Basslicks

Thanks man. Yeah I'd go for the prerunner /jeepspeed setup, but there's nowhere around here to run it. So it'd be pretty irritating. It's gonna get the 4wd swap, just gotta wait for the funds.

The more I read about the 300m and 300m special, the more I want one. Heck, it was MT's Car of the Year in 1999 and made C&D's 10 best for '99 and 2000. That says a lot, IMO

lol... yeah GAWD no. I mean, these Jeeps are awesome and very capable even in stock form, but they're not worth GOLD. I just don't get people.

Basslicks

Went on a little shopping spree for it. Nothing major, just showin' her some love.



She's been running like she's tired lately. Starts up fine in the morning but after she gets "warmed up", she'll take forever to crank once you shut it off. Then, instead of a quick idle surge like normal and the dropping down to idle (at about 900-950), she'll cough and sputter up to idle (at about 1000-1100). So, along with installing all of these parts (note: some are NOT related to the aforementioned issue), I'll also be cleaning the AIC, replacing some vacuum lines, and might even do a ground refresh... she could definitely use it.

Basslicks

Got my wife a Shiney 2000 Chrysler 300m. Wasn't able to get a Special in our price range, but I got a really good deal on this one:



142k miles. $900 - the interior is in good condition.

-Some wear on the leather seats, but not terrible.
-No tears, just a little aged leather cracking.
-There is a small puncture in the rear seat, but it's nothing major.
-The carpets are stained but nothing a shampooer can't take care of.
-The driver's side window comes off track when you roll it up, but it just needs new clips on the glass.
-The handle broke off the hood release cable - and the cable itself broke through the housing.
-There is a couple of trim pieces missing, and the door seals have shrunk.
-There is an exhaust leak
-Brake lights weren't working
-Needed some new brake light bulbs.
-Missing jack and lug wrench.

Already went to the junk yard and got the trim pieces I needed. Found a set of door seals in good condition. Found a whole slew of bulbs (I knew they wouldn't charge me for them, only reason I grabbed 'em). Pulled a hood cable (gigantic PITA - installing it will be even worse). Found a jack and lug wrench in good condition, a couple other odds n ends, and even a set of Sony Xplod 6.5"s that would fit in my soundbar for the Jeep. All for the whopping price of 30 bucks.

The brake lights were fixed with a simple installation of a new brake light switch. Bulbs were installed easily, which then led to the discovery that the metal coating for the reflector on the inside of the housings is coming off... so I'll need new housings soon.

Haven't figured out the exhaust leak yet and haven't had time to do the hood cable. Everything else is pretty much squared away with it.... OH, I also have to figure out what's going on with the seat motors. Some of them don't work.

Overall, we're really happy with the purchase. The car runs (like a raped ape!) and drives great and is surprisingly fast for a 4k lb car with a 250 horse v6 in it.

The best part.... THE JEEP IS ONCE AGAIN MINE!!!!

Basslicks

Also, all my parts arrived from Rock Auto. I'm really impressed with the shipping speed.



Had a little bit of time so I installed the AIT sensor, the temp sensor, and was in the process of installing the temp gauge sendor when it broke... they're sending me a replacement free of charge with upgraded shipping. I love this company!

Jeep is already running a little better. Haven't gotten rid of the rich condition yet, but the idle is more stable and it seems to be starting better now.

More updates as I have them.

Basslicks

So here's the cool thing about budgeting. You get your money under control and start being able to set money aside for things you want... ya know... after you've actually paid your bills and put money in savings. It might not seem like a huge deal to you guys, especially considering how little I paid for this Jeep, but to me it's huge. Normally I can't afford to do something like this until I get my tax refund.

On to the update...

I was perusing through the Craigslist ads actually looking at pickup trucks because I'm kind of missing having a bed. Would be nice to have something to pull the Jeep to big wheeling events too so that if I break something, I have a fall back AND a way to get back home.

Anyway, I came across an ad with no pictures that just said "1996 jeep cherokee - $300" as the title. - Couldn't wait to see what kind of pile this thing was, so I clicked on the link to read the description...

"1996 jeep cherokee two door 4wd has blown motor body in decent shape good for a toy there is no tittle . tittle was lost just use it for a toy call for more questions"

"Hmm... I could buy that thing, get the parts I need, and part out the rest."

I had a friend of mine go check it out. Turns out the guy lived just a few minutes from him.

These are the pictures my friend sent:







Ok, so at this point I'm thinking it's at least worth the 300... not sure what I could get for the parts. My friend was pretty confident that it was worth more than the asking price too and knew I could make some money off of it.

So we both went out there a few days later and pulled it back to my friend's house.... that was fun.

The steering column is messed up so I can't even try to start it if I wanted to. I know what you're thinkin'.... it must be hot. I was thinking the same thing until I saw the registration in the glovebox with the guy's son's name on it and the address listed was the address we were at. That made me feel better.

By the time we got it back to my friend's house to load it up on the trailer, it was pretty late and he didn't feel like driving to the other side of the county to my house with it. So he said he'd bring it to my house the next day.

Daylight proved to be much more promising.



The rear is really squatty because he sucked the rear of the body down with comealong wenches. Not the way I would have loaded it, but hey... not my trailer, not my tow vehicle, and I know he'd pay me back if he screwed up my Jeep - not that I'd really care.

I wanted to get my hands dirty and start gettin' parts off this thing right away, but I was coming down with a cold or something. So I just started removing minor things out of the engine compartment.

Meanwhile, a guy came to look at a set of TJ Canyons that I'm selling and he spotted the Jeeps. Asked me what I was planning to do with the wheels and tires that were on the parts Jeep. I told him I was probably going to put them on mine, but couldn't do it yet 'cause I needed to have something to roll the Jeep around on and keep it off the ground.

So we ended up working out a deal that he would give me his stock wheels and tires from his XJ, I sell him the steel wheels and tires from my white XJ, and he helps me put the Ultras on my white XJ and the stockers on the green one. I gave him a price of $300 for my wheels and tires, knocked it down to $200 for him giving me the stockers, and he said he'd give me another hundred when I was done with them.

Oh, by the way, I talked the seller of the green jeep down to $250 so in case you're not keeping track, there's a $50 XJ sitting in my yard.

So this happened....





closeup of the wheels:







Of course, I had to test drive them. Took them out on the road... verdict is still out, but I need to have them balanced first. I'm hoping I don't have a bent wheel (again ). I forgot how well aluminum wheels absorbed impact. Much softer on the bumps than the previous setup.

BUT... the DW is back with a vengeance. I've narrowed it down to between 35-40 mph this time though. So at least I know what to expect. Still sucks. And no matter what, it vibrates in the rear at almost any speed. Like I said, hopefully not a bent wheel, but I'm pretty sure it is bent.


What I plan on taking from this Jeep:
-Front axle
-Transfer case
-driveshafts
-power steering pump
-ac compressor
-steering gear (want to see if it's tighter than mine)
-washer bottle (not sure if it will work 'cause mine is a little different)
-Flomaster muffler (bonus)
-Hatch struts
-factory airbox (cowl hood "snorkle" forthcoming)
-the aux lights on the front bumper
-the front bumper
-maybe the alternator
-door check arms
-driver's side mirror
-ebrake
-dash bezel
-grille
-floor pans (if they're any good)

That's all for now. Maybe this thing will be 4wd before the end of February

ETA: Made a thread dedicated to the donor XJ. It deserved some form of recognition. https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/im...points-229093/

cleenrob

nice find!!

Basslicks

Yeah definitely. I really lucked out

Basslicks

Got a little bit of work done on the parts Jeep this afternoon before the daylight ran out. Was able to pull the halogen lights off the front of it, both front seats, the rear seat bottom (doesn't really count 'cause it's easy to do), and started removing some of the interior panels.

I gotta be honest, this stuff isn't in really good shape. Probably won't end up making near what I thought... but some is better than nothing.

In other news... one of my HID bulbs crapped out on me. Can't really complain to much seeing as I've had them for about 4 and a half years without any trouble... and for the past year to year and a half, I've been running them without lenses on the H4 housings. I have the stone guards over them, but they've been susceptible to weather so that may have been the killer... or just that they're cheap and they ran out of life.





Welp... time to start saving for some Trucklites.

Basslicks

... Change you really can believe in!

So my death wobble was getting exceedingly worse. I could hardly drive it the way it was. I figured the other axle couldn't POSSIBLY be any worse, so I decided to go ahead and swap it out. If the DW was still there and just as bad, well, I haven't made anything worse. Seemed right to risk it.

I'm sure some of you are wondering, "Why not just fix the DW?" Well... I'm going to. But I didn't want to put money and time into an axle that I'm going to be getting rid of. Just didn't make any sense to me.

So, I started by removing the axle on the parts jeep. Didn't get any pics of that because let's face it, it pretty much looks like this, just in green:



Got a pretty funny pic of me BREAKING ratchet on the LCA of the parts jeep though.



Bet you thought you were going to see a grenaded mechanism didn't ya? I've grenaded a couple of them, but never SHEERED one off at the stub. Good stuff.

Then of course, I had to make a blood sacrifice to get out the donor axle.





Penance paid.

But! I did take pics of the removal of the beam axle from underneath mine.

So here we go... always thought this looked a little funky in pictures. It's even funkier in real life.



Steering is completely removed at this point. TREs are slap wore out, steering stabilizer is slap wore out - has no negative pressure whatsoever. You can push the ram into the cylinder and there's resistance, but you can pull the ram straight out without any resistance at all. Good stuff. Also discovered that my calipers are different, which is bad news at this point because the other ones are shot. One is caked up with mud and frozen up, the other has a cracked and broken piston.

Front axle is gone, say hello to hoverjeep:

Basslicks

Now... this next part was me deciding to secure my bumpstop spacers instead of letting them clang around free inside the coils... that was REALLY annoying.

So, my original intent was to drill and tap the spring perches and use a couple of 4.5" long machine bolts that I already had laying around. Problem is, they were to small of a diameter... the existing "hole" or "Dimple" or whatever, was much bigger. I didn't find this out until AFTER I had driled and tapped the hole, so the hole blew out very quickly.



So instead, I came up with the idea to put the bolts through the bottom side and weld them into place.







perfect



Fin.



All that was bolted on, and I was ready to slide the axle under and bolt everything up... and it started raining on me. Cold. Wet. Windy. Rain. UUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH misery misery misery... the only thing I can think of that would have made that worse would have been working on it in the mud instead of the driveway.



My wife helped me out a little and came up with this idea when she came out and saw me standing there soaked and shivering in the rain...



Was still a little cold and wet but at least I wasn't getting DRENCHED in a downpour.

Fast-forward a little bit to the end. After hours of cold, wet, rain, dark, calipers not fitting, swapping out calipers, installing axle, and calliper still not working.... the axle was in. Calipers were just going to have to wait until tomorrow. I had no brakes, no ride to work the next day, I was cold, wet, and pissed off.

Basslicks

So the next day, I woke up, waited for the parts store to open. Bought a set of calipers, uninstalled, reinstalled, installed a new steering stabilizer while I was at it, bled the brakes, bled the brakes, bled the brakes - see where I'm going with this?

I still had no freakin' brakes. I couldn't figure it out... was my booster bad? No... was my master cylinder bad? No... Was my master cylinder the wrong size? No way. I went from single piston to single piston with similar diameter.. what the crap.

Once again, it was dark, it was cold, I was fed up, and I needed to go to work the next day.

Well, my genius self was in such a hurry to get the stupid calipers on, I installed them on the wrong sides... of course, I didn't THINK about this until the NEXT DAY at work. I called up my wife and, with instruction, asked her to go and check out the calipers for me... just to tell me where the bleeder screw was. Sure enough - it was on the bottom.

Got home that evening, went to work on them - once again in the freezing cold rain!

Swapped out the calipers, bled the brakes. HOUSTON! WE HAVE PEDAL!

Thing stops better than it ever has.

Axle is in, brakes are great, death wobble is minimal... on to replace bushings, control arms, and steering components.

Basslicks

Cleaned the TB and IAC... didn't get any after pics because well... you've seen what a new one looks like, right?










Idles much better now, and actually starts slightly easier. Still dealing with having to poor man's prime and hesitation at around the mid-rpm range.

Ordered an Accell brass-terminal rotor cap and button from Autozone... 17.99 - couldn't believe it. Should be ready for me to pick up today after work.

Getting a fuel pump after that.

Basslicks

Now... not what I've done TODAY, but what I've been up to over the past week:

Borrowed a friend's engine hoist... I had him there to help me load it up into the back of the Jeep. Had to get a little creative to unload it. Got my parts jeep's motor all ready to come out...



Got it out after some struggle... it's kinda difficult when you're moving an engine hoist around on sheets of OSB. The ground underneath is hard-packed, but not hard enough for those small wheels to roll around on.



The challenging part was running out of room on the OSB.

After I had it out, I had to pull the pan down to turn the crank to get the torque converter bolts out. The broken rod was keeping the crank from rotating... some nice carnage down in the bottom of the pan.





Forgot to say WHY I removed the engine and tranmission together. I had removed the E12 on the driver's side myself without much issue. The passenger side, however, was a whole other story. There was a brand-new looking shiney-nickle-ish freeze plug on the back of the engine block. So SOMEONE somewhere along the way replaced it and when they did, they hulked the e12s back on there so hard there was almost not getting them off. I ended up having to grind the head off the passenger side one just get get it out.

After that, the tranny separated from the motor with no issue.



After that was done, I loaded up the engine hoist, the tranny jack, the floor jack I borrowed, the tranny and transfer case, and the rest of the parts I needed and drive everything about 30 minutes north to my friends house to complete the swap.



And DONE!



NP231 all bolted up into place along with a 4wd AW4 - that shifts better than the one that I had in it! It was believed to be blown up... glad Outlaw came through with some tips on how to check if it was bad or not. I also tested out the 4 low to make sure the TC worked... and it does.

I head a good long headscratching session trying to figure out how to make the transfer case talk to the speedometer. The speedo gear sensor on the transfer case was a 3-wire with the short-shaft gear, and the speedo gear sensor on the 2wd tailshaft was the 2-wire with the long-shaft. It wasn't immediately clear to me that the sensors are swappable. Just unbolt the retaining clip, and pull the whole assembly out. Voila! Working speedometer.

Only thing left is front driveshaft and installing the shifter gate and shift lever.... and then linking it up.

I also need to adjust the shift linkages and clean the NSS so my reverse lights will work.

ZJ steering should be here tomorrow


...Finally 4wd...

88whitecomanche

Nice! Congrats on being 4wd! I bet it was a long time coming...

Basslicks

Thanks man, 5 years in the making.