OP
Is there a heavy duty starter for the TJ?
- Thread starter RonJon5406
- Start date
I can't answer that for sure as I never looked into it. I will say that I've had the started rebuilt on a number of previous vehicles (not Jeeps) and there were no issues.
That being said, I would have to believe that the 4.0 starters are rebuildable, but @mrblaine could likely confirm or deny this with 100% accuracy (at least I think).
If you have a good preventive maintenance program, good comms and a heavy duty credit card, you can avoid most unanticipated ills. Mechanical implements wear out and break. If your life depends on equipment, replace wear items before they fail. I replace tires and brakes at the 50% mark as I would be 100% screwed if they fail. Tires are probably the weakest link in any vehicle. I just replaced a battery that was still spinning the engine over. I do not go off roading without buddies in their rigs. I read the forum posts about maintenance and repair and I look at my Jeep for similar faults. May as well benefit from other's experience. Starters generally show a few warning signs and noises before they fail. They aren't very good at keeping secrets. Back in the states I have a starter draw meter you place over the positive battery cable. As I recall (could be wrong here, memory fuzzy), when the gauge starts approaching 200 amps you know you may have a bad starter. When I was a mechanic in Vermont 40 years ago, sub-zero temperatures weeded out bad starters quickly, that was why we did draw tests. Higher compression engines may draw more juice when cranking, a stock 4.0 doesn't have earth crushing compression. I have an idea, go old school and install a hand crank. 
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I would not consider using anything from MeanGreen, I had nothing but problems with their alternator and starter.
Alternator was noisy right out of the box. They told me to run it 500 miles and let it break in. It seized after 2 weeks. I sent it back for a replacement. They rebuilt it and returned it, didn't charge. I sent it back again, asked for a replacement. They told me they would replace it with a new unit. It was the same one.
After about a two months it started whining on start up, but would go away after several minutes. sent it back again.
It finally bit the dust about three months later. They refused any additional warranty because at this time it had been a year.
Their starter lasted just about 1 year then stopped working. I sent that back for a replacement but they refused, stating the starter was over 1 year old and out of warranty. They were going by Quadratecs invoice date which was actually 10 days prior to the ship date.
Every time I returned components I was responsible for the shipping.
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Hey guys my Jeep starter died today
Or get your tj to haul a backup snowmobile if at all applicable.
From where??
Edit: The Mopar starter shows as discontinued on Mopar parts sites. I ended up buying a Carquest reman from Advance Auto for $156. Unless you got a salvage or part-out starter from eBay or similar, I think it's worth sharing with the class where you got an OEM starter for $70.
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No matter what starter you go with. If it's life or death. I'd carry a extra starter and coil. Just a couple of weeks ago on a solo winter camp. My new accel coil failed (that I was thinking would be a upgrade). But I had put my old coil in the jeep. replaced my nice new yellow coil and the old TJ started right up. Happy guy seeing I was pretty far out in the backcountry of Montana.
My Accel coil lasted maybe 6 months before it failed out in the middle of the desert. Fortunately someone in my group had a spare OEM ignition coil.
And to me, I'd never get into a situation where anything on my Jeep like a starter could create a life or death situation. Never wheeling alone is something we should all adhere to. Anyone who does is just asking to put himself into a life or death situation.
(Yea, I'll never use Accel again.) Your right about wheeling alone. But lots of candy asses up here that don't want to have anything to do with winter camping. There is some local 4x4 clubs but no one really does what I do around here. Winter camping and fly fishing. I spend a lot of time mapping out my trips and leaving a reasonable time schedule with plenty of people. I stick to my plans. I just can't sit around and wait for the fair weather pansies. I hope it never bites me in the ass. lol...
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You're gambling with your life or with the lives of others like rescuers should you get into a bad situation and need rescuing. Especially during winter camping in Montana. Slip off a slick rock and break your leg on your way to your favorite fly fishing and countless other things can happen when you're alone. I sure wouldn't do it, I'd try harder to find someone to go with you. Really. It very well could "bite you in the ass". No one who ever needed rescuing ever thought they'd need rescuing, right?
there are different degrees of wheeling "alone" and it requires responsibility and judgment on the part of the individual.
If I was gonna be in a situation where a Jeep breakdown could kill me, ultimately a sat phone is gonna be the only real safety net because there's no way to know where to draw the line on spares. So you pack up an alternator, starter, battery, PCM, and a belt,w what happens when you blow a radiator hose? Hoses are easy enough...do you carry 2 gallons of premixed coolant? Do you carry a radiator or a tube of JB weld and hope you can patch a cracked tank? A TJ tank holds 120 pounds of fuel...are you prepared to drop that and put it back up to replace a fuel pump or are you carrying a floor jack and a square foot of plywood to spread out the load?
If I was gonna be in a situation where a Jeep breakdown could kill me, ultimately a sat phone is gonna be the only real safety net because there's no way to know where to draw the line on spares. So you pack up an alternator, starter, battery, PCM, and a belt,w what happens when you blow a radiator hose? Hoses are easy enough...do you carry 2 gallons of premixed coolant? Do you carry a radiator or a tube of JB weld and hope you can patch a cracked tank? A TJ tank holds 120 pounds of fuel...are you prepared to drop that and put it back up to replace a fuel pump or are you carrying a floor jack and a square foot of plywood to spread out the load?
IIRC that article was shortened/edited from an original post on tacomaworld.com. Should be able to find it there if you are interested. Think the mods even made it a sticky.
fun fact.
during designing the tj, Chrysler specified to the manufacturer of the starter that it had to hold up to physically driving the vehicle under the power of the starter motor alone up a incline without the assistance of the engine in the case of "worse case scenario" ie. engine dies without failure. this was actually one of the requirements of the design of the starter from Chrysler itself.
Father was involved in purchasing & supplier contracts for alot of the electrical components at the time for the TJ, and knows alot of the engineers involved with the tj program at Chrysler personally. I remember replacing my coil rail I the driveway and he started spewing off how one of his close colleagues (gave me the name, but I cant remember now) designed the coil rail for the tj and how it was such a improvement over the distributor system at the time. dad was also involved in the dodge omni, Plymouth voyager, Plymouth prowler programs off the top of my head, recent years ive not heard too much discussion. has been interesting over the years of his retirement hearing all the old stories talking shop about back in the day at Chrysler as well as growing up and seeing prototype/test vehicles driven over to the house by the higher ups on weekends.
during designing the tj, Chrysler specified to the manufacturer of the starter that it had to hold up to physically driving the vehicle under the power of the starter motor alone up a incline without the assistance of the engine in the case of "worse case scenario" ie. engine dies without failure. this was actually one of the requirements of the design of the starter from Chrysler itself.
Father was involved in purchasing & supplier contracts for alot of the electrical components at the time for the TJ, and knows alot of the engineers involved with the tj program at Chrysler personally. I remember replacing my coil rail I the driveway and he started spewing off how one of his close colleagues (gave me the name, but I cant remember now) designed the coil rail for the tj and how it was such a improvement over the distributor system at the time. dad was also involved in the dodge omni, Plymouth voyager, Plymouth prowler programs off the top of my head, recent years ive not heard too much discussion. has been interesting over the years of his retirement hearing all the old stories talking shop about back in the day at Chrysler as well as growing up and seeing prototype/test vehicles driven over to the house by the higher ups on weekends.
That's cool.
I worked with a guy that engineered for Jeep a little later. He would have started around the time the TJ launched, but he worked there from probably 97-2009 ish. Worked on the LJ suspension and worked on cooling systems for other jeep models during that time period. He got caught up in the layoffs and the death of Detroit during the recession and has been in the HVAC industry since then.
im sure my dad came across meeting him at some point, so many names and so many people over the years. initially he started his career with Chrysler not too long after graduating from college. initial job within Chrysler was taking and developing photos of the test/prototype vehicles on the test tracks initially leading to a electrical engineer position around the time Chrysler relocated from highland park to auburn hills around the early 90's I believe.
I remember hearing of the mass layoffs and heard essentially people were called into a office for a meeting ultimately being just flat out let go then and there, sometimes they were lucky and left with some sort of pay and others nothing.
towards his retirement time he was actually asked to stay for another couple years to finish a project rather than flat out retiring on time, of course his counter offer included requesting more pay which they agreed to.
dad center right at some award ceremony for the prowler
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