1989 Cherokee project

For sale: 1989 Cherokee Pioneer 4.0 AW4



Why am I selling? I’m moving, and I haven’t really had to time to finish this project up and wheel it. Rather than drag this thing half way across the country I thought I’d try to find it a good home on . As for me, well, I don’t post much but I have made extensive use of the site for years. Have done business with several members (buying and selling) in the past. I actually used to be a dues paying member before I moved and ran out of time for such things.

As for the Jeep, I would say it’s very close to being a very capable rig, but there are a few major things I was planning to do but never followed through on. Please note that this includes the long arm upgrade and frame stiffeners, which were the major things I wanted to get to in order to get it on the trail. This is not a turnkey wheeler right now but it will be very nice if someone is willing to put in some work. Everything that I did was done with the intention of keeping this rig for a long time and wheeling it extensively, so I’d like to think I did everything the right way.

Mods done by previous owner
1. 6” lift coils
2. Fixed length short arms, not sure of brand; they’re the gray ones (RE?)
3. Braided stainless brake lines - need brackets to hold them down
4. Replaced 1989 4.0 with a complete engine from a 1990 Limited, but as I understand the engines are exactly the same. Unknown mileage, but runs well.
5. All metal homebrew snorkel employing factory filter location

Mods I did
1. Completely redid rear fenderwells for clearance – inner fenderwells were sliced, reformed, and then rebuilt using new sheetmetal, welded into place, seam sealed, and then bedlined. Much more room than a cut and fold, and much cleaner.
2. Home built rear bumper, mounts with 8 bolts to factory locations and also bolts into framerail. Shackle tabs go through the whole bumper, welded both sides. Rear quarter guards extend to wheel well.
3. Mix of stock and RE(?) lift pack plus 1.5” shackles and shackle relocation bracket. I really wanted to bring the lift down but probably need shorter shackles to keep good angles.
4. (5) 33 x 12.5 MT’s (about 1/4” tread) on 15 inch soft 8s. Three (old style) MTR’s and two (old style) BFG MT’s. With the current lift and bumps you could easily run 35’s but I wanted to stay on 33s for the sake of the axles. If you’re game for it, you’ve got the space.
5. NP231 with PORC 32 spline HD SYE
6. ZJ front driveshaft in rear, axle shimmed toward TC; yoke drilled out and for bolt-style ujoint straps
7. Dana 35 swapped to 29 spline 8.25 rear axle, open 3.55 with one spare shaft
8. Disconnect style Dana 30 converted to full shaft (no disconnect) style, proper seals installed both sides of diff case
9. Both D30 shafts swapped out to newer style (ABS) shaft with larger ujoints, have spare shafts one each for pass and driver side
10. Old style (RD31) ARB locker in Dana 30 with 3.55 gears. No compressor at this time, but diff is tapped for the bulkhead
11. All interior rust prepped, welded, painted with rust encapsulator, and then bedlined with Durabak
12. Replaced gauge cluster for stock unit with a tach.
13. Exterior sanded, primed, and painted with Eastwood single stage urethane flat tan (not rattle can). It has a few drips since I was impatient while spraying it, but it seems to be very durable. The flat seemed cool but it’s kind of a dirt magnet – I guess that could be a positive.
14. Tinted rear glass (stock tint from a newer model)
15. Dual (stock) electric fans, controlled by temperature switch with override – manual on, automatic (adjustable), manual off
16. 160 amp alternator from Motor City Reman, alternator relocation to top of engine including AC delete, bracket modification, and new serpentine belt (have spare belt for length)
17. All grounds and power cables upgraded with the kit from Kelley’s Works in Progress (5-90 on )
18. Extended E-brake system

General Maintenance
1. New Idle air control valve
2. New calipers
3. All new steering system - New power steering pump, new gearbox (4-bolt), all new lines
4. New battery

Things I wanted to do
1. Ruff Stuff chassis stiffeners (have parts)
2. Rock Krawler long arm upgrade (have parts: arms, mounts, and hardware)
3. Add rear seatbelts (have parts)
4. New (longer) shocks
5. Need limit straps (especially with long arms)
6. Rear locker
7. Compressor for the ARB locker

A few minor annoyances
1. Cracked windshield
2. Cracked dash
3. Exhaust is kind of beat up

I’m looking for $2000 OBO. Not really looking to make back everything I put into it, just find it a good home. If you’re at all interested, send me an email. eswelf <at> ncsu.edu

Bump

Is the Jeep roadworthy now?

Well, I guess that depends on what you mean by "roadworthy"

It runs, drives, and stops, but the current lift height plus suspension geometry make it a little less stable than what I would want to drive on the road. If you put the long arms on it, got the suspension geometry dialed in, and got it aligned I would consider driving it on the street. You could also lower the lift height by about 2-3 inches, and probably still fit 33's. Then I would imagine the road manners would be more reasonable.

Personally, I've always trailered it for long distances. I've even got a recently-refurbished trailer I'd be willing to let go as part of the deal. I'm moving, and I don't really need to keep the Jeep or the trailer, but I can if no one really wants this rig.

Basically, as far as transport goes, I'd be willing to work with someone, but I want to make it clear this is still in the project phase so the Jeep will require a little bit of work, depending on which direction you want to go.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

Just curious if it would make the trip from NC to middle TN on the road.

I'd tow it for that trip. Plus, free trailer!

I've had a few questions asked by email or PM, so I thought I'd post the answers here:

I bought the XJ about five years ago, and it's been sort of an off and on project for me. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to wheel it yet and I don't DD it so I can't really speak to its road worthiness, but I can tell you what I know.

The ARB definitely works. Even though I haven't installed OBA of any kind, I tested it by applying compressed air from my shop compressor, and it locks up and spins both shafts. When I was installing it I actually broke the seal housing tube (probably not uncommon for installing used ARB lockers), so I installed a new seal housing tube. Unfortunately the copper line is a different OD than my bulkhead kit, so the bulkhead installation is not finalized, but everything else is there. Two downsides to this locker are that it is the "old style" so it is technically not as strong as the new version. Secondly, it's the 3.55 and down carrier, so no gear changes with this carrier.

Leaking or burning oil...since it's mostly been a garage ornament for me I can't say for certain, but I have never seen it leak tranny oil. It was actually "test driven" on the road a bit recently and leaked some oil from the back of the engine, but only at higher engine speeds. It will idle all day with no leaks. So I pulled the valve cover tonight and given the state of the old cork gasket I'm pretty sure the leak was the valve cover gasket. Anyway I put a new rubber gasket on the valve cover so hopefully no more engine leaks.

Underbody rust is not bad, for being a car originally from New Jersey. I repaired most of the floorpan rust when I bedlined the interior, but honestly I was amazed at how "not that bad" the rust was. There are a few spots left where there is a little visible rust but I think that stuff is mostly cosmetic. All of the structural rust I cut out and welded in new sheet metal when I bedlined the interior. That amounted to about a square foot in the drivers floorpan and some small patches above the gas tank. Most of the bolts on the underside are not stuck beyond repair or anything like that. Probably the biggest annoyance on the undercarriage is the presence of mud on everything. For as much mud as I've cleaned out of this thing i should have just powerwashed it as soon as I brought it home. Oh and it looks like the rear shocks were booger welded (not by me) to the body because the bolts broke. So I was planning some sort of fix for that.

Longarms and stiffeners are brand new. I bought them a few years ago and then other more urgent projects happened and they were stored in the garage. I do have all the hardware and instructions for the longarms. The major remaining upgrades I'd do would be the stiffeners, long arms, and then a rear locker, so I was 2/3 there before I stopped buying parts.

One additional thing I noticed tonight when I was looking for oil leaks was that my electric fan switch is not functioning as it should...the manual switch on and off works, but the temperature sensor must be messed up because it will kick the fans on and then off again before they cool everything down. It's also possible that two stock electric fans are not big enough to cool the radiator, but it would be easy enough to wire up a Taurus fan or similar for more flow. It could also be that the radiator is full of mud and doesn't do such a good job of heat exchange.

The trailer is an old airstream frame that I actually picked up when I bought this Jeep. I've since refurbished the whole thing with two new 3500 lb axles with electric brakes, new treated boards for the decking, and a breakaway kit. I also added a few crossbraces out of angle since wanted more mounting points for the decking. Only issue with the trailer is that it is currently not registered or titled, but it is homebuilt so that shouldn't be a problem. It was registered in Iowa a few years ago, so I still have that documentation.

Will you sell the tires and wheels?

man, I thought this would be gone by now. I want both the jeep and trailer!

I could find a home for that trailer, and I'm nice and close!!!

Man, I wish I had the cash. This is a deal.

How did that happen?

Either way, OP, I'm interested. I sent you an email with my number. Let me know asap.

Thanks! Andy

The OP emailed me back and said that the Jeep sold.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to post up to confirm that the Jeep has been sold. I apologize for not posting up as soon as it happened, but I was literally in the middle of moving and had turned off our internet. Very sad to see it go, but glad I didn't have to tow it across half the country along with all my other stuff during the move.

I'm sad I didn't see it sooner.

Yeah me too...I would have much rather have had it go to someone on so I could track its life after I let it go

Drive back over here and tell him you need it back.

who bought it? I referred your FS ad to a guy in bama.

Ha, well actually I do kind of want it back. Never would have sold it if I didn't already have to drive 1200 miles with multiple vehicles. Towing would have made it even worse. But now I have the opportunity to build a new XJ