(I’ve never really had a fleet before; such excite.)
To apologize for the expected decrease in my shopping posts, here’s my first “what’s next” post for the white Jeep, and a look at how much needs done on the yellow one.
(For anyone who is unfamiliar with Jeeps and hasn’t been educated by my incessant, ongoing, obsessive posts about them: the white Jeep is a 2004 Grand Cherokee Laredo, aka “WJ”, and the yellow Jeep is a 2005 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, aka “LJ” or “LJR” or “TJU” or “TJUR” or “PITA”. I’ve owned the LJ for six and a half years, the WJ for three days.)
The good news: the WJ is in fantastic shape. I could have paid half the price for one and then left it in a shop for a couple of weeks to plug the oil leaks, deal with electrical gremlins, etc, but decided I’d rather buy from a place that put a fair bit of effort into it before I got it.
Shocks, front & rear hood/tailgate struts, engine gaskets...I have receipts for the work they did, but I haven’t looked at them yet.
The bad news: the LJ is, as it has been since the first year of ownership, a basket case.
WJ: Fixes
The most important fixes are two open recalls: airbags and rear impact.
Fortunately doesn’t have a Takata time bomb, but apparently a software glitch that can cause the airbags to go off unnecessarily (still quite bad, obvs).
I’m taking it into the dealership for the recalls next Tuesday.
The A/C is (probably) busted. It was a bit chilly to verify this, so the car lot and I both punted on this for now (certainly I won’t need A/C for 6 months) but they’ve committed to fixing it once I’ve proven that it is indeed broken.
The only significantly rusty part is the skid plate for the fuel tank. I saw this on nearly every WJ I looked at in person, so I was expecting it when I first checked this one out.
A replacement is $300 and some elbow grease if I do it myself, which given my back problems I may not do myself. I’m betting that getting the bolts free on the current skid plate will be an exercise in patience (which I...somewhat have) and strength (which I generally lack and can’t really risk applying).
There’s a leaky gasket around the tailgate that I didn’t discover until I noticed the spare tire was wet after a car wash. Small potatoes, hoping the dealership can fix that next week as well.
(One minor reason I’ve been obsessed with finding a Jeep to supplement my Jeep, something I neglected to mention in my explanatory post, is that I feel strongly about full-sized spares. Sure, a donut is vastly better than a “fix it” kit, but a full-sized spare is vastly better than a donut. If nothing else, it extends the lifetime of your set of tires by ~20% if you do the smart thing and include it in your rotation.)
These corroded wheels on the WJ are ugly. The tires are tolerable, and I hope they’ll suffice for this winter, but I’ll start looking for used wheels.
WJ: Upgrades
There are any number of major upgrades I’m interested in over the long run, but I haven’t done enough research to describe them in any detail. A lift, slightly larger tires, the skid plates that the Overland trim offered, possibly better axles, a front bumper that offers a better departure angle...or at least allows me to park against a curb.
For the interior, I definitely want a better radio. The stock radio didn’t even have an auxiliary jack, so I’ve ordered a Bluetooth FM transmitter as an unhappy stopgap while I consider my options.
CarPlay is appealing, but regrettably Chrysler was in love with 1.5 DIN radios when they built my Jeeps, so I’d either have to cut away a portion of the dash to fit a two DIN radio, or buy something like the Alpine Halo9 which $$$.
Better speakers are a possibility if I’m paying big bucks to someone to install a nice radio anyway, but I’m unaccustomed to having NVH levels low enough to be able to appreciate better sound quality, so I haven’t decided whether I’ll splurge on that.
LJ: Fixes
I won’t bother with a list of upgrades for my beautiful but cursed yellow Wrangler; I haven’t been able to manage any significant upgrades in years, since it’s always in need of more fixes. Occasionally I’ll upgrade a component while fixing it, but that’s the best I’ve been able to do.
There are two major impediments to my ability to enjoy driving the LJ right now: a sticky throttle and an awful transmission.
The sticky throttle sounds minor, and once I find out what’s broken probably isn’t a big deal, but I haven’t been able to isolate the problem and thus far my only attempt to outsource it hasn’t worked.
And it truly makes driving an unhappy experience. The throttle is so sticky I usually don’t need cruise control, and I’ve spooked more than one pedestrian by revving the engine trying to get the idle unstuck.
However, when I bought the WJ, in exchange for paying asking price I got a 6-month powertrain warranty, which hopefully I’ll not need, and I got a few hours of labor to troubleshoot and hopefully fix the sticky throttle, which HOORAY.
The transmission has been an epic shitshow. I think, rather than rant yet again about it, I’ll just refer to my previous post on the subject.
At this point I have at least four possible fixes:
- It’s possible, albeit unlikely, that a new shifter will fix all of my problems. That is, at least, a common reason for the broken first gear. Unfortunately, a new shifter is around $500, which is an expensive thing to try without being sure it will actually work.
- Another NSG370 is a possibility, but a reman runs nearly $5000, and there is no way in hell I’m going to drop another $5000 for this shitty transmission. My favorite used Jeep parts store has one out of a JK Wrangler for $350, but I haven’t determined whether it is a drop-in replacement for mine, and I’ve been too focused on buying another Jeep (and too ignorant of the mechanical aspects/logistics of such a swap) to investigate that.
- An AX-15 swap is appealing due to its reputation.
- A Tremec TR-4050 swap is appealing due to Tremec’s reputation (and of course having an entirely new transmission, instead of a used one).
Unfortunately, any transmission swap is going to be pricy, both parts and labor. I genuinely don’t have the skills or back strength or tools or garage to do it myself, and although I could lean on a local Oppo who has all of the above in spades, I’d prefer to let the one local transmission shop I haven’t given up on do it and have someone to hold responsible for doing it right.
(Well, the $350 NSG370, if indeed it drops right in, is something I’d be willing to do with help...or more accurately willing to let my friend do while I watch and learn. I really should do that research.)
Other stuff that I’d like to fix on the LJ:
- The Bluetooth amplifier that I destroyed my battery trying to install (I don’t have any radio in it right now)
- The fender I crushed trying to protect the Jeep from theft
- The airbag control module that was removed because it was (maybe) screwing with my CANBUS
- The odometer that stopped working a year or two ago
- The e-locker that replaced my blown-up factory locker that (allegedly) destroyed my recently-rebuilt rear differential, but was wired so badly that it stopped working after an hour of use.
Unfortunately all of my wiring is now a shitshow and will require extensive tracing and rewiring that I mostly lack the skill to do, and given my experience trying to destroy the LJ with the amplifier install, I’m more than a little reluctant to attempt any cleanup. - The rock sliders that, after sliding across too many rocks, are now losing their coating, and rusting, and need to be sandblasted and re-coated.
WJ & LJ: security
I have a Spot subscription, but the locator has always been flaky. I’ve replaced it twice due to hardware failure, and now it sits idle because it’s been so frustrating and I haven’t had to leave my Jeep sitting in a parking lot downtown (thanks, COVID-19).
Somehow I didn’t know, or had forgotten, that Mopar has their own locator service that doesn’t require a subscription for basic use, EVTS. Now that I’m going to have at least one Jeep left behind every time I go anywhere, I need to think about getting it for both.
So there you have it. If anyone has any thoughts, especially on my transmission options, please chime in.