headhunter1

Hi Guys,
just found this forum and wanted to say hello and ask a question. I just bought a 98 sport for my daughter who is 16. Bought it from a dealer in Florida. Arrived today and it looks great. Will need the usual tires, brakes Etc.
while I was underneath, I noticed there was no front driveshaft.? What would that be all about? Noisey U joints and someone took it off? Stolen? Anything you can think of might be helpful. I have a call into the guy I bought it from and he hasn't called back. Starting to feel like something is up.

no rdplz

First, welcome to CF! There are a couple possibilities for no front ds
1. It's 2wd. Not all cherokee's were 4wd so make sure it is in fact a 4wd model.
2. The u-joints were bad and the po never put it back in.
3. The ds itself was out of balance and thus removed.
4. Something in the 4wd workings (t-case, front diff, gears) is either broke or not matched and the po pulled the ds to avoid potential/further damage should 4wd be selected.
5. The po just decided to pull it and eiyher forgot to put it back in or is a complete jerk.

headhunter1

Thanks for the welcome. This seems like a active forum! I'm hoping the u joints were making noise and they removed it, and not the TC or front end. Are they hard to find used? This XJ is really in nice shape, but the undercarriage is a bit Rusty. It seems to float a little when accelorating.? Shocks, Springs? What are the common wearout parts? It only has 70,000 miles. Thanks for responding

no rdplz

Rust is the biggest enemy of any vehicle, but especially our xj's. Get the rust Taken care of and then apply some undercoating (found at most parts stores) to help prevent it from coming back.

If you don't have any humming/grinding while driving then the diff and tcase are probably okay. When you say "floaty" under accleration do you mean the rear squats down a good bit? This could be shocks and/or worn leaf springs. At 70k I would look at changing the plugs, wires, cap and rotor as well as changing the diff fluid front and rear. I'd probably do a coolant flush as well just to be safe.

headhunter1

ya, I was going to change all fluids. no, for the short time I drove it, I didn't hear any nasty noises coming from there. Maybe I'll get Lucky and just pop in a front drive shaft. How bout the front end steering linkage? Does that stuff wear out quickly? I have to get it safe and operating well for my daughter. she is thrilled with it, but want her to be safe. We live on the coast and drive on the beach. This is my first Jeep and want to learn about them.
thanks Matt. I checked out your Bumper build. Nice job! Nice Xj!

no rdplz

The stock steering set up is pretty crappy on the xj's. An easy upgrade is to swap in a ZJ set up that's stronger. Simply get the tierods, draglink, and adjustment brackets for a 93-98 Grand Cherokee with the v8 from the parts store.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments!