Imaginos

So about a month ago I bought used 98 Grand Cherokee Laredo, I have previously owned a 94 GC limited, but never changed anything from stock.

This jeep already has some minor modifications, and i'm considering my options in dealing with them. FOr background, this jeep will be primary an on road vehicle, daily driver to work, but I wouldn't mind trying some simple off road (more bad dirt roads than actual off roading). The 4wd set up is Select trac (2WD,4 PT, 4FT, N, 4L) . As for me, my dad was a mechanic, i know my way around engines pretty well, but have very limited experience with 4WD and off roading.

The first thing is that rather than having the stock wheels it has what the seller called "rubicon wheels" the tires on it right now are P225/75/R17 and they are a tight fit. Tight enough that hard parking lot turns gets them rubbing (i think against the lower control arm).

For the rubbing issue im working from the idea of "don't do that" on really tight turns. My concerns is that I have heard wheels or tires that are to big can cause issues with the Trans or or TC Is this something i should worry about? I am also concerned that if i take it off road that the bouncing is going to cause it rub against the body, the seller indicated he was going to do a 2 inch lift to help that, but hadn't gotten to it. I ask because i have notice that when i run the 4FT setting i get some binding when making turns.

So my questions are 1) Is using these wheels hurting my jeep right now? 2) If i want to do off road, should i lift it or get smaller wheels?
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Next issue is that the heat barely works, I get heat but its not really all that hot. Not sure where i should start looking

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Finally I think my e-brake is stuck the handle has no resistance until almost the top, when i checked the cables at the equalizer there is no tension. The rear brakes are discs, and when im driving it is making a noise that sounds like brakes rubbing.

I know i dumped a lot of info in this post.. but i would really appreciate any tips both on what i asked about as well as anything else you guys think I should look into doing. It has been a while since i was really interested in modifying a car, but i seem to have the bug here.

Thanks

North_Coast_ZJ

If you're worried about the rubbing on the lower control arms there's a steering stop adjustment that only takes few minutes. There's a picture at this link http://www.kevinsoffroad.com/adjusti...-xj-tj-and-yj/ . As far as rubbing on the fender wells when you're off-roading you could do some plastic trimming that's not going to make it look bad. There's also a welded pinch-seem in the front wheel wells you might want to pound down with a hammer. Do a search on this forum and you'll find a bunch of stuff.

dave1123

The E-brake is a drum brake inside the rear rotor. Pull the rear brake caliper and rotor and you'll see them. The adjusting star wheel gets rusted and will have to be freed up or replaced. The cable levers behind the backing plate also are a source of binding and rust.

The heat problem is probably the blend door. Common on ZJs. My 97's blower sounded like a hurricane trying to get through a keyhole, but I only got a slight breeze through the heater.

GitRDunn

My 96 GC had one of the e-brake freeze up. It is a drum brake inside the rotor. The lever was rusted frozen. Sometime and penetrating oil and use of screw driver and pliers to work it back and forth till it moved freely corrected it.

As far as the tires check this link for a tire size comparision: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/tir...5r15-235-75r15 I believe on one of the Jeep forums I saw the largest tire size that would fit stock springs and shocks is 30 9.5 15 Maybe check to see if your springs are tired and shocks are still good?