hello all so i have decided to make a build thread on my jeep so here it goes

so i grew up in a jeep family my dad and grandfathers all had cherokees as long as i can remember, so of course when i got old enough i wanted a jeep, i prefered wranglers, so i got one, and built it i have owned and built 2 wranglers now. ten years later with the birth of my first kid i decided that i needed somthing a little more condusive for children than my wranglers, (no doors, no top, no rear seat ect....) so i started looking at cherokees. after some research i discovered that the 97-01 cherokees were almost mechanically identical to the 97-04 wranglers, i was happy to find that out and started searching, i found this one in northern Georgia its a 99 4 door 2wd aw4 i only paid 900 bucks for it its rough but runs great and i think i got a hell of a deal


some close ups of that drivers rear body damage


when i got it everything leaked, i have replaced the valve cover gasket the front main rear main timing chain cover gasket and the oil pan gasket, as of right now nothing leaks (knocking on wood now) the biggest bonus with this jeep is there is absolutely no rust anywhere on it
here are the future plans

3 inch lift
31 inch tires (just wanna get it up off the mini-van tires it came on)
roof rack
lots of body work
and more to come im sure

now i know 2wd wtf right, well i just wanted something reliable that i could haul the kids around in and like i said in the title nothing crazy, but after a little over a year of having it i actually prefer it over my wranglers most of the time ha ha well this will be a slow build i am on a tight budget the army don't pay its e-4's a lot of extra money lol but any comments and suggestions will be appreciated thanks for stopping by

 

so today was a rather interesting day so i want to do a 3 in lift on the jeep one of the guys in my unit has an s-10 pick up early 90's i helped him lower it today with new leaf packs and walked away with his 4 pack leafs for free in great shape btw, also my buddy wants my help removing his 3 in spacers and installing new 4-5 springs on his 91 cherokee he said i could have his spacers (only like 3 months old) so in a matter of 12 hours i just accuired everything but shocks to go up 3in happy happy day, so next weekend looks like im lifting the cherokee pics will be posted of install and final oh and i will eventually spend the money and get the full 3 in springs but hey free right now is good for me lol

 

Were the leafs in good shape?

TylerL. 94 ZJ 3" lift. My DD.

 

2WD, Body work, 3" lift, 31s...you sound like me!

I'm in the process of doing all the same stuff. Good luck!

 

yes they look brand new still have all of their curve they came off a "show" truck so you know they've never hauled any weight

 

hey just looked thru your pics nice jeep you got lucky your body work is bolt on and pull ha ha i get to learn how to stitch weld and use body filler I've never done either before ha ha but your front end looks great nice work

 

Yeah, you've got a little more body work to do than me! Other than my fender, it was pretty much just my bumpers. The front was bent and curled underneath, but we pulled that out with a tree. For the rear I just ordered a $95 replacement.

I'll keep an eye on this topic!

 

Just a quick update so today I scored four rough country lift shocks four 110 total so the lift is on for this weekend started oiling the bolts in hopes for no breakage but I'm pretty confident it will go smoothly due to no rust I got fri off so I'm starting then pics will be posted before during and after oh and visited local junkyard they got two xj's my year span so looks like I'm cutting a rear quarter panel next pay day anyone have any experience or advice on this type of body replacement?

 

Quick question guys I was playing around with my jeep last night noticed my rear brake line will not be long enough to reach with the lift I know that yj rears are the common fix but there arnt any in my local junkyard I've heard That Dakota rears work the same as yj's anyone know the years on that otherwise I gotta hope the local parts stores got something the fronts look fine no problems there but that rear one is short

 

when are you planning on putting the lift on man? cant wait to see it.

 

Lift goes on tomorrow if I can find a solution to the rear brake line previously stated it's my dd can't be down to long

 

Im excited to see what your Goldie looks like! I have a 3 inch lift on mine and stock tires/wheels. waiting for 31's.

 

maybe it was repaired and some of it was shortened, seems like something google would help with or you local auto store could solve for you.

 

quick update so i found the solution to the brake line issue i was having junkyard part out of a dodge cost me 2 bucks and it looks brand new the rubber is outstanding so are the brass and pressure fittings i got off today at 1:00 hit the junkyard got home got antsy so i started the lift front is done looks great rear tomorrow morning pics of during and after will be up by noon bar any problems with the rear here's hoping

 

ya we are in the same boat got the tires off my buddies jeep he just lifted his running 35's so jelious but he gave me his 31's for helping him with it a few weeks back just gotta save some money up for the rims craiger soft 8's and i hate the gold cant wait to fix that rear corner so i can paint it OD green with bed liner on the bottom and the bumpers thanks for the excitment i cant wait to see what the finished look is when i wrap up the rear in the morning