Help buying Jeep Cherokee?

M

Matt

New member
The jeep is a 86 it believe has 215,000 miles, I know it needs a new slave cylinder. Is there anything I should look for in particular. How long will it last, I can't afford to pump money into it, and is there any way to change the slave cylinder without dropping the transmission
I only need it to last about a year
I dont have that much money, im in high school, its $500
 
Sorry to say Matt but you have to drop the tranny to change the slave cylinder. You can convert it to a later model external slave cylinder with relative ease. I work at an auto salvage yard and recently fired up a 92 Cherokee with 247k miles, did a compression check on all 6 cylinders and they averaged 140lbs, compression. If the vehicle has been well maintained it will run forever. Check the compression. Anything less than 125lbs isn't so good and could indicate problems with valves not seating properly, valve guides worn or excessive wear in the piston to cylinder fit all of which could get costly depending on how much of the work you can do yourself. Which tranny does it have in it. Jeep used a Pugeot (sp) tranny for a very short time that split in half length-wise. They were junk! I know they used them in the Wrangler but not sure if they may have used them in the Cherokee as well. You should check the play in the transfer case and rear end(s) to see if they show signs of excessive wear. The transfer case is chain driven and what generally happens is the run low on oil and thus heat up and stretch the chain. Jack up the front-end and check the steering to see if it is worn badly which could get costly having to replace steering components. Check the frame carefully as rust is a big issue and we have lots of Cherokees here that are in great shape except for the frames being ruted through and unrepairable. They seem to rust through where the rear springs attach as well as where the shocks mount.
 
S C - Cherokees don't generally suck. They are actually one of the longest lasting American cars built in the last 30 years. I have one with 160K, no problems, doesn't even use a single drop of oil between changes. I've got a friend with 280K on his. Some of the guys on forums have over 3 or 400K on theirs. There was also a guy who took his over 1 million.

Cherokees definitely last if you take care of them - fluid changes, don't let rust on the older ones get out of hand (one bottle of cheap touch-up paint is all you need).
 
Sorry to say Matt but you have to drop the tranny to change the slave cylinder. You can convert it to a later model external slave cylinder with relative ease. I work at an auto salvage yard and recently fired up a 92 Cherokee with 247k miles, did a compression check on all 6 cylinders and they averaged 140lbs, compression. If the vehicle has been well maintained it will run forever. Check the compression. Anything less than 125lbs isn't so good and could indicate problems with valves not seating properly, valve guides worn or excessive wear in the piston to cylinder fit all of which could get costly depending on how much of the work you can do yourself. Which tranny does it have in it. Jeep used a Pugeot (sp) tranny for a very short time that split in half length-wise. They were junk! I know they used them in the Wrangler but not sure if they may have used them in the Cherokee as well. You should check the play in the transfer case and rear end(s) to see if they show signs of excessive wear. The transfer case is chain driven and what generally happens is the run low on oil and thus heat up and stretch the chain. Jack up the front-end and check the steering to see if it is worn badly which could get costly having to replace steering components. Check the frame carefully as rust is a big issue and we have lots of Cherokees here that are in great shape except for the frames being ruted through and unrepairable. They seem to rust through where the rear springs attach as well as where the shocks mount.
 
Back
Top