Greetings all,
I am new to the forum. I've been reading a while looking for helpful info on bumpers, but first...
I just bought a new to me 2000 Cherokee Classic with a 4 1/2 Rough Country lift. I shoed it with what amounts to enduro tires because I don't plan on mudding unless the roads I travel require. I fell in love with the XJ's because of the full axles front and rear and the 4x4 system. I have very little experience on wrenches but I am eagerly learning as I'm an old guy (61) who recently retired. Thanks for the great wealth of info here to whoever is responsible.

I checked much of the content and could not find an answer to my current query on bumpers. My XJ has had the fenders and quarters trimmed and end caps removed front and rear. I don't like the look or that the horn wiring is exposed, etc. A winch bumper on the front is on my list down the road but currently wishing to shore up those open ends on the bumpers front and rear. I'm told that the end caps of the pre-97 end caps, front and rear, will work on the newer 98-01 Cherokees. I'm told that the older end caps would look better that those that are OEM on my later model. My question is, has anyone had experience with this? Also, if this has been covered elsewhere, I would appreciate your pointing me in the right direction on the forum. If that is the case, please accept my apology.

Again, thanks for the great resource!

 

Possibly the first thing to talk about is how the actual fender panels and fender flares themselves are different between the 84-96 and 97-01 models. Here's what we're talking about. An 84-96 driver front fender:



And then a 97-01 driver front fender:



The 97-01 fender metal doesn't go as far down. What this means (and you probably already know this) is that the 97-01 front bumper caps had different, bigger profiles that came around/up to meet that "chopped" fender front line. This is basically what your model would have looked like when it was factory:



So, you probably wouldn't even want to try to use a 97-01 front bumper cap with what you have now because of the trimming; the lines wouldn't meet up. Now you could trim the bumper end caps, I guess. Most people wouldn't have an eye for it and wouldn't even notice, but now you will.

As far this goes then:

It should work. Check out this post from user 'thooogy' on this other forum (and he provides a picture as well):

https://www.jeepforum.com/posts/10134325/

Sounds like drilling one hole per side might be in order along with potentially a couple other minor things. I'm sure you can figure it out, though. That does look decent, in my opinion.

 

Undone, Thank you. Your information is exactly what I was hoping for. Good stuff.