I read the stickies and some threads about folks buying an XJ. I think I should be okay to start this thread. Mods, if not, chastise me and close it.

I have decided to buy one as my "retirement" vehicle. I'm still 5-7 years away but I want to buy it soon so I have my income stream to work on it.

My plan is closer to factory restoration than a rock crawling, mud bogging flexomatic. Here is what I am looking for in order of importance. I value feedback on what I may be missing or other options to open up my search parameters.

1. No rust. Surface rust on chassis components is acceptable. Perforations in body parts are not. I am willing to travel to drier parts of the country.
2. 2WD acceptable
3. Unmolested. I want it as close to factory as possible. Aftermarket mods will probably get yanked and sold.
4. 95-99 model years. Are Renix era models really less desirable as later models? I had an '88 back in the early '90s. It was great.
5. 5-speed

I can rebuild most anything with the exception of bodywork. I can paint. (My wife would argue that I can't set up a limited slip diff since when I tried that on my '88 I ended up having it towed to a shop to correct my mistake. My wife took a pic of it on the rollback to forever tease me. In my defense, I was close. Just had shimmed it a little tight. I'll get it right the next time.)

 

Renix isn't all that bad just age and lack of maintenance or worse the handiwork of an idiot is usually what makes them nightmares.

 

I prefer the pre '97 interiors and as far as exteriors, either one works for me. Finding replacement parts is important to me as I will be trying to return this one to factory condition.

 

Must be a boring or beat to death topic. I thought folks would jump all over this imparting their wisdom and knowledge on what I should be looking for.

I am an active member on another forum that has 48K members so I suspect that it has more traffic than this one. I will just keep finding threads here to continue my re-education of Cherokees!

But, if you are so inclined, I value any input you have!

 

I've changed my mind. Did some deep thinking and I think I will be happy with 2wd. After searching across the country and finding a whole bunch of molested Jeeps and thinking back to when I owned mine, I don't need it. I bet I didn't put 100 miles on that '88 in 4wd.

I now will go back and look again. This time a 2wd,5-speed if possible.

I can always buy a donor 4wd down the road if I decide I need to have it.

I'll make sure it has a limited slip rear diff. It will handle anything I'll throw at it.

 

Had a 1987 Renix 4.0 MJ pick-up 2WD for several years. The engine and everything else was ok but and a big BUT was the 5 speed BA10/5 manual shifter on it was a nightmare, jumping out of 3rd hard shift bad clutch set-up. Did a rebuild on it helped for about 6mos then boom troubles again. Not sure what year the BA went away with XJ/MJ units but it was a bad one for sure. Good luck finding an unmolested XJ of any year. Returning a cut-up unit to stock can be expensive. Sounds like you know cars well enough that mechanical issues are not a show stopper for you. Iam much the same, hell I have kept an 86 2.8L automatic going for over 35 years. That BA gear box is really one to stay away from. Seen an unmolested 84/85 in my area but it was pretty ratty but doable without breaking the bank. Good luck to ya!