Buying my 2nd FSJ

[2Beers]

Picking up a 1977 Cherokee Chief this Friday for me. It will be a compliment to my wife's 1989 Grand Wagoneer.

[sierrablue]

That is super clean! Great buy!

[devildog80]

That's his wife's GW.

[sierrablue]

That's his wife's GW.

Doesn't make it not a great buy...

[will e]

Welcome to the forum! That Grand Waggy is very nice and looks picture and period perfect with the house and yard.

[devildog80]

Yep...GW is beautiful, but looking for pics of the 2nd FSJ addition.

[2Beers]

Here is a picture from the seller. I will see it for the first time tomorrow afternoon.

[devildog80]

Lookin sharp

[why_rick]

Almost looks familiar. I hope you show us the rest of it!

[will e]

Okay! We are ready for more pictures! Come on man, it must have been delivered by now!

[2Beers]

Not delivered. Driving it 2600 miles home from CA. No major breakdowns yet. One more day of driving then I will have some time to edit the pictures down to the required file size.

[will e]

Not delivered. Driving it 2600 miles home from CA. No major breakdowns yet. One more day of driving then I will have some time to edit the pictures down to the required file size.

Okay, we forgive you! 2600 miles on an unknown 40 year old vehicle! That should be interesting. I am hoping for the best for ya!

[2Beers]

Made it home! 2,657 miles, 200+ gallons of fuel, three hotels, one winter storm, and a lifetime of story telling. Did it break? Of Course it did. Nothing that could not be fixed at night in the cold.

[devildog80]

Would seem it is in full working order, so nothing to do with it but drive

[will e]

That's great that you made it home! It's a good looking truck!

[sierrablue]

Dumb question--what broke?

Glad it got you home--I sure wouldn't have trusted that to get me home that far, unless I had a lot of time and a backup vehicle driving with me.

[Yeller]

Glad it got you home--I sure wouldn't have trusted that to get me home that far, unless I had a lot of time and a backup vehicle driving with me.

That’s why U-Haul exists everywhere


OP, congrats on the adventure! I’m actually jealous

[sierrablue]

Glad it got you home--I sure wouldn't have trusted that to get me home that far, unless I had a lot of time and a backup vehicle driving with me.

That’s why U-Haul exists everywhere


OP, congrats on the adventure! I’m actually jealous

U-Haul is kind of a pain now. They wouldn't even let us plug in my dad's truck to haul my Jeep on a dolly anymore, and to go out of town with a dolly or trailer they don't let you use the F150s anymore, you have to rent a box truck. I'd avoid them if I could.

[2Beers]

sierrablue asked "What Broke?" Short answer, No crank no start. Longer, better, answer. Somewhere in the dark west of Williams AZ we were looking for fuel for the 2nd time. Since we'd only owned the Jeep about 7 hours at this point we were being conservative in our trust of the fuel gauge. Plan was with a 20 gallon tank @ 13mpg we should be able to go about 200 miles between filling up. Not trusting the odometer, we used GPS and the I-40 mile markers to calculate the distance. The first fuel stop with 1/4 tank left calculated out to 16mpg. Questionable but our only data point. GPS said there where several fuel choices on Route 66 coming up. First two we saw were closed. GPS assured us another was open 24 hours and there were two cars there getting fuel. GPS lied to us and the other drivers. Pumps looked on, it would take your credit card but not pump any fuel. When I turned around the other cars were gone. My son said it did not look like they got any gas either. Son said well at least we have the emergency 5 gallon can we brought. I had forgotten about that. Bringing it was a good plan but poorly executed since I had also forgotten to put any fuel in it. GPS said there was another station not far away so we jumped back in to head out. No Crank, no start. My son who is decent at diagnostics with a scan tool and a smoke machine went to look under the hood. At least that would keep him busy while I tried different combinations of starting in neutral and park thinking maybe there was a transmission lock out. Lights worked so the we had juice. I decided to use a pair of pliers to jump across the starter solenoid posts to see if the starter was still alive. Before my son could get the pliers I slammed the hood, declared it fixed, and he should drive. I climbed in, waited, and to his disbelief it fired up. Cause? The "no heat" hose had knocked the small ignition wire off the S terminal of the solenoid. It was the slip on kind and all I had to do was slip it back on. We made it to Flagstaff and in the morning while scraping ice and snow off the windows with my credit card and no gloves I noticed I never put the fuel cap back on. If you look closely at the picture I posted from the next day you can see we are using a fuel exit restraining cap of the duct tape variety.

[will e]

That little push on wire falls off on my truck too. Mostly when I am wheeling. I keep meaning to put an eye connector on the wire and use a nut to keep it on the terminal but I am kind of a stickler for keeping the Jeep original.