Drovers Return to the world of Jeep

[Drover]

If it doesn't leak and I don't have to do anything I certainly have a big smile on the dial ...

I want to replace some hoses under the bonnet but will do them myself as the labour charge for $80 of hose is mind boggling, Mackay hoses as the Mopar jobs are in the $300 area, BS ... I was thinking Xmas time in my son in laws big shed might be a good time and I can show him some mechanic tricks, he owes me from working on his EH anyway....lol,lol.. though good chance it may well be included in the xmas workabout................

 

[Johnanbev]

If it doesn't leak and I don't have to do anything I certainly have a big smile on the dial ...

I want to replace some hoses under the bonnet but will do them myself as the labour charge for $80 of hose is mind boggling, Mackay hoses as the Mopar jobs are in the $300 area, BS ... I was thinking Xmas time in my son in laws big shed might be a good time and I can show him some mechanic tricks, he owes me from working on his EH anyway....lol,lol.. though good chance it may well be included in the xmas workabout................

Hi Drover, old age ain't for sissies!!
This old age thing caused me to take the van to a dealer to service the undercarriage, repack the bearings etc.
First time I haven't been able to do it myself!! Arms get sore, back gets sore, neck gets sore, it's all a pain in the butt!
I sympathise with you.

 

[Drover]

Hi Drover, old age ain't for sissies!!
This old age thing caused me to take the van to a dealer to service the undercarriage, repack the bearings etc.
First time I haven't been able to do it myself!! Arms get sore, back gets sore, neck gets sore, it's all a pain in the butt!
I sympathise with you.

Not wrong there John, while I'm not quite at the stage of someone else doing Big Mal's service, I have found over the last few years when I have to do things I'm being smarter and finding a way to lighten the loading on hands and arms, praise the lord for cordless tools ............... when I replaced the brake shoes I did it over a couple of days, gave the bearings a good repack as well, the worst bit was putting the big bustard wheels back on, they are heavy mungrels .... I used my big trolley jack to lift the spare up to get it closer to the rack.... RACQ when on the road for sure ..... I have been training up the Son In Law with lessons on his van and his big shed can easily fit Big Mal in alongside his, so when I can't do it I will be able to conduct him with the tools .....................

The main thing if you get someone else to service yours is to check the wheels nuts before you hook it all up, use a torque wrench no gorilla arms needed but it is most important ...

 

[chartrock]

How difficult is it to replace the rear shocks on a 2011 Grand Cherokee Laredo WK and what kind of shocks are needed?

 

[Drover]

Shocks aren't that difficult, same as most other vehicles ... Type of shock depends on if the Grand is a Diesel or a Petrol and if it has had a lift or not...

The Diesels, those that are Sprung not Air suspension will have Sachs 52830 Nivomatt self adjusting shocks on the rear, if these fail they both need to be replaced with the same Nivomat units, they are a much larger shock than normal , replacing with any other shock means the vehicle looses its tow capacity of 3.5t, upgrading the vehicle with a lift, better load cap springs is then the way to go but the Nivomats are great shocks ............. Sachs# 89-4104-000-802 , Mopar # 68069680AH they are very expensive so it pays to check that the shock is really stuffed as it could be the upper mount which can make a racket, if the shock is stuffed it will have a big oil stain on side ........ best check is to measure the rear from centre of hub to bottom of guard, standard without lift it should be around the 510mm while with a lift its usually 540-550mm, any lower without a big load on and the shock is knackered as they should crank back up to those heights even with a fair load in the back... usually takes about a Km for it to self adjust.

If its a petrol then no tow capacity woes, a set of Bilsteins or Old Man Emu is bolt off, bolt on like a normal shock ... sad springs will drop height and a stuffed shock of course will make you sea sick.

 

[chartrock]

Thanks @Drover, it is our daughter’s Jeep, a diesel, is bottoming out and the local Jeep mechanic has told her the shocks need replacing. He is trying to source a good second hand pair for her because they are expensive. She is not game to tow her Jayco Eagle so I guess we just wait for him to come up with something. He said it is only half an hour or so to fit them on a hoist.
Watch this space.

 

[Drover]

Probably the springs are knackered as well as they are more for soft ride but changing them really means do the whole lot front and back...... Run the tape measure over it using those figures I posted, if any are 30mm lower then the springs are well and truly, once shocks replaced the rear height should be as I noted after a short drive ................ the rear Nivomatts actually carry the load not dampers as normal shocks do but sounds like her spanner bloke is okay..........

 

[DRW]

I took mine into tyre power before we went to Darwin about 3 1/2 years ago for new tyres, they asked if I wanted a wheel alignment and I declined saying the wear is even don’t touch it!!! When I collected it they just laughed and said we couldn’t do a wheel alignment anyway because the shocks and springs are completely stuffed, I laughed and drove away. Well we went to Darwin and we went to Sydney and everywhere in between, my daughter has had it for a couple of years now and the tyres are due to be changed at over 260,000 kilometres and she’s still going strong

 

[Johnanbev]

Hi Drover, old age ain't for sissies!!
This old age thing caused me to take the van to a dealer to service the undercarriage, repack the bearings etc.
First time I haven't been able to do it myself!! Arms get sore, back gets sore, neck gets sore, it's all a pain in the butt!
I sympathise with you.

I Did! I did!, first thing I did,

Not wrong there John, while I'm not quite at the stage of someone else doing Big Mal's service, I have found over the last few years when I have to do things I'm being smarter and finding a way to lighten the loading on hands and arms, praise the lord for cordless tools ............... when I replaced the brake shoes I did it over a couple of days, gave the bearings a good repack as well, the worst bit was putting the big bustard wheels back on, they are heavy mungrels .... I used my big trolley jack to lift the spare up to get it closer to the rack.... RACQ when on the road for sure ..... I have been training up the Son In Law with lessons on his van and his big shed can easily fit Big Mal in alongside his, so when I can't do it I will be able to conduct him with the tools .....................

The main thing if you get someone else to service yours is to check the wheels nuts before you hook it all up, use a torque wrench no gorilla arms needed but it is most important ...

First thing I did
150 Nm Torque, all four wheels came up a bit.

 

[Drover]

I took mine into tyre power before we went to Darwin about 3 1/2 years ago for new tyres, they asked if I wanted a wheel alignment and I declined saying the wear is even don’t touch it!!! When I collected it they just laughed and said we couldn’t do a wheel alignment anyway because the shocks and springs are completely stuffed, I laughed and drove away. Well we went to Darwin and we went to Sydney and everywhere in between, my daughter has had it for a couple of years now and the tyres are due to be changed at over 260,000 kilometres and she’s still going strong

and they didn't mention the wiper blades at all.............lol,lol...................... I just don't get tyre shops to do wheel alignments, if changing the tyres stuffs my alignment up I want to know if they dropped it off the hoist or something, my last wheel alignment was done over 20K km ago and now on another set of tyres and runniing true .................... I must mention Ironman Shop in Gympie does a damn fine job of pointing wheels in the right direction....fella knew what he was doing as these are buggas to adjust, well a lot of fiddling........................... 260,000 out of a set of tyres certainly beats any of mine...

 

[DRW]

260,000 out of the Jeep I only ever got 40-45k out of tyres

 

[Drover]

260,000 out of the Jeep I only ever got 40-45k out of tyres

Yep, my other 2 Grands I changed around the 280,000km mark, they were still good nick and going well, this one will be the same I reckon but I may run it longer as I doubt I'll be able to afford a decent replacement without a Lotto win, only 142,000 on it now so awhile yet ...

 

[Drover]

@DRW, my first 2 Grands I had Geolanders fitted and I would get 70/80K Km easily but then long runs and only a camper behind then the Expanda Tardis but once Big Mal arrived it was LTs for sure as towing with only P rated tyres I would get 45K km out of them, Colorado then the WK2 but once I wore them out the original rubber I would go LT's, and then could manage up to 70K km with a align from a proper steering shop usually meant good for life of tyre and regular rotation every service, otherwise rear would be gone in no time............ Less towing more tyre life, quite happy to wear them out if it means more camping ...........

 

[Drover]

Air Bags fitted, Bags were on special at $300 and $300 labour well spent and no blood spilt by me, win,win, now to sort out how to set up with Big Mal hanging off the back, with the self levelling Nivomat shocks on the Jeep need to figure out if I get the shocks to level out first then add air or pump up to the set height then drive off, need to have the shocks at their operating height or they could fail ...... Compressor and tape measure in hand we will see how we go, a couple of runs around the block should sort it out I hope ..... If it had normal shocks it would just entail dropping the van on the ball and pumping up to height and all good ...............

Thankfully I have a shed compressor as the 12v travel job has had a hissy, its got quite a few years up and has had a few rebuilds over the years, this time it might be binned ............ Over fixing stuff ...........

 

[Drover]

Compressor tested and binned .................. Hooked up Big Mal to the Jeeperific did a block run or 2, tape measure in hand and I think I have worked things out and hopefully the Nivomats will be happy, certainly nice not having to stuff around with bars, well proper real world test in a couple of weeks so won't crow to loudly ............. .