I just bought my first XJ a couple weeks ago and love it. It is a 1996 Country with 100,000 miles. This will be my daily driver for a while and I was wondering what I should do to it to make it last longer. I don't have any experience with Cherokees or their common problems so I am looking for suggestions on maintenance as well as upgrades. I will not be using it for off road but it may be performing the normal Jeep duties ( recovery, light towing, etc. ).

I have done a small tune up including all new tires, cap, rotor, plugs, wires, battery, coolant flush, engine oil change, and transmission oil change. I have also done a few things just to make it more “me” including a roof rack, back trunk storage ( I like to carry a ton of oil, water, coolant, etc. ) , and bed liner on rockers and top of bumpers.

I will be adding a tow package soon, with d ring and straps for recovery.

What am I missing? Any suggestions?

Thanks, BDGile

 

service the diffs, change the air filter, transfercase oil, grease all the steering and suspension parts and you should be set

 

you are down the perfect track for reliability! i would say you've done just about everything anyone on here will tell you to! is it a 4x4? i would maybe think about getting a transmission cooler due to the fact that if you have an automatic your transmission will go out way before the engine(mostly cuz the 4.0s are bulletproof) and possibly a transmission temp gauge to keep an eye on things when yu are doing your light towing,
but other than those preventive things i would just change the oil when you should and change the spark plugs to keep the carbon build up to a minimum.
we would LOVE pics of this jeep you've got!! sounds like a good one!!!

 

I just bought my 1997 Country from a friend (that bought it new) with 250k miles on the engine. Runs STRONG!

Yours has barely been broken in!

 

It is a 4X4 and the trans cooler sounds like a good idea.

 

Sounds like after this ^^ you've got it covered, mechanically. I'm in the same boat. I recently picked up a cherry with 78K on it. Change the fluids when you should, and you'll have it for a LONG time.

I also lube or grease everything in the doors, like the hinges and springs and latches. Under the hood, lube the hood releases and shoot lube in the end of the cable casings and work it in. Get a good chain lube; something that won't evaporate. 'Chain wax' isn't a bad product and readily available. WD-40 is useless for anything other than penetrating stuck bolts (it's not even that great for that).

I have new speakers for the doors so while I have the door panels off I'll coat the inside of the door bottoms with either grease or a 'naval jelly' type product (i can't recall the name of the better one) as the doors are prone to rust.

Welcome to the club

 

And yes on the trans cooler. I wouldn't tow without it. It only takes one time to trash your trans.

 

Okay. So I am going to do a transmission cooler. Anyone know of some good write ups?

 

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/...sionCooler.htm

And make sure you don't already have a tranny cooler installed.

 

It looks like someone replaced the rocker panels already, I would check the floors for any possible rust issues. Better to catch the rust early, also coat the floor in an anti rust coating if there isn't one already. Good looking Jeep!!

 

The rocker panels were me. They were a little dinged up so I did bed liner on them.