(April 24, 2008)  I bought my 1995 Jeep Cherokee new in December of 1994.  It's a very basic model.  2WD, 4-cylinder, manual transmission, manual windows, etc., you get the picture.  It's been a great vehicle, though.  I put 140,000 miles on it in the first five years with no real problems.  Then I started getting a squeaking noise in the engine that I couldn't figure out so I took it to a garage for service.  They replaced the rotor cam, which fixed the squeaking, but it just never ran right again.  After repeatedly taking it back for repairs, I eventually gave up.  I ended up getting a new car, but I kept the Cherokee for hauling stuff around in and occasionally pulling a trailer.  It was always risky, though, because there was always the chance I'd be out somewhere and it wouldn't start.

Let me back up just a little bit here.  I always thought the problem with the Cherokee was the clutch, but it didn't matter where I took the vehicle, everybody said that wasn't it.  Eventually, the clutch did go out, and after I had it repaired, the Jeep ran fine.  Well, my wife wouldn't agree with that.  Once we used the Cherokee to haul some stuff to goodwill and after unloading everything, I had a little trouble getting it started.  She wanted to donate it too.

Anyway, about a year ago I bought a motor home so we could do some traveling in the summer.  I love traveling and a motor home is definitely the way to go, but I learned real quick that you need to have something smaller with you, so when you get to your destination you can get around.  RVers call those cars they tow "dinghy's."

I decided I wanted to get the Cherokee back into shape and make it my dinghy.  I've got some work to do on it, though, and as I'm doing the work, I plan to post all the details to this sight.  I've already replaced the radio, the headliner, and the window mechanism in the driver's side door.  If I get a chance, I'll try to describe how I did those things, but I'm probably not going to take them apart again to provide pictures.

I hope this site is useful, and if you've used it, I'd love to hear from you.

tim@timsjeepblog.com                                                            HOME