Alright so just like the title says, i have a 96 cherokee which i put a 00 center consul in! It is far from bolt on, i am trying to figure out where my "transformation" pictures got bluetoothed too....

but either way here is the finished product! also anyone else that has done this, what do you do about the gap up by the lower dash? i might make a black panel to go over it to "tie it in"

It took me about 3 hours to get it to mount solid. The thing is not going anywhere for a long time... I cleaned it up with some armor-all and spliced the lights so they work like they should I am very happy now to have real working cup holders....


oh and the E-Brake is just there for looks as i need to figure out how to use it with my current cables... lol

 

ive been wanting to do this!

 

okay so i can not find the pictures from the install.. But what you are going to have to do is modify your original brackets to fit with the new consul. What i did was:
1) take out the original consul
2) test fit to make sure everything lined up right(in this case i had to take a BFH to an old support next to the shifter to just bend it a little bit to clear the new AC/Heating duct)
3) take a 3" long 1/4" bolt and put it thru the rear mounts (facing up with a nut on it to "squeeze" the mount
4) put paint on the top of the screws then set in center arm rest insert in
5) remove the insert and drill holes where the paint was marked.
6) re insert the center insert and put a nut and washer on the bolt to bolt it down(use lock tight)
7) cut the light off of the end of the xcase bezel.
8) splice the new light in, test to make sure it lights up before assembling
9) place the xcase bezel on after screwing down the support
10) take a piece of flat steel cut and bend to mount onto the old support in the actual shift area then bend the ends to screw the into the mounting tabs.
11) figure out a way fill in the gap that was left in the front part towards the dash.

Oh yeah and you are going to have to drill new holes for the E-Brake. I would suggest grabbing the entire E-Brakes assembly. going under cutting the actual wires giving about a foot of cable for you to work with. for this you also need a piece of steel since the new style ebrake is shorter than the old so there is a little bit of left over space.


It is a really sold set up, but it takes a bit of "massaging" to get it to work. with the 2 bolts towards the back of the consul, and the 3 up front in the shifting(xcase and tranny shift area) it will not go anywhere. I am more than happy with how it turned out! best of luck if you wish to do this!

 

I did this on my old 2dr 96 with the seat swap and the center console. I loved it.

 

Looks great man! I think I might have to do this now.

 

you should get another shift boot from a newer model and push the factory one as low as you can then put the newer model one over it so you dont have the gap


but other than that looks great

 

the gap i was talking about is this one(picture) not the shift boot one, but the one where the dash meets the center consul

 

ya i don't think i like how that looks

lol good thing i have a 97

 

So out of curiousity, think I could make a tuffy console fit into my '00? I am almost certain I could "make" it work, but seeing how you've esentially done the opposite I just thought I would ask. Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

They make a Tuffy for the Gen 1 (84-96) Cherokee...but I don't think so for the Gen 2 (97-01). Might be worth a shot to remove yours and measure the layout, go to their website and explore all the consoles from the various car makers to see who comes closest to your dimensions....just a thought.http://www.tuffyproducts.com/default.aspx

 

I did the same thing on my 95 and it is the best mod ive ever done In my opinion.Also put in the newer seats and they are alot more comfortable.

 

I'll have you know that I spent most of the day in the junkyard in windy 20 degree weather hunting down a newer center console that was mostly intact. I ended up cobbling one together from a few different Jeeps and hopefully got all of the required parts. I actually spent more time trying to get the godforsaken brake cable disconnected from the lever than anything else as I didn't realize it wouldn't simply unclip without a special tool and I only had tin snips along when I really needed bolt cutters.

This is all your fault.

Did you ever figure out how to hook up the parking brake? My thought is to simply get a replacement cable for a newer XJ and install that since I highly doubt the distance between the mounting location and rear split for the brakes changed at all even if the looks did. I also have some ideas for sealing up that gap. I'm really, really hoping that the shift bezel works since mine is an automatic and the alignment is somewhat important. I'll probably create a separate install thread whenever I get around to this modification. We'll see how the weather does and what other more urgent projects snag my attention but having no real cupholders is really, really irritating me.

 

no i have no looked into the brake cable altho there is a very simple way to do it.

you can buy replacement pieces for snow chains, get the little snow chain J-hooks, those will attach to the existing brake cables. Then using normal homedepot wire cable you can make attach those to the brake lever.

I rolled my jeep and and am now piecing back together other more important things. however I when i get back around to it i will update

 

The tuffy console will not fit due to the movement of the 97+ parking brake. The pre 97 had a center mounted parking brake on the transmission tunnel and the 97+ is off to the left. You could try your best but I don't think almost $200 is worth messing something up if it doesn't work. Just my $.02

 

That sucks man! Hope all is good and you get your jeep back together!
So did the center console stay in place??