NO MORE JEEPS!!

Anak

Anak

Stranger
NAXJA Member
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In a strange land
That's what she said.


Repeatedly.


Hmm.


Maybe this isn't a Jeep.


It's not an XJ at least.


97ZJ1OPT.gif



97ZJ2OPT.gif



Or, um, "It's not for me. It's for The Varmints."


At any rate, I have another project.


Supposedly it needs a new battery. This one doesn't take a charge. Methinks that has something to do with the fact the volts gauge reads so low, and doesn't vary the least with RPMs. My bet is that the voltage regulator in the ECM has kicked the bucket.



But for $1,000 price tag I think I can cope with that detail.



Brand new set of tires, and "needs an alignment" probably means I need to rebuild the front suspension.


But I don't think this vehicle has ever been wheeled. Nice and straight underneath. No interesting dents or scrapes. I suspect it was the grandparents' tow rig behind their RV. Body is almost perfect. Lucky for The Varmints there is a scrape behind the right side rear door, so they don't have to bear the brunt of having put the first dent in it.
 
Nice. 4.0 or 5.2?
 
That's a nice looking ZJ, especially for a thousand bucks. We have its twin as our grocery getter ('97 ZJ) except yours looks cleaner. You plan on keeping it unmolested?
 
It is the 4.0. That has been one of my requirements when looking at ZJs.

I would like to say I plan to keep it unmolested, except for the fact that I intend to put Varmints behind the wheel. I have no doubt they will molest it somehow.

But there are no plans for a lift or any major mods.

OTOH, I am not going to try to keep it totally stock either. The first thing I ordered for it is a Boostwerks NP242 shift linkage--because it took me several minutes and countless tries in order to finally get the T-case into neutral so I could tow it home without removing the rear driveshaft. I have also ordered an external voltage regulator kit for the probable finding that there is nothing wrong with the alternator. Odds are good it will get Brown Dog motor mounts. It may well get an aftermarket track bar and double shear mount. A headlight harness with relays is probably in its future. Those are the only things I can think of that I am likely to change from stock.

I need to figure out what all is needed for the front end--bushings? Tie rods? Ball joints? Those will get replaced with Moog or Spicer parts as needed. I will probably replace all the U-joints in both driveshafts and the front axle shafts with Spicer U-joints. Probably the centering ball too. Change all the fluids (engine (incl. conversion to Cat ELC), trans, T-case, diffs and brake system), new battery cables (there will be another small mod--convert to military terminals) and the interior needs attention (console flops around, seats are a fiasco, no knob for headlights, broken handle for hood release--generally lots of stupid stuff). But the AC works.

And Varmints #1 & 2 are going to get their hands really dirty learning how to do all this work. I just have to figure out how to get them into the junkyards so they can learn how to pull parts without breaking things.
 
Unless the front shafts have already been swapped, they are cv shafts. You can use xj shafts though.
 
Johnnie Walker said:
Unless the front shafts have already been swapped, they are cv shafts. You can use xj shafts though.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that tip. I highly doubt they have ever been changed. Good to know before I get surprised trying to do something with them.

I am not aware of any way of servicing CV joints. I take it you just do an exchange on them?

I am sure I am going to find all sorts of details that are different from an XJ. Among others, it appears the motor mounts are another animal entirely. They look more like the motor mounts on my Cummins. Hopefully that means they are a good design.

OTOH, what was Chrysler thinking on the subject of fuel filters? The ZJ fuel filter is not serviceable according to Napa. Supposedly it is integrated with the pump assembly. The stealership was willing to order something for me for $180. I am not sure if that was to be an entire pump assembly or something that replaces whatever is integrated into the pump assembly. At $180 I figured that was more than I intended to spend for a fuel filter.

Lots of new details to figure out.
 
Anak said:
OTOH, what was Chrysler thinking on the subject of fuel filters? The ZJ fuel filter is not serviceable according to Napa. Supposedly it is integrated with the pump assembly. The stealership was willing to order something for me for $180. I am not sure if that was to be an entire pump assembly or something that replaces whatever is integrated into the pump assembly. At $180 I figured that was more than I intended to spend for a fuel filter.
Click to expand...

I think NAPA is full of crap. It's one bolt and 2 snap lines to change out the fuel filter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jueraGcITuU

I have a 96 ZJ that I've owned for 21 years that has been sitting since 2017 that I am resurrecting. I just did ball joints, tie rod ends, brakes, shocks, coolant flush and fill, radiator hoses, plugs, wires, oil change, and valve cover gasket. Fuel filter is the last thing on my list to complete.

They are as simple to work on as the XJs are.


EDIT - I may be wrong. I'm reading now where they only did the external fuel filters though the '96 model year. NAPA may be right in your case. I didn't notice where you mentioned your model year.
 
Well I have a 96 and it has a fuel filter, 2 98,s and the 99 have none,,except IN the tank.
Lots of newer vehicles don't have filters.
 
The one I put in my XJ went fine.

Well, except for a factory nutsert that just spun in place. But that wasn't Boostwerks' fault.

Taking out the factory stuff was more work than was the installation of the new parts.
 
I also had a twin to this Jeep.. my last build that i journaled here.

You may have ujoint axleshafts, iirc my 98 with 242 utilized them. Fulltime 249's came with the cv's in my experience. My latest, a 94 with V8/249 had torn boots, i ordered new boots and they came with grease. Inspected cv's for smoothness in it's rotation, greased up and installed new boots.. been fine but it only had 84K miles on them.

Best of luck with this..
 
Thank you for the wishes of good luck. I may have just solved my battery charging issue: https://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1159228


If it turns out to have been that simple that will have been an easy fix.


And you are spot-on WRT the axle-shafts. I have U-joints and the 242. That was a relief. I didn't know they had yet another T-case. I was afraid I might be up the proverbial creek with the shift linkage.
 
I believe all the I6 ZJ 4Wd had the 242.
Anak said:
Thank you for the wishes of good luck. I may have just solved my battery charging issue: https://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1159228


If it turns out to have been that simple that will have been an easy fix.


And you are spot-on WRT the axle-shafts. I have U-joints and the 242. That was a relief. I didn't know they had yet another T-case. I was afraid I might be up the proverbial creek with the shift linkage.
Click to expand...
 
Johnnie Walker said:
I believe all the I6 ZJ 4Wd had the 242.
Click to expand...

I had a 95 for a few years with a 231 behind the 4.0L.. although pretty rare optioned that way.

I really like the ZJ platform, should have moved to one years before. The XJ was fun all those years but the ZJ is hands down more comfortable.
 
Gotta love the learning curve.

I tasked Varmint #1 with programming and installing a third brake light flasher.

Programming, no problem.

Installation?

He thought he had broke the whole brake light system. Not only was the third brake light not working, but the passenger side brake light was out too. Poor kid was all confused and sure he had messed something up but good, yet had no idea how he could have.

In steps Dad.

Have you checked the bulbs?

Found that all three bulbs for the third brake light were out as well as the passenger brake light. Four new bulbs and everything works just fine.

Varmint #1 said "Lesson learned. Check status of systems before starting work."

FWIW, I had them check the rest of the bulbs on the vehicle. Found that both side markers in the rear tail lights were out as well as both front turn signals.

Now I just have to figure out how to pull the front turn signals. Not as obvious as on an XJ.
 
That many bulbs out? Did they hook the thing up to 220V?


David Bricker / SYR
 
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