Quick XJ question

[Eagle]

stock mj shocks fit on 01 cherokee?

They shouldn't. I think the author forgot to mention something about a lift.

 

Some years ago I thought I was going to be economical. I had a stock height MJ that needed rear shocks, and I had a set of nearly new, good quality XJ rear shocks. So I removed the bar pins (destructively, unfortunately) and went to install my "free" shocks. Fully extended, the shocks were 3/4 of an inch too short to reach both mounts.

 

So I went to Pep Boys and bought a pair of their cheapest Gabriel shocks. Then I had the problem of finding a set of bar pins to put the XJ shocks back to being XJ shocks. Finally got some from somewhere, and had a tough time getting them installed.

 

No, stock MJ rear shocks are too long for a stock XJ.

[HOrnbrod]

 

Eagle, why do you say they are 90* to one another? Same orientation as with a bar pin.

Not the way Pete did it, with XJ rear sway bar mounts.

 

 

Then use a regulation BPE - simple. Will save aggravation down the road fighting those bolts again.

[Eagle]

 

 

Eagle, why do you say they are 90* to one another? Same orientation as with a bar pin.

Not the way Pete did it, with XJ rear sway bar mounts.

 

 

Then use a regulation BPE - simple. Will save aggravation down the road fighting those bolts again.

 

I might consider that on any of the "keepers," but I'm fixing up the '01 to sell. Even at top dollar I'm going to lose big bucks, so even an extra $40 invested isn't a good option.

[Eagle]

Done. It only took seven HOURS to change out two rear shocks. :ugh:

 

The left side went easily. Thanks to you guys' advice, I went with the air hammer and punched out the weld nuts. Easy peasey. I would never have thought of fishing in new bolts, but that went easy, too. Lesson learned -- 3/4" bolts are long enough to get the job done, but not long enough to keep in place while mounting the new shock. I lost one. Fortunately, I had bought four 3/4" flange-head bolts and four 1" flange head bolts at Auto Zone, so I switched to the one inchers and it was much easier.

 

The right side, however, do not go well. That was the side on which one of the bolt heads reounded off. I spent a LOOOOOOOONG time under the chassis using an air die grinder with a cutoff wheel to grind away the bolt head enough to pull the shock out. My compressor just doesn't have enough capacity to run air tools, so I spent a lot od time waiting for the compressor. Then the weld nuts on the right side didn't bust loose as quickly or as cleanly as the left side, but obstinacy prevailed in the end.

 

Thanks for the advice. I've been putting this job off for way too long because I knew the bolts were going to snap, and the only fix I had encountered previously was to drill and retap.

[Eagle]

Well, I know it didn't work for me -- and that was on a 2WD Comanche. However ...

 

I just looked up the mounting dimensions for a representative series of Monroe shocks, and the numbers (for that series) suggest that it will work.

 

I looked up the #32197 for the XJ and #31094 for the MJ. These are the same series.

 

For the XJ, lengths are 12.375 compressed, 20.375 extended, 8" travel, mid-length 16.375. (In an ideal world, the mid-travel would be the static length at curb weight for the vehicle.)

 

For the MJ, lengths are 13.375 compressed, 23.125 extended, 9.75" of travel, and 18.25 mid-length.

 

However, even with one brand (such as Monroe, who publish all the dimensional data), the lengths vary slightly depending on the series of shock. So I suppose if the mounting height/length for an MJ is around 18.25 to 18.xx, if a particular XJ shock doesn't have that much extended length, it wouldn't work. Or if the actual mounted length for an MJ is more than 18.25".

 

It's probably just as well it didn't work. If I had gotten them on, they would have been almost fully extended, and I think that would have resulted in some strange ride and handling characteristics even on pavement. The Jeep gods were watching over me.

[HOrnbrod]

I think you would have had nothing to worry about since it's a street only rig, si? If you had 3"-4" inches until fully extended you'd be fine on the street.