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Hi I'm James and I'm new to jeeps. I have always been intrigued but up until now never had enough money or luck to find a jeep for a fair price and no rust. I know it's a tall order as both statements are contradicting when searching for a jeep albeit very rare it is doable but I'm curious as to how good of a deal you guys think. I've only had it a month so don't know a lot about it but am very mechanically inclined as I've been restoring cars to oem beauty for close to 5 years now. I'm young though so I have ALOT of car learning to do. I will be doing a build thread once my finances allow.
I recently rebuilt a 1995 jetty that I bought for 500 and sold for 1500. I know not much profit but this is hobby and I feel good when someone gets a TRULY good deal on a used car that'll take em anywhere. I feel I'm doing society a favor over all the rip off joints buy here places that claim to take cars to their former glory when all the do is bandaid cars for the next owner to fix. It's doable but mechanics is increasingly overpriced each year.
Sorry I side track alot, I'll get the hang though.
Anyway.... after I sold it I found a jeep on Craigslist for 1600. Was marked down from 4500.
I figured it was a bad motor though as no buy here can profit off that but figured eh what the hell. So once I get there I see the passenger door lock was deleted and a steel like plate covering the hole. Then walk over to the drivers side and see the latch kind of dangling and the door has a rip ddown like this xj was in jurassic park (sorry for the lame pun)
Anyway ask the guy to look at it as its buried in a small lot that shouldn't fit 20 cars but they have 50 in it haha. He let's me get in and love and behold fell in love. Never in my life have I gotten in a used car over 20 years old and see interior like this! And I'm so picky as every car I've owned was or ended up this way! So I'm like ok 2 doors to fix and that's it. I can deal as I know how easy it is.
Now comes the test drive. He was with more so I was a little more careful but I can hear (self diagnose) cars very well and they always "speak" best when they aren't always going their fastest as some think. Drives me nuts when a test drive results in the driver flooring it everywhere. I refuse to sell my rebuilt cars to them typically.
Once it had a full warm up cycle as I knew it sat for a long time I went down the block a few times. I was nit picky, acted as I wanted one but not to desperately, picked on every thing. Especially the SUPER loud fuel pump. Told him it was on it way out. Car has 270000 plus miles but drove better than most cars I've had at 120k. Told him needed a rebuild soon just judging by miles as people cringe with that much but I know mileage is no bounds to a motors capability if given its basic requirements and address issues at hand. Also play like 4x4 didn't work as the jerk in freaked him out (was on concrete going up a grade at full rails turning) and he went to 1100 for me and I took it as the cheapest one I found here that I could drive daily was rotted out soon bad.
I ended up driving it 20 miles home that night with a bad headlight and the loudest fuel pump noise that shook the whole car but I loved every minute!
Was sold on jeeps after this and will own many more!
It had a ghetto cheap cheap can spray job to cover the door skirt missing and the bumper that has rust... or maybe it's rusted because they painted it? Haha but it's getting really done but I'm catching up the motor first. The first project ever that hasn't pooled fluids in my driveway so that's worth 1100 a year in concrete cleaner and detergents anyday. The case makes no noise, no line vibrations, Dana 35 rear and 30 front both in great order. Interior is flawless and I'll be sure to post pics. I love clean early xj interior it's my favorite as its a cross between a wj and tj in design. My main concern is over drive as I see this issue alot where do engages to early to where I'm not a 50 yet but if I do the lightest travel can keep it out of od longer but the moment I give it more gas it will upshift. It's the opposite of slippage. My tranny fluid level (automatic OD) is a little high sovim changing all fluids next week so I'll know how bad once pan is dropped. I'm hoping fluid is too high as I cleaned nss and adjusted it. That helped move shift a little up bland now it's livable.
The car also had dender and front fiberglass damage from a slight side swipe but all is cosmetic and is next on list but anti rust treatments. Will post pics up in a couple of hours. Give me feed back and sorry on the story book. Hope it was amusing haha
Perfect seats
Only flaw is seat needs cooked on gum removed and one tiny tear by the recliner latch
Last edited by James Whisenhunt; 04-29-2016 at 12:57 PM.
Reason: pictures
Welcome James. Once pics are up and you start seeing whats really going on there will be plenty of info here to help.
One thing that I just figured I'd mention right off is that you do not need to drop the tranny pan. There is a drain plug and conventional wisdom is to drain the trans from the plug then replace the 2.5 qts or so with fresh fluid. Do that a few times and you'll have changed the fluid out.
This assumes its working good and the fluid isn't black and burned but the filter is just a screen and dropping the pan just to change that is probably not worth the effort.
As far as dropping into OD too soon mine does that too and it will chug along at 45mph in OD. Personally I like it and it drops right out of OD and will downshift readily with a little gas so driveability is just fine. Good Luck
Welcome James. Once pics are up and you start seeing whats really going on there will be plenty of info here to help.
One thing that I just figured I'd mention right off is that you do not need to drop the tranny pan. There is a drain plug and conventional wisdom is to drain the trans from the plug then replace the 2.5 qts or so with fresh fluid. Do that a few times and you'll have changed the fluid out.
This assumes its working good and the fluid isn't black and burned but the filter is just a screen and dropping the pan just to change that is probably not worth the effort.
As far as dropping into OD too soon mine does that too and it will chug along at 45mph in OD. Personally I like it and it drops right out of OD and will downshift readily with a little gas so driveability is just fine. Good Luck
Thanks I agree pan is a pain but my charger is 2 inches from the ground so the fact I'm so short and don't need a jack for really anything but major work makes me happy. Did the nss rebuild with out a jack and will be doing u joints and don't plan on raising the car if I can ever avoid it. The od thing is new to me that's why I thought ild ask. Just drive me nuts as I'm in the foothills so doing 40mph up a hill and then it up shifts and I need to downshift seconds later is extra wear I hate but this is a strong tranny. I just wish I could bump it up to 50mph and ild have no problems. If I allow even pressure it'll climb up the big grade in od I just have a lack of speed sense in this car and my odometer is of 3 to 6 mph as well. Any way to remedy this?
The od thing is new to me that's why I thought ild ask. Just drive me nuts as I'm in the foothills so doing 40mph up a hill and then it up shifts and I need to downshift seconds later is extra wear I hate but this is a strong tranny. I just wish I could bump it up to 50mph and ild have no problems.
Any way to remedy this?
Never looked into that so not really sure if the shift points or converter lock up can be changed.
Do you know how to fix my speedo? I searched and I know you can replace a gear but I'd why it would be off anyways unless the transmission has been replaced as the car is original. Could a cluster being replaced from a different xj cause this or is the gear the only thing that affects it? I basically want to narrow down if it's from parts swapping or a defective or broken part. Annoys me and I feel that's why overdrive engages too soon since my speedo says I'm going faster than I truly am. I'm gonna make a post on this forum of I can't dig much up. You seem knowledgeable about these xjs so your my first shot
No no no, I'm a hack and stand on others shoulders. Is the speedo steady or bouncing around?
It's steady. So I'm guessing that it has a different gear that they switched if the previous one broke and they didn't realize which to get but that's fishing. This car is 100% original with nothing in complete that's why I mainly feel the cluster was swapped but that shouldn't change my speed should it?
The od thing is new to me that's why I thought ild ask. Just drive me nuts as I'm in the foothills so doing 40mph up a hill and then it up shifts and I need to downshift seconds later is extra wear I hate but this is a strong tranny. I just wish I could bump it up to 50mph and ild have no problems. If I allow even pressure it'll climb up the big grade in od I just have a lack of speed sense in this car and my odometer is of 3 to 6 mph as well. Any way to remedy this?
On that Laredo.. look on your dash, there should be two switches that look like this...
Flip the tow/haul mode switch to "power" and it will change the shift points.
It's steady. So I'm guessing that it has a different gear that they switched if the previous one broke and they didn't realize which to get but that's fishing. This car is 100% original with nothing in complete that's why I mainly feel the cluster was swapped but that shouldn't change my speed should it?
If its steady I would agree the gear is not damaged but is it the wrong one, who knows?
Changing out the cluster seems to be the other commonly mentioned fix. Did you verify its reading incorrectly?
Also, resetting the ECU can help w/ driveability (shift points too?)especially if the PO had a very different driving style. The ECU should relearn but takes time.
If its steady I would agree the gear is not damaged but is it the wrong one, who knows?
Changing out the cluster seems to be the other commonly mentioned fix. Did you verify its reading incorrectly?
Also, resetting the ECU can help w/ driveability (shift points too?)especially if the PO had a very different driving style. The ECU should relearn but takes time.
Some very good suggestions.
I recently found out why it was doing it though. The shifter cable was staring to break the inside plastic piece that holds the cable to the linkage on the transmission. I ended up fixing this with some door clips and a washer and sliding it over the pin. I'll post pics later on. Yeah I know I should replace the cable but it is better than oem in my opinion as there's less plastic and more metal holding it together. It remedied my loose automatic shifter as well.
I figured a clip or bolt was loose under the column. Maybe this will help other out in the future.
Also has any one had luck with bed liner for under carriage or lower door on early xjs to remove the plastic crap? I want to make it a little more corrosion resistant and easy to clean. Don't mind the textured look. Actually prefer it. I'll be doing it the right way and not overboard to avoid ruining the jeep but I never plan on selling this thing
On that Laredo.. look on your dash, there should be two switches that look like this...
Flip the tow/haul mode switch to "power" and it will change the shift points.
Ignore my oxidized switches... I'm fixing those.
.
Yeah I really enjoy that switch. I really take it easy on the jeep but it's nice raising the shift points to where I just touch the gas and keep up with traffic. For a 242 it keeps up with most of these modern small turbo cars and this thing has insanely good compression for its mileage so I can stretch my gas mileage to 20 if I'm easy on the throttle out of power mode. So far I'm loving jeep.
04-29-2016, 12:47 PM
1991 cherokee Laredo 4dr 4.0 New to jeeps.
