Hi ladies and gents, first off lemme introduce myself. My name is Ben, I live in the Nashville TN area. I am an ASE cert'd mechanic who works as a welder. I am not thoroughly knowledgeable on the 4.0s other than their unrivaled durability.

I was just given an 87 XJ 4 door with 4wd and 4.0 and 5 speed. The old girl has 270xxx miles on her and here's what has been done so far. Rebuilt the D35 rear and cleaned it out, with new brakes. Rods and mains were swapped at 250k. Needs some maintenance work done such as gaskets, electrical repairs, etc...

If you had just purchased this XJ, what are the first things you would do for reliability and drivability? Future plans are possible cage, 2x6 rockers, bumpers, skids. Planning on running 31-33" tires on minimal lift via "cosmetic surgery".....
Thanks in advance, BH

 

If I had bought it, Id start with a tune up. Spark plugs/wires, oil, etc....air filter too i that hasnt been changed lately (I didnt). And when i finally did, it was black it was that dirty...

 

I wouldn't spend a dime on that 35 at this point. Look into a swap. Other than that, the afore mentioned tune up is always good. Check for rust, check steering, driveline and suspension components over. If your gonna lift it, save money and do it right the first time! Good luck.

 

Probably should re-do the electricals too, ground points, clean the C101, battery cables, etc. Grounds in particular manifest themselves as all sorts of weird problems.

 

Probably gonna lift 2-3 inches over stock.... Prob close to 5 inches from present worn out springs. Wanna do a D44 front and rear in the future. Only reason I built the 35 was it went down while I was unemployed and had to go the cheap route.

 

Got a link for the ground refresh? I've seen it mentioned a few times, but have not found a write up.

 

complete tune up, change oil, check tires. Do a complete check over as if a customer was asking you to check it out if they were to buy it. do a state inspection.

 

I am wondering about XJ specific stuff, such as the ground fix. Tune-up has less than 10k on it. Jeep was very well maintained. (was my Dad's and he over maintains if anything.) the stuff it needs that I know about is just sealing up the engine. Also the cruise does doesn't work and it needs the AC rebuilt stem to stern. Also having an intermittent high idle issue that I think is ground related.... Basically I just need to know the weak points.

 

I don't know much bout remix but get ahold of cruiser54 he knows everything bout remix it seems. He's on bout every night

 

The grounds I beloved are somewhere around the oil dipstick tube. Take the bolt off and clean each connector to the bare medal. Make sure you don't have any oil leaking down there ether. Guess oil is horrible on grounds

 

The grounds I believe are somewhere around the oil dipstick tube. Take the bolt off and clean each connector to the bare medal. Make sure you don't have any oil leaking down there ether. Guess oil is horrible on grounds