Not So Pro 3

[USMC615]

Now some of you vehicle wrench monkeys who do *s-wordt like this a heap more often than I do, can clarify something for me...

The rear upper coil spring tower isolators were melted to the towers…never seen this before but I’ve only fooled with coil springs, upper/lower isolators prob a dozen times in my life. Both rear upper isolators were literally melted in place and it took some time to pry and scrape the melted rubber off the towers and get them right. The front upper spring isolators and all the bottom spring isolators simply came off like normal, prying with a big screwdriver or a little pry bar...easy peasy on those.

 

[timg]

Happy Thanksgiving to our northern neighbors!!

 

[Mastermind]

Now some of you vehicle wrench monkeys who do *s-wordt like this a heap more often than I do, can clarify something for me...

The rear upper coil spring tower isolators were melted to the towers…never seen this before but I’ve only fooled with coil springs, upper/lower isolators prob a dozen times in my life. Both rear upper isolators were literally melted in place and it took some time to pry and scrape the melted rubber off the towers and get them right. The front upper spring isolators and all the bottom spring isolators simply came off like normal, prying with a big screwdriver or a little pry bar...easy peasy on those.

Melted...or bonded?

 

[USMC615]

Melted...or bonded?

The rear uppers are second from the left…melted it looks like to me, but bonded may be the better term, one more than the other, but that may be normal for 21 yr old isolators in the rear upper. Like I said, I’ve never seen ‘em like this. The worst one of the two was from the driver rear side, not the passenger rear side where the exhaust comes within about 4” of the coil tower. I could understand a little constant exhaust heat affecting one maybe but the worse was the driver side. You can see where it melted to the top of the coil spring as well. And check out those 21 yr old rear bump stops third from the left would ya?…look like 21 yr old shriveled up dent pullers straight outta Dalice’s closet.

 

[JoeDirt]

Morning gentleman. Class at noon today. Don't work too hard today.

 

[ray benson]

Good morning. Sunny 44°F/ 7°C going up to 57°F/ 14°C

 

[redline4]

Now some of you vehicle wrench monkeys who do *s-wordt like this a heap more often than I do, can clarify something for me...

The rear upper coil spring tower isolators were melted to the towers…never seen this before but I’ve only fooled with coil springs, upper/lower isolators prob a dozen times in my life. Both rear upper isolators were literally melted in place and it took some time to pry and scrape the melted rubber off the towers and get them right. The front upper spring isolators and all the bottom spring isolators simply came off like normal, prying with a big screwdriver or a little pry bar...easy peasy on those.

It's not uncommon for the body side insulators to be different material than the axle side, especially in the front where it carries the engine weight and can be exposed to chemicals like oil, gas, etc.
The only purpose they serve is to keep noise to a minimum when the springs oscillate.
Why the rear uppers where melted on? Who knows. Maybe when it went down the assembly line they actually used adhesive to keep them in place on install before the suspension got added. They do weird shìt like that so things stay put as it travels down the line.

 

[JugHead27]

Now that ole hounddog is a awful pest!

Even the elderly would remember this old looney toon

 

[USMC615]

Melted...or bonded?

The gal who I got it from mentioned that on occasion she could smell what she thought was burnt rubber, and had a guy check it out but never found anything that could‘ve caused the smell…maybe this was it. You’d never think to look at the upper isolators in the rear as the culprit, at least I wouldn’t have. Only thing I can think of is a helluva lot of friction somehow, I don’t know. The MOOG replacement isolators I bought are exact OEM match front and rear, with what came off...it’s not like it had the wrong rear upper isolators in it. Maybe Ed or someone else in here has run across this and it’s more common than what I think.

 

[USMC615]

It's not uncommon for the body side insulators to be different material than the axle side, especially in the front where it carries the engine weight and can be exposed to chemicals like oil, gas, etc.
The only purpose they serve is to keep noise to a minimum when the springs oscillate.
Why the rear uppers where melted on? Who knows. Maybe when it went down the assembly line they actually used adhesive to keep them in place on install before the suspension got added. They do weird shìt like that so things stay put as it travels down the line.

I see…could very well been the case here. A PITA to clean ‘em up I do know that.

As far as the lowers all the way around, I expected to find my share of rust but they all looked pretty good. I hit all those perches with a wire brush real good, vacuumed, wiped ‘em out with a rag and acetone, and hit ‘em all with a couple of coats of Rustoleum flat black before I reassembled everything. Of course this thing’s never seen salty roads so that was the saving grace there.

 

[nbbt]

Good morning folks. We were spared the frost at the homestead this time. The plants are still looking pretty good. 35 to 55 today.

 

[USMC615]

Much better stance.

I agree, it turned out alright. The front rake is nowhere near as low as the one pic from the drivers side makes it look. On level ground it measures dead on 35 5/8” to the bottom center of the wheel well body in front, 36“ dead on to the bottom center of the wheel well body in the rear…within half an inch front to rear. Other than this lift and a little bottom suspension makeover, it’s all the love this Heep is gettin‘. I did find a set of OEM chrome recovery hooks on the Bay for $85 and pulled the front clip off and mounted those. If anything else, I’ll put new u-joints in it and be done with it.

 

[Loony661]

I agree, it turned out alright. The front rake is nowhere near as low as the one pic from the drivers side makes it look. On level ground it measures dead on 35 5/8” to the bottom center of the wheel well body in front, 36“ dead on to the bottom center of the wheel well body in the rear…within half an inch front to rear. Other than this lift and a little bottom suspension makeover, it’s all the love this Heep is gettin‘. I did find a set of OEM chrome recovery hooks on the Bay for $85 and pulled the front clip off and mounted those.

My dad had a 96 Grand Cherokee Orvis Edition with the 318 V8 and I made fun of him when he bought it - until I drove it. Not only was it smooth, it was fast! And it was fully 4wd capable in some fun off road tests we did. The Grand Cherokee’s are a sleeper off road rig. And fun to drive.

 

[Mastermind]

I agree, it turned out alright. The front rake is nowhere near as low as the one pic from the drivers side makes it look. On level ground it measures dead on 35 5/8” to the bottom center of the wheel well body in front, 36“ dead on to the bottom center of the wheel well body in the rear…within half an inch front to rear. Other than this lift and a little bottom suspension makeover, it’s all the love this Heep is gettin‘. I did find a set of OEM chrome recovery hooks on the Bay for $85 and pulled the front clip off and mounted those. If anything else, I’ll put new u-joints in it and be done with it.
View attachment 392566

Front differential mounts are a known problem. Keep an eye on them. Aside from that, these are usually great machines. My brother has owned several over the years.

 

[nbbt]

View attachment 392561
View attachment 392562
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I like the transformation height. It would be nice to find bodies that are that clean in our area.

 

[JugHead27]

I don’t see many of those year cherokees anymore our winters rusted them all to pieces

 

[GCJenks204]

Morning / Evening All. Slept in until 8 and now drinking some coffee. Hoping those Drs in Detroit are taking good care of Dave.

Happy Thanksgiving to our northern neighbors!!

Thanks Tim, have the turkey dry brining in the fridge and will put it on about noon. Doing it the easy way this time, in the counter top roaster.

 

[USMC615]

I like the transformation height. It would be nice to find bodies that are that clean in our area.

I’ve got the opportunity to buy a fully loaded ‘03 Grand Cherokee Laredo 2WD that has just over 100K original miles on its’ 4.0L I6, that’s in better shape than this one, right now for $1K. The gal I got this one from, her aunt has the ‘03 and it’s been garage kept its’ entire life. It’s Patriot Blue (dark blue) in color and I ain’t no fan of blue vehicles but I think I can look aside that little detail…it’ll prob show up in the driveway sooner rather than later.

Edit…the window regulators, which was a chronic WJ model (‘99-‘04) issue, were replaced about four years ago on this ‘03 so that ought not to be a future problem. I’m surprised the regulators lasted that long before one went out and she had all four replaced at the same time.

 

[USMC615]

Front differential mounts are a known problem. Keep an eye on them. Aside from that, these are usually great machines. My brother has owned several over the years.

I’ll def look into that.

 

[dall]

The gal who I got it from mentioned that on occasion she could smell what she thought was burnt rubber, and had a guy check it out but never found anything that could‘ve caused the smell…maybe this was it. You’d never think to look at the upper isolators in the rear as the culprit, at least I wouldn’t have. Only thing I can think of is a helluva lot of friction somehow, I don’t know. The MOOG replacement isolators I bought are exact OEM match front and rear, with what came off...it’s not like it had the wrong rear upper isolators in it. Maybe Ed or someone else in here has run across this and it’s more common than what I think.

she offered her self if you could make rubber melt and you turned it down ?

thats what i got from your post

I agree, it turned out alright. The front rake is nowhere near as low as the one pic from the drivers side makes it look. On level ground it measures dead on 35 5/8” to the bottom center of the wheel well body in front, 36“ dead on to the bottom center of the wheel well body in the rear…within half an inch front to rear. Other than this lift and a little bottom suspension makeover, it’s all the love this Heep is gettin‘. I did find a set of OEM chrome recovery hooks on the Bay for $85 and pulled the front clip off and mounted those. If anything else, I’ll put new u-joints in it and be done with it.
View attachment 392566

good thing you was able to find recovery hooks
it wore one set out being pulled home