Hey guys, I just picked up my XJ yesterday as a long awaited Christmas present to myself. I have wanted one for some time, and have been avidly looking for a few months trying to find one in my budget. Here she is sitting at my parent's house in Waxhaw, NC while we are here on Christmas vacation.



She is a 2000 Sport, one owner with 203,xxx miles. I paid $2900 for her, she drives and runs well, the only thing I have noticed that does not work is the cruise control. She is rust free minus a few marks from rocks or what not. From what I can tell it was pretty well taken care of.

As far as plans for it, so far I want to make it a light/medium trail jeep:
2"-3" lift
Front and rear steel bumpers
Front winch
safari rack with custom made wind deflector for the front
Fix all paint flaws then plasti-dip it navy blue
New headlights and foglights
Skid plates
Eventually a fresh rebuild on the motor
Go thru tranny and transfer case

I am pretty mechanically inclined, and look forward to getting help and ideas from everyone here on the forum, and hopefully being a contributing member in the future and getting out to meet some of you for some trail driving in the mountains around NC. I currently live in FL, but frequently come up to NC to see family. All I have ever seen in FL is mud, not really interested in mudding. Thanks in advance for all the warm welcomes and any input you guys have for the build I have in mind.

 

Sweet I just picked up a 99 with 148,000 on it and I wanna do some of the same things you are planning in

 

Welcome to CF.

 

Thanks guys. They have an off road training coarse over at where my Dad works, I might head over there sometime this week to try out the jeep.... even though it has not even been registered yet, lol. But it's sad just looking at it sitting here, with my garage, and all my tools in FL, so I can't start tinkering with it.

 

Welcome from Wisconsin.