- Location
- Illinois
Out at the 2018 Moab trip, I found yet another crack on the frame of my blue Jeep. It was finally bad enough that I decided I needed a new body to swap over. Only problem is, I blew most of the jeep budget on gas, emergency spare tire, and overall terrible budgeting skills when it comes to trip spending habits.
fast forward around 10 days and about 30hrs of unplanned O.T., I had some extra cash and saw a straightforward post saying "Buy my 2000 Cherokee Sport". A few PMs and emails were exchanged, and I was off to Madison to buy another headache with my friend Rose. Steve(WI88XJ) tossed us the keys and after about 15 minutes of spinning around his neighborhood, we agreed on a price too good too pass up, shook hands and agreed to see each other again at WF. This was his wife's daily, so there was obviously some attachment and they were happy to see it stay in the MWC family.
On our way home, we stopped for lunch, after which we found about quart of oil under the Jeep. I knew of this issue beforehand but DAMN! I ordered a new oil pan while driving it home, along with a new gasket RMS. Also on the drive home I found the front speakers dont really work too well, as in wires were gone due to door wiring harness. I made myself a mental list of stuff that needed addressing.
A few days later, I had a new Rear Main seal, oil pan, gasket and tube of anaerobic sealant. After a bloody battle with the front axle, I had everything disconnected and dropped the pan. The rear main seal didnt seem to leak, but I was there and why not? I popped off the girdle, rear bearing cap and everything looked good. And then, I realized Id ordered the wrong seal. Aside from changing the head casting on the 2000 and newer jeeps, they also changed the rear main seal design. I ended up having to wait til the next day to button everything up. However, now I park with ZERO fluids puddles.
Its been my daily since then, although it did throw a CEL, which turned out to be an O2 sensor. I took the time to chase down a bad ground on head light which turned out to be a frayed wire on the headlight plug. $3 later autozone had me in good shape and I now have decent lighting up front, but I'll soon be playing with chinesium LEDs to see if I can find some with a decent cut off. Also fixed the door wiring with the speakers, I now have mediocre speakers on 3 corners(damaged a rear one being dumb). I had some Rockford 6.5 " speakers which did not fit, so Ill just be swapping over the speakers from my old jeep to this.
So as the jeep sits now, it only needs new U joints at the axle shafts, new brakes, and cleaning up the interior. Also, my exhaust suddenly developed a very nasty exhaust leak. After a couple of days I crawled under an found the hanger just before the cat had ripped off, leaving a decent hole. That will go to an exhaust shop tomorrow as I dont feel like making a new downpipe(2000 federal emission has a weird front pipe).
Things should start getting interesting after black friday, as I'll be buying most o the bits to get this jeep ready for the long arms, and finally burning some steel on the frame rails.
Also, after talkin with quite a few people, all the old people(like you bald MWC crowd) agreed the color looks great, all the young people agreed the color belongs on an old mans jeep. Its late and Im out of beer, so tomorrow I will add what the build plans are for this jeep.
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fast forward around 10 days and about 30hrs of unplanned O.T., I had some extra cash and saw a straightforward post saying "Buy my 2000 Cherokee Sport". A few PMs and emails were exchanged, and I was off to Madison to buy another headache with my friend Rose. Steve(WI88XJ) tossed us the keys and after about 15 minutes of spinning around his neighborhood, we agreed on a price too good too pass up, shook hands and agreed to see each other again at WF. This was his wife's daily, so there was obviously some attachment and they were happy to see it stay in the MWC family.
On our way home, we stopped for lunch, after which we found about quart of oil under the Jeep. I knew of this issue beforehand but DAMN! I ordered a new oil pan while driving it home, along with a new gasket RMS. Also on the drive home I found the front speakers dont really work too well, as in wires were gone due to door wiring harness. I made myself a mental list of stuff that needed addressing.
A few days later, I had a new Rear Main seal, oil pan, gasket and tube of anaerobic sealant. After a bloody battle with the front axle, I had everything disconnected and dropped the pan. The rear main seal didnt seem to leak, but I was there and why not? I popped off the girdle, rear bearing cap and everything looked good. And then, I realized Id ordered the wrong seal. Aside from changing the head casting on the 2000 and newer jeeps, they also changed the rear main seal design. I ended up having to wait til the next day to button everything up. However, now I park with ZERO fluids puddles.
Its been my daily since then, although it did throw a CEL, which turned out to be an O2 sensor. I took the time to chase down a bad ground on head light which turned out to be a frayed wire on the headlight plug. $3 later autozone had me in good shape and I now have decent lighting up front, but I'll soon be playing with chinesium LEDs to see if I can find some with a decent cut off. Also fixed the door wiring with the speakers, I now have mediocre speakers on 3 corners(damaged a rear one being dumb). I had some Rockford 6.5 " speakers which did not fit, so Ill just be swapping over the speakers from my old jeep to this.
So as the jeep sits now, it only needs new U joints at the axle shafts, new brakes, and cleaning up the interior. Also, my exhaust suddenly developed a very nasty exhaust leak. After a couple of days I crawled under an found the hanger just before the cat had ripped off, leaving a decent hole. That will go to an exhaust shop tomorrow as I dont feel like making a new downpipe(2000 federal emission has a weird front pipe).
Things should start getting interesting after black friday, as I'll be buying most o the bits to get this jeep ready for the long arms, and finally burning some steel on the frame rails.
Also, after talkin with quite a few people, all the old people(like you bald MWC crowd) agreed the color looks great, all the young people agreed the color belongs on an old mans jeep. Its late and Im out of beer, so tomorrow I will add what the build plans are for this jeep.
Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk
