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Category: Cherokee

Projects Aplenty: Lots of Work on the PDXJ

March 21, 2017 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment
The PDXJ Going Up A Hill

Yesterday was the first day of spring. Frankly, after a nasty winter in Portland, we’re looking forward to some much-needed sunshine and better weather. We’ve already done lots of work on The PDXJ in preparation for spring, summer, and a host of upcoming events.

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Cravenspeed Stubby Antenna Review

March 15, 2017 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment
Cravenspeed Stubby Antenna

Let’s face it: The Jeep Cherokee (the XJ, not the new Cherokee) is really a malaise-era vehicle at heart. It’s an old design fitted with relatively modern amenities. Well, OK, some relatively modern amenities.

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Yokohama Geolandar M/T+Tires In the Snow

January 17, 2017 / Andy Lilienthal / 2 Comments
Yokohama Geolandar M/T+ in the snow

During Portland Snopocalypse 2017, I’ve been driving The PDXJ (project 2001 Jeep Cherokee) quite a bit; it’s been pretty much unstoppable in the snow. Then again, vehicle is only as good as its tires. I must say, I’ve been very impressed with our Yokohama Geolandar M/T+ tires during this snowy mess.

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New Year’s Resolution: Drive Jeep More Than we Work on It.

January 5, 2017 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment
Work Less on the Jeep

This meme: This is my New Year’s resolution. We picked up our 2001 Jeep Cherokee, aka, The PDXJ, in July 2016. Almost immediately, we started working on it, and we haven’t slowed since. Whether it was standard maintenance things, minor repairs, or aftermarket upgrades, I feel like all we’ve done is work on the thing….

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Why You Want to Regear Your 4×4

December 30, 2016 / Andy Lilienthal / 1 Comment
Regearing the PDXJ

You’ve got your 4WD vehicle, and you’re wanting to add larger tires on it. Cool! You’ll likely be able to go more places and do more things with that extra bit of meaty rubber and you know they look good. However, there is one downside that comes along with adding larger tires: Your rig is now…

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The PDXJ Gets a Winch and Bumper

December 9, 2016 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment
Jeep with VR10-S Winch

Until recently, the where was something missing in our Cherokee’s JCR Offroad Vanguard bumper: a winch. After all, what good is a winch bumper without a winch? This week, I installed a WARN VR10-S into the bumper on The PDXJ, aka, Project Cherokee, aka “Cranky.” This is Warn’s latest winch in its standard-duty VR lineup. I’ll actually…

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Review: Yokohama Geolandar MT+ Tires

November 15, 2016 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment
Yokohama Geolandar MT+ review

I’ll make no apologies: I like Yokohama tires. I first had  Yokohamas back in 2006 when I got a set of 205/50/16 AVS ES100 tires for my Scion xB . A couple years later, I shod my Toyota Yaris’ wheels with 195/55/15 S-Drives. In fact, I just replaced them last month with the same tires. So when…

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Giving our Jeep Cherokee a Lift

October 20, 2016 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment

The Jeep Cherokee (XJ) was made from 1984–2001, and there have been tons of lift kits on the market during those 18 model years. So when it came time to choose a Jeep Cherokee Lift for Cranky, our Jeep Cherokee project, I decided to look to a company that had plenty of experience lifting Jeeps. Skyjacker has been…

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Matching Wheels and Tires for our Trailer

August 31, 2016 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment
LIfted Dinoot

Our Dinoot J-Series trailer just got new rolling stock. I mean, I just got done with putting them on. Previously, we had 235/75/15 (29″) Kumho mud terrain tires that matched our Suzuki Sidekick. However, since this is now going to be towed behind Cranky the Cherokee, it needed matching shoes.

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Behold: Cranky (Project Jeep Cherokee)

August 28, 2016 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment
Cranky - Project Jeep Cherokee

I’ve long held the belief that a vehicle’s nickname manifests itself. It shouldn’t be forced or given prematurely. Well, we decided that our project Jeep Cherokee now has a nickname: Cranky.

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