Hello folks. I'm preparing to drive my XJ with 246,000 miles to the Colorado rockies to do some hiking and a little four-wheeling. About a 1,300 mile round-trip for me.

It's a 1987 Cherokee. It has the 4.0L, auto trans, 8.5" Christler rear axle, the part-time transfer case, and no ABS. No BS! Fortunately, this jeep was babied for all it's life by a little old lady who never took it off the pavement, always kept it in a garage, always took it to the dealership for preventative maintenance and any work that needed to be done, etc.

When I bought it four months ago, it came with a stack of receipts over an inch thick. Everything was documented, from oil changes to body repair to the time the neutral safety switch went out and they had to tow it. I count 3 alternator replacements, 2 radiator jobs, 6 new batteries, etc.

My question to you fine folks is: what should have been replaced by now? For example, my understanding is that the crankshaft position sensor is prone to needed repair. And the valve cover gasket. If these haven't been replaced yet, should I do it before the road trip? What else?

And what would YOU do to the jeep before hitting the road? Should I flush the radiator? Any advice at all is appreciated!

I've already replaced the starter, and I ran a bottle of fuel injector cleaner through a tank of gas. I'm in the process of replacing the shocks and giving it a 2" lift. I'm going to put new AT tires on soon, might get a new battery, and I'll definitely change the oil. All other fluids are looking good. Previous owner says the dealership told her to use an oil additive to stop oil leaking past the seals. As far as I know that's the only thing that's wrong with the engine. It idles a little rough and it sometimes takes a few seconds to start, but there's no check engine light.

Thanks for any advice!

 

Fluid and filter change all around for good measure. Oil, Transmission (with new filter. there is a fluid and filter kit on Amazon fro $25 ish), transfer case, diffs, grease as much as you can, what is the state of the serpentine belt?, basic tire maintenance (rotation, inspection, air pressure). That's all that comes to mind right now.

 

When was its last tuneup, according to the receipts? Plugs, wires, cap and rotor, air and fuel filters. I will assume the grounds have never been checked. Most never think about them. Go to Cruiser54.com, and scroll down to the 1st link on ground refreshing. Bad grounds can cause all sorts of issues. Including idle. If you are concerned about the crank sensor, go ahead and replace it. Or atleast take another with you. Stick with Mopar if possible.

As for the trip itself, flares and a cellphone. Even if you never need them (hopefully not), you can use them to help another.

 

I'm no expert, but as someone who recently was stranded on the side of the interstate in the middle of the night with a dead crankshaft positioning sensor, I'd definitely say replace that. My Jeep had 225k miles when it went out.

 

I went through the enormous stack of receipts and tallied up everything:




Here's the most recent 4 major service receipts:






What's just as shocking as the number of times the radiator as been replaced (four) are the items that were never replaced! Shocks, starter, rear brake wheel cylinders, leaf springs... I will need new leaf springs soon now that I put lift blocks on the rear (just temporary, don't have time to remove the leafs, I tried but the bolts are seized of course). I also replaced the shocks and the starter. So maybe I ought to replace those rear brake wheel cylinders. They're not leaking at all and when I did a brake check I thought the rear tires had skidded in the dirt but it was a little hard to tell. Maybe I'll check it again. The brakes feel a little crummy, but I have new front brake pads that will be installed before the trip.

I hope to get this Jeep to 300k miles! At 246k miles it's already driven further than the distance between the earth and the moon

Last time the spark plugs, wires, rotor and cap where replaced was.... 3/22/2013.

Looks like that was replaced a few years ago. On 3/19/2012 to be exact. Yay for record keeping!

 

i drive every day,to town,8 miles.all is well. but suddenly pass window dont work. wed the locks acted up , for a while, first in 6 mo.
i daily read every post ,often some unforseen failure crops up, hard to fix under good conditions.
. i dread changing the crank sensor on a muddy road! i just dont have the confidence to risk being stranded 600 miles away.'id park it,unhook the batt and drive something else. just my opinion. good luck

 

Oh thanks!!!

 

I see that one receipt shows autolite platinum plugs. I had a really bad experience the one time I used anything except the called for Champion copper cheap plugs. Warm idle was terrible until I switched back to the Champions.
Nice having all those receipts so you see what was done.

 

Likely if the Radiator had been replace with a Mopar OEM, it wouldn't have needed to be replaced 4 times. Inexpensive (like Autozone) radiators just don't last long.

 

Go to RadiatorExpress.com. They carry the stock radiators for the normal cooling and heavy duty cooling package. It works great and they have great customer service and warranty. Plus they won't break the bank. And I use champion copper spark plugs. Runs smooooottthhh. And I second the Cruiser54.com tips. As many as you can. More preventative maintenance than fixing maintenance.

 

Alright looking like we got someone to second the recommendation for the champion copper spark plugs so going to get 6 of those for sure!

New tires just arrived in the mail. New shocks are on, new sway bar bushings and links are on, new coil springs, new Hawk brake pads, and all the grease points where hit up. Suspension and steering are so much better! Feels like a brand new vehicle! New tires are 31" so going to trim the fender wells this week. Also still need to install steering brace, steering box spacer (if time permits) and transfer case lowering kit.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the rear leaf springs off so I had to put 2" lift blocks in there for now, won't take long for those to start frowning is what I hear.

Any oil additive recommendations?

Colorado here we come!




before and after 2" lift:

 

If it were me I would be getting the bike ready for the trip and leaving the jeep at home. Sounds like u covered all the bases.

 

Might wanna look at that metal pipe that goes from the water pump to a hose, they can get pretty rusted out

 

That sure doesn't look like an 87 model, more like a 97.

 

1) Cell Phone
2) Tripple AAA
3) Tools

You could replace everything you can think of and it'll be the one you didn't that will fail.
Just fix the common stuff that's been issues on the day to day stuff for you.
Anything else that fails will be at an an auto parts store with in AAA towing distance.