1995 Two Door Cherokee "Last of the Old Breed"

[Sherman134]

Seeing as its been almost a year since the last update to this thread, I feel it is appropriate to bring it back up to date. Every other Cherokee in this thread (excluding the park ranger) has either been sold, or died. While my best friend (green XJ) stayed in the off-road category, buying a 4x4 ranger, everyone else moved onto smaller more economical cars. My XJ still has the same lift and tires as the last post in this thread, and is so far still performing well. College has limited my dirt driving to approximately once every three months, while increasing my highway mileage to near 300 miles a month. Therefore, the upgrades lost their "cool" factor and all but a few were done out of necessity. This has however, made the Cherokee more practical, and as a result looks [to me] to be more utilitarian in nature.

Anyway, onto the upgrades:
Due to most of my friends selling their 4 wheel drives, any camping trips taken would require the use of the back seat for passengers. Without this cargo space camping trips would be difficult if not impossible, therefore a basic roof rack was installed, courtesy of some family friends for graduation.


Mocking up the placement


The center sagged too much when using only the two factory racks, so two more crossbars were sourced from my local junkyard.


The rack is very strong in this configuration and can easily support my weight with little to no deflection. While I do not ever plan on loading that much weight in gear on top of my XJ, it is nice to know I can (sorry for the sideways pic)


The next upgrade came as a result of a new head unit. The previous owner, using what appeared to be a dremel, widened the hole in the dash bezel to fit his aftermarket unit. The unit I purchased was designed to fit the factory hole so a new dash bezel was needed. After searching the junkyard I stumbled on an older XJ country with a super classy faux wood-grain dash. SO naturally I bought it. The thing was covered in cigarette tar, and required half a bottle of vinegar to remove all of the film. For anyone who inst aware, vinegar is excellent at removing thick set in stains (oil grease nicotine etc.)

comparison between old and older


The Xj this was pulled from had the GM steering column and therefore did not fit over the newer airbag column. Since only 95 and 96 model year XJs came with this setup, I decided to modify the older dash to fit. For the straightest cut possible I traced the line from the original bezel onto the wood bezel and carefully drilled small holes along this line.


The next step involved taking coarse thread and sawing through the small gaps in the plastic. The remaining nubs of plastic were then sanded with a dremel tool, with some extra material removed to make the dash easier to remove. (those of you who have this year XJ know what I am talking about). I personally like the look and it also serves as an interesting conversation piece.

Finished product:




I also purchased a set of cheap harbor freight fog lights to fill the holes in the bumper. While originally purchased for the aesthetic, they actually perform surprisingly well for the $10 spent on them, while also maintaining the factory look. I would definitely recommend them due mostly to their low price point. Considering the location of the factory foglights, I would be hesitant to mount a more expensive set of lights in their place.


END OF POST 1

 

[Sherman134]

What wasn't mentioned in the previous post was the stress involved when towing the boat. This was the first time I had towed with the XJ and the idiot lights were particularly stress inducing. While the Cherokee had never shown any signs of overheating, with no way of monitoring the temperature other than a light to tell you AFTER it had already overheated, I decided the next upgrade would be to switch to a full gauge cluster. While this particular unit was sourced from a two wheel drive, a simple swapping of bulbs and the dash was confidently displaying the PART TIME light on command.


Before I had a chance to install the gauge cluster I noticed my jeep was sounding like a riced out Honda when i was merging onto the main road by my house. This was eventually tracked down to a cracked muffler. The muffler had been dented for a while, however, the continual heating and cooling must have finally worked the aged metal loose. The only logical replacement was to install a Flowmaster 40 in its place. While it was in for muffler repairs the mechanic swapped the gauges, corrected the mileage on the full cluster, and replaced the necessary sensors. (again sorry for the orientation)

Finished product


The last modification before leaving for college was to re-position the precariously mounted and sketch CB antenna. A firestik universal mount was used and the antenna was mounted on the edge of the passenger side rear bumper. This location still allows the tailgate to be opened without contacting the antenna while also lowering the 4' antenna to be lowered to a more parking garage friendly location. An access hole was cut into the corner piece and a spring was mounted to limit the stress placed on the mount. A piece of fishing line was used to secure the top of the antenna to the roof rack, in order to prevent the antenna from swinging too wildly while driving.

The mount can be seen in these pics. The XJ was an 86 turbo diesel in immaculate condition. I took the opportunity for some poser shots.




The jeep then fell into use as a normal vehicle. My off-road exploration soon fell away, as I am only home for short periods of time, I cannot risk having a major breakage on the trail. I still managed to get some ironic shots of the Jeep dealing with civilian life, alongside other out of place four wheel drives.







This continued until Christmas break, with no need for more offroad gear, my planned list of mods soon fell away as I began to deal with real life. For Christmas my father surprised me with a set of KC Daylighters. Unlike the harbor freight lights I wanted to make sure the installment of these lights was seamless. I removed the wind fairing from my roof rack and mounted the lights to the front of the roof rack. The wires were then routed along the crossbars into the roof rail. The only piece of exposed wiring is a short section of wire loom where the wires were routed into the interior.

The lack of pictures is mostly due to any taken with the lights on were black excluding the lights. this is one of the few in which the Jeep is visible


I also picked up this little gem



While the T5 may be considered an entry level camera, it is more than enough for the limited photography I do.

END OF POST 2

 

[Sherman134]

Poser shots on new camera to provide good documentation of all upgrades at time of the posting:







Before the end of Christmas break I took one final jeep ride with my friend in his XJ. After putting a rod through the piston of his old 4.0, the replacement motor was burning a lot of oil and running quite hot. He had already purchased a new 4x4 ranger, and was simply driving the Cherokee while the paperwork was finished. However, it did give me a chance to try out the new camera.
WARNING PIC HEAVY

These images have been reduced from their original size, this is not the true resolution of of the T5, however, the max file size on ExPo will not allow the original files to be uploaded









Not trying to flex, this is simply where I happened to stop.



During this time, I also had the rust on the roof repaired, while the floorboards are still rusty, I no longer have to worry about rust letting water into the cab in case of rain.

 

[Sherman134]

Well, its been a year, looking back, it seems this is the time of year when things finally slow down enough to update this thread.

As for updates, got some use out of the roof rack, while heavier items are a bit of a pain to load alone, having the extra storage space is extremely useful when it is needed.

Shortly after this trip I was hit in the front left corner...

Dented the fender, wrecked the drivers side headlight bezel, and ripped the bumper away from the tow hook brackets...

The carnage...







I ripped off whatever wasn't essential, threw it in the back and drove it home...

 

[Sherman134]

Once I got home I finished removing the bumper cap and began piecing the front end back together.



Looking like a complete Jeep again!

The dent was minor so I decided to try my hand at some body work... grabbed a rubber mallet, some blocks of wood, and a suction cup dent puller from oreillys and went to town!

The only shot I have of this stage is a screenshot from a video, so you'll have to excuse the poor quality.



The dent is still there; however, I'm probably the only one who can see it from any normal distance.

The tow hooks themselves were still in perfect condition, but the bumper brackets that were welded to them were completely unusable.

So I had two choices, cut the welds off the bumper mounts... or pony up some cash and upgrade...

 

[Sherman134]

So I upgraded...





Bought through amazon prime with FREE SHIPPING!

The first store I ordered through emailed back stating that ARB had found an issue with these products and had stopped shipping these bull bars while they redesigned the bumper...

This sounded like B.S. so I emailed ARB who promptly responded stating that these bumpers were not only still in production (Amazing that a company would continue to manufacture products for a 22 year old vehicle) but also in stock in their US warehouse.

The second store sent the bumper, free shipping and all, without protest. They did however, increase their price by $200.

Removing the old tow hook and bumper bracket hardware was tough. I had to remove the front skid plate, braking 3 of the studs in the process.

While the passenger side torx bolts came out without a fight, the drivers side torx bolt (labeled in red) stripped...

So I busted out the angle grinder, cut a flat slot into the bolt and used the largest flat head I could find to back it out.



Installation went flawlessly, my brother and I were able to get it installed and wired within a few hours.

 

[Sherman134]

Results:

Before:


After:





I spliced the ARB bumper lights into the corner lights, the extra resistance caused these lights to stay on for nearly twice as long as the front turn signals.

( When signaling with the headlights or driving lights on, front marker light and side marker light alternate)

Swapping the incandescent bulb for an LED fixed this problem, and improved the brightness.

 

[Sherman134]

Around this time, my little brother bought his first truck, a 2004 4x4 Dodge Dakota



He had grown up riding around in my friend's and I's 4bys, and I used to let him drive the jeep on old forest roads, so it was no surprise when it came time to buy a car, 4 wheel drive was very high on his list.

When I came home he and I grabbed our cameras and rode out to the local state forest, the trails are quite mild, mostly just soft sand. This time however, they had been logging and the normally well maintained roads were very rutted out. As we were checking the trucks over at the trail head we watched a big rig sink almost a foot into the road before swerving hard towards the harder shoulder to maintain momentum. We engaged 4 wheel drive and took off expecting a fun day of trail riding. I left the tires at street pressures since neither of us had an air compressor and had about half an hour of highway driving to get home. I blasted through the first batch of soft sand the old jeep handled it like a champ, the all terrains at full pressure had no trouble staying on top of the sand.

I stopped to watch him come through... after a minute or so I get a call, his truck was making a ticking noise. After driving back to where he was, it turns out his front drive shaft CV joint had given up the ghost.

Since we were already out there, we decided to make the most of the day, sticking to the hard packed trails and stopping occasionally to take some pics.

Pics from that day:

 

[Sherman134]

Being a floridian hurricanes tend to become a part of life, instead of sitting inside waiting for the storm to pass, my roommate and I headed out to grab some food and see what was going on. While we were out I couldn't help notice the top of one of the University parking garages would be the perfect photo op.

So....



Back home things had been a little more intense...



While I was home I took the Jeep out for a little flex

 

[Van_Homan]

New bumper looks great. I've always liked the ARB's.

 

[JandDGreens]

It was fun to check out your thread. (Love my 2-dr also), yours looks very clean.

 

[Sherman134]

New bumper looks great. I've always liked the ARB's.

Thanks! Its still weird to realize that I actually own one. When I was in highschool I used to drool over them while scouring craigslist for a used one.

It was fun to check out your thread. (Love my 2-dr also), yours looks very clean.

Yeah, I try to keep her as clean as possible. The white paint is a blessing and a curse, it gets dirty very quickly, but helps prevent oxidation which seems to plague these rigs. Living in a city doesn't help much either, as tight parking lots and their inevitable door dings are a part of life.

 

[JandDGreens]

One thing that is nice about white vs darker colors. Is it hide imperfections like minor dings and such. I hardly ever wash my rig because it sits most of the time until I go on a off road adventure. Mine is not near as nice as yours so I don't worry about how the paint looks. But I might change the way I treat it if my camper I'm building ends up making it look sub par in comparison. I really like you bumper. If money wasn't so tight I would look into one like yours.

Are you still attending college?

 

[AgentOrange76]

Enjoyed the read, nice Jeep. Always liked the 2 doors better, and they're getting harder and harder to come by. I know how you feel about not getting out, before college I took gravel roads home from high school daily, now it's a 2 hour minimum drive to see any dirt......

 

[Travelin _man]

Very clean jeep. Keep it up!!