KTI Off Road

Recently our Cherokee (XJ) started to develop problem with back up lights – they worked erratically, then stopped to work at all. Two months later problems with starting showed up – sometimes I had to move the lever to N position to make starter working. Diagnose: dying neutral safety switch. Pretty common problem for AW4 transmissions – both mounted in Jeep as well as those in Volvo. Fortunately most of the time you can easily fix it without spending $200 on new one or scarifying backup light feature or having to start your car in N position.

When you crawl beneath your Jeep on the passenger side you will see something like this:

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Technorati Tags: Cherokee, XJ, back up lights, neutral safety switch, AW4, Jeep, Volvo

Ever thought about some nice looking CB antenna mount for your Jeep ZJ? Instead of fabricating some brackets, mounts etc. go to any website selling Firestick’s products and pick up the MK204R kit. I picked up mine at Walcott CB for less than $30 and considering there is cable in the kit looks like quite cheap thing.

Now to the mounting part. I decided to put mine around rear left tail lamp. The thing is that I wanted it to be as less obstructive for tailgate and lights as it’s possible. Here is a picture how I manage to achieve that goal:

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Technorati Tags: CB antenna mount, Jeep, ZJ, Firestick

Electric winch can draw up to 500 amps of current and standard alternator on 4.0l Jeep Grand Cherokee is able to produce as little as 90 amps. Then you have to subtract from that current needed to run the car (ignition, lights, CB radio, fan and other). So for most of us one of the biggest worries is how long will out winch be able to work on the trail. Here is a little upgrade which makes those worries much smaller.

Recently my alternator started to slowly die so I figured out it’s a good moment to look not for simply replacement but also for an upgrade. I started to browse the Internet and I figured out that at the end of ZJ’s production they were offering optional 136 amps alternator both for I6 and V8 engine. As the difference in price wasn’t big (about $40) I decided that’s the way to go and went to local parts store to pick my new alternator up.

Whole replacement procedure is easy and quick so here I’ll post only some tricks that may help you to do it even easier and faster.

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Technorati Tags: alternator, Jeep, Grand Cherokee, upgrade, ZJ, 136 amps

Recently I installed electric winch in the ZJ. The obvious problem I stepped on was electric connection. As the winch can draw up to 500 Amps at the time it’s connection to the battery (and whole car’s electrical system) must be secure and reliable to avoid any surprises while on trail.

At the beginning I was forced to connect it to the clamps I already had there. Even though I tried it didn’t look good at all:

After a little bit of looking around I have found nice clamp made by SCOSCHE.

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Technorati Tags: ZJ, winch, battery, SCOSCHE