My jeep was my third vehicle of my driving career, the first was a '99 Ford Escort Wagon that I totaled about 3 months into my license when I went around a turn in the rain too fast, swerved to avoid a branch in my lane, started drifting, then hit a dry spot which sent me off the edge of the road, airborne, and down into the farmers field below. No damage to me but the frame was bent up 12" where I nosedived and the radiator was dead, so the car was sold for parts (no insurance claim since no police report). My second vehicle was a 2000 Pontiac Sunfire, which was a lot of fun other than I couldn't fit anything in it (took it from Western MD to the Delaware shore for Spring Break loaded for bear...gas mileage sucked). That got totaled when I was on my way home for labor day weekend from college on the same road as the previous accident and the truck coming towards me in the other lane lost his drivers side tire with wheel still attached. That hit me dead center and luckily the car took the damage. Insurance totaled that and gave me a substantial amount for it.
I knew I wanted something that got alright mileage, since I was working about 30 miles from school (kept my job year round so it was driveable from home and school) and gas was skyrocketing, but something that could carry camping gear and ppl for roadtrips. We looked around and found a 2001 Cherokee Sport on Craigslist for 4000 and bought it.
Without any mods I took it with a TJ and a Tacoma to Greenridge for the weekend and had a frozen blast (it hit 35 as a high that weekend) and had no issues whatsoever. Only exception is there is still mudspray in the engine bay that refuses to wash out.
The next summer my ac compressor went out but that was a quick fix, then I added a pair of Hella 500's to the bumper, and a Surco rack to the roof, but left the stock bars as additional support.
(Mind you this is a slow process because I was funding my own education)
I then added a pair of cheap offroad lights to the roofrack with some homemade mounting brackets, and a CB. Mounted the radio in between the visors above the mirror and fabbed a bracket around the passenger side brake light. Got some new tires (5 goodyear wrangler radials in 235/75/15 so i would have a full size spare) (driving back to school with the donut on sucked).
She sat like that up until August of this year.
I was coming back from Florida and was on the Baltimore Beltway in the middle of the night when I fell asleep and drifted across 2 lanes into the guardrail (I think I must have jerked the wheel to the right because I hit on the driver corner) I was alright and luckily no one else was hurt. The jeep was driveable as the airbags never deployed, so my dad came and got me and we drove it home. I has been in the garage ever since and was disassembled. The damage is as follows:
Bumper bent about 40 degrees
Bumper bracket bent
Front clip broken
Driver fender bent up
fender flare damage
bumper end caps worn down due to tie rub on drive home.
So with a lack of fund it sat like this while I drove the '87 civic hatchback we inherited from my grandmother with 50k miles on it.
Finally found a 99 maroon XJ that a buddy of my dad's was selling and bought it for 1000 (minor cosmetic damage and a leak in the head gasket). We're picking it up tomorrow and since I'm off on Wed I will be swapping the new parts in.
Plan is as follows for the moment:
Bend bumper bracket back,
Replace Broken parts,
take out all removable interior parts and give it a thorough cleaning (all the rain we've had has led to some mildew)
Future fixes:
Bodyline the lowerhalf, flares.
1.5 or 3 inch lift.
Note that after the immediate repairs this will be a slow process so bear with me. I am paying of my student loans as fast as I can as well as numerous other bills of the recent college grad, and I work 2 jobs for 6 days/wk so I dont have much free time.
Will upload pics as soon as I get them off the other hard drive.
I knew I wanted something that got alright mileage, since I was working about 30 miles from school (kept my job year round so it was driveable from home and school) and gas was skyrocketing, but something that could carry camping gear and ppl for roadtrips. We looked around and found a 2001 Cherokee Sport on Craigslist for 4000 and bought it.
Without any mods I took it with a TJ and a Tacoma to Greenridge for the weekend and had a frozen blast (it hit 35 as a high that weekend) and had no issues whatsoever. Only exception is there is still mudspray in the engine bay that refuses to wash out.
The next summer my ac compressor went out but that was a quick fix, then I added a pair of Hella 500's to the bumper, and a Surco rack to the roof, but left the stock bars as additional support.
(Mind you this is a slow process because I was funding my own education)
I then added a pair of cheap offroad lights to the roofrack with some homemade mounting brackets, and a CB. Mounted the radio in between the visors above the mirror and fabbed a bracket around the passenger side brake light. Got some new tires (5 goodyear wrangler radials in 235/75/15 so i would have a full size spare) (driving back to school with the donut on sucked).
She sat like that up until August of this year.
I was coming back from Florida and was on the Baltimore Beltway in the middle of the night when I fell asleep and drifted across 2 lanes into the guardrail (I think I must have jerked the wheel to the right because I hit on the driver corner) I was alright and luckily no one else was hurt. The jeep was driveable as the airbags never deployed, so my dad came and got me and we drove it home. I has been in the garage ever since and was disassembled. The damage is as follows:
Bumper bent about 40 degrees
Bumper bracket bent
Front clip broken
Driver fender bent up
fender flare damage
bumper end caps worn down due to tie rub on drive home.
So with a lack of fund it sat like this while I drove the '87 civic hatchback we inherited from my grandmother with 50k miles on it.
Finally found a 99 maroon XJ that a buddy of my dad's was selling and bought it for 1000 (minor cosmetic damage and a leak in the head gasket). We're picking it up tomorrow and since I'm off on Wed I will be swapping the new parts in.
Plan is as follows for the moment:
Bend bumper bracket back,
Replace Broken parts,
take out all removable interior parts and give it a thorough cleaning (all the rain we've had has led to some mildew)
Future fixes:
Bodyline the lowerhalf, flares.
1.5 or 3 inch lift.
Note that after the immediate repairs this will be a slow process so bear with me. I am paying of my student loans as fast as I can as well as numerous other bills of the recent college grad, and I work 2 jobs for 6 days/wk so I dont have much free time.
Will upload pics as soon as I get them off the other hard drive.