After we got my yellow one going we felt like we need another project, so we picked up this 97. The guy wanted $2000 for it but was willing to trade for an ATV. We traded him our 2005 Yamaha Raptor 350 for it.
The guy told us it has a rough country 5.5" lift and then a 2" spacer up front and a 2" shackle in the back. Had no spark or fuel and the PO replaced the cps and still nothing so we tried an ecu from a junk yard and it fired right up. Took it for a drive down the road and the shift light was coming on but it's automatic. Took back that ecu and sent out the original one to be fixed for $125, not too bad because the junk yard one was $100. We had to replace the radiator and some hoses because the T case drop made the fan hit it at one point. Only have a little less then $600 in it so far. We're going to try and keep this one as cheap as we can.

on the trailer



Home.





Cleaned the glue off the sides



Interior. Getting pulled out cleaned and bed lined.









Found a crack in the floor, Welded it shut and put sealer on it.



Headliner sags




For some reason the PO screwed the factory flares on. Started patching the holes and got the back done.





Fixed some rust, bed lined it but no pics yet.




Cleaned the front diff, painted it, and changed fluid




Scary T case drop. Put it up right and got an Iron Rock Off Road sye, no sye pics yet




Only had a straight pipe, put a thrush turbo on it for now. No pics with thrush.



Got all the Interior out and I'm going to start painting the floor tonight.

 

Nice! Love the red jeep. Keep us updated

 

Nice project. Its amazing what some people view as safe. (refering to TC drop).

 

Yeah, I couldn't believe the T case drop when first I saw it.

 

Got the first coat of bed liner on the floor



Heres the rust bed lined with 3 coats and a shot of the back. We bed lined the bumper and that piece above the license plate




We used the flares off the black jeep, bed lined them and got them on. And I forgot to mention that we also swapped in tinted windows from the black parts Cherokee last weekend.






I got the center console cleaned up. used simple green
Before


After

 

Haven't done a lot, but we got the floor done, painted the bumper, got the front flares on, and put some stickers on the windows.
Found some lights and put a set on the front bumper, but we still have to run the wire.




Should have the inside done besides the headliner next week, and then we can finally drive it again.

 

Got everything back in besides the headliner finally and got the lights wired.
Picked up some 32's from my neighbor for $300. They're Dunlop mud rovers. We wanted bigger tires but 33's rub in the back of the fender flare when you turn, so we're gonna run these until we get a control arm drop, long arms, or we decide to trim the fenders. Looks better then the small tires though.




joke picture next to my moms car



on the Jeep, they weren't aired up all the way yet. Rose up almost another inch

 

Took it down the road for the first time with the new tires. can't wait to take this thing out in the dirt.







Next to my Yellow one and the black parts Jeep

 

Got it insured and licensed, then after driving it with the new tires it shook terribly at 40-45, so we got the tires balanced. Then we noticed the control arms had a lot of play in the bushings, so it has all new bushings in it now and we ordered a new adjustable track bar from Iron Rock Off Road so we get the axle centered. With the stock one it was almost 3" to the driver's side.
In the pic the axle still had to come over almost another 2".



While we did the bushings, we also moved the axle forward so the tires won't rub when we turn.



We also got the headliner and all the interior done. Inside finally looks like a normal Jeep again.
And I wish I could change the thread title because we can't really call it cheap anymore, have a little than $1,000 in it now.

 

Very nice work i wish i had a garage like that to work on my rig