Crimmy

Ok so i said id get pictures and i did. The things i know are wrong are something with the heating and cooling. The muffler and the tranny leak. Is there anything else you guys can see that needs to be replaced?

http://img230.imageshack.us/g/p1010078k.jpg/

Trickynick89

well the only thing I can see from your pix there guy besides alot of age is possibly your rear main seal is leaking blowing it back onto your trans housing.... you dont really have any pix of your front steering setup or your front and rear diffs. For your axles and upper and lower control arm mounts... you might wanna get in there soon and sand all that surface rust and paint them before it gets outta control and is too late lol

Trickynick89

for your cooling you might wanna see if your elect fan is still working.... hook it up to direct current and see if it kicks on.... spin your clutch fan with your hand... see if there is any resistance. if there is then your clutch fan is good if it spins freely and easy then it needs to be replaced... and lastly hit up wal-mart or an auto parts store for some radiator flush.... it never hurts to flush it out

Crimmy

Heh. Im new to cars of this scale. Still trying to find out where everything is. I got a repair manual on its way so ill get some different pics of those parts you mentioned.

What grit sand paper would i use? And what kind of paint would i use? Ohhhh will it be shiny under there? =P Rust isnt all that attractive.

1991Jeep_Man

The last thing you really want is to leave any metal bare and shining. It has ZERO protection from rust. Get some heavy duty paint (I used some hardcore Rust-o-leum for mine) and paint spray everything down with 2-3 coats. Leave nothing bare.

Vindicator9000

No problem, we all gotta start somewhere.

On the sanding... you're not going to want to use sandpaper, or you'll be there forever. Seriously. I've found that a decent sized electric angle grinder with a wire wheel does wonders for taking off surface rust very quickly. Mine's a Craftsman that's okay. My buddy has a Milwaukee that's awesome, but very expensive. If you don't want to spend a lot, you can get a cheapy from Harbor Freight that will probably work for awhile.

In my 9 months of XJ ownership, I've found my angle grinder to be my most important tool. Closely followed of course, by a good set of Torx bits. It's unreal how much cutting I've found myself having to do on various Jeep projects. Remember that if you're using a grinder, safety glasses and gloves are a MUST if you enjoy your sight and your fingers. You'll learn why about 5 seconds after you start using one.

As far as paint:
You'll almost certainly want to prime first, since you're going down to bare metal, because paint won't stick to bare metal (unless you're using something that's designed to). You don't have to take EVERYTHING down to bare metal. The idea is to remove all of the surface rust, dirt, flakes of junk, loose paint, loose rust, and whatever else. You'll also want to remove as much grease and crap as possible from anything you're planning to paint. A bucket of water and dish soap works okay for most of this, although stronger cleaners might help. It's okay to leave paint that's in good condition, just rough it up a little so the primer will stick better.

I've been using a rust treatment primer by Duplicolor that has a Zinc additive, and is supposed to stop rust dead. In the super rusty areas, I'm using a clear Duplicolor rust treatment before priming. It goes on the rust clear, and as it sets up, turns the rust into a black inert metal. Seems to work well.

Then, after priming, I'm finishing with Duplicolor satin black. Personally, I love the look of the satin... It's not too shiny, and not too matte.

Crimmy

I live in South dakota. Last winter we had 6 feet of snow and 30 below zero. I worked for the university of south dakota and we had literally a pallette of around 200 bags of industrial grade ice melt. That stuff eats away at rubber and metal. And now in the summer its not uncommon to have 80 percent humidity days. So even if it doesnt seem like theres anything wrong i will probably want to do everything to give it protection. Ive only got a dremel right now. Ill have to look around for an angle grinder.

R Cannon

For undercoating I prime with rustolium rust reformer, then rustolium rubberized undercoating.

1991Jeep_Man

Amen brother. Rust-o-leum is the way to go. I especially love that Rust Reformer.

SeriousOffroad

The major problem I see is the fact that you own a 2WD Cherokee and live in a geographic area that really demands 4WD.

Convert it or get a 4wd version.....seriously.

R Cannon

good eye...

Crimmy

Yes i know its a two wheel drive. Its also automatic. I friggin hate automatics. But its what ive got to work with. I will eventually convert it to 4wd but right now its just my daily driver to get to work. Lots of highway miles. Oh and i just got it a lil more ****ed up today. Hit a bird or something doing 75 on the interstate. It ripped off the cover to my headlights and when i got home it was just dangling by the blinker cable. Which also caused a really bad blinker fluid leak....haaaaa. >.< The screws holding it on were rusted out and it popped the heads of fof all of them but left the screws behind...so im ****ed. More duct tape it is for now and hopefully it holds on the interstate.

G_P

The screws that hold the trim around the headlights seem to love rusting until they snap. Happened on my Cherokee and Comanche. Sometimes you can remove the remains of the screw with some Kroil and vise grips.

On my Cherokee I could not get one screw out so I used some sticky back velcro to hold it in place where the screw was gone. The velcro will not hold up to much force but it keeps it mounted evenly until I can find a new header panel.

Crimmy

Thanks for the advice. Think some pb blaster would be good to try and loosen it up? I was also thinking maybe i could take the dremel and cut notches into it and get it out with a flathead. Ive had to do that with stripped bolts before but thats a bit different when the head is still there. Just want to see if thats a viable option cuz if it doesnt work then there is no way to remove it.