Thanks 1996XJSport, was kinda worried I might have sounded condescending after I posted that and that was not my intention.

 

Man that sucks! We have one of those laser allignment racks at my tech school's shop and I'm on it every once in a while lol.

Oh reading your username... How's the LTZ runnin??
I own a '05 LTZ250 and it's bored, stroked, it has an FMF exhaust, Twinair CAI, and a bunch of other stuff. I beat 300s in drags lol

 

Nahhhh! This is cherokeeforum NOT NAXJA haha! Everyone knows we're all good people here so its fine! Besides, you can never really tell what someone's intention is just by reading what they said on the internet! Don't worry about it man!

 

Yeah its really handy having access to an alignment rack at my tech. I most recently used it when I replaced the tie rod ends on my WJ.

As far as my Z. It runs great, not nearly as good as it did when I first got it LOL after beating on it for so long. But it still runs strong, I like to think of my Z400 as the XJ of ATV's =) I love Suzuki quads. I need to do the brakes all around on it soon but my current focus has been school, work and my XJ.

 

Very nice man! I beat the S*** out of my LTZ and it just comes back beggin for more! I've jumped her and bottomed out the shocks, I've gone muddin and I accidentially got submerged, I red line it every once in a while even! I've had it since 2008 and my friend owned it before then and he was really abusive to it too. I'm glad I rebuild the engine myself though lol.... Suzuki makes a hell of a machine, that's for sure. Speaking of brakes, make sure you always wash it after getting it muddy, I let it sit a week after muddin and I seized the rear drum... It took me 3 days, a bunch of band aids, PB blaster, Brake Cleaner, and a Sledge Hammer to get it fixed lmaoo!

 

For me the Jeep thing is about creating your own monster how you see fit. I don't mind giving advise unless someone is taking it into a shop. The reason I started this thread is I gave advice on 3 threads that said something to the effect of ok now I know what to tell the shop. Not cool. I will always help out another Jeep and with this form there is probably someone close to anyone who will do the same. I take pride in driving Jeeps and doing my own work and if you see me in town you know its me. Not a cookie cutter Jeep built buy a shop!

 

x2

 

do u mean a dial indicator?

 

I ment that to

 

i agree

 

To play Devil's Advocate for a moment , I think you could also make the argument that by educating people about their cars -- even if they are taking it to a shop -- you're demystifying it for them and that may make them more likely to do work on it themselves in the future.

And frankly, if I have to choose between somebody driving beside me on the road with a lifted rig that was done by a professional, and somebody who did it themselves and did a half-assed and unsafe job 'cause they didn't know what they were doing and didn't have the right tools, I know which one I'd pick.

I have no problem with people knowing their limitations. We've probably all seen work done by previous owners that makes you shake your head at what a hack job it was. Chances are they thought they were pretty clever about being able to work on their own rig.

 

When I was 15 a friend gave me an old motorcycle than hadnt been started for 15 years. It sat in the corner of my garage until chrismas when my dad got me a craftman tool set and a clymer manual. The bike ran for 100k miles with those two things... and ebay parts

Now, many cars and bikes later, I will do almost any work on my XJ.

However, some of the newer stuff looks insane to me. I have an 07 freestar to haul the kids, dogs, and wife around in. when I look under the hood of that thing I feel like I dont know what half of the crap in there even is!!!

 

Real Jeeps are built and not bought. J/K I'm a tech for a Chrysler Jeep dealership and some of the stuff that comes in I'm like WTF? Most of it is from the same off road shop, then some is the owner heard how easy it is to work on themselves and got way too deep. Anyway I'm always willing to help someone since we all started somewhere.

 

100k miles!?!? what kinda bike?

 

When something breaks on mine I go to my dad's house and we fix it together. I've learned a lot from him, but I'm still nervous to attempt any repairs without him.