OnlyinaXJ

Hello my name is Brian and I just purchased my 3rd XJ, you guessed it, its a 4 door 1988 Cherokee Chief which has 217,000 miles on the odometer.

All I had to go on was this add from holloman.bookoo.com which is a local classified webpage here in Alamogordo.

Jeep Cherokee, 1988, 4x4, runs, has heat, air and radio and 2 new tires on and 2 more to go with...
$1500.00 by tina in alamogordo 3 days ago

I ran a carfax report on the vin and found that it has likely been in the Alamogordo area for its entire existence, in 1994 it hit a game animal with only minor damage (ie. no frame damage), in 2005 it was purchased by the boyfriend of the little old lady I bought it from (he died a couple of years ago and left the jeep to her), at the time he purchased it had 194,000 miles on the odometer, thats 23,000 miles in 7 years folks and 194,000 divided by 17 equals just over 11,400 miles per year prior to that, I may well be the third owner of this jeep.

Based on the ammount of oil under it it definitely needs some seals replaced, the interior will require a significant amount of cleaning but overall in in pretty good shape but it seems to run and drive just fine, oh and the top drivers door hinge, the part which is welded to the frame has a busted weld.

I offered her $1250 and she accepted, I am extremely excited about this amazing find, its going to be a great project

Aside from thoroughly going over the mechanicals, replacing door seals and generally freshening it up my plans for it include a mild lift, but I don't know how much lift I want, new wheels and bigger tires, but not too big, and eventually body work and a quality paint job.

I am a very good mechanic, but I have never taken on a restoration project like this before, my other two XJ's were both very new when I purchased them, I will need a lot of advice and I look forward to rejoining the XJ community and getting all of the help I can get.




I love the factory tire carrier!

rmoore1031

I like the tire carrier too. You got a good deal.

XJwonders

Welcome to the forum. U got a sweet deal there. The background in your pictures seen like a good place to go wheeling, where are u from?

OnlyinaXJ

I live in Alamogordo NM, and yes there are a lot of good trails here, both mountain and desert, I was stationed here at Holloman AFB in 05 and retired from the USAF in 2010 and have no intention of ever leaving. The funny thing is I talk to so many people that hate this place because there is "nothing to do" around this place


Nothing but sand as far as the eye can see, This place is so booring!

My oldest is now a Taekwondo instructor

That was my 06 KJ CRD, I put together approximately 3" of lift with OME springs, spacers, Rancho RS5000 shocks and 245/75R16 tires, RRO rock-rails & JKS swaybar QD's, all of which I installed my self. I was able to do a lot of exploring around here in it and it was surprisingly capable off road. However, I spread my self too thin financially and had to let her go, I won't be making that mistake again.

Ianf406

Nice find man. What are your future plans? Oh and welcome to the forum!