Welcome JeepZombie!!!

[cantab27]

Hi JeepZombie, :welcome: to the :xjtalk: forum!

We would love to know more about you and your Jeep. How you found us, etc...

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[JeepZombie]

Howdy! First of all, I'm new to the forum, but I'm also new to Jeeps. Most of my life I've worked with muscle cars and occasionally tuners, but this is a first for me.

A little about myself and my Jeep:

As I said above, I'm a car guy, but my focus has been on muscle cars and the occasional tuner. This is my first journey into Jeeps. So far, I got to say I'm really loving it, even though I've not taken any extreme off road trails or anything like that.

I've run it off road a bit, taken it through mud puddles that would have stopped one of my old cars in their tracks, but nothing major like rock climbing or anything of the sort. (Although I did have fun climbing a really steep graded dirt hill!)

So, I love driving. That's a given. And although I'm new to Jeeps, I'm slowly learning you can go places you'd never consider taking a car - and I'm really digging that.

I also love computers, gaming, music (I enjoy some decent sound with a Kenwood unit in my Jeep - Love the USB plug-in!) and in general, I'm a geek when it comes to electrical and some mechanical things.

I studied mechanics right out of high school, but I got bored and moved onto other things. So although I have decent skills with classic cars, newer vehicles still confuse the heck out of me (too much emission control BS!)

Anyhow, I went through a divorce awhile ago and the ex got the car (Chrysler Sebring, she can keep it - never did care for Sebrings.) and a buddy of mine had a Jeep for sale.

Enter, Butch - The 1993 Jeep Cherokee Sport.

Butchie got a lift job several years ago, 3" in the front (suspension lift) and just longer shocks in the back (which made no sense to me at all, but I am new to the whole Jeep/Lifted vehicle scene, so okay). So the Jeep sat at 3" front and about 2" in the rear because of this.

Now, I got it in my head somehow that it was a 6" lift (I still swear that's what they originally told me, but my memory sucks, so it may have been just me wanting to hear 6" over 3" - size matters in some things, right?) and I get a bee in my bonnet that I needed to level the Jeep out - I was sick of seeing it sag in the back.

Well, lo' and behold, the rear leafs died after the rear shocks blew out (One tends to follow the other, I've noticed) and so I replaced the rear shocks with Skyjacker 6" lift shocks (Which I found have enough travel to go from practically STOCK height to about 6" lift) and I then get a set of 5.5" lifted Skyjacker leaf springs.

Well, needless to say, the lift was pretty obviously out of whack. My Jeep's rear was sticking way up in the air, and I was getting a nasty vibration. So, contacting the former owners, I get verification that no, 6" would not work, it's only got a 3" lift.

So I found another set of leaf springs that are 3" lift, put them on, and all is well and good with my Jeep's level.

While those got put on, the mechanic found the front "universal joints"??? (Looked like sleeve bearings along the axle shaft to me, but what do I know?) were horribly worn and about to grenade, so those got replaced as well.

The vibration has reduced a great deal, but there's still some left, and I fear the only way to remove it is to either lower the rear back to stock or start learning how to do things properly and move forward.

As this is going to be my project over the next several years, I figured I should probably join a forum where people with far more experience than I have, might be able to guide me in the right direction and help me avoid those nasty ruts that just might take out my suspension.

Now, the mechanic said there was also a slight vibrational chatter if you let off the throttle at just the right sweet spot (where it's neither decelerating nor accelerating) and he believes this is from the transfer case and it may just be the belt needs adjusting.

Which is all Greek to me. I've never seen nor torn apart a transfer case.

On a side note, I *had* a Chilton's Repair Manual for my Jeep - Right up until I found that there must be a hole in the bottom of the passenger side floor...because the book was laying on the carpet and now it is a lump of pulp...soaked from cover to cover. *sigh*

So, I'll also be hunting for a good repair manual or three.

Anyhow, that's a little about me and a lot about my Jeep.

Cheers,
JeepZombie

[XJ Wheeler]

Quite a back story, and thanks for it! There's plenty of knowledgeable people on here to help you. As far as the rear vibes, you may need what's called a t-case drop (spacers to go between the frame and trans crossmember to put this back into better alignment), or a set of shims under the leaf springs to angle the rear axles pinion where it should be. But, its a bit odd to need those for a 3" lift, so there may very well be a issue elsewhere.

Hope we can help you out, and welcome to xjtalk! Feel free to get a feel for the place, post a pic of your jeep, and ask questions.

Sent via messenger pigeon - i talk, he types.