Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Landrover, Range Rover, Jeep or whatever - off-road or not, this is the one.

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard C » Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:49 pm

At least you and the family are ok
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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Tue Aug 13, 2013 5:00 pm

I finally got round to (partially) fixing the damage the other day. I roughly pushed the tailgate back into shape and replaced the smashed number plate mount. The original was taped up to keep grot out but I obtained a replacement (unfortunately I could only find one in black) and resprayed it. The tailgate still bears the battle scars of course, but it looks tidy enough.
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Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon May 26, 2014 10:22 am

Good to know you all escaped with nothing more than a shake up and the Jeep also survived well. :D

Love the remains of the burnt Landcruiser bumper on your tailpipe! :lol:

Given the fact the Lexus driver obviously didn't see you until too late, i think i would have left the new number plate mount in black then extended the top and bottom edges of it sideways and put black and yellow stripes in each "box". A sort of "hazard" stripe across the tailgate with the number plate as the centre-piece.
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:52 pm

Long time, no updates so here's the new paint job that it has just had. This also gave me the chance to finally get the dented rear door sorted out.
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Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by CHR15E » Mon Dec 22, 2014 4:30 am

Can't believe they insisted on that.

Good job it's worth more over there. A proper paint job over here would write it off effectively? Is that they're after?
Chris
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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Mon Dec 22, 2014 1:29 pm

CHR15E wrote:Can't believe they insisted on that.

Good job it's worth more over there. A proper paint job over here would write it off effectively? Is that they're after?
Mind you, a full respray for £650 isn't bad.
Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by CHR15E » Mon Dec 22, 2014 1:50 pm

Not at all. Guess they don't need to bother with heaters to bake it off over there? :D
Chris
19 Vauxhall Astra 1.6T SRi Nav Estate
08 Vauxhall Astra 2.0T Design Twintop
02 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4.7 V8 HO

Previously owned 57 800s 2000-2012
Relapse of 1 in 2021 Now Sold

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Mon Dec 22, 2014 6:40 pm

CHR15E wrote: Guess they don't need to bother with heaters to bake it off over there? :D
It's pretty cold right now - it was only 13C this morning!
Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:03 pm

Forgot this one from June 2014:

This happened on the way home from this morning's offroad trip - whilst doing 75mph on the motorway on the north side of Al Ain. It was my left rear and it just disintegrated without warning. The Jeep was totally controllable and stable and I was able to make a nice, smooth stop on the hard shoulder.

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Thoughts:
This was a 2 1/2 year old, good quality tyre from a well respected manufacturer.
It had done about 25,000km all of them on the rear
It had never had a puncture nor been repaired
It was running at the correct pressure for road use
There was no warning

However, I suspect that the tyre suffered some sort of sidewall damage at some time, causing it to deflate whilst on the road home today. It set me thinking about the practice of driving gently to the petrol station to reflate - maybe going as far as 8-10km on road. I think that is actually asking for trouble - the tyre wall will get very hot and may suffer damage as a result. In future I will re-flate using my compressor - the poor old tyres get enough abuse on sand, without adding to it on the road.

Other thoughts:

It's a good job that I had the correct spare and that it was already inflated to the correct pressure (worth checking periodically)
It's also a good job that I knew that my jack was OK and also how to use it
I am glad that I had my socket set in the car rather than relying on the factory supplied wheel brace because they are usually rubbish
I'm glad it was weekend - I would not like to have had to change the wheel at the roadside on a busy day.
I'm also glad that I had a blanket to lay on the floor when changing the wheel because the tarmac was bloody hot
Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:04 pm

Some more recent work:

A few weeks ago I fitted a set of genuine Jeep front tow hooks. They come with substantial reinforcement brackets that attach to the chassis legs and teh hooks poke through the slots in the front bumper.
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I plan to fit a winch up front, too. I have a Rugged Ridge 8500Lb winch that I picked up a few months ago at a keen price and initially fitted to my Discovery. However, having decided that the Jeep is far superior as a sand car, I've removed the winch and just need to get a suitable mounting plate organised. I don't plan to fit a ridiculous steel bumper, just a mounting plate that will allow me to keep the original bumper.

I have also fitted a Rocky Road Outfitters 3.5" lift kit. http://www.rocky-road.com/zj-lift-kit.html This is new Old Man Emu front springs, longer, uprated dampers, a rear trackbar relocation bracket and transfer box drop kit (which helps to stop the driveshaft joints causing vibration due to extreme angles). Normally there is an adjustable front track bar but as I have one already I didn't need that.

New front spring nest to the old spring and the lift block that was in there before:
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Spring in place;
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plus damper:
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end result. The original springs were supposed to be 1" higher than normal (Upcountry spec) and had a 2" lift block but clearly the springs had sagged and the end result is that the Jeep sits 2" higher at the front than it did with the original. That will drop a bit if I get the winch fitted.
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I haven't taken photos of the rest of it yet, those will follow later.
Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Mon Apr 13, 2015 5:54 pm

Here's the trackbar relocation bracket and new dampers. The springs are the old front ones, swapped to the rear - this gives a lift because the back weighs less than the front (no engine, of course) and levels the car up.

Bracket:
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Bracket and track bar in place:
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Full works:
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There is also now a nice, thick, insulation layer beneath the boot carpet and inside the rear wings. It should reduce the noise levels a bit and keep some heat from the exhaust out.
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Whilst doing that I added an extra 4 cargo tie-downs to keep the junk in the boot in place. No pictures because that would be boring. :)
Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Sun Apr 19, 2015 6:42 am

The lift kit is brilliant - the longer travel of the coil springs makes a world of difference, being much smoother than the standard spring/lift block combination. Money very well spent.

The extra inch or so of lift left the wheels looking a bit lost so I went mad and bought some 16" wheels and slightly bigger tyres which raised the diameter of the wheels to 30.5" compared to the previous 29". This helps when climbing step-type obstacles (think of things like big kerbstones, small rocks etc) as the wider diameter helps the wheel ride up the step. The new wheels were cheap £250 for a set of 4 brand new alloys, same pattern as before, plus about £90 each for some 265/70r16 Dunlop Grandtrek tyres. An unplanned expense but worth it.

Now, let's get that winch in place.........
Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Sat Jul 28, 2018 7:52 pm

Update: I've still got this and it's still going well. The lift kit was swapped over to my main Jeep - a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8 - so this one is back to original springs and spacers. It's also running on new Bridgestone tyres. I've replaced as solenoid in the transmission to cure a delayed shift into 2nd and 3rd and had a crankshaft oil seal replaced to fix a leak.

Additionally, I've wrapped the exhaust manifold in fibreglass bandage and fitted a throttle body spacer which is supposed to improve torque but I've no idea if it did :) Photos to follow. Other than that, it's just been routine maintenance and regular use.

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Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by CHR15E » Sun Jul 29, 2018 10:47 am

If you've swapped the lift kit to the other one what do you use this one for then?
Chris
19 Vauxhall Astra 1.6T SRi Nav Estate
08 Vauxhall Astra 2.0T Design Twintop
02 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4.7 V8 HO

Previously owned 57 800s 2000-2012
Relapse of 1 in 2021 Now Sold

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Re: Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 4L (1996)

Post by Richard Moss » Sun Jul 29, 2018 2:57 pm

CHR15E wrote:
Sun Jul 29, 2018 10:47 am
If you've swapped the lift kit to the other one what do you use this one for then?
They're 20 year old Jeeps - there's a fair chance that at any given time one will be broken
Out in the desert with a 1998 Grand Cherokee V8, 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4L and a 1997 Chevy Tahoe V8. Back home: 1969 MGC GT

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