1996 ZJ

[Cottontail]

I retired the ZJ in 2017 when I bought the XK. I've had her since September of 1999. In May of 2020, she was near totaled, but was rebuilt. I put over 200,000 miles on her between 1999 and 2017. In 2006 I brought my first daughter home in it, and in 2008 I did the same for my second. She sat in a storage unit for most of 2018 and 2019 and I brought her home when I bought my house in September of 2019. in May, she was on the driveway under a cover when straight line winds came and knocked down a tree in my back yard. The top part of the tree came down on it, but the damage was minimal. I did have to get a new windshield. I'll get a new hood and fender and let a body shop bang our the rest. It's time to get her back on the road.

Just this week my RockAuto order showed up with:

- Pads and rotors
- Shocks
- Tie rod ends
- Ball joints
- Plugs and wires
- Upper and lower radiator hoses
- Thermostat


Pics, in order: Day I got her, accident damage, after I cut away the tree, in the driveway today:

 

[Cottontail]

Little update. In the past 2 weeks I have:

-Replaced the tires
-Valve cover gasket
-New brakes and shocks all around
-New upper and lower hoses
-New belt
-New plugs and wires
-New thermostat
-New transmission filter and fluid
-New PS fender and hood to replace the damaged ones from when the tree fell on it. Found a matching ZJ in the junk yard and it had perfect fender/hood.

A few issues:

-The transmission pan is leaking. I know I overfilled it, and realized it ASAP, so I siphoned out enough to get the level correct, but this morning there was still a pretty healthy leak on the garage floor

-Rock Auto sent me 2 upper and 2 lower ball joints. The boxes were all AC Delco branded and the part numbers were correct. Upper #1 was 1/4 inch shorter than Upper #2 and neither of them came with grease boots. Lower #1 was fine and Lower #2 came without a grease boot. So, I sent both uppers back and went to the local parts store to get some replacements. They are sending me a new lower.

 

[Cottontail]

I do have some new wall art in my office now.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Looking good.

Thought you had an army of Minions on the table there, until I zoomed in...

 

[Cottontail]

Yeah, that's my Hard Rock Cafe shot glass collection. One for every Cafe I've visited...well except St. Louis...and that's only because I bumped it off the shelf with the fender when I was hanging it.

Only 5 more domestic HRC to visit and I'll have been in them all.

(oh, and I have a new STL one coming via e-bay, since that Cafe closed in 2019)

 

[Cottontail]

Just about ready to get her on the road. Having an issue with a leaking transmission pan gasket. I have another gasket ordered, in hopes that might solve the issue.

Other than that, just need to bleed the power steering and replace the fuel pump, then I'll run it down the road to my preferred shop and ask him to give it a once over as if he were inspecting a used car for purchase.

Getting close now.

 

[Cottontail]

Jeep needs a transmission and a rear end. I'll just grab an axle at the junkyard and call it good.

The transmission is an 42RE, which Chrysler used in a bunch of stuff in the mid to late 90's, but I'm not sure what other vehicles I can pull a direct swap out of. Anyone have a definitive list? Concerns would be just little wiring things or plugs. I'm not going to do the replacement. I'll send that to a shop, but I'm trying to source one.

 

[Cottontail]

Got her registered and licensed today. First legal drive in it since summer 2017.

I do need to get a new steering box and new rear axle, but those are coming.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Coming along nicely Dirk, i'm surprised that rear end hit was repairable.

 

[tm8chris]

Nice looking ZJ. What shocks did you get?

 

[Cottontail]

Thanks for the compliments. I'm pretty happy driving it again, and it sure is less thirsty than my '06 Hemi Commander.

I just went with some off-the-shelf shocks. Just inexpensive touring shocks.

I am trying to purchase a 1998 ZJ, that was wrecked, as a parts Jeep. I need the rear axle, a headlight switch box, a power steering gear box, and a couple other little parts. I expect I could pull about $1000 worth of usable parts off the Jeep, and sell it to the junk yard for $175 or $200 when I'm done scavenging. I don't want to pay more than $300 and they are stuck on $400.

Curious question - what parts that I don't really need right now would any of you suggest I pull and squirrel away in a cabinet for later. I may pull the transfer case and transmission, but I don't know that I have anywhere to store that stuff.