New Jeep - Carl 2

We bought a new (to us) 1998 Jeep Cherokee today to replace the one that crashed a few weeks ago.

Paid $5,300 which feels like a good deal given that it only has 141,000 miles on the odometer.

Sans Jeep

A lady pulled into traffic directly in front of my wife on Thursday when my wife was driving my Jeep and my wife couldn’t stop in time to avoid hitting the other car.

The airbags went off in the Jeep and it looks like the frame might have bent a bit down the driver side since the back door now hits the back of the front door when you open the back one.

Yeah, we are certain the insurance company is going to total out the Jeep based on the age and amount of damage, so in a week or two we will probably be sans Jeep.

2022 Update

We bought a 1998 Jeep Cherokee XJ we call Carl in September of 2021, then my wife and I did an engine rebuild on Carl since he had at least one bent pushrod among other issues. 

I had my mechanic put a small lift on the Jeep, bought tires online and had a tire place mount them, then the tire place didn’t tighten all the lug nuts all the way and a tire fell off while I was driving. 

The tire place paid for new fenders etc. 

So I now have a Jeep. 

Outside of that we had a sewage leak in our basement bathroom which caused mold and we spent a bunch of time and money on that. 

All that to say I’ve been busy but haven’t gotten any work done on the mustang for the last while. 

New Tools for possible Jeep Purchase

I am looking to exchange my 97 Mustang for a 90s Jeep Cherokee XJ. My wife was in a car wreck a couple months ago in her Chevy Suburban which totaled her car when an F150 pulled out in front of her. She and my daughter walked away with no serious injuries. The same wreck in the 97 Mustang would have put me and my daughter in the hospital, best case.

In some ways a Jeep isn’t that much safer, but in other ways a bigger car will always be safer in an accident, plus I would be able to haul all of the kids in a Jeep.

My wife had a Jeep Cherokee when we got married and we have always regretted selling that, so this is an opportunity to get a Jeep again.

Anyway while we wait and look I ordered some tools to eventually live in the Jeep.

The SAE wrenches might go in the 68 Mustang eventually since the Jeep supposedly has more metric that SAE nuts.

Disassembling the passenger side spindle brake assembly

As part of my whole suspension refresh I have been working on Disassembling the passenger side spindle brake assembly.

This was a huge undertaking, with quite a bit of frustration involved, some use of cutting tools, and lots of googling.

One note I found online, to get the ball joints out of the spindle you hit the side of the spindle where the bolt goes through with a big hammer till it breaks loose.

I am going to clean these parts some more, tape off the parts that should not be painted, and paint the parts with black anti rust paint.