Author: Mike

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How to remove and replace the front grill and header on a Jeep Cherokee

How to remove and replace the front grill and header on a Jeep Cherokee

To remove the center section of the grill, simply remove the eight Phillips head screws that hold it in place. To replace, reinsert the screws. If you have some that will not tighten, the little plastic buttons may need to be replaced in the header.

To remove the entire header, you do not need to remove the center of the grill. You do however have to remove the corner parts of the grill and the side lights. Begin by removing the two long chrome screws that hold the side markers in place. Remove the bulb holder from the light by twisting it.

Next remove the four screws that hold the headlight surrounds to the header. On the early models there are multiple parts while on the mid years there is just one piece. Keep track of the different screws and where they go back.

Under each side grill pieces are two large nuts. They take a 13 mm socket to remove. There are also four more nuts under the hood that hold the header to the radiator support. These are usually 11 mm. Leave the Torx head ones alone.

Unplug the horns and gently separate the heard from the front of the Jeep. On the 84 and 85 models, there is an extra bolt right in the top corner of the fender. I have no idea how to access this bolt to turn it. I use a pry bar and gently pull the stud our of the fiberglass front and do not replace the bolt afterwards. The later model front ends don’t have this bolt even though the hole is in the fender.

Unplug the headlight harness on the lower part of the grill near the air box on the later years. Gently set the unit aside.

To reinstall, connect the wiring harness and set the unit in place. Adjust the fit of the header and tighten the four bolts under the outer grill pieces. One you are satisfied with the fit, install and tighten the four nuts under the hood.

Feed the side marker wire through the trim and install the trim using the proper screws. Install the side marker in bulb in the marker lens. Set the marker in place and install the two long chrome screws. Be careful not to over tighten these.

If the center section of the grill was removed, replace it as well.

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Green Jeep update

Well we finally got to drive the Green Jeep down the road. The brakes work fine with the new lines and master cylinder. The new power steering pump is working well too.

Saturday, we dropped the transmission pan and installed a replacement kick down cable for the transmission. Then we put on the front header and wired up the headlights.

Yesterday, Sandy found a hood that was a perfect match for her faded green paint and I put that on. She re-instituted the insurance. I will drive it around for a few days to make sure all the bugs are out but it looks like the Phoenix is ready for flight.

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Rebuilding the Green Jeep

Rebuilding the Green Jeep

Jennifer’s mother’s Jeep Cherokee caught fire. We think it had something to do with the power steering. She was making a hard turn in a parking lot when she saw smoke coming from under the hood. By the time she got the Jeep moved to a safe place and tried to open the hood, the fire was fully evolved.

The fire department responded quickly pried open the hood with crow bars. The entire grill and front header were burned and melted. Under the hood, the wiring harness and most of the hose were gone as well.

Jennifer began by stripping off the burned parts. I happened to have a parts Jeep of similar vintage available to donate the wiring harness and many of the small parts. She elected to swap the entire intake manifold and engine bay harness as a unit including the ECU. This method meant a lot of the tedious connectors did not have to be disturbed.

Many parts like the radiator, power steering pump, brake booster and master cylinder were bought new. The green Jeep was originally equipped with Anti Lock Brakes. However the system had never worked properly. To reduce complication in the rebuild we decided to swap to standard brakes since the donor Jeep was equipped that way.

The Brake swap meant fabricating new brake lines. The old passenger side front line was reshaped and a new fitting was installed. The driver’s side line was fabricated from raw tubing and new fittings. The rear line needed only a fitting swap to be compatible. The rubber line to the rear axle was replaced as it was damaged removing the steel line. The brake proportioning valve was taken from the donor Jeep. The brake booster and master cylinder are new.

The engine bay wiring harness goes though the firewall in two places. One place handles connections for the anti lock brakes and the other is for the transmission computer. We elected to remove the dash in the green Jeep to make sure we handled all the connection properly. We did not remove the dash in the donor Jeep after we were familiar with where all the pugs were.

When getting ready to put the exhaust manifold back in place on a new gasket, I noticed it was cracked as they commonly are on 4.0 Jeeps. I removed it and welded up the crack before reinstalling it. Jennifer set the intake in place and routed all the wires attached to it. She also swapped in most of the vacuum lines from the donor Jeep. He brother sent parts from a Jeep he was scrapping with helped with many of the small parts such as a power steering reservoir cap, and many of the small vacuum fittings. He also supplied a new valve cover complete with the proper fittings and a cap.

The transmission rubber line to the radiator was melted as well. Rather than purchase the pricey disconnect that is so troublesome, I elected to use some of the excess power steering return hose we had and make a line. I used my tube flaring tool to make a bubble on the end of the tube. I then clamped the rubber hose in place using a worm drive hose clamp.

She purchased a new power steering hose, but it had the wrong fitting on one end. So we ended up swapping one from the donor Jeep. We also had to reuse the old pulley off the damaged pump as the new power steering pump did not come with a pulley or a reservoir cap.

The front of the Jeep was slightly damaged from where the hood was pried open. I used a High Lift jack to work the steel structure back into place. The hood itself will have to be replaced.

Yesterday, Jennifer set about making all the connections necessary to crank the engine for the first time. After the fuel system primed, the engine started quickly. The idle was a little rough as the computer adapted to its new home. After a few seconds of running however, it smoothed right out.

There is still a lot of work left to be done. The brakes have to be bled, the power steering system bled as well. The transmission kick down cable was damaged so the transmission pan will have to be dropped to repair that. The front header with the headlights needs to be reinstalled and we still need to procure a hood. It should be drivable again soon.

We may have to change its name form Mr Green Jeep to the Phoenix.

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2011 Crow Mountain Hill Climb

2011 Crow Mountain Hill Climb

This weekend was I worked the seventh running of the Crow Mountain Hill Climb. I worked as I always have as Course Marshal. The race is held near Hollywood Alabama on a crooked section of County road 33.

My job is to make sure the course is staffed and ready to run. I also respond to any incidents and help clear any damaged cars from the course.

This year, I loaded up my fire extinguishers, tools and tow straps. I mounted my flashing light and siren on the roof of my Jeep.

We camped in the big hay field at the base of the mountain. It got unexpectedly cold during the night. I have always brought my Carhart coat in the past but I completely forgot to pack it this year. I was really missing it about 1am on Saturday.

did take a walk in the field however and enjoy the beautiful array of stars. Being well away from city lights the stars seemed much brighter than at home. The milky way looked like a huge cloud in the sky.

At 6:30 am I gathered up some pylons from the equipment trailer and carried my road closed sign to the top of the hill. I made it back down in time for the workers meeting which was more about putting people into their correct positions that training this year.

It seemed to take longer than usual tot get every body in place and all the equipment distributed around to the various corners. Janice and Jennifer ended up monitoring start and traffic in and out of side road 111.

I made sure the road was secured at the top with a Jackson County Deputy monitoring it and took up a position just past the finish. I could see turns 11 and twelve from there.

I had relatively little to do. I just monitored the radio net and confirmed that the road was in fact still secure between each set of runs. There were only a couple of red flag incidents neither of which required me to respond. And we have no unexpected visitors coming in from the woods this year either.

Saturday was a long day with racing continuing right up to the 5 pm closing time. The races seemed to be enjoying the hill and getting plenty of runs. The local FM radio broadcast was missing this year so I did not keep up with times.

The organizers had a nice pizza dinner and I won a nice shirt in the worker prize drawing. I lay down in the tent intending to get up and join the bon fire. However, I fell asleep and stayed that way until morning.

Sunday morning was just as cool. I think it was 39 degrees. We got the workers in place much quicker and had the course ready to race before eight. However, the Fire Trucks and Wreckers decided to wait to come based on their experience from the day before. So we all waited on them to show up.

I got to make a fun run up the hill as the big trucks were getting into place. Unfortunately I was past the timing lights when I started so I did not get a time. It was still fun to run the Jeep up the mountain knowing the road was closed and I could use all of it.

Again the day ran without incident. The drivers got as many runs as they wanted. In fact they were all out of tires fuel or energy by 2:30pm. We shut down early due to lack of cars wanting to run.

We cleaned up the course quickly and headed down the mountain. We gathered up the tent and camping supplies and said our goodbyes It was good to see folks that I see only once a year.