My dad bought this 1999 Cherokee 2-Door, 4wd, automatic 4.0L SE from GovDeals about twenty years ago. Around 10 years ago it started slightly overheating so he decided to start an overhaul of the cooling system. Additionally, he decided to replace the power steering system as he intended to put larger tires and a lift down the road. After buying most of the parts the project got put on the back-burner and a few years ago he asked me if I would take it up, to keep or sell when I finished as I choose. I wanted to document the process so I'm going to be posting pictures of it as I tackle each part. It currently has about 120,000 miles on it and is stock as far as I can tell, with the only real exception to come being the power steering gearbox.



Jeep was stored in the barn until the last year

roof will need to be repainted, but that's the only major paint work.




after washing off the lichen, red clay dust, and rust.


Here is a list of the parts he purchased to replace:
CSF Radiator 2671
Radiator hoses,
Electric radiator fan,
Stant Thermostat,
Water pump,
AGR Steering gearbox,
Power steering pump,
Pitman arm,
Monroe magnum steering damper,
Transmission filter kit,
Energy Suspension Hyper Flex System complete master set.



So far I have washed it, cleaned the interior, pulled the headlight bezels, grill, power steering gearbox, and am in the process of removing the radiator.

I'm also going to replace the fluid in the differentials and transfer case, as well as motor oil & filter, plus drain and flush the fuel lines with new gas.

The interior is in good shape overall, but will need the headliner replaced as the forest service owners managed to get red spray paint on it, but it was sagging everywhere anyway.

I will check the motor mount bolts tonight, as well as other belts, hoses, plastic and brake pads that I don't currently expect to replace. I've tried to read a good bit in the forums but any recommendations would be appreciated.

 

I'm looking forward to the transformation!! Keep it coming!!

 

My dad had started the project about ten years ago, so the anti-sway bar & power steering gearbox are removed already. Yesterday I got the airbox, battery, front grill and light bezels out, but I think I figured out what caused him to stop the project one evening; a loose rivnut/nutsert holding up the front skidplate. I am enlisting the help of my uncle to remove that bolt so I can drain the radiator without too much mess and get moving along again (not to mention it will need to eventually be tightened once everything is put back together).

Attaching some pictures of the underbody because it is remarkably clean with minimal rust, as well of the engine bay to have a point of comparison after I clean it.

 

Made a lot of progress this weekend thanks to help from my dad and help from my uncle, and borrowed a canopy to make working in the driveway much more bearable as it is getting into the 90s each day! We decided to just turn the skidplate out of the way and deal with that loose rivnut later on. We took out the radiator, water pump, thermostat, power steering pump, and tensioner pulley. We used a bolt with stacks of washers to push the new power steering pump pulley onto the new pump, cleaned the rust off the water pump pulley and tensioner pulley and repainted both. We also cleaned off the water pump heater line as well as the thermostat housing and repainted each of those. We resurfaced the gasket face of the thermostat housing and I scraped the gasket faces on the engine block for the water pump and thermostat housing. Flushed the coolant in the engine block with water, and it all looked clear running out which was a relief. Pulled out the spark plugs and poured in a little marvel mystery oil to let sit a few days, tomorrow I'll try turning the crankshaft by hand and if it goes smoothly that will be a great feeling. I sprayed kroil on the differential covers and fill port bolts, transmission pan, steering stabilizer bolts, oil drain plug, transfer case, and the bolts for the gas tank skid plate, as I'm going to drop the gas tank, clean it out, flush the line and replace the fuel filter before we try starting the engine. Waiting on a replacement steel steering box spacer to replace the cast aluminum one.



mechanical fan shroud was cracked at all four corners and held together by zipties, so I ordered a replacement.

Some of the parts my dad had bought that will be going in.

These won't be installed until everything is running right and I decide it's worth the time.



Fairly clean overall!


rusty pulley wheels before cleaning and paint.

Notice the rusted/peeling paint on the water pump heater line.

Thermostat housing resurfaced.

It's been getting close to 100 degrees lately, this is a huge improvement.

Repainted tensioner pulley.

New water pump with the old heater line painted.

New power steering pump, new pulley, old reservoir.


Thermostat housing prior to paint.

Masked.

Repainted, mirror pic lol.

Water pump pulley cleaned and repainted.

Thermostat gasket and water pump gasket prior to cleaning.

Scraped clean, the crud in the coolant is from scraping the gasket, after running water through there was nothing but clean coolant.

Edit: decided to leave the harmonic balancer alone, just wire brushed the rust off the teeth.

 

Tried taking off the rear towbar and skid plate but the bolts on it are of course very difficult to turn, sprayed them with kroil each day this week and will continue to do so until the weekend. The power steering gearbox spacer and bolts are supposed to arrive Friday, so hopefully I'll be able to get that, the anti-sway bar, and get the cooling system components installed.