how to tell exactly what jeep i have. alls i know is it's a 1998 jeep cherokee sport 4 door off the shelf. i see lots of designations but not mine

 

I don't know exactly what you are looking for here... but a 98 Cherokee is an "XJ".

Here's the 1998 Jeep Brochure for the Cherokee.



Here's the list of Jeep designations:

AJ.........Prototype military Jeep from about 1950. AJ probably stood for "Advanced Jeep"
BRC 40..The second series of Bantam Prototypes Built in 1941
BRC 60.."Mark II" The first seres of Bantam Prototypes 1940-1941
C 101....Jeepster Commando 1966-1971
C 104....AMC Commando 1972-1973
CJ.........Civilian Jeep 1944-1986
CJ 1......First few prototype civilian Jeeps in early 1944
CJ 2......Second batch of prototype Jeeps 1944-1945
CJ 2A....First production CJ, known as a Flatfender 1945-1949
CJ 3A....Replaced the 2A 1949-1953
CJ 3B....High Hood model 1953-1968
CJ 4......Prototype vehicle that led to the CJ 5 1950 OR 1951
CJ 5......First round fender Jeep 1955-1983
CJ 6......Long wheelbase variant of the CJ 5 1955-1976 Domestic 1955-1981 Export
CJ 7......Longer version of the CJ 5. Included Doors and more comfort 1976-1986
CJ 8......Scrambler Long wheel base version of CJ 7 1981-1986
CJ 10....Export truck resembling a CJ with YJ grill. Often used for airport tugs 1982-1985
DJ........4x2 Delivery vehicle called the Dispatcher. Several versions built since 1956
FC........Forward Control Cab-over truck 1957-1965
FJ.........Fleet Van 4x2 Cab-over truck 1961
GP........Ford prototype that followed the Pygmy G = Gov. Contract P = 80" Recon Car Built only in 1941
GPA......Ford built Jeep A = Amphibian 1942-1943
GPW.....Fort Built WWII Jeep built to ****** Design W = ****** pattern 1942-1945
JK........Larger and wider Wrangler replacement 2007 - current
KJ........Replacement for the Cherokee in the U.S. Market
MA.......****** prototypes that followed the Quad M = Military contract A = Series Built only 1941
MB.......Standardized ****** 1/4 ton Jeep of WWII. B = Series 1942-1945
MC.......First post war military variant of the Jeep. C = Series Known as the M-38 1950-1955
MD.......2nd offshoot of military Jeep. Basically CJ 5 M38A1 1952-1971
MDA.....Longer wheelbase version of the MD known as the M170 1954-1967
MJ........Pick-up truck variant of the XJ Cherokee 1986-1992
SJ........Wagoneer SUV 1963-1991 or Gladiator J Series Trucks 1963-1987
TJ........Coil Sprung Wrangler with more creature compforts 1997-2006
VJ........Jeepster 1949-1959
WJ.......Grand Cherokee 1999-2004
WK.......Grand Cherokee with IFS 2005 - Current
XJ........Mid-sized Cherokee 1984-2001
XK.......Jeep Commander 7 person SVU 2006 - Current
YJ........Square head light replacement for the CJ 1987-1995
ZJ........Grand Cherokee released to replace the SJ 1993 - 1998

 

sorry for the ambiguity, I'm 60 yrs, been a ford man all my life, got my jeep 3yrs ago, love it for its mechanical genius and ease of maint., a little small interior compared to explorer for work i do and not as familiar as i could have been if i had one 35 yrs ago (hence love/hate) moniker. been doing all my own maint/repairs with ease, however just wreaked it and doing it all myself, but was having trouble not knowing the exact body type to order parts (white like your picture same body) lots of confusing useless info out there, till i found this site to, to match airbags ETC that went off and that seems like that was my roadblock, so far not knowing the electrical parts affected by airbag deploy. but again thanks greatly for the help in I.D.

 

most auto parts counters refer to our xj as "compact cherokee" as opposed to FJ, or full size jeep cherokee, think uncle buck cherokee or grand wagoneer.

 

I take it the electrical gremlins havent hatched yet lol. The XJ is a trainwreck when it comes to the wiring. If you havent already, get yourself a FSM for your model year. You can get them in paperback or cd. My 97 came with a Haynes but ive gotten more use out of it as a pillow while wrenching, than a manual. I bought a 97-98 XJ parts catalog from Rockauto for my 97 for when i need part numbers. Pay attention tho as the 2.5L (gas and diesel) and 4.0L parts are grouped together and some of the numbers are close.

When replacing the airbags for a 97-01, its no different than anything else. The control module is under the console. And there are no individual crash sensors in the engine bay like Ford. The control module does it all. Will this be your first time servicing an airbag? Its easy, but if you dont know what youre doing...

 

yes first time but did lots of youtube looks better than i thought. As far as gremilns --- OHHHH yes they have (again the hate part of LOVE/HATE) keep ghostbusters on retainer for dash gremlin, ABS light, radio Rt speaker only, Lt side only when driver door open, not good for i-10 rides, and many more, but so far engine - transmission great, with that exception of the engineers great idea of the V-reg INSIDE the ECH, like to meet that guy at a bar slip him a mickey take some compromising pics for his wife LOL. but i digress bought the truck from car-lot (good friend) little old lady owned it sounds cliche but true, she traded it, 17 year old veh., did carfax, only 137k miles, had only jeep dealer service 43 times at every maint interval, jumped on it $2900+tax otherwise was looking for an exploder. wish i were exposed to jeep at an earlier age

 

got the old bags removed just don't want to detonate the new ones but lots of youtube help on precautions to take this is damage gonna make a homemade blackhawk and pull out as best as i can everything else is cosmetic i hope

 

You need to update this with the LJ (TJ Unlimited - 04-06), set the JK to end with 2018 models (inclusive) and new JL models 2018+.

Edit: And of course when the new (JT, I believe) Comanche model comes out supposedly for the 19 model year you'll need to update again.