2002 Bella Blue, WJ Build

I bought it in July 2002 for $33k. After down payment, the monthly was an even $500 at 0% financing, 7 year/70k mile warranty. It's about as loaded as you can get for a Laredo. I went through all the packages and thought that the Limited upgrade was not worth the extra $5k price tag because all you really got was color-matched cladding and memory seats, maybe a dual zone climate control? I had previously leased a '99 Laredo with a Quadra-Drive, but there were some odd things about how that drive train behaved that I really did not like so I went with the Selec-Trac in '02.

Looked up my build sheet at https://www.jeep.com/webselfservice/jeep/ >> Equipment Listing.
Edit: new link https://fcacommunity.force.com/RAM/s/equipment-listing

Rearranged some of the items to my liking, but here is what it told me in all its glory:

Equipment Listing
Vehicle Description 2002 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LAREDO 4X4 SPORT UTILITY 4-DR

Attached a parts list for the 2002 WJ so I can find it later.

Reference Information & WJ Suppliers

Thought it might be nice to have a post where I can catalog any reference materials I find or that helpful forum members may post.

Reference Information

1. 2002 Jeep WJ Service Manual
2. 2002 Jeep WJ Parts List
3. Mopar Connectors Pinouts, wire colors, circuit functions for "all" the connectors on your Jeep.
4. WJJEEPS (wayback) Every WJ owner should know about this place.
5. Jeep Forum FAQ Some of the links are aging, but this is a seriously good resource.
6. Jeep Forum Suspension Too much good stuff. The Jeep Forum is the place to be.
7. Blue Sea: Sizing DC Wire and Fuses FUSES PROTECT THE WIRE, not the appliance. This one describes how to choose wire size to run the appliance, and fuse size to protect the wire.

It can sometimes be difficult to find suppliers that have products for WJs, so I decided to make a list here. I have bought and installed components from most of these guys, but a few of them are here because I may need them in the future. I would not call these endorsements, but I am mostly happy with what I include here.

Suppliers

1. Summit Not a WJ specialist, but a great supplier if you know what you need. A favorite of mine.
2. Iron Rock Offroad Lots of WJ support for mods: suspension (lifts), driveline, exhaust, armor, bumpers, brake lines, lights, ...
3. Quadratec Another good WJ provider, wide variety of more stock options.
4. Ironman 4x4 Fabrication Limited WJ selection, suspension and steering. The products are well built, Andy is a helpful guy.
5. Core 4x4 Control arms. A busy shop ... very helpful when they remember that you want to order parts from them. They will do custom colors if that's your thing.
6. Kevin's Offroad Suspension, steering, bumpers ... offroad stuff. Track bar bushings are popular for anti-DW.
7. JKS Offroad Control arms, track bars, sway bar disconnects, minimal WJ stuff.
8. Trail Forged Control arms, track bars, DIY bumpers.
9. Clayton Offroad Premium suspensions, also stainless brake hoses.
10. Addco Anti-sway bars
11. Mechman High capacity alternators ... should upgrade your factory 6awg power/ground cables to 0awg, because these things can deliver.
12. Jeep Cables Power/ground cable kits, 0awg or 2awg. Complete kits to replace the "Big 7" important bits of the power system. Made of flexible welding cable.
13. Powerwerx Design your own cables and these guys will build it for you. Slick, quick, quality, and good price.
14. Injector Repair Call Jim for new EV6 electrical connectors (I used the white face style)
15. Cascade Transmissions Get a solenoid pack for your 545RFE
16. SPC Performance Camber correction shims! Wow these are cool if you want to fix your camber.
17. Notch Customs Fiberglass fender flares.
18. Bushwacker Plastic fender flares.
19. Denny's Driveshaft Rebuild your double cardan with this kit.
20. Tom Woods Driveshafts Driveshafts.
21. Two Men One Garage Power seat adjustment gears.

A separate list for bumpers, because I am still shopping for them and why not.
Bumpers

1. HK Offroad Front: hidden winch. Rear: liftgate tire carrier.
2. ARB USA Front winch bumper. Only "Deluxe" model available.
3. Hanson Offroad Get a front winch bumper and a rear tire carrier bumper.
4. Goliath "Swamper" bumpers, front winch and rear tire carrier.
5. Blue Lake Offroad Rear: DUAL SWING ARMS, jerry can mounts, license plate bracket w/light, very nice and very expensive. Bad reputation ... seems these guys have operated under multiple names and failed every time.
6. Rock Hard 4x4 Rear: jerry can mounts, license plate bracket. Front: bolt-on winch plate
7. Iron Rock Offroad Front: IRO's winch bumper requires DIY welding.
8. Trail Forged Front: Minimal bumper with very high clearance and a winch plate.
9. Trail Ready Front winch bumper and rear bumper no tire carrier.
10. Rigid Armor Hitch mounted rear tire carrier.
11. DIY Offroad Front: Weld it all yourself.
12. Flatland 4x4 Drawings only. Get your DIY on and fab it all yourself.

Happy Jeeping

Stereo System Upgrade, 2002 WJ

Back in 2006 I did a complete stereo replacement. I actually tried a few different configurations, but this was the last one. Still running the system today, although I did replace the tweets in the dash a year or so ago when the driver side quit on me. Thought I would share it with you.

PARTS LIST
Head unit replacement. Ran all new RCA patch cables. All wire patches were soldered and protected with heat shrink tubing. Wire loom where necessary to reduce clutter. Here she is with her brains exposed:

And with her new Alpine CDA-9833 brains:


All four speaker locations got a new set of Infinity Perfect 6.1 components. Dash tweeters were replaced with the new components, rear tweeters were installed in the C-pillars. Probably sucks if you are riding back there, but that's not where I ride
Factory tweets vs. Infinity replacements

Simple installation brackets I made, they don't have to be fancy

Here they are at home

C-pillar tweeters


At the time, I had already replaced the factory fronts with 3-way JBL 6x9:

Comparing the JBL with the Infinty:

Replacing with the Infinitys requires an adapter plate:

Here they are all put to bed:


Put all the crossovers under the rear seats, nice that there is room for them there


Replaced the disc changer and installed a speaker cup for the removable subwoofer box



Installed all the amps in the spare tire enclosure. Fans are triggered by a temperature sensor; when the temp exceeds 90, the fans come on. The subwoofer amp (Rockford Fosgate Power 501bd) is 2-ohm stable and the two subs are wired in parallel. When I take out the sub in the box, the load on the amp is 4-ohm. When I run both of them, the load is 2-ohm. The other two amps are Fosgate Power 451S; each runs a pair of Infinity Perfect 6.1 components. I later disconnected the Lightning Audio capacitors because I thought they were more of a drain than they were worth.

REAR SWAY BAR UPGRADE

Friday afternoon was Addco sway bar upgrade day. Added the Energy suspension greasable bushings. Also replaced the links with new Moogs since they were inexpensive. Easy enough job, even for a slow hobbyist like me.

Edit: I installed the 684 bar which is 1-inch diameter. Road manners are fantastic, but it is VERY stiff and maybe not the best choice if you like to ride trails and want a more multi-purpose vehicle. If I did it again, I would try the smaller 634 version which is 7/8-inch diameter, sacrificing some asphalt cornering ability in favor of more trail flexibility but I do not know how that would affect towing stability :dunno:. (Addco K1-634-0U-538 & Energy 9.5158R)

PARTS LIST

Addco 684 1" sway bar (Addco K1-684-00-539)
Energy Suspension 9.5161R 1" greasable sway bar bushings (Amazon)
Moog K3202 stabilizer bar link (2) (Rock Auto)​

Side-by-side comparison of the stock bar versus the Addco bar.


Left side, post-install


underneath


right side


The difference in ride quality was immediately obvious, even with my sloppy, worn-out upper control arm still in place. Next up: R&R the upper control arm.

Rear Upper Control Arm Refurb, 2002 WJ

How long does it take to remove a WJ upper control arm and replace the bushings and ball joint? Should not take long, right? Well it took me all day Saturday and Sunday. Word of advice when you decide to do this: do not bother with getting a Miller 8278 ball joint removal tool, just go right for the ball joint mounting bolts. And eat your can of spinach for breakfast.

PARTS LIST
First, I did my homework by watching this guy's video: . Really good tip on how to align the UCA with the ball joint: use a bottle jack to prop up the pinion side of the axle housing, and drop/raise the jack holding up the axle until you get the angle just right to drop the UCA right over the stud without binding. I would have been screaming if I did not already know this.

Here is the bushing on the left (driver) side with the suspension under load, before I started. Does it look like the bushing is where it is supposed to be? It looks to me like it has pulled out a little. This bushing was not really concerning me, but wondered what you guys thought.


After removing the nut from the ball joint, I installed my fancy Miller 8278 that I scored for $40 off eBay. Oh boy, this is going to be a breeze with this tool!


Well, maybe not. Things were getting really tight in there. Wrenching that thing tighter does not seem to be doing any good. I was starting to worry that something was about to break. FSM states that it "MAY" be necessary to hit the UCA with a hammer to dislodge the ball joint. It states this in big bold letters. So I hit it several times with a 3-pound sledge. Nothing happened. So I put a few more turns on the Miller and heard a crackling sound. Took a peek ... that can't be good.


Nope, not good. Anybody want a cheap Miller 8278? Glad I did not buy it new.


Plan B: remove the ball joint bolts. This was an extreme bear. Bring a long cheater bar and a lot of perseverance. When that last bolt breaks loose, it's a wonderful feeling. Followed the steps in the linked video above, it was not too bad. Here you can see the broken boot on my ball joint, after I removed the UCA.


New Mopar ball joint. That is how it was advertised on Amazon anyway. I expected it to be a lot stiffer, but I could move it fairly easily. Oh well, it was definitely in better shape than the one I removed.


Right side bushing. This was the one I was worried about. It was trashed, as expected.


Left side bushing was ok.


Replaced both bushings using a shop press and ball joint removal kit. Here's the UCA cleaned up and ready for reinstall.


No pics, post-install. It took me hours and hours to do this and got tired of taking pictures. Put everything back together and dropped it on the ground to load the suspension, then did final torque. The good news: the suspension feels better than it has in years! The bad news: the creaking and clunking has not gone away completely. I suspect the right upper spring isolator.

blueseasons1 said:

WOW! I am impressed. I have never met anybody who bought a WJ brand new and kept it for so long. I have a million questions. With all the stories about sludge buildup, dropped seats and bad rockers.How is the V8 holding up? Do you still have the original heater core and evap cooler? Any blend door issues? Leaks on the passenger side? These are all the things we read about here and really hard to put in perspective since very, very few of us have owned them from the beginning. You are in a unique position. Oh. And whats with the pile or rocks? Beautiful country.

Click to expand...

Hey now, don't put a jinx on me. :wink2: I actually know nothing about those issues (sludge, rockers, seats) and hope I never do. I have always run Mobil 1 and change it religiously. Motor still purrs like a kitten and has plenty of power. However, it is seeping oil from the valve covers so is due for a gasket replacement, which I tried to do once already but stalled when the injector connector tabs started breaking on me. That job is on hold until the replacement connectors get here. Once I get the covers off, I will be able to report on the state of the innards. Honestly, I am curious to see what is under there myself. I hope I don't find any sludge!

Heater core and evap cooler are original. No interior leaks and I hope it stays that way. I did have intermittent A/C issues with the thing for years and did not know what the problem was until I tried changing out the climate control panel. I noticed that sometimes if I beat on the knobs out of frustration (emergency repair procedure #1) that sometimes the A/C would start working. Changing the panel has fixed the problem ... except now I have mixed interior finishes with a faux-wood center panel from a Limited and my original silver Laredo dash trim. Oh well.

Blend door has started making a banging sound recently when I pump the heat all the way to hot. I figure a piece of foam has disintegrated in there due to age. Other than that, no problems.

That pile of rocks was somebody's idea of a fire ring. That beach was far, far away from the beaten path and errant flames in that forest are a very bad idea, so somebody built that to keep their flames contained. Probably better to just avoid fire, really. I had a sandwich

I had to look close. At first, I thought it was a pile of firewood. I have a 2000 and I really like it. I have no idea about any of the PO's so I inherited a lot of uncertainty and problems. I don't recall what I was thinking back when WJ's were new other than I couldn't afford a new car at all. I see you're in Santa Maria. I am up the coast a bit in Santa Cruz. Welcome to the Forum. Its a great place for information and encouragement when you need it and at times a little paranoia. It looks to me like you have great skills and a lot of experience to share. I see a lot of the V8's on the road up here which gives me hope that not all of them are prone to dropping valve seats, which for me would be a deal breaker. Did yours come with Teves calipers? If so, are they still working or did you swap them out for Akebono?

gsmanich said:

Yesterday the Miller Tool 8278 arrived in the mail so I can more easily remove my rear upper ball joint. Picked it up for $40 from eBay. I'll take that, TYVM.

Very much considering the IRO adjustable upper control arm: https://www.ironrockoffroad.com/product/wj-adjustable-a-arm-short.html

If I install the 3" lift, can I run OEM LCAs or do I need to replace them? Think I will contact IRO and find out.

Click to expand...

100% stock control arms here with the OME HD lift (3+). When you're ready to pull the trigger on the lift, be sure to talk to @Kolak. He's an IRO dealer, but will help you figure out the best way to go. OME HD springs are stiffer and may be the way to go if you have bumper dreams in your future.

I'm debating the IRO UCA... my bushings are getting pretty worn. Not as bad as yours, but close. It doesn't look like a fun job either way, but neither did an engine swap, and I got through that just fine.

blueseasons1 said:

WOW! I am impressed. I have never met anybody who bought a WJ brand new and kept it for so long. I have a million questions. With all the stories about sludge buildup, dropped seats and bad rockers.How is the V8 holding up? Do you still have the original heater core and evap cooler? Any blend door issues? Leaks on the passenger side? These are all the things we read about here and really hard to put in perspective since very, very few of us have owned them from the beginning. You are in a unique position. Oh. And whats with the pile or rocks? Beautiful country.

Click to expand...

I bought mine in November '02. Not quite as loaded as this one, but pretty close. I didn't get the vari-lok axles or premium electronics. It's funny though, I put the same head unit, bypassed the infinity amp for the stock speakers, and added a 2nd amp to drive a pair of 10's.

There aren't many of us original owners around, but there are a few of us.

Rear Lower Control Arm Replacement, 2002 WJ

Last weekend I replaced the rear LCAs. I bought a pair of new Mopar LCAs with bushings from Rock Auto, just to make it easy on myself. Four nuts/bolts, easy-peasy, what could go wrong?

Edit: added a video!

PARTS LIST
So step 1 is to jack it up and support, basic. Step 2, remove wheels, easy. Step 3, support rear axle, no problem. Step 4, remove bolts from axle side of LCA. Problem! I don't know if the guys on the assembly line were having a bad day when they built my WJ, or if this is the way they are supposed to be built. I kind of suspect the former. But they put the nut on the inboard side of the LCA, so the bolt has to be removed by pulling it outboard, toward the wheel. The problem here is that there is a splash shield to keep debris out of the brakes, and there was not enough room to remove the bolt:


Notice that there is ZERO clearance here. The splash shield is held on how exactly? Looks like rivets. I had to remove the brake calipers and rotors, then bend the thin splash shield out of the way to get the bolt out. I hate to molest the components this way. Bent the shields back and reassembled the brakes.

When the old LCA came out, the axle immediately shifted backward so that the new LCA bushing did not line up with the mounts. I used a ratcheting strap to pull the axle back where it was supposed to be, and a bottle jack to help line things up. When replacing the axle mount bolt, I reversed the direction so that the nut was between the splash shield and the mount, I don't want to have to deal with that junk again.

Put the wheels back on and dropped it to the ground and torqued everything down. While under there, I went back to the UCA and retorqued the bolts. Interesting that after a week of driving around, they were no longer torqued to spec. Probably had to put half a turn total onto each side, I was surprised.

Also changed the oil & filter, Mobile 1 10W-30 and Fram XG16.

Next up: Valve cover gaskets, fuel injector electrical connectors.

Fuel Injector Electrical Connector Replacement, 2002 4.7L WJ

PARTS LIST

TOOLS LIST
A while back, I noticed the valve cover gaskets were seeping oil onto the exhaust manifold. Not really an ideal situation, and I hate oil leaks. So I went to the local O'reillys and picked up a gasket kit. Read up on the procedure in the FSM ... oh lovely, I have to move the electrical harness, which means disconnecting all the fuel injectors and ignition coils. Here is what one looked like after 175k miles, and before being touched by me:


Per the service manual, pull back on the red tab to unlock the safety, then push on the black tab to disengage from the injector. Attempting this, the red tab immediately broke into pieces, and the black tab snapped off.


I decided these connectors will need to be replaced, probably all of them, so I ordered a set of 8 (+2 extra) from Jim at http://injectorrepair.com/fuel-injector-connectors/. The WJ uses the EV6 type. After speaking with Jim on the phone (which he answered on the first try, sweet), he told me he had a set of white face connectors with red locking tabs (not shown on the website), very similar to the factory style ... but NOT identical. He assured me any type of EV6 connector would work, but would probably have to replace the terminals.

The replacements arrived and I took a run at replacing the broken connector last weekend. Comparing the new to the factory terminal:


To remove the old connector, carefully pop the orange face off with a screwdriver:



Remove the rubber seal from the back side of the connector (the black plastic part just popped/broke right out/off to reveal the seal) (Edit: it turns out you don't strictly need to remove this seal; after disengaging the internal tabs, carefully and firmly pull on the wires and the terminals will slide through the seal and out the back of the clip):


There are a pair of black locking tabs inside the connector that hold the terminals in place. Poke a probe in there to disengage the tab and remove the terminals:



Sadly, the gold terminals did NOT fit inside the new connectors. This means replacing the terminals. Here is what Jim sent me: a pair of terminals and seals for each connector:


Installing the new terminals means cutting off the factory terminals. I found there was enough slack in the harness to get this done.


And the finished product:


After reassembling, I am happy to report that the procedure was a complete success! She still purrs like a kitten. Rock. Now to replace the other 7. Then I can replace the valve cover gasket.

Left Side Valve Cover Gasket Replacement, 2002 4.7L WJ

This is what I got to do this weekend, just one side. Man, sometimes I feel slow.

PARTS LIST

TOOLS LIST
After replacing all 4 injector connectors on the left bank, I could finally get to the task at hand: replacing the valve cover gasket. Inspection prior to replacement: definite evidence of oil seepage.


Using a varied combination of extensions, sockets, deep sockets, and wobbly joints, it is possible to remove all the valve cover bolts. Now for the big reveal. After 175k miles running Mobil 1 synthetic, what do we see underneath? Answer: a beautiful valve train, that's what.


Removed the old gasket and old grommets (the grommets were a major pain, by the way), replaced with the new gaskets and grommets. Tacked the gasket in the channel with a few dabs of silicone here and there. Put everything back and torqued to spec 105 in-lbs. Tested it out, everything is nicely sealed.


Edit (2018/04/01): added some paint!


Not looking forward to the right side, since there are heater hoses and a bunch more stuff in the way. But it will be the next item to tackle.

It has been raining (badly needed) so I can't move the garage queen out to make room for WJ upgrades. Instead I have been reading the FSM, scouring this forum, watching videos, studying how to perform the front end suspension rebuild. In the meantime, parts have been arriving:

Moog tie rods & ends, Spicer ball joints. Control arms en route.

Never having done ball joints myself, I did not have a press, so I went to Harbor Freight to pick up a kit yesterday. Toying with the kit, I was having a hard time figuring out how this press was going to work with the WJ. My conclusion was that it was not going to work very well. Several forum posts that I read today backed that up, even saying that the HF press will bend because it is junk. What is worse is that installing the upper requires a receiver with an angled face to ensure it goes straight in, and the HF kit certainly does not have that. If you put in a ball joint slightly crooked, it will probably get damaged, and wind up being loose, sloppy, and dangerous. Then I finally found this post on page 5 or 6 of my search results:
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f310/ball-joint-replacement-1462599/#post14855003

So a big THANK YOU to texlurch for clearly listing the tools I need for this job:
OTC 7249 ball joint kit
OTC 7894 Jeep adapters

Ordered these tools from Amazon for just under $200 (ouch) and the HF kit ($113) is going back today. Better to have the right tools to do the job correctly than the wrong tools and have to do the job again. I read several discussions on this forum about redoing ball joint jobs several times before getting it right; I would rather not have to do it again!

There are also some good tips in this write-up from Stu's Offroad: http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/balljoint/balljoint-1.htm

And thanks again to all the Jeep Forum users who have posted their war stories, writing down your experiences has helped arm me with the info I need to tackle these jobs!