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Hello. First post here. My high school age daughter wanted a square body XJ Cherokee. We found a 2000 xj cherokee classic for $500. Daughter decided to name the jeep "Elvira" like the mistress of the night on TV for scary movies. We have many issues to repair and have some plans to make a few upgrades. The jeep seems to be somewhat rust free for a jeep from Wisconsin. I think the mileage was around 120,000 on the 4.0. It is an auto tranny which is important because my daughter just turned 16 and still needs to get her drivers license. Realized after We brought her home that the 2000 did not have the better front dana 30, but it does not have the dana 35 either. The jeep will be a daily driver for going to school and for driving around town. My daughter decided, out of lots of possible used vehicles, this XJ is the vehicle she likes most.
Our first repairs will be:
Fix the brakes.
Replace bent front tie rod.
Find new or used tires, maybe willing to try 30 or 31 inch tall.
Repair exhaust leak.
Fix hole in drivers floor, the only hole and major rust I noticed to date. Rockers are OK but 4 doors have some rust just on the bottom of the doors.
The drivers door has the weak hinge pins and does not line up to latch properly.
We are hoping for upgrades:
To build a cheap 2 or 3 inch lift for the larger tires.
Install a better stereo system
Maybe detail and paint some parts like front suspension to prevent rust and personalize the jeep.
We welcome any responses, helpful criticism, tips and tricks.
Post up some pics and show us what you have to work with.
It's awesome to hear that some young people still have an interest in older vehicles. It helps keep the hobby alive
I do have some pics but not sure how to post. Have not been on a car forum in about 10 years. Bringing her home. Forgot to mention hood latches as needing repair. She sat under a tree for more than two years.
Well she got a bath and we found surface rust on the roof and paint on hood is checked a little. Was not running so was some work to get her from trailer into garage. After bath looks better. Need a headlight bezel passengers side. Somebody was being silly and winched her onto trailer using the tie rods. Dooohh!! Rust underneath the front was not near as bad as I feared.
Today we ordered tie rod bar from rough country and one tie rod end. Never changed these before. Interesting. Seems maybe our jeep had the left hand thread on the drivers side, so ordered another drivers side tie rod end to replace one that goes to drag libk. Hope it works ok. One should be right hand and one left hand thread correct?
Went to junkyard to find parts for a budget lift bastard pack. The guy at the yard first quoted me $75 per rear leaf spring pack for a 96 s-10. Nuts. I waited for owner, a couple hour wait, and he said $100. Thought that was for a set but did not even ask just said no thanks. I I thought maybe they were thinking I wanted full size pickup leafs or something. They were just laying on the dirt after they removed a rear end. My buddy can buy a whole dana 60 rear axle for $200 so I was kind of pissed. I got a free beer and spending time with a friend at the yard is always fun though. Trying to order a lift kit from Zone offroad I believe not sure if OK to mention if they are not selling parts here. It is a 3 inch front coil and rear add a leaf. I hope comes with new u bolts and some other hardware. Was around $160 shipped so not much more than trying to build our own rear leafs. Might try those rears again later someday if I can reason with the JY owner. I was expecting maybe 20 to 40 dollar range for a set of leaf springs. Only found 2 complete or almost complete xj jeeps there. They had a bunch but just had them crushed. Guess they do not sell many parts off them here in WI. I received the new tie rod but of course was the wrong side. Ordered the other side also. When near junk yard I was able to get another set of rims and tires from another cherokee WJ that we own but have done nothing with. It has a tranny issue. My daughter says it is too "round" and she wanted this square body xj. The newer tires are not rotted, so better, and go from stock 28.5 inch 8.5 wide to roughly a 29.5 inch and 9.5 wide. I think they are 1 inch taller, maybe 3/4 inch wider. They are the larger wj and JK wheel bolt pattern so need some adaptors. The wheels and tires are free though. Even got a spare 5th rim and same size tire. It must be original produced in 2000 from that 2000 WJ grand cherokee. That spare rim was full size and almost perfect. Hoping it fits mounted in spare location. Hoping to get correct tie rod end and work on it this weekend with my daughter.
Building "Elvira" with/for my daughter
