Hello everybody! Need a few opinions to justify my jeep purchase. I recently had a 2000 cherokee sport, 4.5 inch lift, 32.11 50 pro comps, no SYE but shimmed the rear axle. Had a terrible vibration which wore down both front and rear driveshafts, which was to be expected. Anyway... sold it a few months back to get out of debt. Been saving and am ready to buy another. I've found a 1997 2 door cherokee with the 4.0 and auto tranny. It's all stock and hasn't been offroad. It was the daily driver for a mans two daughters while they where in college. It has been maintained by a mechanic they use for all their vehicles, oil changes etc. it has 195k and the only thing wrong with it is a very dirty carpet. I can get it for $1300. If I do buy it I want a lift big enough to fit 32's under it but not shake the thing apart at high speeds. Don't know much about body lifts but that would leave the shafts at their original angle I think. I guess I'm asking because I'm 3 hrs away from where this jeep sits and want to know if it sound like a good deal. Jeep looks really clean in the pics. Thanks

 

Well $1300 sounds fair considering year and mileage. But it is impossible to lift an xj because they are a unibody construction. I'd see if you can get it for 1k. If you wanna do a lift then the transfer case needs to be dropped. Sye kit is highly recommended. I'm working on doing 6.5" lift and I'm going to spend the money to get the kit and drop it. If the lift is done right you shouldn't get vibrations unless u have real aggressive tires

 

3" lift would be perfect for 32s with minor trimming and you can easily get away with a tcase drop or shims.

 

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll definately do the 3" suspension lift with 32's, then go ahead and do a SYE and axle shim. Thanks oldschool for the input on the body lift, I didn't know it couldn't be done.

 

It can be done, dangerously... and should only be done as a joke on a cherokee on its way to the scrapper. :P

 

Not a problem. A lot of people don't realize it

 

Im sure 90% of first time Cherokee owners think about a body lift and then realize it can not be done. It sounds like a good deal to me. If it runs good and not to much rust it would be well worth that asking price. Always try to get it cheaper though.

 

You had a 2000 Cherokee before and still did not know you can't do a body lift on a unibody?