Well best to start at the beginning.
First some quick details:
- 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport
- AW4 Trans
- NP 231J Trans Case
- Dana 30 Diff Front
- Chrysler 8.25 Diff Back
- 4.0 L In 6
I bought the Jeep in NC on January 2024. She barely had any rust except for some minor surface, nothing unusual. The previous owner was a teenager and his parents told the kid to either sell it or pay out of his own pocket. Pretty much the equivalent of getting a dog but the parents being the only ones to walk it type of situation.
The teen had bought it from some guy who had already put on a rough country 4.5” lift a light bar and a winch. At first sight, it really didn’t look like she was ever actually driven off-road. No mud, no scuffs, no crazy rust, and winch was never connected. I’m thinking that the upgrades were mostly for show. The parents also confirmed that the teen never went off-roading either, was mostly an gamer kid.
Took her out for a test drive and she ran pretty solid. The parents had all the receipts from the auto shops that did their maintenance and repairs. On my initial inspection here’s what I found:
- Slow oil leak was coming from somewhere on the top of the engine
- Oil and trans fluid looked good
- The A/C blower motor worked, heat worked, but no cold air
- Body damage in the passenger rear panel near the fender
- No dash codes
- No death wobble, steering was smooth
- Undercarriage had minimal surface rust
- Light ticking engine noise, idle only (maybe exhaust or push rods)
- Easily went up to 85Mph with no crazy engine noises or struggle
- 4×4 Hi worked, 4×4 Low did not engage
- Current mileage 216K
It wasn’t perfect, but I mean it was a 24 year old car, none of this seemed bad enough to deter me. If you’re wondering how I even knew what to check or look for, well shout to my buddy D for patiently listening to my million questions, ramblings, and for coming with me to look at all those Jeeps. Also thank god for ChrisFix.
So the asking price? $6K. Did I accept? Yes. Did I clearly overpay at the time? Most likely. But it was worth it. The other Marketplace options I looked at were either very rusty, beat up, or the sellers were sketch.
The plans: Re-Build the Jeep while keeping all salvageable parts original and make it a combo between a daily driver and off-road rig while I live in NC. Rust proof as much possible and add some modern car upgrades like Carplay and a backup camera.
This is the start of my Jeep project diary. Feel free to comment on any my posts. I’ll try to put as much info on my process and the resources I used, hopefully it might help someone out. Oh and since I technically already started working on the Jeep two years ago, the first couple of posts are going to be what I have already done and documented.
Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert of any kind on automotive/Jeep anything, so for you veterans out there, feel free to correct me. I am just a hyped newbie learning along the way.