Top Self Cherokee's
 

This thread is for those like my self that are tired. Tired of 3" Rough country add leaf kits, cragar soft 8s or D window Steel wheels, colored led interior lighting, Camo print headliners and diamond plate armor.

This is primarily aimed at 97-01 XJ built not only for daily drivimg and trail use but built to look good doing it.

these are all too nice for me. I daily drive mine, but I like being able to "take the long way home" when I want to. I agree with the bland nature of seeing hundreds of 3 or 4.5" 350$ rough country short arms lifts with 30x9.5 or 31x10.5" all off brand mud tires on cragars. at least I have L.A's and quick discos. running 31's on the street but I didnt buy d-windows cuzz I dont need anything more than stock on the road.

So you can't have steel wheels because itdoesn't look good? Haha I agree with your add a leaf aspect, but I think steel wheels look better then some of the rims pictured. Those are some clean looking jeeps though I must say!

Next round

Not that it doesn't look good. It just makes for cookie cutter builds. Nothing wrong with steel wheels. They are strong and cheap but they are on 90% of builds and makes for alot of the same.

Some more basic daily driver style builds.

One of not only my favorites but also one of the best on the forum

Another forum favorite Johzar's build. Since been deleted for some reason. He had dual arb lockers 29" tires and some hidden armor. It appears he went to some super swampers on some 16" TJ moabs

Those rims are the moabs and not the older rubicon? Guess I had them confused haha. Clean builds man. If I could find a low milage I would do something like these. I've only ever had higher milage so I just don't worry about as clean as these haha

Same difference. (Correct me if im wrong) Rubicon wheel is moabs. There is just thenough TJ style 16" and JK style 17".

I do belive that you can buy aftermarket moabs in a 15/16/17 with XJ bolt pattern (5x4.5)

Then there is the 10th anniversary Rubicon wheel pictured here. They make an aftermarket one of these as well know as the Hard Rock wheels. This doesn't come in XJ bolt pattern unfortunately.

Very last pick is JK anniversary wheel.
Second to last is the Hard Rock wheel. (1" wider with more offset) slightly more concave.

Too nice to get dirty

My personal favorite cherokee color. Fern green

I'm currently trying to find one with a nice body in this color near me.

This one was built by cutting edge offroad for Discount tire if I recall. It's color is a newer jeep color called Anvil gray.

Meh. The whole draw of the XJ for me was the rough around the edges, rugged look. Those are all too pretty.

While I do love the way most of those look, I wouldn't want to own one. Too clean and I would feel bad ruining it. I am sure most of you would agree, I would rather use a Jeep for its intended purpose (and not worry about a scratch or two) instead of having a garage queen.

I think mine is still relatively clean, yet can take the backroads or even drive 3 hours to go wheeling.

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I would use it. Just because it looks good doesn't mean you can't use it. That's why there's paint hahah

I would wheel all of them. The daily driver ones with smaller lift is more of a intermediate trails kind of rigs.

The larger rigs defiantly get wheeled. Jcr's project real hawk gets used. The notch customs build project Goldie Locks gets wheeled. As well as the anvil gray one build for Discount tire.

Alot of these builds are super nice but they where still built to wheel. I don't believe you have to beat up a jeep to have fun wheeling.

Yes your gonna get scratches. Yes your gonna get dents and break stuff. You can still do that in a jeep that lookScott good imho.

I am by no means discounting older cherokee's or cherokee's build on a budget. Just wanted to create a thread to maybe inspire people, show off some sweet builds, and give us here on the forum a place to show off builds that we see alot of.

Shooptube. Perfect example. A nicely built 2 door that serves double duty.

A few more

I'll just leave this right here.

Not your normal XJ's (yes I know one of those is a JK)

No Renix love? I always favor the older style, especially the original front clips on MJs that people for some reason swap out to the '97+ style. But I like to think mine looks clean and no cheap or current cliche mods. Some of those XJs wouldn't even like to touch a curb parallel parking with those wheels. Honestly a lot of what makes XJs great to me is having each one look different, most JKs I see all look the same in different colors with all the same wheels and bolt-ons.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...fbb6139550.jpg

Honestly it's hard to find older cherokee's done up clean and capable.

I love the look of yours, defiantly a clean build.

I'm personally more partial to the 97-01s as I have 4 of them and have owned 6. My first jeep was a 89 cherokee sport and I loved it though.

My favorite front end is the XJ Wagoneers. Love the quad headlights. I also like the 9 slot grill, can't Remember what years that was off the top my head.

I say as far as too nice to wheel, that's is up to the owner. Me personally and I'm sure a few others would wheel the hell out of any of these Cherokee's

definitely agree about all XJs being unique. I see the same XJs around my town, but I can always differentiate them. Driving along, I always think "Hey, there is the guy with the pre-97 with mismatched(color) doors or there is the girl with the pink trimmed XJ and the "ain't skeered" sticker".
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ill just leave this here. :party:

Strange that so many see a nice clean built cherokee and automatically assume mall crawler. I keep my stuff clean. If I get a battle wound on the trail I fix her up to be pretty again haha

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In all seriousness, though, to each his own, I guess...I built mine to be functional and mechanically sound, I don't want it to be pretty, I want a butterface...LMFAO

I'd say most of these are built and without a doubt mechanically sound and we'll armored to stay looking good.


Just because a rig looks good dosent mean it's not built to go wheeling. I know alot of these rigs are builds from right here on the forum. Also the guys up a notch customs and Jcr actually wheel there jeeps.

To me mall rated is not even possible for a cherokee. I save that for the jeep Patriots and commanders

I didnt really inted for a debate on how nice jeeps are only for the mall and ugly jeeps are for wheeling rigs. Just showing some well though out builds you dont see.

Seriously ive seen 100 threads asking about lifts or starts of build threads with 3" rough country lifts and d windows. Everyone's budgets and tastes are different. Like some would rather have a butter face and some would rather have a 7-9 to each there own.

And to those who like some Cushing for the pushing here you go. Haha

Don't get me wrong, I know they not only look good, but they are built well. Nothing wrong with some pride in your ride. Just for me, I won't put THAT much effort into mine, to watch it get banged up and scratched anyways, LOL...I do plan on some bodywork and paint at some point, but it will be more functional than pretty....probably a satin, maybe camo, maybe bedlined...haven't made my mind up yet.

Those who have good looking rigs, more power to ya...like I said, to each his own.

I've torn cars down to the rails and rebuilt them. Welded floor pans in, built bumpers. Rebuilt manual trans, installed a few clutches, and installed shift kits in autos. Installed more motors than I can remember. BUT... never have been able to keep a vehicle looking good. I have only owned one car that was pretty when I bought it, have always been nervous in that car.

Here's a related question. How do you wash mud off the paint without scratching it up real bad? I hosed it off, but it is still there. I'm afraid to take a sponge to it as that will just spread the grit around. I'm sure this is a dumb question, I swear I'm not trolling.

I just want to add that the JK with the XJ front clip is actually pretty good looking. I'd drive it... topless and doorless!

I agree but I do have cragars on mine yet it isn't a 97-01. It was my daily as well as a off-road rig it wasn't perfect but it dam sure looks good. I don't have a build tread but it took me 13yrs. Now I must start over but with what I learned it won't take another 13 yrs.

Mine is a bit of a butter face too, but I dont love her any less because of it. Lol


It was just a joke, no doubt theres some extremely clean cherokees in this thread, I can definitely appreciate them. :cheers:

I think another thread needs to get made for "mid shelf" Jeeps! The ones that are pretty clean yet get used heavily on the trails.

Lol. I don't get why you feel these don't get used heavily? Just because they don't fit into your vision of an xj. Don't get offended because your jeep doesn't fit into the op idea of "top shelf". Mine sure doesn't haha, but I'd love to have something like one of these to wheel with. After a few trips it may be scratched and dented. Heck I would have it messed up and scratches a few minutes in. Oh well. Making her pretty again is just as fun as building her to some people. Like roninofako said, to each their own. Some of us don't care about looks, some do. You've already stated that you think clean jeeps don't get wheeled. Cool. No need to state it multiple times. If it's not beat up doesn't mean anything. Stereotyping is what it is:lol:

Just one more thing. Most of these builds are from right here on the forum. Lets not put each others builds down. I say the vast majority of us wheel a very healthy amount. I like seeing all the various builds. Lots of creativity, fabbing up your own stuff, bolt ons. Whatever it is, that's awesome. Build up your jeep and let's keep this hobby going. Especially the xj haha. But I do agree that "top shelf" could have been worded differently. None have my jeeps would have first into ops definition haha. But it's his idea and it's cool to see. Wheel on everyone:cheers:

Had to get my old phone for more pics here's some more.

I am not implying that the Jeeps don't get used. I am simply stating that if I had a "top shelf" Jeep, I would like to keep it that way. To me, I consider these Jeeps to be "show quality". Trust me, I would love to have one as a DD. I would just have a 2nd one that I would use for trail use and abuse. Also, I am not putting any of those Jeeps down. I love 90% of the ones posted in this thread and would love to own them. I am actually quite jealous of how clean and good looking those Jeeps are.

While I could easily get another Jeep and make it a "top shelf" DD, I would rather spend my money else where. Like you said, they aren't for everyone. Don't get me wrong either, when my Jeep is done, it is going to be very clean (like the white one above this post) and will probably fit in with the "top shelf" group for a short amount of time. But when the dents and scratches start showing up, they will be there for the rest of the Jeeps life. I guess the difference is that those Jeeps probably started off in mint condition (very hard to find) before being modified. Where as mine started off in a rough condition and will be brought back to life. Yes it even has a salvage title to back it up. That helps me justify being able to customize it will all the dents and scratches I want.

So no offense to any of the owners of the beautiful Jeeps posted on this thread. I love what you guys have done and if you want to take those beauties off road, more power to you!

Alright here we go!:cheers: I was worried you were gonna take my post the wrong way hahah.

haha we think the same too! My jeeps have been bought dented and scratched so I don't worry about cleaning them up to much during the build. BUT if I found I nice mint one you can bet I would clean her up as much so possible after every trip hahah

All is good! Glad we are on the same page!

In all honestly though, I really don't care what the outside looks like but the interior better be spotless. Dirty interiors drive me crazy!