Category: Car repair

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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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Electrical Safety Tip

Confusing House wiring and Automotive wiring can get you killed.

My favorite hobby is working with cars and Jeeps. I have no trouble repairing or trouble shooting automotive electronic systems. I am also a licensed electrician working with residential and commercial wiring.

In AC wiring the standard is to use the white wire for the neutral which is commonly connected to ground. The green or bare wire is the ground. You can typically touch either of these safely. The black wire is the “Hot” wire having the supply voltage above ground. You defiantly don’t want to touch that one.

In car wiring, the battery voltage is normally the red wire. Often the ignition switched “hot” wire will be blue or purple. While 12 volts will not hurt to touch it, you want to make sure it does not touch ground or you will pop a fuse or maybe burn a wire.

The ground wire in an automotive circuit is coded black. Notice that this is the exact opposite of home or commercial AC wiring. If you are an automotive mechanic making repairs to your home wiring, you need to be aware of this critical difference. The black wire is the “HOT” wire in AC.

Also with home wiring, it is never safe to assume that the white wire is always grounded. In most lighting circuits, the hot is transmitted to and from the switch using a single piece of romex. This will have both a black and white wire in it. The white wire should have a black stripe or tag at the junction but it is very often missing.

Also, if the path to ground in the white wire is interrupted, the wire can be energized through the load. Never assume the white wire is safe. And always assume the black wire is hot.

Use extra caution when switching back and forth between automotive and house wiring so that you do not confuse the two very different color coding systems.