Belated congratulations ! 🎉

 

Let me suggest GOJEEP's wider opening rear door mod. It's makes accessing the back seat area easier and more comfortable.

Before.


After

Link http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoRearDoor.htm
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Thanks! He's been such an easy little guy so I'm quite happy we have been able to get out (as much as the health restrictions have allowed).

 

Very cool! I have never seen this. Thanks for sharing it! Definitely a bit tight accessing the back!

 

You're welcome.

To the best of my knowledge key locks in the rear doors has not been done before on an XJ. That's been on my list of winter projects for far longer than I care to admit. With that mod we'll gain the ability to unlock just one door with one hand to make loading groceries and things a bit easier.

When replacing the rear lift gate struts installing them upside down has made mine last indefinitely. My theory and observation with 4 XJ's over 18 years is most likely the body up top, rod at the bottom orientation is affording oil to the seals keeping them pliable, preventing wear and therefore gas leakage. Or maybe we just got lucky.

 

Travel restrictions are lifted in my province and so now we are heading out with our infant son to go backpacking for a couple months in the Rockies.

This pushed a lot of XJ maintenance and projects ahead.

Our XJ started stumbling. Almost seemed like a bad shift but we couldn't tell. This got worse and worse and..after some desparation and a last ditch inspection under the hood before a week long trip it turned out to be a dirty connector for the camshaft position sensor. Some contact cleaner and a zip tie to get it out of the way and the Jeep was running smoothly again.

We had a bunch of oil leaking from the valve cover (known) and the breather hose (new). I wanted this finally fixed before our trip because it's a long drive, we are storing our Jeep at someone's place for 2 months while we hike and someone is driving our Jeep to the end terminus of our hike and trail. I didn't want the complication of having oil drip down the intake manifold o to the exhaust, checking oil levels, cleaning someone's driveway or whatever. The breather hose also seemed to be throwing more oil at the air filter than usual so I was worried of an orifice being clogged.

So I brought this to my mechanic to fix. I can't do any work in my apartment garage if it deals with oil or gas so it it way less complicated and faster to bring it in to the shop. $200 CAD later and the valve cover gasket is replaced, breather hoses and elbows replaced and the valve cover cleaned up.

We need to pack our gear more efficiently. Not enough room for my tool bag and our backpacking gear and baby stuff. So I built the toolbox I had been planning for a while. Teaser pics below. Incomplete. I am doing some more today to get it useful before our trip and will take photos. When I get back from my trip I will finish the rest.






Before the trip I will have the box mounted and latches to keep the lid closed. I might have molle pouches installed inside as well (if they arrive).

When I get back I will upholster it with pleather and get the fuse box and aux power wired up so we can run a powered cooler or refrigerator in the cargo area. I would also like to add a white light to the back pointing out of the cargo area to light up the ground and bumper.

 

I got the latches (one on front, one on back) and lid installed. I made the mounting more robust. It's now quite solid.



As mentioned, I have some molle pouches coming that I might hang inside to help organize.

For illustration of my plans when we get back.



I will be wrapping it in the same grey pleather I used for my center console lid. The corners will be covered in aluminum L channel.

The lid might be covered in pleather or some foam or carpet - something to deal with having stuff stacked on top. Really depends on what's available.

I will add D rings around the top edge so I can strap stuff down.

I will wire up an aux power plug between the toolbox and the rear seat. This is to run a powered cooler or refrigerator.

I would like to wire a light to the front as a way to throw some light down on the ground around the cargo area so I can see in bins and stuff at night. I already have a really bright dome light so this will be to throw a bit of light horizontally.

 

EDIT. I will be updating this post with some photos and extra details over the next couple days as I get them together.

We had a second baby a year ago, and I really haven't progressed much on the XJ since. A few things done in the past few years:

1. I upholstered the toolbox in the back.
2. I installed some child seat tethers in the back
3. I fixed the issue with the brake fluid level sensor blowing a fuse. Turns out the connector to the sensor (PN 155744130958 is sold on ebay for Fords but is the correct part for the XJ) has two terminals separated by a rubber seal. The rubber seal had a crack that connected both terminals like shown in the red line below.
   
   
   
   When it rained, the water splashed up and pooled into the crack. Thus shorting the connection. Everything worked when dry, but as soon as you drive over a lot of water it blew the fuse. I live in the lower mainland. It rains a lot. But I don't work on the Jeep in the rain so I never noticed it until quite a bit later. It's so stupid. I replaced the connector with a new one I hunted down on ebay and we haven't had the issue since.
   
4. I 3D printed tweeter brackets and mounted my too-large tweeters I bought a long time ago.

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I'm on parental leave now, and finishing that in like two days, so I ran through a few items on the to-do list. We've been driving into the Kootenays this summer after our LASH (Long *** Section Hike) on the PCT with the kids. It's like 8 hours each way in the mountains to get to the Kootenays from where we live, so I've been focused on keeping Malcom happy for these trips.

1. Re-mounted the ignition switched fuse box in the driver side. The velcro holding it up failed. So I 3D printed a bracket to hold it to the underside of the dash mounting hardware. It's very solid and has survived some high heat trips so far.
   
2. I 3D printed a relay holder that snaps onto the expansion slots on the stock fuse panel in the driver footwell. This relay is for the ignition switched fuse panel.
   
3. I 3D printed a custom fuse panel and power rail for an always-on circuit to connect a solar trickle charger. We park in a garage with no access to an outlet, so I can't really trickle charge when parked at home but this solar panel worked well enough when camping. I plan on adding a larger solar panel on the roof rack if I get a refrigerator for the back. With adding this, I rearranged some of the wiring for the ignition switched fuse box and relay listed above. Diagram shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
4. I replaced the battery with an AGM battery. Old one died while I was out of the country. It was sulfated to ****, and dying before we left for our PCT LASH. It was toast when we got back and couldn't boost it. It was time so I replaced with yellow top - I know quality is debatable but it's all I had access to short notice.
   
   
   
5. I replaced the stock 90A alternator with the 136A one from K suspension. No pictures of this. It was a lot of work to do in a shared garage. I had to grind the alt bracket on my patio with a dremel.
   
6. I replaced about half of the power wires with the K suspension battery cable kit. I still have the starter and a couple ground wires left, but I had replaced a lot of the ground wires with low gauge wires when I bought the XJ so I didn't prioritize this before driving out of town for a bit.
   
7. I mounted the fusible link box from the K suspension cable kit in a custom 3D printed mount by the cruise control. I wanted a bracket to hold the fusible link "upright" because when I originally went to install it, it was a pain getting everything together with it sideways. The nut and washers would just fall out. This is really accessible now and easy to replace the fuse. The bracket is mounted to the inside of the engine bay using M4 screws. I used rivnuts in the engine bay here so I can remove the bracket if needed.
   
   
   
   
8. After installing the new cables to the PDC, the little plastic cover that goes over the power wire terminals didn't fit. I made a new one on my 3D printer that fits over the large power cables. Made with PETG, I can reprint in a different material if this one melts. I just like not accidentally touching something against that terminal. I can provide STP files to anyone wanting to make their own.
   
   
   
   
9. I installed a new coolant temperature sensor. When boosting the bad battery, the coolant temp sensor was smacked by the booster cables and broke. I'd like to build a metal shroud around it so I don't do that again.
   
10. I replaced a bunch of vacuum line, vacuum canister. Relocated the canister by the coolant overflow. I 3D printed the bracket - if it gets too soft, I'll get a sheet metal bracket made.
    
    
    
11. I replaced the blower motor. Contemplating installing relays and improving the ground. I had to re-route the air cooling tube using some plastic 1/2 inch barbs and 1/2 inch ID silicone tubing. I got everything pretty clean. I cut the stock cooling tube in half so it would insert into the blower motor enclosure, then attached the new hose in between the stub that stuck out the firewall and the stub that stuck out the blower motor. I have no idea how to take a clean photo down there with all the wires and vacuum tubes in the way, so trust me on this.
    
12. Inspected the HVAC fan speed switch. Have a new one. Didn't replace it (old one works).
    
13. I replaced the 6 blade aux fan with the 10 blade fan. I had this on the shelf in my storage for 5 years. Finally did it. Holy crap that's great.
    
    
    
    
14. I am in the process of installing a cheap stereo with android auto. I've tested it so far and it's nice. It has like a 7 inch screen. I can install a backup cam later. I'm just 3D printing hopefully the final version of the bezel around the edges (prototype was grey, new one is black). Since the screen is larger than the dash trim, the 3D printed bezel has slots in it for stereo removal keys. I've tested it. It works really well. They are angled to get the key in the right spot behind the screen. I 3D printed a bracket to hold it. I used a spare dash trim piece that I had laying around and cut the opening up for the stereo to fit better (so I don't dremel my good dash piece). Now with this stereo I have way more room for the cables and vacuum lines and they aren't getting pinched anymore. I'm super happy with that.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

This is a lot. I'll look to take some photos of the engine bay and stereo.

 

Drove out for a road trip last weekend. 7 hours minimum each way.

Everything works great!

Interior fan works well.

AC is a little cooler, I think due to better airflow through the condensor from the efan. During warm ambient temperatures it used to blow a bit warm and warm after shutting AC off. It's still not great after shutting AC off but it's better. I'll look into this later.

Efan and topping up coolant has likely improved cooling a lot. The engine stayed rock solid and didn't creep up during climbs. Last trip out there a month ago we had to blow the heat to dump heat. This weekend we had zero concerns.

Stereo is actually pretty great. I would like to add a few buttons to map to the stereo software to open the radio app and maybe get to home screen. But overall the sound quality is good, the stereo works well. Screen is responsive. Everything works as it should.