My Jeep may be over 20 years old and some will see it as ready to go to the scrap yard (which infuriates me). A few dents here and there doesn’t make it a bad vehicle. What does is under the hood and the drivetrain if you have had to constantly make repairs. I so want to ask people how many times their automobile has left them stranded, been repaired by them and how many miles they actually have on theirs? Now I will give credit to my Toyota friends that their automobiles do just as good as my Cherokee. I am amazed at some of the mileage stories I have heard from long time Toyota owners.

If you are a Jalopnik.com reader you may have recently come across an article about the top ten best used cars to buy with your tax refund. In case you haven’t though, their #4 pick is the Jeep Cherokee: http://jalopnik.com/5902578/the-ten-best-used-cars-to-buy-with-your-tax-refund/gallery/8 .

I used to think that a car with over 100K miles was getting worn out. Not with a Jeep Cherokee and according to my Jeep friends, that is barely breaking it in. My boyfriends Cherokee has 350K miles on it with original parts; mine has around 220K miles on it though I have changed out the engine and transmission.

The original owner of my Cherokee didn’t take care of her very well so when I brought her home I discovered a cracked head. That’s no biggie since I went to Pull-A-Part junk yard in Atlanta to get another one. Six months later I purchased a Grand Cherokee from my uncle just for the engine he had spent lots of money on overhauling. The only reason why I changed out my transmission was because of my rough off roading skills. I apparently had crimped the lines together. Looking at the prices for new lines I realized I could just buy another used transmission. I ended up getting one for free from an XJ friend though which was even better.
So I have had to replace a radiator a time or two (due to manufacturer defects), a battery that cracked, a water pump and a throttle position sensor. Those are all normal maintenance repairs that happen in the life of an automobile. The times that I have been stranded on the side of the road are because of operator error, mostly running out of gas thinking I could go just a little further down the road to a cheaper gas station. Once was a new radiator that split at the tank which was plastic (sigh).

In the five years that I have owned my Cherokee I have driven it a lot. One year I decided to make a spur of the moment trip to Texas for Thanksgiving with two of my kids in tow. While my mom was in a panic because my Jeep was “old” in her eyes, I was confident I would get there and back, 1,800 miles later. I have driven it to Harlan, Kentucky which is a four hour drive one way at least once a year and sometimes twice. I lived in Cookeville, Tennessee about 100 miles one way from my hometown at least twice a month for a year. I just about drive my Cherokee everyday taking my kids to school and running errands.

Before I owned the Jeep, I had a 2000 Mazda MPV mini van. It was fancy with the leather seats, sun roof and video player, but I wasn’t happy with it. I liked it because it had room for my kids and their stuff I had to tag along when they were babies and toddlers, but it wasn’t me. I made the decision I wanted a vehicle I could easily find parts for, do a lot of the repairs on my own and was known to be reliable. After talking with my best friend I learned the Jeep Cherokee fit all three categories. I remembered my step dad owned a Cherokee and loved it. He drove it until it fell apart and it had close to 300K miles on it when he sold it.

Out of the nine automobiles I have ever owned which includes two Hondas and Mazdas, Chevrolet and Fords, the Jeep Cherokee has been the best and most reliable of them all. It is the one and only vehicle I have ever been happy with. Ask my three kids what their favorite vehicle has been and they will tell you the Jeep.

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An issue I have come across is whenever I meet up with a group of people that talk about upcoming trips to go wheeling it usually consists of guys driving and their girlfriends or wives riding shotgun. As a female, if I attempt to join in the local group gatherings it is usually responded with hesitation or a cold shoulder.

I am a part of a group  of XJ’ers that communicates through Yahoo’s XJlist that meets twice a year mainly in Harlan, KY at Blackmountain Off Road Park, Putney Trailhead. Most of the guys are from Kentucky in the Louisville area along with some who are from Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, etc. Typically there are about 20 people that join in the Spring Flings and Fall Crawls held every year.

According to one of the guys that manages Black Mountain Off Road Park, I am one of the only females he knows has driven her own rig on the trails. Most of the time the girlfriends or wives will drive the rigs down to the restrooms and showers. The rest of the time they are riding shotgun.

Almost five years ago with a completely stock XJ I proved myself to the group that I can do just about anything they could do and wasn’t scared to do it. Below is a picture of me on Trail 39 at Windrock OHV park in Oliver Springs, TN in October 2007.

In 2010, I really proved myself when my XJ nearly slid off the ledge of a trail known as Rail Bed in Black Mountain. This trail was mostly consisting of debris from mining in the area so the ground would give away, which is exactly what happened in my case. Approximately eight feet below was a massive pointy boulder. Every time we visit that trail the guys look down in awe and tell me they could have never handled that situation as well as I did. Luckily for me I had an awesome group of guys that immediately knew what to do and get it done quickly.

The next time I was at Black Mountain I proved I was not intimidated by Rail Bed and actually lead the group into the trail which the group has nicknamed “Jenny’s Trail.”  Rail Bed has actually become one of my favorite trails when I visit Black Mountain. Trail 15 and the Lower Rock Garden would be my next favorite places. One day I would love to have a rig built enough to get through Mason Jar.

Every time I do visit Black Mountain there are people in other rigs and ATV’s that do double takes when they see me driving a rig. It brings a smile to my face especially when I can over hear them say there is a girl driving that Jeep!

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I have replaced several power steering hoses on various Jeep Cherokees. It has gotten to be a pretty straight forward job. See this previous post on how to replace a power steering hose.

Janice’s 1999 Cherokee had been emitting a puff of smoke each time she turned her XJ to full lock. Although there was little sign of a leak on the hose, our experience with the Green Jeep catching fire due to a power steering hose leak made me extra cautious.

I got a new hose and then pulled the electric fan and the air box to make room. I tried using the various 18mm wrenches I had to get the hose loose from the steering box. I have always been successful in the past using an open end wrench. However, this one refused to budge.

I picked up a set of crow foot flare nut wrenches from my local NAPA store. They have a great set of tools in a nice case for around $20. Unfortunately I forgot that the bottom is an 18mm and the top is a 5/8 inch. I bought only the SAE set. The store was closed for the holiday by the time I figured out I also need the metric set.

Jennifer rescued me by searching until she found a set at O’Reilly’s. It is still a nice set for about the same price as the NAPA set but does not have the nice case.

I used the 18 metric crow foot flare nut wrench to break loose the lower line. It took a lot of torque but it eventually broke free. Janice and Jennifer were able to finish taking it out using the 18mm stubby wrench.

I used the 5/8 crow foot to pop loose the upper hose. It was not nearly as tight. I showed them how to put on the O rings on each end of the hose and let them get the lines threaded into place. The lower one always seems to be difficult and takes some patience to get it started.

After the new line was installed, I had them add some fluid and jack up the front of the Jeep. They turned the wheel from lock to lock to bleed the air out of the line. After that, they started the engine and repeated the process.

Once most of the air was out, she turned the wheel to one of the locks and listened for the pressure relief to open. There was a noticeable change in sound as the last of the air purged.

I rechecked the level of fluid in the power steering reservoir and checked for leaks again. Now we all feel much safer driving the Jeep.

Powercraft Power Steering Pressure Hose – 80290

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