Fun with an XJ

I like push bars better than the full wraparound type as they're less likely to be involved in a corner hit. In that case, the bar isn't strong enough to do anything but bend and take out whatever's behind it. On a slow corner hit - like the one that bent this bumper originally - things are unchanged. 

On a big hit, well, it's going to wreck things anyway. There's a narrow range of speeds where you're hitting hard enough to bend the frame with the push bar but softly enough that the stock bumper would have taken it, but that's a pretty small window.  And you can lean up against things like another vehicle to, well, push. The one on my truck also serves as a ladder to get to the engine bay! They're reasonably light, I was holding it with one hand as I bolted it on.

You mostly find them available for vehicles that have police duty, but you can obviously adapt them to anything.  This one's off eBay and cost under $100 shipped. Get a Go Rhino like this for the good stuff. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

After your post I checked and there's a company on Atlanta CL that lists police take-offs occasionally for $65 plus shipping. Seems like a good route to go when I decide to. Cut the plastic bumper, weld up some brackets. I do much prefer the front end of the XJs to the ZJs. THe ZJ front end hasn't aged well.

The one on my truck also serves as a ladder to get to the engine bay!

That is truly an underappreciated aspect of aftermarket bumpers (with 'brush guards' anyway) on trucks.

So, I walked out to the XJ this morning and found a flat tire. When I went to air it up, it leaked from the valve stem. Also, there was a clue.

Did I tweak the stem on a rock? Is this old damage and an aged stem just happened to fail? Who knows. Luckily, I work at a shop with a tire machine so I chucked the wheel in the trunk of the CRX - prompting oh-so-many comments about "compact spares" - popped the bead off, popped in a new 39 cent valve stem and popped the bead back in to place. Easy fix.

And yes, these wheels have quite the finish. I think someone attacked them with an extremely aggressive cleaner at some point. It's got a pretty cool look to it.

A little more work today. The turn indicators don't self-cancel. A bit of interneting says that this is usually a little cam doohicky that costs $9. So I picked one up. Borrowed an Autozone wheel puller and came across a dead end. Some sort of plate that had no visible fasteners. Some more interneting (I didn't want to run inside to check the service manual on CD because my phone was right there! So lazy) came up with the words "spring clip". Ah, you push the plate in and that allows you to release the clip. After some futzing around, I had it apart.

The cam doohicky was just fine. But I found this.

Actually, I found the remains of two of them. I had no idea where they had once been, and it was obvious I wasn't fixing this today because I don't have spare torsion springs. I did spend some time tweaking the latching springs for the turn indicator stalk so it would feel slick and luxurious instead of about to snap off, then I reassembled.

Which was not easy. Remember our spring clip? Well, the cam doohicky (which is also the horn switch) and the plate have to be pushed inwards to allow you to get the clip in place. And what you're pushing against looks like a half-length valve spring from a big block. It's a ridiculously strong spring. It took me a fair bit of struggling and - no kidding - using both hands and a knee to get everything back in place. At least I had the luxurious feel of the stalk to make me feel like I'd accomplished something.

Turns out the turn signal switch (the actual broken part) was used in a bunch of GM cars as well as at least 18 years of Jeep. So of course they're readily available and even on the shelf at NAPA for $25. Eric wants his turn signals to not only feel luxurious but also to self cancel, the sybarite. So I'll go to war with the spring clip once again and swap out the switch for him.

After all this, there was nothing to do but go for another test drive. I found an excellent place to get the Jeep out on a ridge to take some pictures but I'm going to wait until I have a spotter or at least a Hi-Lift with me before I try it.

Gratuitous.

Also, in case I haven't mentioned - this town is lousy with XJs. I see at least 4 every time I leave the house. Yesterday I was parked within 100 yards of both a Comanche and a fairly modified XJ. And today, when I came out of the dentist's office, there was this. It's like a more radical version of a similar build - I think Eric and I have discussed and dismissed just about every modification on this thing.

There is a tool to depress that retaining plate that makes removing the spring clip a heck of a lot easier.  I've had my for 30 years so I have no idea what they cost.

APEowner said:

There is a tool to depress that retaining plate that makes removing the spring clip a heck of a lot easier.  I've had my for 30 years so I have no idea what they cost.

I picked up one for the Vette, I think it was like $8 at Advance. Well worth it. 

I can see what the tool would look like. I even considered making one. Now that I know they exist, I shall have one in hand the next time that wheel comes off.

Here's a pic from the Autozone website. Easy enough to make if I can't find one.

Looking around for that tool, looks like the springs themselves are available and on the shelf at NAPA for about $3. The tool is called a "steering wheel lock plate removal tool", and is indeed $11 from NAPA.

Sweet. Let's hear it for cars that are heavily supported with a long production run and lots of parts interchange. I do love working on American stuff for this reason.

At $11, it probably costs more to hit up the Home Depot, especially if you bring the thirsty 4.0 with it.

Junkyard parts interchange is half the reason I loved my project Lincoln so much. I don't have to spell out exotic words like "Subaru" slowly to every hayseed NAPA desk operator when it blows a hose in the backcountry.

There are two interesting assumptions in that first sentence: first, that I don't have what I need to build the tool in my garage, and secondly that I live closer to NAPA than Home Depot! Both would be incorrect...but I bought the tool anyhow because I needed to buy the springs.

This is what happiness looks like.

Popped that little bugger right in and out. Sweet. Thanks for letting me know first that these tools exist and secondly that they're so affordable.

Here's what I did. See those two little springs? Those are what was broken. $3.42 at NAPA, problem solved, we now have a turn signal switch that not only moves like it's not about to shatter but also cancels on its own. Such luxury. And solved with under $4 worth of parts! Again with the love for common vehicles with parts interchange and availability. Also, look at the size of that big bastard of a spring on the column which has no need to be so heavy.

While I was at the shop taking the final bits out of the Subaru carcass, I put the Jeep up on the lift to change out the trans fluid. Jeep put a drain plug on the automatic drain pan, bless them. But it's at the shallower end of the pan, so you still get a surprise wave of fluid when you break free the seal of RTV that the previous guy put in there. My poor shoes. After some dinking around and learning and learning some more, I got the fluid change done and the truck does seem to shift more smoothly - especially from R to P. The old fluid looked good, but what I do I know about automatics.

The engine is weeping oil from the oil filter mount (new o-ring, $1.99 on the shelf at Autozone) but also has a questionable rear main seal. I cleaned everything off to make sure it's not the oil filter mount pretending to be a leaky rear main, but I think that's wishful thinking. If it were mine, I'd probably leave it alone because it's not leaking enough to actually drip. But this is Eric's.

In other news, the PS pump makes a bit of a whining noise after you've been driving for a while. I checked the fluid level and it looked lower than I wanted, so I dumped some Lucas Oil magic juice in. I'll drive for a bit to see if it helps. Probably should change all the fluid, honestly. It looked pretty rough.

Also, the recalcitrant driver's power door lock appears to be working. I lubed everything last time I was in there, and maybe it took a while for it all to loosen up. So that's good.

I also noticed that the rear axle is making contact with the exhaust on really big suspension movement. This is not a new trick based on the dent in the exhaust that brought it to my attention. I'm not sure this is really a problem, it simply identifies a bang and will eventually solve itself. The rear brake lines are taut at full droop, so between that and the fact that they're 28 years old means that it's probably time to change them out.

I then took the Jeep for some exercise and drove up and down some dirt and through some gulleys. Best part was ripping out through the bumpy access road giving the Fox shocks a workout and blasting past a fairly new half-ton pickup that was very slowly working through the potholes going the other way.

You'll stop thinking fondly of that steering column if you ever have to go any deeper into it! I've fixed a lot of loose tilt mechanisms in them and they never fully stop being a PITA to tear down even when you're familiar with them. Or running replacement turn signal switch harnesses through. 

Also looks like your lockplate is unusually beefy. Many of them are weaker and the lockplate compressor does almost as much plate bending as it does spring compressing. 

Not THAT beefy. There was flex. I didn't compress further than I had to because I could totally see catastrophic failure.

New brake lines are ordered - YJ parts are a little bit longer. I'm going rubber because OEs use it.

As another recent XJ owner I approve this message. I bought mine and drove it ~3600 miles from east NC to north CA. There's nothing like going into any auto parts store in any tiny town and them having what I need. Much unlike my e36.

Vigo said:

Here in Texas big trucks with aftermarket 'full replacement bumpers' are very popular. They typically weigh a ton (i've helped paint and install some) and are extremely strong. As you say, the purpose of stock bumpers is to soak energy by crumpling. One of the things i dont think 99% of people buying those bumpers understands is that they are so much stronger than stock that when you wreck the truck the bumper just transfers energy straight through to your framerails and makes it much more likely that the truck totals out (and much less than 100% of 'mod money' spent is recouped). They essentially make the vehicle more dangerous to the owner, other drivers, and pocketbooks. But they look cool! But, with vehicles as old as this Cherokee making frame damage more likely is really a moot point since anything of this age/value essentially totals out instantly in any kind of real incident. I'd say those things make MORE sense on a 3k truck than a 30k or 60k truck. 

In a serious accident I would tend to agree.  However, around here (and likely in parts of Texas too) the most likely accident you will have is a deer strike.  I would much much prefer a big Texas style bumper in a deer strike to a stock bumper.  A good sized deer can do heavy damage to even a 1 ton 4x4 if struck at highway speed.  A Ranch Hand, Buckstop, etc., goes a long way toward mitigating that.

One thing I forgot about this truck - it came with ABS. If you know anything about Jeeps (or if you're googling furiously as part of purchasing one), you know that the ABS on a 1990 XJ is a hazard. Like recalled hazard. If it fails, you lose all your brake assist which seems extreme, but 1990 was early days for anti-lock. When I went to look at the truck, the ABS light was on but the brakes were working. Poking around, I found mysterious electrical connectors that were disconnected and the brake booster appeared to have more surface corrosion than the rest of the engine bay. Eric was on the phone with me trying to describe what I was looking at and it didn't match - until we realized that the car had already been given an ABSectomy. The booster was from a donor vehicle. The pump was still in place but it wasn't hooked up.

Excellent. When I had the dash apart a couple of weeks ago, I pulled the bulb for the ABS system. So that's one potential bad failure averted, thank you previous owner.

I work in an area with a lot of dark back roads. Eric lives up north where the sun disappears for 9 months during winter and it snows. The factory fog lights on the car don't do a whole lot and one of them has a rusted reflector. In keeping with the 80's theme of this build, there was only one acceptable choice.

100W fog pattern so they work well in snow and should be well-suited to nighttime rockcrawling. And of course, happy faces. LED bars would be wrong for this vehicle.

I'm probably going to move them back a bit so they're better protected by the bar, currently they're using the existing holes in the bar.

This comparison does not do the size difference justice. They're both 4WDs with a straight six engine and room for 4-5 people, but the XJ doesn't even reach back to the rear wheel on the shortbed 2500. The Jeep is lifted, the Dodge is not.

I was a bit surprised myself to find out just how small XJ's are. After DD-ing my Crown Vic for so long my XJ feels downright tiny. 

The turning radius is ridiculously tight too!

The_Jed said:
I was a bit surprised myself to find out just how small XJ's are.

So very true! I always thought my Honda Element was short at 196", but the Cherokee is 165" (before the push bar).

This was one reason I chose the XJ, I live/shop/eat in a rather dense urban environment and the ability to parallel park in any available space is critical. Sure I drive the Grand Marquis, but that is four feet longer than the XJ, so I'm looking forward to the ability to expand my ven diagram intersection of "available parking spot length" union with "whatever car I'm driving today length".

The XJ fits my ideal of a winter vehicle; the size if a midsize car but with real 4WD and the ability to soak up some truly terrible pavement.

Cool project! Nice to see scope clearly defined and adhered to.

I like the XJ but it was too small to consider for my family truckster / offroad crusher duties so I settled on an FJZ80 Land Cruiser instead, about 5 years ago.

But it seems the XJ is about as close as Jeep ever came to capturing the magic of the Volvo 240 formula. And I mean that as a compliment. Sure it has an inline six and 4WD but other than that they are very comparable vehicles.

The_Jed said:

I was a bit surprised myself to find out just how small XJ's are. After DD-ing my Crown Vic for so long my XJ feels downright tiny. 

 

The turning radius is ridiculously tight too!

It will turn just about as tight as an early CJ5 which is to say TIGHT.  A Samurai would probably beat it though.

I've been amazed how tight my ZJ will turn and how small it is after the F250, I can only imaging that the XJ is even more so.

Back to work. I didn't get much done today, but I got some done. On multiple Jeeps.

Did you know the WJ uses a mechanical flasher? I fully expected it to be electronic. We'll find out after a cold soak if I managed to fix it.

I wired up the Daylighters. I thought about just using the OE wiring harness. The wire gauge looks sufficient (quite burly, actually) and some forum reports say it's fine running 100W lights in place of the stock 55W lights. But the lights came with a relay harness and I figured there was very little benefit in not using it. I used the OE wiring to trigger the lights so the switch remains in place as does the stock behavior of "only on with low beams". Since they're fog lights, that's the appropriate setup.

A few hours later, I had the chance for a test drive. Yowza. Now I know why KC lights were used on everything back in the day, these things do a heck of a job. These not intended for driving lights, but for rockcrawling (before Eric takes it home) and driving in inclement weather (after Eric takes it home). Should work well!

Low beams.

Low beams with KC assist (unaimed).

Spent some of the rest of the day dinking around with the power locks in the rear doors. I think they're going to remain manual.

Eric's also been playing around with some ideas for the flares and side cladding treatment. Just this morning he was floating the idea of Bushwacker flares and we've talked about replacing the lower cladding with bedliner. And what do I find parked at the school a quarter mile from my house? It's on 33s, so I think it fills out the arches better than the 29s on Midland. But it's a great illustration of the different look on the same basic body shape, and I think it helped him figure things out. 

You're making me wish I'd told my wife "NO!" when she insisted I get rid of our '90 XJ.  It was a completely spare vehicle for us and she was tired of it sitting out in front of the house.  

The_Jed said:

The turning radius is ridiculously tight too!

I find it funny that between the three cars in my name, the team's Lemons 300SD, my XJ and my BMW Compact that the BMW has the worst turning radius by far and that the 300SD with the longest wheelbase out maneuvers both of them.

Had a surprise job to do on the XJ today. I went to open the hatch and...access denied. It was opening the first stage of the latch, but not the second.

I crawled in through the rear door and managed to get the interior panel. Thank you Jeep for making that possible. It helps that most of the push-in fasteners were broken years ago. With that access, I was able to access  the latch and get it open again.

Here it is out of the door. The long arm that's vertical in the middle of this picture has some scrape marks on it. That bar was hung up on the plastic block just to the left. In order to get the door open, I had to lift the block up a bit. On a later test, the arm actually hung up on the steel bracket that holds the spring-loaded plastic block. I had to pry it apart to get things open, and you can see a crack on the bracket. I'm wondering if that crack developed from vibration and it sagged to the point where it stopped rubbing and started jamming.

My first thought was to look for a replacement, but it was easy enough to remove so I took a look. I decided that I have a welder and I could see what the problems were, so I'd try that.  I cleaned up the metal, welded up the crack and made sure everything was aligned. Then got happy with the grease and reinstalled. 

As an added bonus, while I was in there I adjusted the striker. I'd thought a rattle in the rear was due to the interior panel flopping around, but driving the Jeep without the panel told me it was the whole hatch. The end result is a hatch that opens more easily, closes with a nice solid feel and (hopefully) will not rattle.

But it wasn't what I was planning to do this afternoon.