A few months back, I was helping a friend sell this 95 XJ. It had been sitting fir over 3 years and the T-Case was supposed to have a busted chain and needed a battery and tires, badly. She was asking $800.00 for it. I showed it to a guy for her one day and when I popped the hood, there was a rabbit right on top of the motor. It was quite a surprise...

The rabbit jumped and took off and we all just about peed ourselves. Then we realized that the rabbit had been eating the wiring off of the top of the motor.

After showing it to a few more folks no one was interested because of the wiring. After speaking to my friend about it she just asked me to take it off her hands. After asking questions here and doing a little homework I agreed to see if I could get it running. I got a harness from the local boneyard and went to work with my soldering gun, splicers and shrink tube. It took a bit but I re-wired the injectors and a few sensors and got the motor running.

I also replaced: Plugs Wires Cap & Rotor Coil Air Filter Fuel Filter Oil & Filter Replaced Transfer Case (Planetary gear was cooked on the original) Driveshaft U-Joints (Front and Rear) Shocks Tires (5 - 30x9.5r 15 Toyo Open Country ATs) Battery Rear Trans Seal Serpentine Belt Sun Visors - (Wife actually re-covered the old ones and they look great) Took the wife out for the first shake down drive.

I notice the front end was clunking a little and the trans was making a whirling sound. I have the AX15 so I just took it easy and drove it locally to keep close to home. It’s been a blast to drive around knowing that I brought this thing back from the dead. It still needs work and I want to make it more off-road capable. First, Id like to see what this thing can do stock before I try to upgrade it. I may be just fine for what I need. The wife loves it and so do I.

I’ll be replacing the track bar and the tie rods and all of the steering linkage and sway bar stuff eventually. In the meantime, I believe that I have a bad throwout bearing and that takes priority. So I have a new clutch (came with the throw out bearing) and a new fly wheel. I also picked up new motor and trans mounts and I’ll throw them on along with a new alternator. After this and the front end stuff it’ll be a great daily. Thanks for all of the answers to my questions.

Pulling the T-Case

The busted cross member. - I need to reinstall my skid plate but hove no nuts r to receive the bolts on this cross member. ANy ideas on how to resolve that?

Still workin on that t case. Those top nuts are a bear to get to...

Creative jacking

Grenaded planetary gear

Another angle...

 

I live in Southern California, Ridgecrest to be exact. We’ve had a few earthquakes this last week. Caused some real damage. Our house shifted more than an inch on its foundation and the foundations itself is cracked up pretty good. When I left the XJ (June 17th) was up on blocks but when I got home (July 5th, at 2am) it was on the ground. It was well supported before I left...

Anyway, its been kinda crazy over this way and I wont be able to do the front end stuff until I get past the financials of the earthquake damage. Not really sure when that’ll be. I’ve gotten so much done on this jeep and its been a blast. Today I took it over to the lady that gave it to me. It was her husbands and he died a few years back. She was moved that it was back on the road and going to be used properly, like a Jeep should be. She’s almost 80.

Im in my mid 40s and Ive never had so much fun working on a vehicle. These XJs are easy to work on, relatively cheap to repair and upgradable to the ends of your imagination and finances.

 

Sweet!
I kinda like two door Cheros myself here!
Yes that top nut on the TCase is hard to get to. I ended up taking a cheap harbor freight wrench and cut it way down so I had an Ultra Stubby (I wanna say 9/16)? to get up there.
Works really well and now I have a special wrench just for doing Tcases.

Hope you get the house situated very soon.
We lived out there when I was very young. My dad was Navy, so we got to live in a bunch of places.

 

Gonna start the clutch and fly wheel in Tuesday morning. Never done it before. Not sure if I can do the fly wheel with the engine still in the vehicle. REALLY hope I can get it sorted out...