nhopa

I have a 2001 Jeep Cherokee with close to 190K miles. The Jeep runs fine but I want to take long trips to remote areas and at this point I do not know how reliable my Jeep is. I love this car and I am thinking to keep it If I could find a "Jeep Shop" in a round Phoenix AZ that could rebuild this Jeep.
I am thinking of putting in a rebuilt engine and transmission, also rebuild the transfer case and the rear differential if necessary and change out those components that may need replacement.
The question is does anyone know a reliable Jeep shop in the Phoenix area who could do it? Thank you for your reply in advance.

Basslicks

No I don't, but why are you wanting to rebuild what is not broken?

There are plenty of Jeep owners with well over 300k miles on the stock, non-rebuilt motor and drivetrain.

-Do an oil change with some good quality oil. One with a high concentration of ZDDP in it.

-Change your transmission and transfer case fluid (Make sure you use Dex/Merc III NOT ATF+4).

-Give the coolant system a good flush and replace the hoses and belt at the same time. Refill the coolant system with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water.

-Change your diff fluids front and rear (If applicable) with some more 90 weight. Inspect for any damage while you're in there.

-Inspect your brake pads, rotors, shoes, and drums for excessive wear and replace as needed. Also inspect the condition of the brake fluid. Fluid should be clear. If it's black, flush the lines, master cylinder, and reservoir with clean fluid. Once it runs clear, fill it up and bleed the system.

-Check all your grounds. Engine block, starter, passenger fender, alternator, and firewall (really just a radio ground strap, but check it anyway). Remove all the grounds and perform a "refresh"... clean the area thoroughly to remove any grease or grime, scrub the ground area and the terminal with some sand paper or crocus cloth, apply some di-electric grease and re-attach the grounds ensuring they're tight.

-Remove your battery cables and clean the battery posts and the cable terminals thoroughly. Make sure to remove any corrosion around the battery posts. Get the green and red felt pads from the auto parts store to collect/prevent additional corrosion from forming. Reattach the cable terminals to the posts with some dielectric grease.

If your XJ is running well and not currently showing any check engine lights or showing any other signs of maintenance issues, do all the steps mentioned will ensure trouble-free operation for many more miles.

Make sure your air filter is clean.

nhopa

Thank you Basslick for your reply, it is quite of list to accomplish but perhaps you are right. I will give it a go.

EEVEE

I would redo the suspension and front end atleast engine and trans if they arent broken dont mess with them lol. And if youre very worried get them tested for compression and loads of other stuff and go to blackstone company and give them an oil sample and the results will tell you what your engine is doing.

Basslicks

OH! Good advice, I forgot about the steering joints and front end. Suspension bushings too.

DEFINITELY before you make the decision for a rebuild, send an oil sample to blackstone.

Any time! That's what we'ere here for. If you complete everything on that least, it's going to cost a good amount, but you'll still be in it for less than a rebuilt motor and drivetrain.

Waynerd

I'm slowly doing the same with the 01 my wife drives. It's also the vehicle we use for family trips. It's the reliable vehicle. I've done all the steering and ball joints so far. Still need springs shocks and control arm bushings. We got lucky and bought it as a garaged, well cared for one owner.

It's at around 207k now. All of the parts I'm replacing are still the originals. We don't hesitate to drive it 2-3 hours away. Before our last trip I did have to do the ball joints and hubs and rotors. Before I felt comfortable driving it far.

nhopa

Thank all of you for the many good advise. last year I have done extensive front end work. I replaced the tie rod ends, the Pitman arm, drag link joint and the track bar. Also replaced the four shocks and had the wheel alignment done. I even purchased the bushings for the lower suspension arms, but when I removed one I noticed there was nothing wrong with the bushings.
Last year I was having problem with intermittent engine stall, first at high temperature ( above 110 degrees F, I live in Arizona), later at lower temperature. I did lots of trouble shooting and at the end I changed out my fuel pump assembly and the problem went away.
A posting by CCKen on 3/24/16 on this forum was tremendous help in identifying and removing a "door" in the trunk, over the fuel pump assembly that made replacement very easy and quick.
Thanks again to all including CCKen.

Basslicks

CCKen is the man. Very honored to have received his wisdom and have PM conversations with him over the past 6 years.

Good to see you're vested in the maintenance of your Jeep. It's always refreshing to us to see someone that's in it for the long haul. Sounds like you're serious and I'm looking forward to hearing your progress on the "renovation".

Here's to one of the best vehicles ever made

NM-XJ

If we chant "Rotella" three times does Salad still show up??

Building on what Basslicks suggested:

- If you have a manual transmission, note that API grades of gear oil ARE NOT backwards compatible. The AX-15 calls for API GL-3 and you must use an equivalent lubricant. Other API grades (specifically hypoid gear oils) have sulfur compounds which will eat brass synchros. Stick with a synthetic motor oil or the Redline MT series of gear oils.

- When you change your diff fluids, be sure to add the LSD additive if you have a limited slip rear. It doesn't hurt to not have it, but if you are planning on doing some exploring in AZ the LSD won't hurt.

- When you check your front brakes, inspect the steering knuckles for excessive wear/grooving where the calipers ride.


Having done a bunch of wheeling in AZ and NM, I highly suggest you check your tires as well and keep them in excellent shape. Carry and maintain a matched full size spare. If you can, be sure to run LT rated tires, not P rated. I have yet to find a P rated tire that will hold up to mesquite tree thorns.

EEVEE

i want lsds in mine it would change the whole thing offroad and not be shamed when you cant clear a simple rut in the trail

Basslicks

I think he has indeed inherited the Beetlejuice trait


Excellent advice, sir. Glad you chimed in with the information on the gear oil for the manual transmissions. I've had several vehicles with a manual gearbox in them, but that was before I actually started working on them to know anything about it... really wish mine was an AX15 sometimes.

NM-XJ

Glad to be able to provide some input, Basslicks. Your list, though, was the essential one.

Yeah, I'd been topping my AX15 off with off the shelf API GL5 and GL6 oils. Kind of ran into some information regarding manual gearboxes by chance, and started to question my ways. Drained my transmission, found lots of brass sludge, then filled it up with some good Redline stuff. Pretty sure the syncro on 2nd is mostly gone...

It is really fun to have an AX15. That being said, from an engineering perspective automatics are hands down better for offroading.

nhopa

Hi Basslicks:


I have a 2001 Jeep Cherokee. Recently I changed out the fuel pump. The battery was disconnected for this work. After the repair all the codes reset except the Evaporative System code. I downloaded the Chrysler Drive Cycle Information and have done it more than a dozen times but the Evap system code does not reset. The engine light is not on. I also drove the Jeep couple of hundred miles some of it highway speed but still no luck. I called the Chrysler customer line and the told me to talk to the dealer. Is anything I can do to have the computer reset the code? Thank you.


PS CCken's access door to the fuel pump is a blessing. Why can't Chrysler think up something like that.

Basslicks

Evap codes are a tricky one, man. Full disclosure - I've never gotten off my lazy duff to fix one. My 300m and my Tahoe both have them pop on and off regularly. Although, I just replaced the gas cap on my Tahoe and it hasn't done it since.

Question though - were you receiving the evap code before you swapped out the pump or did it only pop up after the swap was complete?

Joshua White

This thread popped up due to the recent posts in it for me(naturally checking new posts and such)...what a great wealth of knowledge here.

To ease your worries a bit nhopa, where I use to live in the PNW there weren't many places to go explore that weren't at least an hours drive from me. So for a typical day of wheeling it was 1.5 hours there, 6+ hours of wheeling, and 1.5 hours home.

Never once did either of my Cherokee's leave me stranded (you can read about them in my the build thread linked in my sig). Both had high miles, both were abused before I got them (and the red one was abused a bit as I owned it), yet they were both reliable. Take on the list that's accumulated here and focus on the safety items first, from there your XJ will become incredibly reliable and you'll know it inside and out.

Best of luck :-)