Hello all!

Well, I just rolled my 98 cherokee limited awd/4wd/2wd baby I had 15 years. My father got it new in 98 before me.
She had 350k miles and still ran purfect including the select track tranny.

THIS is kinda long so If you want, just skip down to the end to read the purpose of this post:

To try and make a long story short, she was in perfect condition until I lost my license for 18 months and my mom parked it behind her garage directing next to a creek that runs down the mountain side.
Stupid me , I didn't think it would harm anything in that amount of time.

So when it was time to be back on the road, it needed inspection.
I can't even describe how upset I was when I was told about the rust, rot, holes... My rear wiper and motor rusted out completely. The creek was directing behind so the back hatch wouldn't open, a rusty hole started under gas tank door. and yes...under door well and damn rocker panels. Brake lines...ok you get it.

So I tried to repair her myself but only made it 10000x worse. I suck at painting cus I have no patience.

this Jeep was a family member to me so when I was running late for a doc appointment and took a short cut in unplowed snow, suddenly Im hanging upside-down .

I cried for 24 hours straight starting when the ******* towtruck dtiver scrapped her upside-down on flat bed to his shop
Needless to say the insurance tottaled it.
Now Im watching her on being appetized online in scranton PA for scrap.
Waiting on people to bid tears my heart out when I remember putting son in the back car seat taking him to kindergarten.
He is now 16 and is also upset.

Now for the good news.

It was a blessing in disguise.
The day after the accident. I was on phone with my mom saying, at least I got mony saved that was for the restoration of my old jeep, could be used twords another jeep. The only one I wanted was the same kind I had . I loved the AWD option and there extremely hard to find
I was saying I should get a cheap car in meantime till I find another cherokee.

So , After I hung up, I decided to just check on the prices on what there going for these days. the insurance gave me a wopping $4600 . I was in shock lol.

Ok now for the main blessing, I first looked on griegs list and I almost immediately found a 96 going for 5k and is a 5 speed manual 4 d 4x4 6cyd.
Look at the screen shot of the ad.

I figured it was already gone but still threw a quick email to the seller to call me.
5 min later, he called!
I ran out the ,door still in my bedclothes to get a rental and drive 2 hours at 80 mph from PA to NJ
I already knew She was mine bringing with me 1k cash down payment.

Now finally the main purpose of my post lol.

I just got her home 2 says ago and its sureal to me that this jeep is in such good condition. The original paint is almost purfect . The Rocker panels and door wells, no rust.

Ok, So .Im not EVER doning to this jeep what I messed up on mine.

So, next week the weather is going from 2 degrees to 60 and im taking advantage.

I could use allot of different advice on maintaining and preventing any future rust and repairing any existing rust starting with the undercarriage and frame. I did some research on this and purchases some stuff like fluid film and wd40 to spray in door wells and just about everything underneath.
the black steal bumpers are faded with tiny surface rust so I will tackle that but Im going to do it right this time.

So thats why Im posting here for advice and would like to here from who fixed up and maintained the original oem parts etc.
So, Ill post more pictures next week when it gets warm. I haven't looked much underneath, to damn cold and windy lol.
Im sure there shouldn't be any major rust or rot.

Im single, disabled and raising my son on my own since his fathet took off to some other country to avoid child support so i don't really go anywhere but lack of money atm is just non existence.

So look at my pictures guys now and I'll post More Pictures of my new family member.

ps.
How rare is this jeep. I know these day's it is hard to find ANY Vehicle, new and old with a manual tranny. ESPECIALLY WITH A WORKING CIGG LIGHTER for yours truly 34 year habbit!

Justine;-)



My poor baby!!!

HUH? wtf!

How many people seen this before?

This is the scrap yard posting this online for bidding. I can't look, my tears are all dried up

She still runs and is drivable. Can someone quick bid on it for me and ill pay yoi back. I should of kept her.

This is what I lost

I thank you for your Never letting me down, keeping my family safe and reliably secure travels for over 2 decades! I will forever be grateful. Ill miss you always ❤💔😪😔

My new member of the family!

 

Gosh, feel for you. I have owned mine for 20 years. Dont know how I'd feel if something like this happened.

 

My condolences. Congratulations on scoring one with a manual transmission 👍

 

On that road, I suspect the driver wouldn't have been able to roll it back over. Nice score on the replacement though. The biggest thing on the manual is using the correct transmission fluid! Redline MTL or MTL90 transmission fluid, or Penzoil synchromesh. Off the shelf GL-rated gear oil is not friendly to the yellow brass synchros in the AX15 manual.

 

96 5spd with no rust... very nice!

Sorry to hear about your original XJ... that's so sad...

MT90 Redline transmission fluid runs beautifully in my 95. The fluid film does seem to be keeping the rust at bay on my frame and other parts as well. So I second both those suggestions... especially where they like to throw a lot of salt on the roads in the wintertime... they do here in MA, so I'm guessing PA is just as bad with that.