Because I spent my $1,500.00, not yours. Is there some shortage I'm unaware of?

 

" but I was wondering how you would decide..."

Sure doesn't sound like it from your post above.

 

Judgments aside on the 2wd/4wd discussion, the way you choose if it's "the one" or not to me, is if you are going to put more time or money into something you would never be upset letting go of.

I had a newer truck which I loved and the transmission started to skip. The transmission shop owner told me; "Either put a $700 part in it, limp it around for a while and sell it OR, spend $2700 for a rebuild and never sell it". He was thinking financially that it would be dumb to spend the money if I didn't get my money's worth.

 

I see your point. Thanks. I think I'm going to start with the things I know how to do, and as opportunities present themselves, I'll evaluate and ask more questions. As I look through the list of stuff, I think pulling the interior to refresh it is going to be the logical point to evaluate the bones of the car. As long as I'm just goofing around with CELs and minor jobs, there's no harm, no foul.

I was clearly asking 'vehicle quality' question, not a 'make/model choice' question...but you knew that..

 

you don’t choose the vehicle. the vehicle chooses you. personally - i don’t think it matters a whole lot. any vehicle of that caliber you commit to will require a lot of time and money to be right.

 

Nope. Did you see above where I said, "j/k"? You're asking for our opinions, so I stated mine.

 

Yep. and the "kinda" right after it. Which is like starting a sentence with "No offense, but..." or "with all due respect,"...

Anyhoo, I've already started working on it. I screwed up the headliner refresh, so it has wrinkles in a few spots, notably near the speaker at the rear. I also went to the junkyard over the weekend and got a clean(but wrong color) fender, a handful of leak detection pumps(one of them must be good, right? ) and some minor interior bits all for $30.00...if I had a sawsall, I would have scored a bumper too. And my torx bit snapped off in the door hinge, or I could have scored a rear right door.

I'm on my way I guess. I'll evaluate later. The oil leak is a little worse than I thought. I've driven it a little more. I had it up to around 75 on the highway and there's no death wobble, but it needs some stuff. Good thing for me is that it doesn't need to take over as my DD until i get it where I want it.

As for why a cherokee:
1. winter driving
2. cargo space for kids toys and occasional picnic/camping trips
3. towing package
4. ease of working on it (my current DD is a saab)
5. I've always wanted an XJ

then I saw this, and decided I wanted to try something similar

 

I think T-Case throttles horsepower so it's something to keep in mind for a street truck.

 

That's pretty cool, and from your "reasons why" above, I'd say you selected well.


20 year-old vehicles always "need stuff", but at least it's usually straightforward on the XJ.