Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Well, it finally made it to 150k miles. It's last odometer milestone for a long time as it doesn't get out much, maybe 2k-2.5k miles a year, so it'll be about 20 more years until I hit 200k. It's lived a hard life of off-roading on rough dirt roads and it hasn't been easy getting here. When it isn't out in the desert it spends its life garaged, hopefully that along with good maintenance will allow me to keep it forever.
It lived its first 11 years and 100k miles as a State of Arizona Department of Transportation vehicle in Kingman, AZ. If you look just right, you can still see on the doors where the decals said "For Official Use Only - State of Arizona". It has 4 screws on the roof where you can see where it had a small siren. This Jeep is a complete stripper model. It's only options were the 4.0L motor, automatic, 4x4, and a locking rear-differential. No arm rests, it didn't even have rear-speakers originally (but has the holes?). I even had to finish the wiring to the hatch for rear speakers.
My grandfather purchased it at a state auction in April 2007 at 100k miles. In all of his years, he says it was his favorite car of all time, and owning a collision-repair shop his entire life, he owned a lot of cars/trucks. He has a gold mine in Western-Arizona that we took it out to for years, I learned to drive in it out on those roads. It's something I will keep forever.
The good:
-The engine. The 4.0L really is a great engine. The power is just right, not too fast, not too slow. Plenty of torque. Has been fairly reliable, I'm sure it'll go for a long time.
-Transmission. It shifts like butter (Aisin transmission).
-4x4 capability. I have taken this Jeep to its absolute limits at its current form (not lifted). It can really go! Haven't been stuck yet.
The problems:
-Being 24 years old, a lot of parts have aged/worn out. I guess some of them I can't complain, but sometimes it's just one after another, it certainly is no Camry.
-It runs warm in the summer in traffic and out on the trails. I've literally replaced everything. But it's not so hot that the engine is going to be damaged. Oh well.
-I'm fairly tall, I've extended the seat frame and installed Grand a Cherokee seats to make it more comfortable. Still fairly small/cramped.
What it's had done over the years:
-Entire cooling system has been replaced. Some parts several times.
-Timing chain was stretched and caused a CEL for a misfire, but ran fine. After replacement all was well.
-Crank position sensor & neutral safety switch failed a couple times
-Distributor was worn, caused the rotor to wear out the cam-position sensor.
-A/C compressor clutch failed a couple years ago. Then the replacement did too last summer. So far so good on #3.
-Rear-end had bad bearings for the outer shafts, ruined a shaft. I swapped in a used axle and had those bearings replaced before they could fail
-Have had both driveshafts balanced and new U-Joints installed
-Replaced motor mounts and transmission mounts with new OEM
-Front differential bearings went bad, had replaced
-Power steering pump was getting tired. Had to get an OEM reman because the 2 Cardones I tried were trash.
-Catalytic converter internals broke into pieces. Might have been from hitting big rocks, not sure.
-Starter was getting slow and tired. Replaced
-Alternator died after it went swimming in a mud-puddle-pit
-All suspension/steering has been gone through and replaced
-Replaced oxygen sensors for preventative maintenance
-Replaced front wheel bearings for preventative maintenance
Here's to many more years to come!
It lived its first 11 years and 100k miles as a State of Arizona Department of Transportation vehicle in Kingman, AZ. If you look just right, you can still see on the doors where the decals said "For Official Use Only - State of Arizona". It has 4 screws on the roof where you can see where it had a small siren. This Jeep is a complete stripper model. It's only options were the 4.0L motor, automatic, 4x4, and a locking rear-differential. No arm rests, it didn't even have rear-speakers originally (but has the holes?). I even had to finish the wiring to the hatch for rear speakers.
My grandfather purchased it at a state auction in April 2007 at 100k miles. In all of his years, he says it was his favorite car of all time, and owning a collision-repair shop his entire life, he owned a lot of cars/trucks. He has a gold mine in Western-Arizona that we took it out to for years, I learned to drive in it out on those roads. It's something I will keep forever.
The good:
-The engine. The 4.0L really is a great engine. The power is just right, not too fast, not too slow. Plenty of torque. Has been fairly reliable, I'm sure it'll go for a long time.
-Transmission. It shifts like butter (Aisin transmission).
-4x4 capability. I have taken this Jeep to its absolute limits at its current form (not lifted). It can really go! Haven't been stuck yet.
The problems:
-Being 24 years old, a lot of parts have aged/worn out. I guess some of them I can't complain, but sometimes it's just one after another, it certainly is no Camry.
-It runs warm in the summer in traffic and out on the trails. I've literally replaced everything. But it's not so hot that the engine is going to be damaged. Oh well.
-I'm fairly tall, I've extended the seat frame and installed Grand a Cherokee seats to make it more comfortable. Still fairly small/cramped.
What it's had done over the years:
-Entire cooling system has been replaced. Some parts several times.
-Timing chain was stretched and caused a CEL for a misfire, but ran fine. After replacement all was well.
-Crank position sensor & neutral safety switch failed a couple times
-Distributor was worn, caused the rotor to wear out the cam-position sensor.
-A/C compressor clutch failed a couple years ago. Then the replacement did too last summer. So far so good on #3.
-Rear-end had bad bearings for the outer shafts, ruined a shaft. I swapped in a used axle and had those bearings replaced before they could fail
-Have had both driveshafts balanced and new U-Joints installed
-Replaced motor mounts and transmission mounts with new OEM
-Front differential bearings went bad, had replaced
-Power steering pump was getting tired. Had to get an OEM reman because the 2 Cardones I tried were trash.
-Catalytic converter internals broke into pieces. Might have been from hitting big rocks, not sure.
-Starter was getting slow and tired. Replaced
-Alternator died after it went swimming in a mud-puddle-pit
-All suspension/steering has been gone through and replaced
-Replaced oxygen sensors for preventative maintenance
-Replaced front wheel bearings for preventative maintenance
Here's to many more years to come!