hey I'm brand new and i have a question about buying my first jeep. Im looking at a '97 grand cherokee and found one near by for a reasonable price on craigslist what should i look for when i go to see the car its a 97 jeep grand cherokee laredo which is the 4.0L "4x4"...

 

This is the link to the add for it:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/5682430429.html

 

Crawl under it and look for rust in the rockers and see if anything is leaking.Any power option it has like windows you need to test out them out.Besides that the normal test drive and make sure you take it on the interstate so it shifts through all the gears and test out the 4x4 on it.

 

Thanks for the input ill make sure to include that into my inspection is there any specific things i should look for while in 4 wheel I'm not experienced with it at all and what should i expect from it?

 

4 wheel drive is kinda simple it will work or not lol.The best easy test to me is shift in to 4lo and try turning at a normal slow speed like 30mph or less,It should feel harder to turn since the front wheels are pulling now vs just being there.Some of the grands used a awd system which is a little different and don't have a 2 wheel drive option.Easy way to tell is look at the bezel around the shifter the awd one will say 4 all time N and 4 lo that is a awd case,The 4x4 case will have 2wd 4 part time 4 full time N and 4 lo on it.The awd t case is kinda known for having the viscous coupling unit going bad in them and not working as awd anymore so keep that in mind.And if the 4 wheel drive shifter is never used much the linkage can rust in place making it harder to shift or not shift at all.

 

okay thanks a lot i think that answers about all of my questions

 

well checked it out and apparently the owner didn't know the difference between 4 wheel drive and 2 wheel drive... found another zj 5.2L though will be checking that one out soon.

 

That can happen sometimes,The v8 is only one mpg less then the 6 cylinder and as heavy as the zj is you probably want the v8.And keep a eye out for a 98 limited 5.9 those are rare and was the fastest suv that year and few more later on.Easy way to tell if its the 5.9 look at the hood those have hood vents and a different grill on them and different rims.

 

well i ended up with a 96 5.2 grand cherokee coupling unit worked and drove it about 100 miles home with out anything breaking I'm loving the v8!

 

and there she is

 

Looks pretty good besides the paint on it.