I bought my 1998 Cherokee new and it's been a great automobile. She has spent about 60% of her life in Dallas, Tx (city car) and 40% in Colorado (wash board dirt roads and mountain trails). Although I could go get a new car I have sentimental feelings for my XJ and was thinking about fixing her up instead of seeing her deteriorate and be sold for cheap.

Here is an overview about my rig:
Manufacture: Jeep (duh)
Model: Cherokee Sport 4WD
Year: 1998
Mileage: 109,000

When I first bought the car I had 4Wheel Parts install a 3" Rancho Lift, Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks, and install various items from Tomken inlcuding front/rear bumbers and a transfer case lowering kit. I used to run 31" BFG mud Terrains but my latest tires are Bridgestone 31" All Terrains.

I don't off road while here in Texas other then the occasional drive to my friends ranches when we go hunting. For the most part it's a city car here. I love Colorado and used to live there and this Cherokee was exceptional in the rough logging roads in the high country.

So what I am trying to decide if I keep this Cherokee what system should I look at fixing up and in what order? Keep in mind I am technically skilled to DIY these projects but short on tools and time at this point in my life. So I would need to have all the work done at a shop.

Here are the main groups of upgrades I was thinking about making:

Exterior Maintenance (keeping it looking good):
Take her to a body shop and have them removal all the trim. Wash and clean off the exterior and touch up paint any needed areas. It's white, is that an easy color to match on a 10 year old Cherokee?

Next I would have them take off the tires and clean out the wheel wells and touch up the paint as needed here. My goal is for the car to be as clean as possible and then touch things up before polishing, waxing, etc. This would include trying to clean the old suspension components (Rancho Shocks and Spring).

I also thought this would be a good time to look for anything that might show signs of rusting and paint it with some POR15 (link) which bonds to metal that is corroding. I could do this on all the undercarrige to try and protect it as much from getting worse in the next 5 years.

This would leave me with a nice clean vehicle to polish & wax. Then I would have the trim put back on and replace any of the side moulding/fenders that have that white faded look (so all the black exterior trim looked nice and new).

That is Option #1 and I think I can have the above done for under $400.

Interior Fixes:
Next is installing new Carpet. the current carpet is not that bad for 10.5 years old but it's still 10.5 years old. I figure putting in new carpet is pretty easy and would help give it a new feel really quickly. Along with some new floor mats and it would bring a lot of freshness.

Since my 1998 XJ is very loud, I could take this time to put in some sound dampening materials on the floor under the carpet and also up under the pedals and towards the dash to help reduce interior noise. If I do this, I will want to put it through out the car and sort of have to pull up the carpets and remove the door panels for this.

Lastly, I need a new steering wheel as the leather on my old one has given out. Even though these wheels are ridiculously expensive, I think this will be a big help in making the car feel new as it's the place my hand touches all the time when I am driving.

Total Cost of new Carpet, sound proofing, and new steering wheel: $800-900.

Engine Enhancements:
I have always wanted to beef up my 4.0L with a Stage 2 JET chip, better headers, better exhaust, etc. Cost = $1,000 + install

Benefits would be better gas mileage and more power (sound cool too)

Shocks and Suspension:
So my Jeep has 108,000 miles and she's not nearly sitting as beffy as she did when she first got her 3" lift a long time ago. do cars sag with age?

I was thinking that is I do some of the above, I will probably want to keep doing projects here and there over the next 18 months. One project would be to put in new poly bushings, new shocks and restore the suspension system. I don't want the ride as stiff as when I first bought her because of the amount of city driving (softer shocks would be fine).

How long does all the suspension stuff last and how do I know when it needs to be replaced?

If you were going to start a plan to have 3-4 projects like the ones listed above which group would you do and in what order?

Any other suggestions on ideas on other things I should consider doing so I can enjoy this vehicle for another 10 years?

FYI - I know Nathan and Jon the owners as well as Deverhart (the Founder of this site). I happen to own WranglerForum.com which I bought from Deverhart about a year ago.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to being part of the community here.
I can't decide what to do. I really want to keep my XJ since I have soooo many good memories but don't want her to become a money pit either.

 

sounds like you got it covered pretty good the only thing is maby paint the inside floor with that rust paint before you do the sound proofing just to prevent the rust, also if the carpet isnt bad then you could take it out scrub it down relly good and let it dry out in the sun, i dont know much about suspension or motors to help you out there
good luck