I looked around, but the only thing i can find about 97s having electrical issues is concerning grand cherokees. Is there anything particular that would make the 97 obsolete because of these problems you mentioned? It would make sense, given it was the first model of the re-design....but it's the 4.0, what could they have messed up? Or are you talking about accessory electrical issues...?

Nah man, go with the 97 it'll be fiiiine. There are reports of people having issues with electrics because of the switch to OBDII. Don't let that stop you from buying it.

Just be excited about your new rig, the fact that someone else ate most of the cost on parts and labor, AND you found a 97+ with a 5 speed. They are only getting harder to find

aftermarket items do not increase the price of a vehicle, While those parts might be worth a ton of $ a Cherokee is only worth so much...
I'd rather have one like this and build it my way: http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3372688032.html

I agree, you can basically never sell a vehicle for what you have put into it. I did like you're saying, went out and bought a clean bone stock Xj and built it from the ground up. There is a lot of pride in that, but also a lot of $$$$$$$. If you went and paid 2000 for that Xj you would have 4k in it before you got done with lift wheels and tires, that is if you were going as big as the op is looking at.

If I could do it again, I would have bought an already built rig that someone dumped 2-3x the money in it that it could be sold for, even if it had a few bugs that needed worked out. Just from the sheer financial standpoint. But then again, when I started, I thought I would always be happy with 3.5" on 31's with open diffs and stick gears! LOL!!!!!

so i went to look at it......POS. This guy was pretty shady. Before i went there i texted him and asked if it had the "4.0, AW4, and NP231" before i knew it was a 5 speed. He said "Yes 4.0, AW4 5-speed, and don't know about the NP231". When i told him the AW4 is an auto, he said "oh, my black jeep had an auto, this is a 5 speed". Ok....what the?

Ok well, i took $4k with me because i knew it wouldn't be work $5k. As soon as we pulled up, he came out with a Swisher Sweet and a Budweiser. The front diff looked a little small and he said "oh, that front axle is a Dana 30...my black Jeep had the Dana 44 up front". First of all, nobody cares what his black jeep had. Also, It had some type of long arm lift, but it had 3" spacers on the front. He also specifically said "it has a slip yoke eliminator". i wanted to say, "IT BETTER!"

All in all, this was a '97 XJ with some type of big lift with spacers, a D30 up front, and 35's. He claimed to have 'built' the thing, but couldn't really answer any of the questions i had. He had a yellow sticky note with some things on it and looked at it a few times to try and answer my questions.

Im SO glad i didn't buy it. He told me he had several people looking to scrape up the money to get it. I told him i had the money he was asking, but wouldn't pay him that much anyway. I told him i brought $4k and he acted like it was a ****ty offer. Now that it's over, im glad i didn't even give him that much.

Thanks for the input, guys.

Wow. I do not understand how/why people flat out lie like that. I guess that's why you never commit to buying something till you can put your hands on it!

And he's also lying about the gears then because the deepest you can put in a d30 is 4.88. So who knows, probably stock gears and open diffs!