1987 Cherokee Laredo

Hi Guys,

My mom recently gave me her '87 Jeep Cherokee Laredo. The body is in near perfect condition (was a Calif car), it's lifted (a little), has custom chrome rims, chrome grille-guard, heavy duty hitch, full towing package with tow-bar and light kit. My problem is that it has over 230K miles on it and it needs some work. I know it needs a rear oil seal.
My folks used it as a tow-vehicle behind their RV, and my guess is about
half those miles the engine wasn't even turned on, so I'm wondering if it's worth the 500 bucks I've been quoted for the oil seal.
Anyway, my question is- is it worth it? My father thought so, as he put a new radiator recently, new tires all around, alignment, and even had the headliner replaced. But he passed away earlier this year and I'm not so sure it's worth sinking $$ into. Especially since it would only probably be my "winter-rat". Any thoughts are MUCH appreciated!!

sorry to hear about the loss of your father, my regards. Older Jeeps are the best overall vehicles around (not to mention easy to fix). I'd drop $500 to fix the rear main seal (common thing to go bad on 4.0 I-6 engines) b/c you have the reassurance of knowing that your truck will last a long time.

Sorry to hear about your father.

The $500 dollar quote is about right, but you may want to check around.
I work in a fairly large town and the Jeep Dealer there quoted me $500-600, but I live in the country and the local Jeep Dealer there quoted $350. It is worth it, since you will be continually adding oil until you fix it. It can be done at home also, without removing the engine or transmission though.

Sorry to hear about your father..............

...........It can be done at home also, without removing the engine or transmission though.
how do you manage to do that? I've done many rear main seals before and I've always had to either take out the motor or the tranny? Can you tell me how's that possible w/o using "additives" like brake fluid or anything else? Not to sound like a smart a$$, just curious.

Several years (mine's an '88) use a 2 piece rear main seal. You pull the oil pan, and the rear main bearing cap. Half the seal is in the cap, the other half can be easily (but carefully) slid out of it's retainer groove.

I did mine in my garage in a few hours. Most of that was removing the badly stuck on oil pan and scraping the old gasket.

Here's a link if you're interested.

http://jeepin.com/features/rearmain/index.asp

My condolences on the loss of your Dad, hope you're doing well.

Keep the Jeep. I have an '88 and changed the rear seal a few months ago. Picked up the seal and gasket for about $30+, took about three hours to change it.

Pull the pan, that's an hour, punch out and put back in the two piece seal, that's 15 minutes, scrape the old gasket off, that's an hour-and-a-half, and put the pan back on, another half-hour. Add new oil and put a new filter on. Drive away happy and filthy. Not hard to do at all. Your Dad took good care of it, do the same and you'll get years of use and great memories. Best to you...

My deepest sympathies to you and your family.

If you haven't started to replace the seal, you may as well replace the oil pump and strainer assembly with a new high volume one. This will add another 1/2 hour to your repair time, but well worth it.

PEACE B WITH U.