Viggen's Cherokee: Episode I

"Viggen" (viggen37) 09/17/2014 at 15:46 • Filed to: None

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So, I took my Cherokee into Firestone to get my aft right shock absorber replaced and have an inspection done on it too. On Saturday, I got the call back from them about what was good and bad. Let's start with what's good on Pyrrha, shall we?

Good: engine, electrics/wiring, brakes.
-I was worried about the wiring. For some reason I relate '80s and '90s Chrysler wiring to Lucas levels of horror.

Bad: Ball joints, sway bar, tie rods.
-Damn. And they couldn't replace the shock absorber, because the mounting point had been destroyed, and they don't do welding there.

Once I got off the phone, I began texting my Jeep owning and offroading/mechanically inclined friends. One of them will be able to help with the shock absorber issue, he's a welder and a metal fabricator by trade. Also going to have him make a down pipe for my exhaust so the hot gasses aren't going directly onto my rear axle and diff. The tie rods and sway bar fixes I am going to have Firestone do. The ball joins will wait a little longer.

"What have I gotten myself into? Just Empty Every Pocket, right? FML," was about what my thought process was. I knew it was going to be expensive. I knew things were going to break. I just didn't know how much or how quickly. She's a project though, and I've already told myself the only way I'll let her go is if she's totaled.

yamahog > Viggen 09/17/2014 at 16:09

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Ball joints shouldn't be that bad of a DIY, and something you don't really want to wait too long on. And psh, who needs sway bars anyway??

(I'm kidding, you probably will want sway bars for daily driving purposes)

Viggen > yamahog 09/17/2014 at 16:14

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Yeah, I don't really plan on making my Cherokee into a full on "Bro, do you even flex?" Jeep.

NaturallyAspirated > Viggen 09/17/2014 at 16:36

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You only need a front swaybar on an XJ Cherokee. The rear one can be safely removed and discarded; tow package models didn't even come with a rear bar from the factory.

Consider if you might want swaybar disconnects for the front bar. These can be expensive, but they would be a good starting mod for a DIYer and they make a huge difference off road. It would probably allow you to fix the swaybar yourself, using the disconnect parts instead of OE parts. I used JKS disconnects on my XJ, because I got a good price on a used set.

If you're gonna replace the tie rod ends, consider replacing them with Grand Cherokee parts. The Grand Cherokee tie rods are much beefier than the XJ parts. You would probably need the adjuster parts from a junkyard or something.

Check out NAXJA.org for lots of great budget XJ mods. In my area, the NAXJA guys are somewhat controversial due to their attitude towards certain mods, but I always found their advice helpful.

Pic of my old XJ with Grand Cherokee tie rods and JKS swaybar disconnects: