87 AMC Cherokee

[Mad Mike]

I think this falls under a old school ride.

I love this old Jeep. I have a 95 Grand and grew to hate it but after I drove this 87 I had to have it. Kinda rare find to. Silver 4 door 5 speed Larado with power everything and working A/C.

Mods
4" lift(Leaf springs are sagging vary badly)
33" tires
15" Mickey Thompson steel wheels
Flowmaster 40 series muffler











Friends call it the old man suit interior. I like it.


155,000 miles and strong as hell. AMC Renix 4.0L inline 6


2nd week I owned it. Backing out of a driveway the brake peddle hit the floor and I sped up. A tree was nice enough to stop the Jeep before I hit a house. Got so luck the tree hit dead center in the trailer hitch and it stopped before it hit the hatch.


Found the cause of the brake failure







4th week I owned it. bad alternator


Last month while sitting in traffic near the mall of Ga the throw out bearing/slave cylinder decided it was done. My Jeep has the Peugeot BA-10 5 speed with an internal slave cylinder so needless to say it was a hell of a job to replace it. Not to mention the first one I installed was defective so I had to do the job twice. 1 day job ended up taking 3 day.



Running great until a few days ago when the drivers side caliper started sticking. So now I'm going to replace the front calipers, rotors and pads and the entire brake system other than the lines will be new.

[D3UC3S]

you know im a fan Mike!

Where you been hiding? under the jeep?

[Mad Mike]

you know im a fan Mike!

Where you been hiding? under the jeep?

Whats up? Been a long time. Yea been under the Jeep way to much but its part of the deal when you own a old Jeep.
What you been up to?

[D3UC3S]

gotta love te old Jeeps!

I have just been working and sleeping. Did pick up a b16 coupe for a DD. should be in another Jeep by next summer.

[Mad Mike]

Update on the 87

I got sick of the faded silver paint so I painted it this weekend. It took me about 8 hours from start to finish and I was solo the entire time.
I'm pretty happy with it other than the hood but I have a plan for it later on.
Before pic after trimming the fenders back.

New random sticker


11:30am "built" the lean-to and started taping up and removing parts.



Sanding



Laying down some paint



All painted minus the grill and head light bezels. I'm paining them all satin black.




This morning I went ahead and put the front end back together and added some extra light.

[Mad Mike]

While painting my brothers car I pulled the grill, headlight bezels and trip and painted them all satin black. While I had them off I sprayed the front and rear bumpers with bed liner. It looks so much better with the black instead of the chrome.


I also finished wiring up my lights and aimed them.

[Revmaynard]

Looks great dude! I kind of avoided the Renix models so I didn't have to worry about that trans! How do you like your tire carrier? I've been eyeing one of those recently.

[Mad Mike]

Yea the BA-10 transmission sucks but I plan on putting a newer AX-15 trans in it once the BA-10 dies.(still going strong with only a little bit of winning)

I really like the tire carrier but I haven't gotten a spare wheel and tire yet so don't know how it will be once the added weight is on it.

[Revmaynard]

Gotcha, right now my full size 34'' is in my cargo area and I have to run it pretty deflated to close the hatch. lol

[Mad Mike]

Did some work to the Jeep today.
New 3.5" lift leafs installed



Now the rear sits 1/2"-3/4" higher than the front and the leafs with settle a little so it will be sitting level eventually.
I also installed a set of rock lights.

[Mad Mike]

Added some new parts to the 87 yesterday. O and to start off my day I got pulled over in Flowery Branch and got a ticket for tint. Bought it tinted and have been driving it for a year and this was the first time I have been pulled over. Just my luck.
Gas tank skid

Transfer case skid

New transmission mount($88 mount)


While I had the cross member out I dropped the transmission and transfer case down a little so I could get the valve cover off and replace the valve cover gasket.


Swapped the bent rim with a new rim then had a spare tire mounted on the bent rim as a full size spare and finally mounted it to the tire carrier.


Lastly I swapped all 24 bolts on my hood louvers to stainless steel ones. The bolts that came with them rusted the first night it rained.

I did all this starting at 9am and got done around 11PM then was up at 6am this morning to drive to Blairsville to go off roading with my Jeep club.


I really need to get a locker for the front axle and swap in the Ford Explore 8.8 rear axle so I can make it up the good stuff. I made it 3/4 to the top before I had to be winched.


I got a ton of GoPro video but my computer is refusing to read my SD card and it wants me to format the card. So no videos.

[Mad Mike]

Did some work to the Jeep yesterday and successfully made my 4x4 a 4x3. Started out by welding my loose trac bar mounts on. No mater how tight you got them the brackets still moved and every time I went off road I would have death wobble until I tightened the hell out of them again. Now there both welded on and can't move.

Now comes the 4x4 to 4x3 part. since we already had the welder out and I needed to change the front diff fluid we went ahead and welded the spiders to lock the axle. I can do this because I have a vacuum disconnect Dana 30 axle. Well after welding it up I backed out of the shop to find the axle was locked and I wasn't in 4wd. After some trouble shooting of the vacuum actuator I pulled it off to find it seized. I forced it into the unlock position and moved the lock collar over and put it back together. So now when I put it in 4wd the passenger side gets no power and the 3 other wheels do. To fix it I bought the posi-lok manual cable actuator last night and then I'll be back in business

[Revmaynard]

You should do a disconnect eliminator on it! Keep the progress up!

[Mad Mike]

Well I wanted it locked but didn't want to spend the money on a locker. Plus my last Jeep had a locker up front and it was a pain. It worked great but was noisy and liked to bind up an pop really loud while backing out of a parking spot. By using the disco I can have it locked/welded and it still works like a open diff when its unlocked. Best part is after I install the posi-lok cable when its in 4wd I can unlock the passenger side and make it 4x3 to be able to make tight corners.

I also got word that my bumper will be shipped this week. I can't wait to get it on and get my winch mounted.

[Mad Mike]

I found a mint 86 Cherokee in a junkyard a few weeks ago and finally got to get some stuff off it this weekend. Overall I think I did pretty good. I got to the junkyard at 9am and left at 4:45pm with only a 45min brake. I had to take the brake to run half the stuff to my house and make a run to home depo for some cut off wheels for my demel.
Here are the pics of my missions and what I scored.
Entering the yard

Half way to the Jeeps.

My victim hiding pretty good behind some vans, explorers and a old ford truck. Walked right past it the first time we were there and found it on the way out.

Inside the parts Jeep


Removing all the interior and I mean all of it.



The reason behind getting the black interior is the honorably ugly 80s red interior currently in my Jeep.

With about 2 hours of work left the sky opened up and didn't stop. Soaking wet and so much mud.

I can't wait to get this all cleaned up and in my Jeep. Everything is in way better condition than my red stuff plus I bought the non power doors off the Cherokee to replace my worn out power sometimes doors.

[Revmaynard]

Awesome! That's in good shape! Is that Collins brothers in Auburn?

[Mad Mike]

Thanks and yes everything is in way better condition than the red stuff in my Jeep. That junkyard Jeep had 180,000 miles on it but the seats feel brand new.

yea thats Collins

[Mad Mike]

I got my front bumper today. Now I just need to weld on the fairlead mount, paint it and get it mounted up.

[KyleG]

I really like the look of this thing! And it looks like a fun driver.

[Revmaynard]

Congrats! It took him long enough, now get it on there!

[Mad Mike]

I really like the look of this thing! And it looks like a fun driver.

Thanks and its a blast to drive.

Congrats! It took him long enough, now get it on there!

Hoping to have in on tomorrow. A buddy of mine is going to help me fit it so we can see where the winch will mount and if I need to cut the grill any. Then hes going to weld on the fairlead mounts and then help me prime and paint it. So if all goes to plan it should be on by tomorrow afternoon.

[Mad Mike]

Got the bumper on last night. Lots of work but well worth it.
First fitting. Fit and bolted right on with no problems.

Checking out the winch position.

After cutting the grill.

The hole for the winch.

Buddy welding on the fairlead mounts.

Cut fenders off to match the bumper lines.


Painted and all mounted up.






Then today I lead a club ride with 27 Jeeps.

[D3UC3S]

Was that with NGJ?

Love that mountain. So many fun rides up there? How nasty is that rut now?

[Mad Mike]

Yea it was with NGJ

The first half is huge and I didn't bother with it but walked up the second half. I rode down both and had it on three tires twice. Guy behind me said he thought I was going over.

[D3UC3S]

Ya that first one is a flopper for sure. its like 7' deep at the center. I can only imagine its worse since i havent been up there in a year or so.

Lookin good now Mike!. I'll have a build thread up on GaOffroad pretty soon for my pig.

[Mad Mike]

For the last two days I've been swapping the red interior out of my Jeep. Ends up its a lot more work than I thought it would be.
Day one.


Found this under the carpet. Yes thats my muffler you see.

Pulled the dash out

Stepped back and looked at the mess

Black carpet going in.

Black dash back in then I called it a night.


Day two
Started off by fixing a few electrical issues and finishing the dash. Then started installing the interior.

Recovered the red headliner with some black fabric.

Installed the headliner and almost all the black plastics.

Tomorrow I'm going to finish installing the seats and plastics, clean everything really good then install the CB. I haven't decided if I'm going to swap the doors yet or wait till I can paint them.

[D3UC3S]

Did you fix the hole before you put the carpet back? I found that in the gold one and just said screw carpet and had free drain holes.

[Revmaynard]

How much for the steering wheel? lol

[Mad Mike]

Did you fix the hole before you put the carpet back? I found that in the gold one and just said screw carpet and had free drain holes.

I'm going to patch it I just don't have the tools or time to do it right now.

How much for the steering wheel? lol

I know I know. Its being changed out with a black grant wheel soon. They JY pulled and sold the black column and wheel the day before I bought the interior.

[Revmaynard]

I was serious....I need a steering wheel/horn button! LOL

[Mad Mike]

I was serious....I need a steering wheel/horn button! LOL

o well yea. Once I replace it I'll let you know.

[Mad Mike]

After 3 days of work the red to black swap is done.







Also got the somewhat power doors replaced with the non power doors.
All I have left is to paint the column, replace the steering wheel, paint the doors, mount the CB and finish up some random wiring.

[Mad Mike]

Went out and played in the mud today with my Jeep club.






Got a few good scratches right here.




Got some interesting video from my GoPro mounted backwards at the front axle. Trying to upload it right now.

[D3UC3S]

Good stuff as always Mike!

[Finesse Worx]

Very nice project i am fan! keep the updates coming!

[Mad Mike]

Very nice project i am fan! keep the updates coming!

Thanks. Now that the weather is getting nice I'm about to start some over due projects on it. First of witch is painting it again. Then new rear axle. Followed by some much need armor.

[D3UC3S]

Where's that vid of the front axle??

[Mad Mike]

Where's that vid of the front axle??

Diff view at Bell Mtn in Hawassiee, Ga. - YouTube

Kind of a good point of view. I got to get one of the death wobble sometime.

[Mad Mike]

Cleaned up some wires under the hood. Wired my aftermarket volt meter to a relay straight off my battery. Then decided I had enough with the dead a/c parts taking up room in the engine compartment so I removed everything but the pump.(I plan on converting it to onboard air one day) While I was at it I added two lights to my fairlead.

All this work to get the condenser out.

Back together plus lights.

Finish results


Also changed the light bulb for the volt meter so now I can see it at night.

[D3UC3S]

Hey hey! I put my lights there too! Lookin good mike!