Doing some thinking

[XJ4Christ]

Due to funds being severly cut from my ex driving me into ongoing court battles over my kids and now financial issues i had to love from CA to Kansas where i am from. I had to sell my XJ that i was building (my baby) and a few months back to pay fed/state taxes i lost my YJ. I had to get by on one vehicle for awhile with the wife and then got a Grand Cherokee that was inexpensive cheap driver. I would like to do some wheeling out here off and on lol so thinking of messing with this rig if i can. I am not a mechanic and in Ca i had a lot of friends who were so inclined. I am mechanically inclined but not been around the block much as wheeling was my new hobby before everything hit... hope that makes since lol.

My Grand Cherokee is a 1995 with 230,000 ish miles on it. Unfortunatly its a 4wd all the time setup (it was a cheap grab for daily driver so was not picky and its body is not all rusted/rotted/rode hard). It has a 4.0 6 cyl engine like the XJ's so i like that feature as i was getting used to working on them and they are great engines in my opinion.

The bad:

I think there is something not hooked up on the 4wd lever as i can not get it to go into 4wd low (it just stays in neutral and i dont feel any gears or anything grabbing when moving the lever... i believe a linkage is not hooked up or something). I never messed with checking the 4 low out being the thing rans in 4wd all the time, so its my fault... but i also think that its likely some linkage issue between the lever and transfer case not hooked up so maybe not as bad and dumb mistake by me.

After driving this thing a few months i got some milky crap in my oil. I am hoping this is not a blown head gasket lol. I noticed it checking the oil one morning without starting the engine. I do not want to put stop leak stuff in the radiator system if it is a head gasket issue to get it by as if i get another engine to put into it i dont want that stuff floating in the radiator system causing future issues. I dont think its cost effective (maybe wrong to put in new gasket and check everything with that many miles on it) I am not for sure it is a head gasket issue but i know that it is likely the case.

The ever popular exhaust mainifold cracks. I plan on worrying about this when i get another engine droped in. I have done this work before on my YJ with some friends. I am wondering though if somehow maybe water is getting into the oil with the above mentioned issue of possible head gasket is not a head gasket and the cracked manifold letting in humidity and such...

Aside from these issues that have recently come up I had planned on running some stock size MT tires maybe bigger if can cut and fold fenders and such if needed. (Goodyears are new on it and AT at the moment so will wear them out before going to MT). Throw on some Front Tow Hooks (have rear hitch for rear pull out point).

I want to take this thing out if i can and play on some trails and use it for hunting/fishing rig when not driving to work in it. I cant afford to tweak it out like my XJ i had been building to climb rocks so was going to do as little to it as possible and max out its stock or close to stock abilities but yet make it a little better than stock if i make sense?

Not sure where else to take this vehicle if i should even mess with it at all with its new potential problems. If i had funds not sure what if anything should or could be done to it, but was wondering if any of you guys knew any info sites on the Grand Cherokee setups or any advice on stuff i listed here.

 

[KSXJ]

there are a lot of trailkrawlers in topeka that probably could help. Mike at 4x4Land and of course there is http://www.nagca.com/

 

[87warrior]

I can't help you with any of the specific Grand information, but I do want to let you know I am willing to lend a hand wrenching if you need it.

You should not start of drive the Grand with milky oil. That is a guaranteed way to smoke the 4.0. It may be more cost effective to sell the Grand and buy another cheap Jeep. While sweet $500 XJs are rare in KS, you can find them.

 

[darksidemj]

You can do a simple 2" BB and some 31's with some trimming if you want to do something a little more than stock. You CAN do this with factory control arms and shocks but the tires wont sit perfectly centered in the wheel wells and the shocks will limit your down travel. The BB you can get for about $100 with bump stops and just search craigslist for some 31's. I did this on my old zj and it did well for what it was. Ran stock gears too and wasn't to bad actually. will try to post up a pic or two later if you would like.

 

[XJ4Christ]

there are a lot of trailkrawlers in topeka that probably could help. Mike at 4x4Land and of course there is http://www.nagca.com/

Cool Not sure where 4x4Land is (new to area) at but will search it out and that site too. .

 

[XJ4Christ]

I can't help you with any of the specific Grand information, but I do want to let you know I am willing to lend a hand wrenching if you need it.

You should not start of drive the Grand with milky oil. That is a guaranteed way to smoke the 4.0. It may be more cost effective to sell the Grand and buy another cheap Jeep. While sweet $500 XJs are rare in KS, you can find them.

I appreciate that . Would be awesome to know some people in the area who like to wheel and such .

Yeah, i am still watching the milky oil thing. I have not lost any anti freeze and since i have changed my oil to watch it i have not seen anymore in the oil. I am wondering if i drove a short distance and did not let it warm up if it would cause water in oil and thus milky oil...

I am running seafoam in the oil now to see if it will help remove any residual water in the new oil and just watching the situation. I now work 15 highway miles away instead of a block away so getting the vehicle properly warmed up is not an issue now if it was the issue before.

If it comes back again and such i agree that looking for another vehicle is a strong possiblity and i am not going to do much with the vehicle as of now aside from looking at builds i could do to it and such.

Yeah wish i could find me a cheap XJ here i miss mine a lot .

 

[XJ4Christ]

You can do a simple 2" BB and some 31's with some trimming if you want to do something a little more than stock. You CAN do this with factory control arms and shocks but the tires wont sit perfectly centered in the wheel wells and the shocks will limit your down travel. The BB you can get for about $100 with bump stops and just search craigslist for some 31's. I did this on my old zj and it did well for what it was. Ran stock gears too and wasn't to bad actually. will try to post up a pic or two later if you would like.

Yeah pics would be awesome . Yeah that is probably what i will do at most with the jeep if its not got a blown head gasket and i can get 4 low to engage on it (just sits in neutral when lever pulled but when u pull lever it does not feel like its enganging anything... my old XJ you could feel and hear some gears work when did that so wondering if lever not hooked up right... will worry about it when i see if the rig is going to hold up or not i guess.)

 

[scoobyxj]

On the transfer case not wanting to shift into 4-low your linkage is probably out of adjustment. When you say full time 4x4 is there only three options on the 4x4 selection or is there an option to go to 2 wheel drive? The NP249 (full time 4x4) transfer case is a rare option on a 4.0ltr ZJ (mostly used behind the 5.2ltr, and 5.9ltr). More common is the NP 242 (the full/part time) transfer case. The NP242 was also used in the XJ as well.

Regardless of the case adjustment is fairly simple. Just loosen the adjustment set screw on the linkage at the transfer case (under the vehicle), and move the shifter on the case itself fully one way or the other. Next set the shifter handle inside to correspond to your selection, and tighten everything back up.

 

[darksidemj]

Here are a couple pics. Just some poser shots though.

I also beat the pinch weld seam in the fender wells flat.

edit: 97 ZJ, 2 " BB w/ bump stops, stock shocks(would recommend the longer shocks but can do it with stock length), 15x7 d windows with either 3.5" or 4" back spacing, 31x10.50 BFG KM2's

 

[XJ4Christ]

On the transfer case not wanting to shift into 4-low your linkage is probably out of adjustment. When you say full time 4x4 is there only three options on the 4x4 selection or is there an option to go to 2 wheel drive? The NP249 (full time 4x4) transfer case is a rare option on a 4.0ltr ZJ (mostly used behind the 5.2ltr, and 5.9ltr). More common is the NP 242 (the full/part time) transfer case. The NP242 was also used in the XJ as well.

Regardless of the case adjustment is fairly simple. Just loosen the adjustment set screw on the linkage at the transfer case (under the vehicle), and move the shifter on the case itself fully one way or the other. Next set the shifter handle inside to correspond to your selection, and tighten everything back up.

Ok that is cool when i get chance i will check that out, sounds easier than i thought .

Yeah its a 4wd all the time (AWD i think) and pull the lever back to get 4 lo. No option for 2wd like my old XJ.

 

[XJ4Christ]

Here are a couple pics. Just some poser shots though.

I also beat the pinch weld seam in the fender wells flat.

edit: 97 ZJ, 2 " BB w/ bump stops, stock shocks(would recommend the longer shocks but can do it with stock length), 15x7 d windows with either 3.5" or 4" back spacing, 31x10.50 BFG KM2's

Nice! Yeah thats what i am looking to do with it if i can/worth it.