Project On Patrol-2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ Build
 

Hey everybody,

Picked up my first Jeep today and already have a short list of mods that I'd like to do in the future. First things first, here's some of the details of the Jeep.
2000 XJ w/ 75k original miles and prior salvage title. This rig used to be a campus patrol vehicle and I believe probably had some easy miles on it until the chick I bought it from got her hands on it. Her story is that she lived on a mud road and used the 4WD often and the mud on the bottom of my new Jeep supports her story. (all pics are after an $8 automatic wash)

It needs a few fixes first to make it completely reliable as a DD like a new fuel pump assembly (long crank), track bar (RIDICULOUS PLAY IN THE STEERING WHEEL), drop the fluids in her and check it all out.

I'm looking hard at the 3" lift w/ wheel & tire combo from Rusty's Off-Road right now, but am open to opinions of wiser Jeepers on what to go with. I'd prefer not to slide around in the snow on M/T's like I have before, so I'm also considering a BFG A/T setup. Let me know what you guys think. Good to be here!

More pics
 

Here are a few more pics of the Jeep that highlight a few more flaws and show you guys what I have to work with right now.

Get some Purple-Power or other degreaser and soak that engine with it to see what it really looks like :D

You will probably have quite a few tell you not to get the Rusty's (they are not very popular on here) and I can't comment on their lift one way or the other (never ran it). I do have their steering and a few other misc. parts and have had no problems with what I do have. I can tell you I.R.O. is nice as well as cheapish. www.ironrockoffroad.com Some lifts will come with a track-bar for you.

As for tires, I understand what your talking about... the sliding around sucks. I hear great things about dura-tracks... both tread life and ice/snow.

The jeep doesn't look too terrible... it will look much better with a lift/tires :D

I love my rustys shocks in my jeep in a year only thing that happend to them was a broke a bar pin cuz I hit a pothole at 50 but other then that its nice my friend ran there 4.5 in lift with fixed lcas for about a year and loved it I don't know why everyone Hates on rustys when u call em u talk to a person in like 5 minutes and they send u new **** if something breaks I call that a good company lol

Also the dura Trac is a good tire my friend runs em on his jk after 10k they look brand new

i am a huge fan of rusty's but also can't complain about clayton they got some well built beefy stuff...and nice baby jeep with only 76k

The engine degreaser is definitely on the list of things to get to clean it up. I've been researching some lifts and I don't know how much sense it will make to buy a track bar to run while it's at stock height when I wanted to pick up the lift and new tires to run on it before too far into winter. The Cooper STT's I had on my last truck didn't have that great of tread, but they were just awful in anything slick on surface roads. I'll be shopping for some good deals on A/T's for now..

Yeah I called and talked to some guy there before a few weeks ago, before I got the XJ, and he was very helpful. I was really interested in their stuff because of that wheel and tire combo and thought the place I work for could get a dealer/resale discount, but they have a minimum buy-in. I've heard Rough Country's are definitely 'rough', so I'm looking for something with decent ride quality until I talk myself into making this into a real BEAST.

Thanks..I think it was a pretty good find and will be a good start for what I want to use it for. Never been much of a wheeler, but I'm looking forward to using this thing. I'd never heard of Clayton and I can see why you think they've got some beefy stuff. Thanks for the info!

Jeep looks like a good start! On your profile, it says 4.0 V6, the 4.0 is an inline 6 not a V. just so you know

First LOF w/ Seafoam?
 

Thanks for all the feedback and info, guys. I was getting ready to do some maintenance on it and wondered what everyone's thoughts were on putting SeaFoam in the oil before I changed it? I think this think Jeep may have a pretty spotty maintenance record and it could give it a fresh start. Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

Thanks for catching that...never had an inline before, so I just fell back into the old habit of having a 'V'!

Well...bought some sea foam at the parts store and had the battery and alternator tested/checked...both tested 'good'. I'll be putting it on a fuel pressure gauge this week hopefully to see if it leaks down and actually needs a fuel pump. Hopefully the Seafoam and HEET will help and the upcoming tune-up can save me money on a 'supposedly' replaced fuel pump.

Got Pranked
 

Guess the guys at work also thought that my Jeep looked like a mailman would drive it....so I saw this when I went out on my lunch break.

That makes me want my lift kit even worse, so I hope I can get the mechanical issues on this XJ squared away and put my money towards fun stuff. :D

Thought I'd show you this guy I saw at WalMart this week. I'm pretty sure it's owned by the owner of the Chrysler dealership in a nearby town. I know for a fact it's got the 6.1 Hemi setup in it and is one bada** rig.