Check out what I bought for $600 bucks. Give me some tips too.....

stevewes2004

Active Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Location
Concord, NC
98 Grand Limited 5.2L with 135,000 miles. All it needed was a tune up and a power steering pump!!!! Have no clue what the guy was thinking!?!?! It was all stock with a clear title when i bought it. I put around $2000 in it between replacing fluids, PS pump, O2 sensors, a few other misc. parts, 3" lift, roof rack, and wheels & tires. The motor runs great except there is a hesitation sometimes on startup?? Trans shift good, but 1st to 2nd is a little sloppy. Would a performance valve body help this?? Also, would a rear aussie locker be worth installing since it sees mostly street and the occasional trail??

So all in all, i have about $2700 in a freshly maintained ZJ with some goodies and some new parts, that runs great:driver:

Sorry for the crappy pic.

jeep.jpg
 
haha right. my wife also has to race it to the grocery store and race it to pick up my son lol
 
the aussie locker would be good because the only other thing for that dana 44A is a dana spicer trac lock and there have been alot of good reviews on that aussie locker its pretty much the same thing as a powertrax. give me a call at 4Wheel parts 919 571 8105
Jon
 
kool. im not ready to put one in yet just contemplating the future. its a limited slip, so i'd still have to find an open carrier for it.
 
no i dont have to let off the gas. but it is really gradual. am i looking at a rebuild soon? if so, thats fine. i mean i only paid 600 bucks for the thing :)
 
would an aftermarket valve body help? after the trans is rebuilt of course.
 
FYI
A lot of the tranny problems with that era Jeep are caused by improper transmission fluid. I believe it breaks down certain seals. Check your manual, Dextron 3, I think, is what it needs to be happy.
 
You need to use an ATF that is suitable for MOPAR, look on the label. ATF+4 is their newest one and is compatible with the old fluid also. I've seen this jeep up close and it looks good.
 
Looks like it was a great buy, but can't quite imagine how you put 2k into it... for 2k you could have replaced the whole engine/trans/tcase with coin to spare... :X
 
well 1500 of that 2k was the brand new wheels and tires, roof rack, suspension lift, and power steering parts :)
 
HaPtOAD said:
You need to use an ATF that is suitable for MOPAR, look on the label. ATF+4 is their newest one and is compatible with the old fluid also. I've seen this jeep up close and it looks good.
Click to expand...

i used AFT+4 when i replaced the trans fluid. i also added a B&M supercooler.

and haptoad, i've seen you're xj in salisbury too. sweet ride.
 
The aussi locker is an automatic locker. When ever tourqe is provided, it locks up. Putting one in the rear for a dd would be possible but might become annoying. You would constantly be locked. I would say put it in the front. You can dd but on the trails just pop it into 4wd and your open in te rear but locked in the front.
 
well i have a quadratrac Tcase so i'd have to swap in a 242? so it could have 2wd on the street.
 
I've been looking for one at that price for a couple of years now. Last one I bought was a 96 limited 5.2 with 76k on the clock for $500.00. Honestly, I would stick with the stock limited slip/trash-loc for mild trails since it works decent and has street manners. And look for either an 8.8 to swap in or a TJ Rubicon D44 for better parts selection and a stronger housing if you want to get more serious down the road. As far as he trans goes the supercooler was a good addition, but if it's already seeming weak and a fluid change didn't really help I'd rebuild it as soon as the time/cash presents itself.

On a related note, some 2" spacers with the current lift and a set of Iceland OffRoad fender flares will fit 35's on it with extra room..... 37's if you have a BIG hammer....
 
yea i'll be contemplating all those ideas when the time is right. right now, i'm just concerned about the trans.
 
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