First time jeep owner, have some questions.
 

I have added to the collection a 1995 Jeep Cherokee "Country". I've pretty much always had Fords, spare an old Voyager that I got for free, but that's another story. I currently drive a Ranger. I like the Rangers, I've always had one. Well anyways, the girlfriends car has been having a bunch of issues and I've decided that it's time for it to go away. She found this Jeep, so I went to check it out.

244K on the clock.
4.0
5 speed

Handful of stuff wrong with it, one of the rear shock's lower mounting stud is broke off, needs a brake caliper, the temp gauge doesn't work, floor pan is rotted through. Oil pressure starts dropping off at idle once it gets nice and hot. I'm sure there are other things that I've either forgotten to mention, or haven't found out about yet.

Honestly, the thing starts right up and runs pretty good considering that the guy I got it from said he never did a tune up in the 4 years he had it. Drives great, shifts good, and has plenty of power. Steering is nice and tight. I had looked at another one of a similar year and mileage, and I'm honestly blown away how nice these run and drive for the year and mileage.
I gave the guy $1000 for the jeep. I'm hoping I haven't done too awfully bad. I drove it over an hour home from the guys house and it didn't seem unhappy at all.

Now it's in my driveway and I'm planning on doing a handful of things this weekend, fresh oil and filter, grease job, see how the brakes are doing, air filter, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, check the PCV valve, change the fuel filter, and I was planning on draining and refilling the transfer case, checking the fluid in the diffs, and flushing the cooling system. At least those are the things on my to do list. Obviously I also plan to put a replacement stud in that rear shock mount, and I bought a coolant temp sensor that I'm hoping will bring my temp gauge back.

When I went to buy parts they showed two different caps and two different rotors for this motor. Were there different distributors or something? And how do I figure out which one I need?

Like I said, this is my first Jeep. The Ranger forums were extremely helpful when I bought my first truck so I figured I should get an account on the Jeep forums and see what you guys had to say. Is there any thing else that I should do? Comments? Suggestions?
Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Art

Sounds like a good plan, there is no PCV valve though, the 4.0 uses a constant crankcase vent (CCV) system.

I wasn't aware of that, thanks!

I know I haven't posted in a while. We've been swamped at work so I wasn't able to get started on the jeep as quickly as I would've liked. Obviously I did get some pictures up. The 50 foot paint job definitely isn't too pretty, and I haven't decided exactly how much bondo is hidden under there yet. The underneath really isn't bad at all for a '95. But I did finally get to my list, and have some questions.

The sticker on the windshield indicated that they had put 5W-20 in it. I went ahead and put 10W-40 Mobil 1 in there, seems to like it. Fuel filter looked real old, and was probably long overdue for replacement. Plugs and wires did not go entirely according to plan. I took out some Bosch plugs that were all at around .070, and looked pretty old. One of the plugs up front is very stubborn. It'll spin out a few turns and then it just binds up. I've put about as much pressure on it as I'm willing to. I don't really feel like snapping it off. Anybody have any ideas?

Pretty much all the fluids looked overdue to be changed. Trans, transfer case, and diffs were pretty dark and I could see the sparkle of metal in there. Anyone put drain plugs in their diff covers? Seems like I could drill and tap 'em, way less of a hassle than re-gasketing the covers.

What driver fits the block drain plug? The coolant that I drained out of the radiator was pretty rusty, and upon closer inspection, the radiator doesn't look to be in that great of shape. I see a fair amount of damaged/deteriorated fins. May have to be replaced at some point. I really need to get the coolant temperature gauge fixed. Coolant temp sensor did NOT bring my gauge back. What else might be wrong? I would really like to have that gauge working so I know if it's getting hot so I can get that radiator replaced if I need to. Can I put an aftermarket one in? What tells the electric cooling fan when to kick on and off? I've never had an electric cooling fan before.

I would like to rip all the air conditioning stuff out. Anybody already done this that can tell me how much of a project it is? It would appear that I have to install a bypass pulley to do this. Is this the case? In my Ranger I was just able to re-route a shorter belt.

Also, some less technical questions. The Jeep has a little arrow that comes on that I believe is a shift light. It seems to me like it comes on quite early. What RPM do these Jeeps like to shift at? I've noticed that sometimes going into 2nd gear is a little bit tricky. Is this a common problem for the AX15?

What's the story with this transfer case? On my Bronco, I have to jump out and lock the hubs, this doesn't appear to work like that.

I'm thinking about buying some winter tires for it, we definitely get some heavy snowfall up here in Michigan. What size tires can I get away with without lifting it? On my Ranger I could tuck 235/75's and they only rub a little bit with the steering fully cocked.

Like I said, this is my first Jeep. So far, I'm liking it. I've driven it around a little bit and it's very nice to drive. Fairly easy to work on, too, which is a nice change.
As usual, I figured I should get back on the Jeep forums and see what you guys had to say. Is there any thing else that I should do? Comments? Suggestions?
Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Art

I never drain the block to do a coolant flush, I just pull the bottom radiator hose to drain it, then flush it several times to get all of the stuff out. You can't really go by the shift light, one you drive it for a little bit you'll know when to shift it. If the AX15 isn't shifting good it could need a fluid change, you clutch hydraulics could be worn out causing the clutch not to fully disengage, or it could be a bad syncro ring. The front axle has full time hubs, you can shift in and out of 4x4 high at any speed, to shift into 4x4 low you have to be stopped and in neutral.

I just changed the fluid in the trans.

Do I need to have the clutch engaged to pop it into 4H?

I tried to change out that rear shock today. Upper mounting bolts snapped off. Lower mounting stud was already snapped off. Tried to drill out the upper bolts, had my drill bits snap off on me right as they started to break through. Conveniently buried so I can't get them out. The stud replacement kit that I have isn't long enough to make it through that lower bracket, I'm sure anybody who's already done one of these knows what I'm talking about. How to proceed?? Do I need to grind all that material from the old mounting stud off or can I just go with a long 1/2" bolt with some kind of sleeve on it? And for the uppers I'm kind of at a loss. The upper mount is less than convenient for this to happen. I was just going to drill them out and tap for 3/8" fasteners. Is that the best way to go? What have others done? I'm sure I'm not the first one of encounter this problem.

Thanks,
Art.

You can do it either way, when I am moving I just let off of the gas, and shift into 4 high, I don't touch the clutch.

Never hurts to have more brains to pick!!

Hey guys, know I haven't posted in a while, but it's time for an update. Jeep has been treating me pretty well, always starts when I turn the key. Just over 251K on the clock now. Over the winter I had a couple minor problems. Had the headlight switch go bad on me, and blew some fuses in the process. I'll spare you the details of that one, though it makes for a pretty good story. Also had the passenger side U-Joint in the front axle shaft making a ton of noise on me, so I replaced that as well. Now that we're into summer I got some good news, which is that my electric cooling fan is indeed working. They weren't kidding, that thing is noisy. Still runs on the hot side in stop and go, but the old radiator has sprung a leak on me anyways, so here's hoping when I put a new one in it helps keep the truck cooler than the one that's in there now.

Wednesday the power steering sprung a leak on me. I think the metal line at the fitting of the return line is the culprit, so I picked one up with a fitting on it for $7. I just hit the old one with some PB, and I'm about to head out there and replace it. I looked in my repair manual and it specifies "Mopar Power Steering Fluid". I checked every auto parts retailer around me, and none of them carry "Mopar Power Steering Fluid". I find this strange because I'm certain that there are many other jeeps out there, many of which might even have hydraulic power steering. I was told by Advanced Auto Parts, Autozone, O'Reilly's, Parts City, and even Napa and Mazza's, that when they looked up the vehicle it just called for regular power steering fluid. When I googled it, I found many people saying that only the specified "Mopar Power Steering Fluid" should be used. I didn't bother to call the dealer, because I know what they'll say. I knew the forums would be the place to get a real answer, so what's the truth?

As always, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Art

Changed mine a while back. Pretty sure I used Walmart's brand. Any standard fluid will work.

I use ATF in my power steering.

So, apparently I decided that I was having so much fun that I wanted to replace my high pressure line and the reservoir while I was at it. One question though, how do I tension the serpentine belt? Repair manual says to use a "belt tension gauge". Called around, and nobody carries a "belt tension gauge". I find this strange, because I assume that there may be other vehicles out there, many of which may even have a serpentine belt that needs to be tensioned correctly. What do you guys do?

EDIT: Let it be known that I did order the Gates belt tension tool, but it won't be here until Tuesday. I was hoping to drive my truck today.

Smart move. I come to find out the "Yeah that looks about right" method is way off.
Does your repair manual state the specs for the belt tension?