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Anyone else replaced the original Goodyears within the first 2-3 years? I have to rotate and balance them every 6K miles because they get out of balance so easily. Never had this problem with any other vehicle I've owned. My Jeep has 24,800 miles and has been trouble free!
question though does anyone else get the rumble under the floor at approx 12-2100 rpm during i believe the 2nd to 3rd shift?
also my rotors are obviously warped at 15k miles . any body had any trouble with dealer repair?
Dealer says this is standard with the 4 wheel drive auto transmission. I feel like something is wrong, and I am being kissed off. Does anyone else experience this type of problem. If so, what was the answer, fix, etc ?. Looking for the fix.
rayp1: the thump you described sounds normal. My cherokee does this, my inlaws grand cherokee does this, a friends 4runner does it. I think it's pretty common on vehicles with real 4X4 systems and auto trannies. My Tacoma (same as 4runner) didn't do it, but it was a manual tranny.
I just ignored it.
My brake rotors are not warped. I always hand tighten my lugs nuts to avoid over tightening.
I do have a very noisy drivetrain. The dealer has rebuilt the front differential and transfer case and installed some new parts in the four wheel drive shift lever. The noise seems worse. There are times when it is fine and other times when it sounds like the gears are running dry. I am very concerned about this because I don't want any costly problems after my warranty expires next year.
It is a 4 door.
The "sale" price is $13,495.00
Is this a fair price?
Are there any recommendations on what to look and listen for when I take it for a test drive?
Any recalls or TSB's for this year?
Thanks in advance
Thanks
pgooseman
2 - 1999 JGC. No problems. Last winter I pulled a Honda CRX-V or something out of the snow. I charged him $50 and told him to buy a real SUV.
Does anybody have any ideas on aftermarket "cat back" exhaust systems?
M
http://www.rustysoffroad.com/engine.html
for his exhaust replacement kit. You can also do a search on Google for "xj cat back exhaust". I got lots of good hits.
Finally, a great resource for all things jeep is the XJ-List from off-road.com. There are searchable archives with almost anything you would ever want to know about your jeep. The main page is at:
http://lists.off-road.com/xj-list/
Hope this helps.
(As a woosh of sand hovers into the air)
Just don't get mixed up when you order something because the Grand Cherokee and the Cherokee have all different parts for the most part. BTW, this is the Cherokee forum. You might try posting in the Grand Cherokee forum because the Grands seem to have more brake problems than us XJ folks.
I looked at some of your pics and the vehicle looks nice. I didn't look through all of them because I'm used to looking at pics like these:
http://www.mike-g.net/jeep/yinyang/pics/banner/
I have a 2001 Black Sport and I love it. I quite happily put my first scratches on it this last weekend in some trees. Don't worry, though. Touch up paint a good wax job will get most of them out. I've never had a vehicle like it and I love the freedom. Scrambling up 45 deg sand inclines and bumping down forested snomobile trails are something I couldn't do before. I'm almost sad I didn't buy a Wrangler instead, but the Cherokee has some very nice features.
I've already compiled a list of almost $3000CDN of modifications that I want to make to it including new bumpers, lift kit, engine upgrades, tires, etc.
As for problems, I had an initial alignment problem (just like all the new Libertys, hmm...) and I have a few squeaks and minor annoyances I want to get rid of. I've had it for almost 5 months and I've put about 7500 miles on it (a couple of long road trips). The minor annoyances are that the tires feel out of balance because of the alignment I had done, my driver's door squeaks, and my turning stalk doesn't quite work properly when changing lanes to the right. Small problems that I'll live with until I find time to take them to a Stealer to get fixed. The only problem is trying to find a Stealership that isn't exactly that. 5-star service doesn't mean a thing. They all suck.
The great thing about my Jeep was that it was in the hands of someone who babied it. I don't think it ever went off-road. All highway miles at 76K and it's a 98 model. Everything seems to run excellent so far. Anyone have any thoughts of things to look out for with the mileage I have? Thanks and keep the posts coming.
Sebring, as for shocks I've been reading lots about lift kits and the different kinds of shocks that work well with them. Old Man Emu (from Australia) is supposed to be the best. You can find their page at www.arbusa.com I think (ARB makes OME). Rancho 9000s are popular with XJs becuase you can set the valving with a switch or dial to change the characteristics. Blisteins are supplied on the UpCountry package and are stiffer than stock. Another name I've heard around and seems to be getting some interest are Doetsch Tech.
I've been thinking about getting a "budget boost" for my XJ which will give me about 2" lift. I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep the stock shocks and maybe lengthen them with Bar Pin Eliminators or get new ones. Eventually I want to pick up the whole Old Man Emu 2-3" kit and put it on top of the budget boost. Big money, though. Check out http://www.rocky-road.com/xjsus.html
for some initial information. Watch out, it's addictive.
will see the highway as well as it is 100 miles to everything out there.
I've asked the same questions on other boards and have received some recommendations regarding the Trooper and the 4 Runner. What I'd like to understand better is how the Cherokee performs off road, what are its reliability issues, what problems I might encounter, what features I should look for, what model years to avoid, what tires I should get, etc. I had budgeted $10k, but I can see that's not enough to get a recent model with airbags and the newer AC coolant. So let's say I'm willing to spend $15K if necessary. I'd welcome any comparisons of other brands. (I
read the Edmund reviews and by the time I was finished, it was hard to say
which model was better at what). Thanks in advance.
Elight50
To give you an idea where I am coming from, my previous vehicle was a Mitsubishi Eclipse. Consumer Reports gave the Eclipse very bad reliability ratings. I did not care one bit. I wanted one anyway and I loved it. In the 3 years and 44K miles I had it, I never had a problem. To read more about my Eclipse goto:
http://www.berkshire.net/~josh/eclipse
Final words....Spend the time in each vehicle that you really want. Hope this helps.
Oh, and you can see pics of my Jeep here:
http://www.berkshire.net/~josh
You may want to look for one with the up-country package, which will have skid guards, tow hooks, limited slip diff, a couple extra inches of clearance, and heavy-duty shocks/springs. You can easily find a 97 or newer Cherokee (which are the years I would recommend) within your budget.
As far as reliability issues, there are no big problems on the Cherokees. The nice thing is that parts are available everywhere and Jeep dealers are always close by.
I've owned a Tacoma which is very similar to the 4runner. I think they are excellent vehicles, but quite expensive. You'll be hard pressed to find a V6 4X4 4runner under $15K that's not quite old. They are also bigger and less manueverable than the Cherokee. The 4runner will ride better on the highway, but the Cherokee will drive/ride better on the back roads/trails.
As far as tires, just get something with a good aggresive tread pattern. Unless you plan on doing serious off-roading, you should be fine with an all-terrain tire. BF Goodrich makes a good trail tire. Most Jeeps come with Goodyear Wranger RT/S which doesn't do too bad either. They are just a bit noisey on-road and hard to keep balanced for some reason.
As for tires, I'm going to be going with BF Goodrich AT (probably KOs) when my RT/S are gone. I'm not too impressed with the Goodyears but what do you expect from the dealership? I currently have a slight balance problem on mine at about 75mph. The alternative for the real off roader are Mud Terrain or MT type tires. There are all sorts but the names I keep hearing are all the main names, foremost is BF.
Elight50
Check out the bottom of the page. The same transmission has appeared in a few different vehicles too. I've never heard or read of anyone having problems with the transmission.
Elight 50
elight50: the Grand is great off-road as well. It has more sophisticated 4X4 systems availalble than the fairly common "part-time" system in the cherokee. A relative has a new grand with quadra-drive and it's awesome in snow/light mud. I'd be a bit concerned with seriously using a system like that off-road because it seems like alot to break. But if you aren't getting into anything too extreme, a full-time system might actually do better for you. You don't have to think about whether or not you need to be in 4X4. The Grands also have more reliability issues. I've seen quite a few posts on people losing trannies. There is a full-time system available for the cherokee that is great, but on the used side it would be hard to find. The vast majority come with a part-time system.
The terrain is steep, rocky, with an occasional boulder, so the part time system sounds ok. Any advantage to a auto or manual tranny? I've read that some features useful for offroad (torque systems) only work with an AT.
Thanks for the education.
Elight50
I'll start shoping the Cherokee with the up-country package. I'm still looking at Troopers but they look much too big. Good ground clearance and are reported to be good off road but to me they look like a bus about to tip over.
If you think of anything I should consider, post here or email me.
Elight50
Elight50@yahoo.com
Tim
I've read the reviews from folks who have had serious reliability problems. I'm hoping that a used one will have the bugs out of it by the time I get it. I figure on buying one in the East that hasn't seen off road action. Just hope I can find the right configuration.
Elight50
When it broke, it also sent shrapnel into various other parts, which all required replacing. Anyway, the dealer repair cost me almost $1,400, since my car is 5 months and about 8,000 miles out of warranty. The really crappy thing is that this may not be an isolated thing. My buddy in L.A. has a '98 Wrangler that had THE SAME THING BREAK. Except his was still in warranty, so it was only an inconvenience to him.
Anybody else heard of similar problems? I want Jeep to put out a recall notice if these are breaking a lot.