brobrad

Hello, new to the forum, but familiar with lots of other forums in the diesel world.


This is my first experience with a Cherokee. My son purchased a 97 country 4x4 with a 4-6" lift, mud grips etc. Upon looking at it I new the kid that owned it had put it under water. He clamed that not to be true, but the white river sand front to back in the carpet was a dead giveaway. We bought with locked motor for 700. Not too bad delivered to the door. Tires and rims are worth that I believe.


Bought a used 98 4.0 with 127K miles(automatic setup) and swapped over appropriate parts. Checked tranny and TC and its all sand free. We've got her all bolted up and hope to drop tank and make sure its all good and fire it off this week.


We discovered that the drivers door latch (power setup) is broken and will not actuate. It appears a plastic piece is broken internally. After much headache we got it open and removed it. It appears to be a 97 only setup. At the salvage yard we pulled a 93, 95, 96 and 98 to find out all were not going to work. The bolts in the 97 (3) that hold it in are short and all others had a long bolt setup. Any ideas on where we might find one?

Radi

Might have to find another 97 or visit the dealer. Good luck with the start up!

brobrad

Thanks. Yeah, I was figuring a 97 might pop up somewhere, but I've found everything but that year model. If I could find the part number, I might be able to avoid the dealer.


The frustrating thing has been that every sensor on the 98 motor had to be swapped to the 97 as ALL of the plugs were changed from round to flat in 98. PLUS, there's a one wire sensor on the drivers rear of the head on the 97 that is not on the 98 nor is there a drilled hole for it. I hope that sensor can be deleted or "tricked" in some form or fashion.

cruiser54

That's the sender for the temp gauge on the dash.

brobrad

That's what I figured since it was a one wire setup. I did not see such an animal located anywhere on the 98

exjay1027

may i ask why you chose to swap the drivetrain to the one that took a swim rather than the lift to the one that ran?

brobrad

I only bought the 98 motor from a salvage yard.

exjay1027

oh, oops my bad

brobrad

No Problem. While we are talking about lifts, the "stabilizer" (??may not be right term) that drops down on the drivers front that attaches to the torsion bar does not have a bushing in it. Its just tied up to the frame. Where would i find the bushing for this lift. I have no idea what brand it might be.

exjay1027

is it one of these or is it the shock like part that attaches to the axle and drag link?

brobrad

It's the sway bar link but it is fixed. I'm guessing it to be a urethane bushing that is missing.

salad

Just curious what the first part of the VIN is on this XJ? Or maybe a photo? It sounds like you've got a 1996 model year. The wacky "this year only" parts is very characteristic of '96. The gauge cluster used in 1997 models doesn't even support the temperature sending unit in the back of the head.

SeriousOffroad

Hopefully you swapped the reluctor from the 97 transmission into the 98. They are different.
Also note that the 98 has an Input sensor that the 97 does not.

Installing a newer tranny into a 97 XJ is not a plug-n-play swap.

Fred/N0AZZ

Yup on some parts one year can make a lot of difference, I found out the hard way on my 99 being new to Jeeps also.........but I do have a hell of a lot of extra parts for sale

brobrad

I'll get that info. I don't guess i've looked at the title to see what it is exactly.
I did not change the reluctor as i did not swap the tranny.
I only changed out the motor.

Discovered late yesterday evening when we were getting ready for a startup that the coil on the engine has the same square vs. round pin problem. The original motor has a cracked coil. The PO said he could never get it to run right. I wonder why???? So, that means another $45 part and a trip to the parts house.