Thought I would post a thread on my Cherokee build. The name of my Cherokee is Benz. Benz started as a clean rust free Texas Cherokee with 4.0L 6, AX15 5 speed trans. NP231J T-case, Dana 30 front axle with disk brakes, Dana 35 rear axle with drum brakes, 3.07 gears factor limited slip. The second owner was wanting to set up a rig to run used vegetable cooking oil. He bought a kit from a guy in Pennsylvania ,that had the parts to put in a diesel motor. After doing lots of research, the second owner found a 85’ 617 Mercedes Benz turbo 5 cylinder diesel and rebuilt the motor. The 85’ is the best year motor to have. 300 TD Mercedes Benz car. Took out the 4.0L 6 cylinder motor and swapped in the 5 cylinder diesel motor. Doing this he had to redo most of the parts bought from the guy in PA. I could write a small book on the motor swap alone, but not for this post. He then added a homemade front and rear bumper. Added a Bandlands 10k winch to the front bumper. Ran the exhaust to the roof to flow better and to keep the Jeep from starting fires while out driving in the dry grass of Texas. Made a roof rack to hold the spare and off-road gear. Put on a set of 215/75/15s BFG KO. Installed a ProComp 3” lift, and drove it for a couple of years, running it on veggie oil.

Now my turn. I bought the Cherokee about a year ago. From the start, I took the parts off to run the veggie oil, and run pump diesel. The Cherokee ran good, but the gearing was way off for any real power. Second mod came after picking up a set of Black leather seats out of a 99’ grand Cherokee. And also found a low miles 96’ Ford Explorer 8.8 rear axle with disks. I switched out the seats from the stock cloth buckets to the leather buckets. The stock 95’ seat brackets worked with the new 99’ leather buckets. Big difference in looks and comfy! I took the Ford axle to a shop in Wenatchee, Wa. and my Cherokee for the next faze of the build. The shop took the Ford 8.8 and completely rebuilt it with all new parts. 4.10 Yukon gears with the complete Yukon rebuild kit. New Yukon Chromo axle shafts, with the c-clip illuminator kit. Added an Ox air locker, new disks, brake pads and braided ss brake lines, like brand new JK rear shocks. Then took the front Dana 30 and gusseted the Cs, control and swaybar mounts. Next was the complete rebuild with the Yukon kit, 4.10 gears Ox air locker, and Yukon Chromo axles. Of course the large new lock ring u-joints. Again, front axles is completely new on the inside. One nice upgrade, when cutting the new axle shafts, the axles are set to run the stock wheels and have the same length just like if I used the 1-1/2” wheel spacers! The wheels I have are 98’ Cherokee Sport Canyon Aluminum 15x8s.

After I had this done, on the test drive with the shop owner, the clutch went out. So, trailered the Cherokee home. New gears, axles and lockers and could not even drive my Jeep! Replaced the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder hoping that was the problem. But that did not! As I write this the Cherokee is in the shop getting a new Centerforce 40 lbs. flywheel and heavy duty Luk clutch put in. Next, I have a set of 32 x 10.5 x15s tires that are going on for the drive home.

My pictures are not the best, but will add some to this post. Hope I did not bore you with this post! Benz.

Changed the name to the Red Baron. Seemed to fit better. Benz.