mjeff87

Couple years ago the battery died in the KJ while I was at work. The closest/only place around here is an advance auto store, so I limped it over there and put in a mid-grade (silver label) battery in their parking lot. Over the last couple weeks I've noticed a little hesitation when starting it, so I figured the battery was slowly heading south again. Saturday morning it straight up died in my driveway *sigh*. Put a meter on it, 11.6 volts and slowly dropping. I threw the charger on it long enough to get it started and looked for my receipt from the original purchase, thinking I'd get a pro-rate of some sort from Advance since it wasn't THAT old. Much to my surprise the receipt had "2 year free replacement" on it, and I was 5 days away from the 2 year mark. Yay me.....I wasn't going to put another of the same battery in it, but since it was going to be "free" I wasn't gonna pass that up. Got it started, drove down to the local AA store and told the manager I needed my "free 2 year replacement". He says they have to test it first to confirm, which I figured was gonna happen. AA girl takes her battery tool scanner thingy out, hooks it up and spins all kinds of dials and presses multiple buttons. I ask her if I needed to start it for her to get a reading and she says no. Ok, whatever. We go back inside and she tells the mgr that it has low voltage, 12.3 volts, and she's gonna go get me a new battery. Manager dick says no, our policy is to see if it will take and hold a charge before authorizing replacement, and that 12.6 volts is normal so obviously it just needs a charge. I tell him it was 11.6V earlier and I put a quick charge on it to get it to start. I also said it probably picked up a little more charge from me driving it down to the store from the alternator, but give it 5 minutes and try to start it and it'll be dead. Like, clicking starter solenoid kind of dead. He then proceeds to tell me that "alternators don't charge batteries, only a battery charger can charge a battery". I looked at him in total bewilderment for a minute, then asked him how vehicle batteries maintained their charge if the alternator didn't charge them. He did not like my smart azz question, at all. The other 2 workers in the store had little smiles on their faces.....LOL. Long story short, he begrudgingly gave me a new battery, saying "I'll work with you on this once, but it won't happen again". Yer damn right it won't, buddy, 'cause I'm never stepping foot in your store again. I politely declined their offer of putting the new battery in (not from the manager, but from the nice girl who first tried to help me. I put it in myself, brought the old one back in and got my new receipt (which again says "2 year free replacement) and left. What's the over/under on this new one making it as long as the last one? I'm planning on putting a Deka in it anyway, and was going to until I saw the free replacement option. I'll probably turn it in as a core on a new Deka come springtime.

This. Note the comment about the year and spline count. Go for 97+ if you can. Or this. Again, note the comment about the year. The 02 Liberty (first model year) got leftover drum brake axles. Ask me how I know, LOL.

I don't have any way to get it anywhere other than where it is now (it's 6+ hours away from me now).......sorry.

Well, that sucks. I've got a perfectly good 2.5 sitting in storage that you can have for free, but you're a bit far away. It's near Pittsburgh, PA.....

And you'll notice that they are not hex head, they are 12 point. You'll need a deep well socket for them (and for the studs I had to drill/ream out the center of the socket so it fit over the shank) when I changed the head gasket on my TJ (2.5L). Jeff

What transmission was in the vehicle originally? The AX-15 takes a few specific parts to swap into something that has/had a different transmission in it previously. For the shifter, I'm assuming you're talking about where it comes up through the trans tunnel. There's a black metal cover plate on the tunnel inside the cab.....the AX15's cover plate is different from the AX5 or AW4 (probably the BA10/5 too, but I've never messed with one of those). For the crossmember, there are additional holes in the framerails to move the crossmemeber forward or backwards depending on the trans. The AX15 uses the last set of holes, furthest back toward the rear. As well, the AX15 uses a specific crossmember that has a "dip" in the center of it to align the drivetrain height in the tunnel. If you're using a different one, the trans will sit too high in the tunnel. Last, but not least, if you're 4WD, you'll need the transfer case shifter bits from the AX15 as well. At least the bracket that bolts to the trans tunnel (the little heim ball that the trunion rod fits into is all the way to the rear on the AX15 bracket, the other tranny brackets have it centered). You'll also need the shift rod from the AX15 shifter assembly that attaches the bottom of the shifter to the linkage on the transfer case.....it's much shorter compared to the AX5 and way shorter than the AW4 rod. You could eliminate all of the BS factory craptastick shifter assembly with aftermarket stuff as well......costs $$$ but is much simpler and more reliable. Jeff

The wife and I just spent a week at Smith Mountain Lake out here in the western part of VA. We rented (a VERY affordable) cottage with another couple from PA and spent the week relaxing, drinking, eating, pontoon-ing, and generally being very lazy. It was absolutely gorgeous and we'll be going back many, many more times (it's only 3 hours from our home), especially in the fall when the leaves all change. SML is a man-made lake, damned for hydro-electric power. It has 525 miles of shoreline......and we explored about 250 of them via pontoon Here's a couple pics.

At this point, I'd be inclined to follow the shop's diagnosis and confirm the dead slugs. Did they say which ones they were, and are they adjacent? 3.7's like to drop valve seats, and/or have the rocker arms fall off. If it dropped seats, you'd need a new head/heads, depending. If a rocker fell off, there's a chance you can reinstall it/them. If the 0 compression is on adjacent holes, I'd be thinking headgasket (but wouldn't rule out the valve/keeper issues, either). Can you do a compression test? Code scan "should" tell you which ones are affected if you don' t know for certain. edit to add: at 250K, that old 3.7 really doesn't owe you anything, LOL. I'm going to try to get mine to about 200K and sell/trade it if it makes it.

Did you pull any codes, or are you just going on what the shop told you? I'd suspect the coil packs, if nothing else points to anything definitely internal. I've had 2 of them go on mine so far (only 125K miles). #6 because I had a leak from the hose on the expansion tank directly above it...whoops....but I also had #1 burn a spark through the base of the coil shorting directly to the head. That KJ was basically undriveable with the #1 coil not working. It felt like the whole thing was ready to garage sale itself across the interstate, especially if I got any more than 1/4 of the way into the pedal. I carry a couple spare coils and a 10mm socket with me now, LOL.

Not a bad idea at all. I've been bitten by all manner of things down here (spiders, snakes, flying objects of death....) but never on the ankle/foot. Yeah, not a big fan of creepy crawly things with tiny little jaws of death. Lol. I wouldn't mind some swelling/enhancement in other areas....wait, this is a family show. I'll stop here :) Ive used tenderizer on bee bite before, but that was years ago. Haven't had a bottle of that stuff in my cabinet in quite some time. Might be good to grab some though, just in case there's a next time.

Steadily improving, doesn't hurt anymore but still a little itchy. The rosy red has deepened to a more purplish color...I've been putting an ice pack directly on it in the evenings, and I think the steroids are helping.

Advance Auto and the like have an "assortment" pack of those rod clips in the help section.

It's just too damn hot to wear long pants here when I cut the grass in the summer. Otherwise I am a stickler for PPE.....I wear 3M mickey mouse ear protection (with a built in radio/MP3 player), safety glasses, gloves, and I even have a pair of Kevlar (low cut) construction shoes I wear with a pair of ankle socks). Just not long pants, until the fall. I might have to rethink that. My doc is concerned about cellulitis, and I have a followup visit scheduled for Thursday. The steroids do seem to be helping some, but I'm only on day 2.

Don, The thing kind of looked like that fly larvae, but from reading your link the larvae don't bite. Bum......yeah, I dunno. Whatever it was didn't get too far inside of my skin. There's hardly a bite mark/location to see where it actually bit me. But, bite me it sure did.

Welp, here's a new one to add to the injury list for me......I got bit on the ankle by a little white worm while out cutting the grass on Friday. Little thing just about took me off my feet almost, it felt like someone was pounding a finishing nail into my ankle. He wasn't crawling up my foot, he was literally perpendicular to it trying to bore his way into my ankle. I swatted it off, (no I didn't save it), remarked to myself about how much a little thing could hurt, and finished cutting the grass. Put a little Benadryl on it that night after a shower, went to bed. Got up Saturday and it itched a bit and was a little red, shrugged it off and went about my day. Got up Sunday and my foot was swollen, ankle a bit more red and my whole leg from the knee down hurt like hell. Wife got concerned and convinced me to go to the doc yesterday. My foot was almost 2X normal size and the whole side of the ankle is now a deep rosy red. Noone in the office could figure out what the worm was (I googled a bit, not a lot of info out there on biting worms LOL). I have a low grade fever, heartrate and BP through the roof to boot. They put me on prednisone and clindamycin (I'm highly allergic to all forms of penicillin) and I have a follow up appointment with them on Thursday. It's getting a little better now after a couple drugs, but still sore and itchy as all hell. Anyone know what kind of little (@ 1" long), whitish skinny kind of worm around the Virginia area this thing might have been? Baby millipede or something? It didn't have any hair or legs on it like a millipede....but that's the only thing I can think of. I do get an occasional millipede inside the garage, but they're full grown and look like a typical millipede. LOL. Here's what it looked like last night. Yay me....

Congrats Don See what smoking can do to you.................

Link in post #1: http://bit.ly/1o9m8Sy

Thanks Bo...I was hoping you would chime in on this one. Yeah, "real Jeepers". I get that, remember I'm currently driving a KJ I swore when they came out that I would never be caught dead in one, let alone OWN one. Well, times change don't they LOL. I said just about the same thing when the KL's came out in '14, I thought they looked hideous, but the more I see them on the road the more they're growing on me. Like you said, as a DD/toy. I'm comfortably sliding into middle-age now, and am starting to appreciate the creature comforts a bit more. Question: the only engine options on the early models is the I4 and the Pentastar 3.6 (?)L V6? Any possibility of a manual trans and/or a manually shifted transfer case in any sub-model? I don't need "trail rated" either. edit: reading up a little on that cherokeeclub site you mentioned.....holy scary transmission issues Batman. I knew they were troublesome but not quite THAT much. When did FCA get it all ironed out (i.e. what year(s) should I stay away from)?

I've pretty much figured that a used, earlier model KL will be in my future to eventually replace my KJ. Probably in the next 2-3 years unless something unforeseen happens. Aside from the transmission issues on the early models, have any other common mechanical issues been discovered on these things? I admit to not knowing a thing about them. Any major pitfalls or anything to steer clear of? By way of example, I bought into my KJ in about the same fashion. Only after purchasing did I learn that 3.7L's have a nasty habit of dropping valve seats and other valve train issues (and other little KJ annoyances like crappy window regulators, rear suspension bushings, crappy radiators, lousy cv joints in the front driveshaft, and......you get the point).

Thats a DAMN nice looking MJ Hakukamana I ran a powertrax in my rear D44. Aside from the occasional scary, random unloading, it was a great traction aid. I did have to coast/clutch-in around tight turns to prevent binding (and explosive unloading....), but other than that, it was fine.

Rest easy, Jim. Peace be with the ones you left behind.

That's a big old nope sandwich, with a side dish of hell no.

That is the brake light switch. It attaches to the parking brake assembly:

That's passenger side, yes? A bit unusual.....it always seems to be the driver side that rots out like that. Is there a leak (winsheild, HVAC, etc) that's obvious? The complete lack of rust/rot on the underside otherwise seems to imply that.

Just a quick FYI for anyone doing brisket.......the whole "wrap it in foil/towel and let it rest in a chest cooler" for a couple hours is the ticket. I usually cook them about 3/4 of the way, then wrap in foil and finish cooking it in the smoker. This time I let it go to 195 unwrapped and then did the wrap/rest thing. That is now my official cooking method. It literally melted in my mouth