cherokee info wanted

[binderbart]

The girlfriend just started a new job, 44 mile round trip. She wants something that gets better gas mileage than a 95 full size chevy extended cab. So she asked me to look for a cherokee for her. Well as luck would have it, I found a 95, and this baby is loaded. It has a ford nine inch rear end with some kind of a locker-I'm guessing a detriot by the way it winds up a a full turn circle. It has a 3 inch lift with sway bar disconnects, both front and rear drive shafts are velocity jointed, the front is out right now in need of a new u-joint, it has a custom cherokee rear bumper with a place to add a spare tire, the angles of the side of the bumper match the contour of the cherokee body. It has a hitch reciever in the rear and the front like the PO ran a removable winch. The rust is very minumal. My question is...whats the quickest way to tell which axles it has and what the gear ratio is in both. I tried explaining to her that if she gets anything 4x4, we're probably looking at 20mpg topps. also, if anyone is feeling generous, take the time to tell me what to look for on this thing that are problem areas, we're going next saturday for her to see it and make the call (I want to buy it already, it looks like a cherokee on steriods)
thanks in advance.

[Capt. Nemo]

For future questions like this, I would try to post them over here: http://www.naxja.org/forum/index.php
as there is a ton of info and helpful folks that can answer just about any question you'll have about Cherokees.

In the meantime, I'll try to answer your questions quickly.

No Cherokees came stock with a 9" rear end. So unless the PO swapped out the rear end at some point, you're looking at a Dana 35 or a Chrysler 8.25 rear axle. This is the 8.25 out of my wife's 2000 XJ:


You'll notice the flat bottom of the diff housing, a Dana 35 has a similar looking housing, but without the flat bottom and huge plastic fill plug (that notoriously leaks as you can see).

Compare that to my 9" - you'll notice no diff cover:


As far as knowing what gear ratio, if it still has the stock Dana 30 front axle, you can check for the ID tag on the left side of the diff. Here's my wife's:


Here rear axle also still has the factory tag, but older XJ's don't normally still have these:


If the rear driveshaft is a CV type, the PO has installed a SYE kit on the t-case which is a good thing with a lifted XJ. All stock front shafts are CV type driveshafts.

Gas mileage depends on gearing and tire size. For my wife's stock XJ, on long freeway trips we're lucky to average 21 MPG. On my DD/trail rig on 37's, I average 15 MPG on the freeway.

As far as problems to look out for, the only thing I would look for is a leaky rear main seal. This will be seen with an oil leak at the back of the oil pan. Other than that, if there is no obvious engine noises, you're good to go. These engines last a while, with maybe a top end job every 200K or so. I've heard that '95's had some piston problems, but haven't actually known anyone to have these.

Hopefully, that'll get you going. Head over to NAXJA for more questions until she lets you swap in the one tons - then post your build thread

Edit: Dang, the TJPolice is on the ball...

[binderbart]

Capt Nemo and TJP,
Thanks for the replies, and I apologize, I didn't know this was a "hardcore" section for the cherokees. You should see this cherokee, it borderlines on hardcore. I would like to get it purchased with her blessings just to have a back up rig for trail riding. I will pop in with some photo's if we get it bought. It has a lot of mods done already, some guy was fixing it and traded it towards a car, something about a kid on the way, I might be able to pick it up for $1200. It ran great, only had 140,000 on it, no noise or leaks.I'll leave this here (5am) till this evening so you can see my reply then I'll delete it. thanks for the tip on naxja also

[cherokeeguy]

Man this guy is smart ^^^^^