Hello All,

My name is Chris Snow and I'm from Louisville KY. Just bought an 01 Cherokee Sport and I couldn't be happier. Just a little background: This is my first endeavor into 4x4/Jeep stuff but I've been a car guy since I can remember. I grew up racing high revving imports which left me with tons of knowledge on over head cam, small displacement, independent suspension race cars; basically the opposite of everything a jeep is haha.

I've been super excited to learn about heavy duty transfer cases, solid axles and all the cool suspension components surrounding them. I've been trolling around on this forum and various other 4x4 sights for a couple months but decided to finally introduce myself and my Jeep so that I can get some questions answered and hopefully be a contributing member of the forum that asks good questions, and eventually answer some too.

My plan for the jeep is to build the ultimate highway driving/roadtrip machine that is still pretty capable off road. I'm planning lots of mods surrounding this idea, but I'll start another thread to address those questions and ideas another time. I just have a few rookie basic questions first.

So here goes the run down on the Jeep.

01 Cherokee Sport- 118k miles on body
~10k on new Jasper Engines long block
Automatic tranny (AW4?)
LP(I think) Dana30 up front
Chrysler 8.25 rear- open diff
Rusty's 3" springs in front
Rusty's 3' leafs in rear
Rustys generic-*** white tube shocks all the way around
31x10.5x15 Big O tires

All the mods were done by previous owner. It's pretty darn clean for the most part. I know its had a collision in the front end about 40k miles ago, but the LCA mounts look to be undamaged as well as the Drag link mount.

so questions....
1) SYE - do I have one?? the driveshaft has a relatively new looking sticker on it. makes me think maybe its been replaced when an SYE was installed.
(fingers crossed but i doubt thats the case)

2) Are these lower control arms aftermarket? they look to be adjustable. if so, where do i measure for bushing size? bushings are leaking when i grease them

3)what is the hose in the picture that im pointing to. it goes to the axle. some kind of vacuum actuation?? for what?

Thanks guys and girls. This looks like a great forum so far. Pretty stoked to be a member of the XJ community.

 

different pic of the transfer case and rear driveshaft.

 

Welcome to the forum. No that isn't a SYE, it's still the original slip yoke on it. Sorry to disappoint you, ha. That hose is breather vent that comes out of the front axle. Yes the arms are aftermarket

 

Sweet. Thanks for the reply. The bushings are shot on the axle side of those arms. I'd like to replace them with those fancy metal cloak bushings. You guys seem to like those from what I've read. Where would I measure? Inside lip to inside lip of the metal?

 

measure for the bushings or the length of the arms?

To measure the bushing size, u would need to measure the ID (inside diameter) of the hole, and measure the width of the tube. And then u ll need to make sure of the diameter of metal sleeve that goes inside the bushing as well.

To measure length of the arms, u measure the center of the eye on one bushing to the center of the eye on other end.

 

That's exactly what I needed to know. Thanks.

 

no problem, buddy. Glad I could help

 

Welcome along tidy xj you have.

 

Thanks. My boss is a paint and detail freak. We buffed the crap out of it and restored the black trim with this magical stuff

It works great on window trim too.

 

Great looking XJ!

Tony

 

Thanks Tony

 

Welcome, nice Jeep man! Rusty's off road makes pretty decent coils and leafs, so that's a good start. I have Rusty's springs on my XJ and I've been very happy with them so far.

 

Hell yeah. The lift height is exactly where I want it. I'm about to order some of those Duroflex joints for the lower control arms I have. Hoping a simple measurement will lead to the right size choice. The greasable joints in the ones I have now are leaking. driveline fluid change while I'm down there as well.

Next two things are good alignment and re-balance of the tires. Then get those white shocks off my truck lol. Can't wait for Bilsteins. Oddly enough, I started googling to see if Öhlins makes shocks for jeeps. They're pretty much the industry standard in motorcycle and race car shocks. But to no practical avail. Couple pictures of super duper built trucks but nothing for a DD setup.

I love this truck every day I drive it. Already climbed a pretty steep mud hill too. So much fun.

 

Getting those bilstein should give you good new stance and smoother ride. All seems going well man, welcome!

 

Welcome to the Jeep life. Nice looking rig.

I'm curious about the "leaking" bushings. If you mean when you push grease in grease come out around the edges that's perfectly normal. The old stuff has to go somewhere much like putting too much in a ball joint and pushing it out around the seal. If it's sloppy loose than that's another story.

Bilsteins are a great upgrade for any rig. For a 3" kit you'll need

BIL24-185622 Up front

BIL24-185639 In the rear

Have fun!