what to stay away from

[allterrain]

OR a Geo Tracker would be a cheap little rig too.
I like the Subaru's, just not the fact that the environazis like them too...

 

[rondo]

I don't know if i'd get her a XJ. When i ran the logistics operation for the Army at Ft. Bliss Texas i had a small fleet of XJs; and every one of them broke down at least once in a 10 month period. Of course govt. vehicles aren't exactly babied or well taken care of. I commuted daily in a 97 XJ with only 55K on it; drove it 85 miles a day or so. One day i had to swerve off the road a bit and hit some gravel; just the shock of that broke the motor mount haha.
With that said though i loved driving it every day; got 20MPG no matter how fast or slow i drove. I felt like it had lots of power and AC always worked

 

[Brett]

Almost all XJ's are high pinion. '00-01 are low pinion, same as a TJ. The easiest thing to do is look under a TJ (or maybe a ZJ?) as they are low pinion and compare to yours. I doubt you'll find a low pinion in your older rig.

The "tricky" part is when you get into axle joint sizes. Everybody will say the '95 and newer ALL came with 297/760 axle joints and everything older than that is 260 axle joints. Not true. From what I've seen, if your XJ came with a 242 tcase and/or ABS, you'll have 297 joints as far back as 1989 (personal observation, it might carry all the way back to 1987?). I've only seen those in 'non-disconnect' versions of the D30 (no vacuum motor thingy on the passenger side). I've also seen ONE non-disconnect D30 with 260 joints (actually had an axle shaft as a spare with that cute little axle joint).

297 joints are 'stock' in most D44 and are 'strong' (760 is the forged replacement for the 297)

260 joints are 'stock' in most (all?) CJ D30 are pretty cute.......(significantly smaller than the 297) They seem to hold up to more abuse than you'd want to give them credit for, though.

hehe...mine's an 89 with the 242 annnnnnd 260 joints, non-disco too. Wish it wasn't

 

[mbryson]

hehe...mine's an 89 with the 242 annnnnnd 260 joints, non-disco too. Wish it wasn't

No ABS?

 

[wally]

If you don't want her (or her boyfriend) to wheel it, why the Jeep? Start her out with something with better milage etc

I was thinking of something that is 4x4 and sits up a little so if she does hit something.

OR a Geo Tracker would be a cheap little rig too.

I would consider one of those but I have not really found one online yet. I do have a few months before I am ready to buy. I just want to see what is out there for the money. So this will give me an idea on what I can get.

 

[Brett]

No ABS?

Nope

 

[BlackDog]

........keep the ABS fully operational. (I just cut my wires---)

The 'compressor' is the ABS. Kind of annoying when you first get the rig, but you get used to it. Keep fluid in that thing. They are a PAIN to get all the air out of.

So not only is it slightly annoying, no radio to drowned out the noise, no heater fan to drowned out the noise, etc.

AND the ABS is inop (4x sucks on the ice too[which is 80% tires, i get that]), what happens if I unplug the little bastard?

 

[mbryson]

So not only is it slightly annoying, no radio to drowned out the noise, no heater fan to drowned out the noise, etc.

AND the ABS is inop (4x sucks on the ice too[which is 80% tires, i get that]), what happens if I unplug the little bastard?

Honestly, I'm not how you would, but I'd assume you'd lose ALL braking power, but maybe not? I just got used to mine and left it.

 

[BlackDog]

we'll see, I live on a culdesac, after I finish the tune.
"Honestly, I'm not how you would,"
uhh, theres a wire connector that clips, that would be the unplugging I referenced.

 

[mbryson]

we'll see, I live on a culdesac, after I finish the tune.
"Honestly, I'm not how you would,"
uhh, theres a wire connector that clips, that would be the unplugging I referenced.

Let me rephrase. I'm not sure that you should (lots of distractions when I was typing that) disconnect that pump. You may end up with no brakes, but it'd be worth knowing, I guess.

 

[jdub]

Hey Jay, no offense to your choice of cars but I'm casually interested in the forester for the specs,mileage, and roadtrip capabilities. But I think it's ugly. How's everything else setting asthetics aside? I love how the subarus' drive in the snow and my wife doesn't want to be in something small,low to the ground, for accident reasons. Does it get the job done?

 

[BlackDog]

I thoght thats what you meant, then I wondered if you thoguth I meant undo all the vacuum hoses and such.


I guess my thought was if the ABS aren't functional, then why run it until I figure out the root cause of the ABS non functioning, will be an interesting 15 feet. Should know immediately.

 

[ewander]

To me the biggest reason cherokee's are attractive is the CHEAP price......and decent reliability.

 

[Rot Box]

Yeah...XJ all the way!!! there is nothing funner than working on a Jeep! If she enjoy's working on stuff, and fixing stupid reoccuring problems all the time, and getting bad fuel milage I'd definatly go that route!......

Oh crap! wrong forum I didn't mean it really I didn't...

Toyota's rule! Go with a 4runner

 

[BlackDog]

Honestly, I'm not how you would, but I'd assume you'd lose ALL braking power, but maybe not? I just got used to mine and left it.

Yup, it replaces the vacuum booster, unpluggin it had the same effect that losing the p/s pump did on my diesel suburban, no vacuum assist.

 

[Fuller]

I thoght thats what you meant, then I wondered if you thoguth I meant undo all the vacuum hoses and such.


I guess my thought was if the ABS aren't functional, then why run it until I figure out the root cause of the ABS non functioning, will be an interesting 15 feet. Should know immediately.

you could take it out and upgrade to a 95 or 96 booster and have better brakes all the way around

there is a write up on mad xj on how to do it.

i had did a swap like this a month ago wasn't to hard.

 

[Hickey]

so my nod would go for the '91-'95 models.

I fully agree.