Hey everyone,

I have always like the Cherokees and I think I might finally pick one up. I'm on an extremely tight budget, want to be around $1500 or less. Just looking for a Jeep that I can play around with for a year or so then probably sell.

Couple questions:

--Is there a specific year that should be avoided, more problematic than other years?

--Any specific problem areas I should look out for? Not new to mechanics but I'm more familiar with small, 4-cylinder turbocharged cars (owned Merkur XR4Ti, Saab 900 Turbo/non turbo, mazda miata, PT Cruiser GT turbo...) I'm not looking for something with large problems, but small cosmetic or basic mechanical stuff is nothing new to me.

--Any other recommendations? My parents had an '87 or '89 Laredo and I believe it was a '92 Cherokee when I was little and I loved them, but I remember they had a lot of overheating problems. Is that normal?

Any help or input is appreciated. Cheers!

 

Avoid 4 cyl and 2.8 v6.

Either 4.0 will have a good tranny.

92+ is high output, which I would recommend.

94+ (I think) had the bigger u joints so, tougher.

99 is probably the best year of them all.

 

'91 or up, Here's my Limited with all the bells and whistles. Including the 4.0 HO at 70,600 miles as of a few days ago.. Attachment 36072

 

Thanks for the input!

I should have noted, I was definitely set on the 4.0, IMO the other engines were just low-cost (lame) substitutes for what REALLY belongs in there

That's a really slick looking '91! I'd love to have one just like that. I do like the later model ones like the 98-'00 but they are going to be out of my price range.

Was your '91 HO from the factory? djlarroc said it's 92+, is that correct or is it 91+?

Thanks again for the help. These are pretty neat vehicles.
Why are they so cheap? I'm blown away by the selection of insanely cheap Jeeps. Do they get to be extraordinary money pits at higher mileage (all cars are, do the Jeeps tend to be more so?)

 

90 or older RENIX for reliability. Everyone seems to get pumped up with this HO hype. They're not really that high output... However they also seem to run forever, I'm just noticing the old renix engines are seeming to run even longer and are alot more forgiving. If you like the newer body style, 97. 98 for some odd reason they switch all the plugs on the sensors. Same damn sensor with a different plug for 2 to 4 times the money every time one goes bad. 99 they started upping the emissions on them, 2000 they started putting aluminum heads and low pinion front axles in them. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with a 97 or older.

 

They are just cheap because they made so many of them, and people tend to abuse them. Find you a clean one, and keep the maintenance up on it. It will run forever. . Parts are cheap too.

 

Sweet. The search continues, now looking for a 97 if I can find one inexpensive enough that the wife would go for.

This is some great info guys, keep any new ideas coming!