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Just saying hi

Well i just picked it up from my brother,who bought it brand new and left it completely stock,so i had to replace the water pump,exhaust and the cat,i yanked the interior out and dynamated the whole body and replaced the carpet with a new kit.As for wheeling it haven't got a chance to do so yet.
I have big plans for it but budget won't allow me to go balls out just yet.
 
90exjay said:
Thanks i would appreciate any help/opinions on what i should and shouldn't do,from everyone.So feel free to voice your opinion.

Thanks in advance, Sean
Click to expand...

Sean: The most important things you can do are preventative maintenance as the stresses of wheeling put enormous stress on the vehicle. namely, the heating/cooling systems should be totally serviced meaning new parts all around. You dont want to blow a hose or overheat while going up a big hill! So change not only the water pump but have the cooling system pressure flushed and change the upper and lower rad hoses, serpentine belt and make sure that awful water bottle and cap are in good shape an not leaking. in fact, replace them. Replace any other heater hoses that need it. If your rig has the origional composite radiator, replace it with an all-metal heavy-duty one.

You must have good tires. You wont have traction other wise, and I dont think you need to spend big bux on fancy name big rubbers either. A good LT series all-terrain tire is what you need. I run LT235/75-15's on mine.

Your suspension is another area of great stress. Your steering takes a whacking so your tie rod ends must be good. Keep all your fittings greased every oil change, including the driveshaft u-joint fittings. Your ball joints must be good. Your shocks need to be up to the challenge. You should replace the stock steering damper.

Your brakes must be in excellent condition. Enough said there. I dont mean yeah they are ok but everything must be in good shape and not leaking anywhere.

You will also need basic skid plates, such as the transfer case. Also you will need to install front tow hooks, not just $10 bolt-on ones from the hardware store but you will need to replace the bumper mounting brackets with better ones than are OEM. If you just bolt them to the bumper the first time you get yanked by them it may rip the bumper off your rig!!! The jeep dlr has a good mopar tow hook kit. Also get a rear class III reciever hitch so you will have something to attach a recovery strap to when you get stuck. 8-o

If you do this, then you will be set for some good, fun, safe wheeling. Maybe you wont do the rubicon yet, but, you will be able to do most trails. Leave lifts, lockers and big tires and fancy add-ons like winches after you get the basics straight.

--Karl
 
Wow thats alot to take in,but i have my eye set on a new coolong system,i did have a question about that.Is there any way to get away from the stock closed sytem or should i just replace factory parts with newer ones?I live in federal way( about half way between seattle and tacoma along I-5).
 
90exjay said:
Wow thats alot to take in,but i have my eye set on a new coolong system,i did have a question about that.Is there any way to get away from the stock closed sytem or should i just replace factory parts with newer ones?I live in federal way( about half way between seattle and tacoma along I-5).
Click to expand...

One of my local friends changed his 90XJ over to a standard type cooling system. When I asked him about it he said that all together for parts, the new milodon radiator, hoses, etc., that he had something over 3 hundred bucks in it. When I asked him what he felt his main benefits were he said it ran cooler now than before, more stable operating temperature over a wider range of driving, and the other major biggie out of it all was that he could now go to any parts store anywhere and get stuff he needed to fix the system if something happened. Otherwise like if your overflow bottle splits, either you have a spare handy or hope someone else does..... :)

And another option to the stock overflow bottle is that metal ones are available, and you could modify those to change the inlet outlet hose diameters for a better fit of just using regular standard sized water hose available at parts houses. And that would noticeably help the "reliability factor for a trail rig. In five years of XJ-ing, I have gone through 2 of the plastic/fiberglass overflow bottles.

Now my friend that did the changeover to the standard type cooling system gets to go buy a new radiator/fan/etc as he got a little teensy weensy bit agressive in his XJ (he trailers it everywhere) and was having fun one afternoon and his motor/transfer_case mounts were old and came apart when flexed heavily and the engine moved forward a couple inches and took out his new cooling system :( And that gets back to what Karl was mentioning in another thread here that the really first thing people need to do when they are going to offroad stuff is to take care of the vehicle basics first. And I only mention it as it sorta sucked for him to spend the money and put in the effort only to have it ruined by old mounts.
 
yeah the jug sux. My big problem with it has been the cap--the origional design never sealed right, and they changed vendors who had their own idea of how it should fit. ~>8-( Alas, this last year, Chrysler changed the design, made the cap taller and it really fits well now. I havent had any leaks since I put it on last fall.

I know it works, it's been near or over 100 degrees F here the last several days, and my engine is running cool even though I have the a/c running full tilt.

The other major problem with the cooling system is the bypass valve, it's known to crack and leak.

If you are going to do major cooling system work, I'd get away from the old renault closed system. It stinks.

The other major thing you will want to look at is what sams88 brought up--mounts. The right side engine mount seems to take a beating, so yours is probably deformed and cracked. Do what I did last week--replace both motor mounts (my right one was really bad) and the transmission mount. Very dirty, very unpleasant, but very necessary.

--Karl
 
black89xj said:
yeah the jug sux. My big problem with it has been the cap--the origional design never sealed right, and they changed vendors who had their own idea of how it should fit. ~>8-( Alas, this last year, Chrysler changed the design, made the cap taller and it really fits well now. I havent had any leaks since I put it on last fall.

--Karl
Click to expand...
Did you pick up the cap at a dealership?I think mine is bad when i turn off the engine,after running cool,around 190+ degrees,sometimes it boils out of the cap,not much but enough to be annoying.
 
90exjay said:
Did you pick up the cap at a dealership?I think mine is bad when i turn off the engine,after running cool,around 190+ degrees,sometimes it boils out of the cap,not much but enough to be annoying.
Click to expand...

Yes its a dealer item...my jeep dlr gets stuff from both Mopar and aftermarket vendors.

--Karl
------------
If Yakima is the "Palm Springs of Washington" does that make the Tri-Cities it's "Death Valley"?
 
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