my sister's 98 xj was involved in a hit and run while it was parked destroying a couple body parts. it is going to need a need passenger fender, front bumper, and front clip, also passenger headlight and headlight trim. i can get a 95' xj as a donor for the body parts. i know there are some visual differences when the changed up the front end in 97'

what i need to know is if the body panels will mount up the same way. for an example do the fenders and the front clip mount up the same way as the older styles do. i know the bumper mounts the same way, but i need some feedback on the fender and front clip.

any feedback is appreciated as i would like to know before i get the other jeep for parts

 

Should all go right on seach for a thread about it well vise vers in years.

 

i looked around on google a little bit with no real answers. everything i find points to them being different which is why i'm not sure now. and the search function on here didn't really yield any results. at this point i'm just looking for somebody that knows the answer to this.

i mean all my common sense tells me that they will bolt right up, but its my dad and my sister who are buying the donor jeep and they don't believe me go figure.

 

bump, if somebody can give me a definitive yes or no on this that would be awesome. it would help me decide what i'm going to do here as far as fixing it goes

 

I'm not 100% but I think the fenders will bolt up BUT the 97+ fenders don't go down as far on the front because of the bumper. I think this is why you have to "fold" your 96 and older fenders on the front to run a 97+ style front bumpers.

 

thank u! i'm hoping you are right, i understand the differences you stated i hope those are the only differences.

 

yes, the fender is longer on the 95, but that piece can just be cut off, or cut and folded.
but the wiring is a little bit different when you go to wire up the signal/marker lights.
the newer one is set up for 2 lights where the older one is only a 1 light setup.
might not make any difference going from the newer to older. you might get away with just plugging in the one bulb and leave the other in the pigtail taped up.

but why go with the older parts jeep, you will run into the same problem with every part you want to swap out.

i would just hit up a junkyard and grab the front clip and fender off a 97+ for about 100 bux.

 

thanks man i appreciate it, i'm actually wrenching on it on now i've got the fender and the front clip off, it looks like it bolts up the way it does on mine so i think i'm in good shape. i'm gonna go older just because thats what we have as a donor, its a 95' 2 door from cali with under 100k miles its been at my friends house for years now. i'm splitting it with my sister, $150 each because i want the tranny and stuff, so i figured might as well use the body panels to fix hers. JYs around here said about $75 bucks for each body part and she needs 3 things plus all of the headlight goodies, so figure its cheaper to go my way, we'll see lol.