TJ Upkeep

This is generally my rule of thumb for maintenance...

Every 5K miles, oil and filter change, grease chassis, inspect ujoints, check air filter and fluids, clean throttle body.
Every 30K miles, diff fluid change, transfer case, transmission fluid change, inspect serp belt, radiator hoses.
At 60K miles, spark plug change, power steering fluid flush, brake fluid flush.
At 100K miles, flush cooling system.
When stuff breaks, upgrade.
 
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StG58 said:
I trust Consumer Reports about as much as I trust Hillery. Bought the wife an Acura RL that was very highly rated in CR and it was the biggest, most under powered lemon I've ever had the misfortune to herd down the road. That thing was the biggest POS, the parts were horribly expensive, hard to obtain and only available from Acura. Miserable to work on. Never again. Switched to Mercedes, which was cheap and easy in comparison.

On the other had, I trust my TJ about as much as I trust my wife. (we've been married 35 years or so..) The TJ requires less maintenance and is easier to work on though.
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I agree with you here. My take on CR is that they'd cheerfully rate a Cessna 172 over an F-16 due to fuel economy and ease of maintenance. Hang the fact that a Cessna couldn't deliver a bomb and doesn't carry a gun or missiles.
 
Thanks for all of the feedback guys. I am the second owner and it only had 60K on it when I bought it two years ago, so I can only assume that it was not driven much. I don't take mine off rode because it's my every day vehicle (yes I'm that crazy). I'm thinking about getting a small work car, so I can play with it some.

I was surprised to have to change the timing belt before 80K miles but I also changed the starter, alternator, water pump and all the sensors, so fingers crossed, I hope things are smooth from here on out.
 
Spartacus said:
Thanks for all of the feedback guys. I am the second owner and it only had 60K on it when I bought it two years ago, so I can only assume that it was not driven much. I don't take mine off rode because it's my every day vehicle (yes I'm that crazy). I'm thinking about getting a small work car, so I can play with it some.

I was surprised to have to change the timing belt before 80K miles but I also changed the starter, alternator, water pump and all the sensors, so fingers crossed, I hope things are smooth from here on out.
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I'm the second owner of my 20 yr old TJ. Also my daily driver, so I don't go off road, but would love to. My husband has a fully aerobatic airplane from 1940. When I asked why he doesn't do aerobatics he replied "just because your Grandma used to do cartwheels, doesn't mean she should now". I guess I'm of that mindset. I would love to go off-road, but is that safe for my 20 year old girl?
 
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Twitchit said:
I'm the second owner of my 20 yr old TJ. Also my daily driver, so I don't go off road, but would love to. My husband has a fully aerobatic airplane from 1940. When I asked why he doesn't do aerobatics he replied "just because your Grandma used to do cartwheels, doesn't mean she should now". I guess I'm of that mindset. I would love to go off-road, but is that safe for my 20 year old girl?
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It would seem that your 20 year old girl is made of sterner stuff. Check for worn or broken parts, get the maintenance caught up and go for it! Mine's only 18, and she loves a brisk run in the woods.
 
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Twitchit said:
I would love to go off-road, but is that safe for my 20 year old girl?
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Yes!!! Just don't do anything you don't feel comfortable doing when starting out. You'll eventually start to learn what she's really capable of start tackling harder and harder trails/obstacles. I take my 30+ year old CJ off-road all of the time and still daily drive it most of the spring/summer/fall.


Twitchit said:
My husband has a fully aerobatic airplane from 1940. When I asked why he doesn't do aerobatics he replied "just because your Grandma used to do cartwheels, doesn't mean she should now".
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Just because they're older doesn't mean they are no longer capable of doing anything they were designed to do from the start. It just means that when you push them to do what they were intended for, you have to really know what you're doing because they don't have as many automated safety features.
 
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This is sort of a shameless product plug, but I will also add that if you are going to go off-road on a lot off off-cambered trails, I encourage taking it easy for the first time if you're disconnecting the sway bars.

Invest in a Currie Antirock as oppose to sway bar disconnects. You'll feel so much more stable in off-camber situations. Sometimes having the sways disconnected can be scary on off-cambered trails, especially for the first time.
 
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bobthetj03 said:
This is generally my rule of thumb for maintenance...

Every 5K miles, oil and filter change, grease chassis, inspect ujoints, check air filter and fluids, clean throttle body.
Every 30K miles, diff fluid change, transfer case, transmission fluid change, inspect serp belt, radiator hoses.
At 60K miles, spark plug change, power steering fluid flush, brake fluid flush.
At 100K miles, flush cooling system.
When stuff breaks, upgrade.
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What?? 30k for differential fluid?

I'm young so I don't know these things; but I thought 100k miles for diff fluid change?
 
30K is fine but most axles do fine never even ever having the lube changed. Few Jeeps or cars that have fallen apart everywhere else have ever had their axle lube changed. I change my axle lubes too for other reasons but so far, never because the gear lube was actually due. :)
 
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30k is excessive unless you're beating the piss out of your Jeep and taking it in all sorts of crazy places (i.e. water).

But obviously it's not going to hurt it to change the fluid at 30k!
 
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