Hi all,

2000 XJ, 180k miles, 4.0L auto

I have the engine out right now at the machine shop, so I figured this would be a good time to clean up the bay, replace suspension bushings, etc.

Anyway, the track bar bracket is pretty rusty... i.e. large chunks of rust falling off of it and the bolts going into it look like the threads are deteriorating. The track bar itself doesn't have any play in it, so I'm questioning whether or not to touch this. If I replace the bracket with a good non-rusty bracket then I'll probably replace the track bar too along with the hardware.

Any thoughts?

 

I would replace the trackbar, steering stabiliizer, and do the V8 tie rod upgrade.

 

Trac bars seem to be problematic on these. I would replace and or upgrade the mount. The bar and the hardware.

 

Make your life simple, replace it now with the engine out.
You'll regret it later if you don't.

 

You can get a bracket at the junkyard and then
get all new bolts at a hardware store.

 

Thanks guys, pretty much what I figured. I'm looking at the Moog track bar for $50ish on Rockauto, and I was going to buy grade 8 nuts/bolts at the hardware store.

I just have to track down a good condition bracket, hopefully from someone NOT in the rust belt.

 

Are you lifted or ever plan on it? Why not just get an adjustable right away?

 

Well that's kind of a hard question to answer, this Jeep was originally for my brother in law who just got his license. It's a black 2000 XJ with 180k on it, needs a bunch of work. I couldn't find any good used engines near me so I had the engine machined and it will be basically a brand new 4.0L.

My XJ is also a 2000, silver, with 208k miles on it, but the engine is actually out of a 96 Grand with 160k on the bottom end. I did a ton of work getting it back in shape, but no lift yet. I planned on a modest 3" lift at some point.

Do I keep my silver XJ and lift that eventually, or keep the black one and give my brother in law the silver one? or keep both?

Neither one has been offroad as far as I know, but my Jeep is generally in better shape overall. Paint on the roof of the black one needs work. Otherwise they are pretty comparable.

 

Keep the silver one as a daily and offroad the black one! Haha but regardless, I woukd just drop a little more on an adjustable because you'll soon get the urge to lift and why spend twice?

 

Dammit, man! What's the update? You rebuild this sucker, or what?

 

I'm usually pretty good on updating my threads, must have missed this one. And it's also funny that you resurrected this thread.

I did in fact remove the track bar bracket. The original track bar was so beat and rusted I actually had to use a cutoff wheel to remove it from the bracket. No pics, but I did grind all the rust off the bracket (it was still solid). Painted it and installed a new Moog replacement track bar in it's place. Very solid replacement for ~$50.

As for the engine, I got it back from the machine shop like so:





with paint



assembled


The funny (but not really) part is that my brother-in-law has been driving it for a few months now and last weekend had to get it towed to my house. He broke down on the highway, it's leaking coolant from somewhere and wouldn't continue accelerating. Haven't had time to work on it yet, but soon.