I've searched some of it, but have more specific questions.

After searching, I've not had much luck finding a decent rust-free 4wd Cherokee around me for a price I'm willing to pay. Maybe some people will pay $5k for a '97 with 160k miles, but I'm not one of them.

Anyway, my Jeep runs well and has a straight, rust-free, frame. I mean, it's crazy rust free. Totally nuts how little rust is on this Jeep. Just down the street from me is a 2-door rustbucket, one year newer, with 70k less miles on it (120k vs my 195k), big bonus is it's working 4wd (NP231, unsure about the axles). The engine ran smooth and didn't smoke, the 4wd engaged and disengaged well.

Driving it was a whole different story. My god, scariest vehicle I've ridden in, and that's saying a lot. Brakes are shot, door doesn't latch, rear hatch opened up at 30mph with no warning. Oh, and there is something -seriously- wrong with the front end. It clunked and clanked over every bump and had really bad camber on the left front. Also, I think one of the frame rails was rusted through. So I think if I do buy it, I'll be trailering it home (5 miles, thank god).

So this brings me to the questions:

1. How much of the steering gear/suspension from my good jeep can I reuse on the rust bucket's axle?
2. Can I remove the front clip and pull the engine/transmission straight out as a unit?
3. Any oddness electrically or otherwise between a '93 and a '94? Plan would be to pull the engine and swap, leaving the harnesses alone. Will that work?
4. Should I run screaming and hide like a pansy under my bed until the big bad rustbucket monster goes away?

Asking price is $600, but they are negotiable. I suspect $500 is doable. How concerned do I need to be about the front end issues on this Jeep?

CodeXJ

About to make an offer, no one wants to chime in with input?

Triple Crown

You're going to keep your nice XJ and just take the front axle & driveshaft, transfer case and transmission from the rustbucket to convert your nice 2WD Jeep to a 4x4 correct?

I think $500 for a 4X4 donor vehicle is a great deal.

CodeXJ

Pretty much, although I'm also taking the engine from the rustbucket (70k less miles, runs smoother) and setting mine aside for a future rebuild.

94xj5spd

its the same engine so it will bolt right in without messing with the harness if its a auto to auto swap.

Bustedback

Do it, very simple swap. And at 500 bucks for a doner you can't go wrong.

CodeXJ

Alright, sweet guys. Been a while since I've pulled a motor, so this should be interesting. I'm sure my neighbors are gonna love this.

Made an offer, we'll see if they accept.

EUGENE the JEEP

hey good luck

CodeXJ

Thanks a lot. Guess it worked! I'm the proud owner of a $450 Little Red Death Wagon.

Trying to decide now if I'll use the auto tranny, or see if I can find someone with an external slave AX15 that wants to swap.

And here I'd almost paid off my credit card, too.

206junglist

I have seen a kit on the internet to position the slave outside the bell housing, I think. Might be worth a look

Dugualla

Do a compression test on both engines before deciding which is best, If he took as good of care of the engine as he did the rest of the jeep your engine may still be in better shape.

Still, $500 bucks for a donor rig isn't bad. The good parts, the experience and knowledge gained from stripping it down will go a long way towards making your conversion go smoothly.

Keep every single wiring harness on the rig, DO NOT be tempted to cut any of them to make the tear down easier. Label them and keep them in a box somewhere. I just paid 40 bucks for a pile of door harnesses on ebay.

CodeXJ

Yeah, I intend to do that. The big reason the jeep's suspension/body is shot is because it was used as a Beach Patrol vehicle. So it spent a lot of time in the sand and salt air. I suspect the engine is good, since it sounds lots better than mine and ran much smoother as well. But I do plan on inspecting it pretty good.

Good advice on the harnesses. Last time I did an engine pull, we did that, and it made things so much easier a month later when the newly rebuilt engine went back in.

Dugualla

I absolutely hate seeing cut harnesses on used parts, I was qouted 90 bucks for the wrong harness for my door, when they quoted the right part it was $450, I just bought all 4 harness off of ebay for 40 bucks. They supposedly worked when the vehicle was brought in. I intend on cleaning it up, installing it then at my leasure replace all of the wires in the harness, probably won't be able to find all of the colors from the electrical supplier but I will get it close.

CodeXJ

I agree. Nothing like looking at a part with a snipped green wire attached to it and wondering, "WTF does that hook too?". Much easier, and more likely to keep you sane, if you just unclip the connector and label it.