It begins again.... Builden it

So I had a jeep cherokee probably 3 years ago and had all the bells + whistles. It was fun but I ended up selling. So 3 years later I've found my self back in love with the cherokee.

Found a jeep cherokee on craigslist for $3,500.00. But it had been on there for a while. I hit up the owner and offered him 2,000 just to see if he would return. He told me to bring him cash that day.

2,000 dollar jeep here.




Stats for this jeep as of now are.

1996 Jeep cherokee
4.0L AW4 NP231 4x4
200,000 miles on the engine.
Some sweet head lights ha!
Rough Country 6.5 inch suspension.
Adjustable control arms
RockKrawler High Clearance Steering
15inch rims pretty nice and shiny
35inch goodyear MTR
Tires are like new and suspension is suppose to have less then 2,000 miles

the bads: The interior smells like a garage shop
Previous owner drove it around in some mud holes so its pretty caked in mud
Front fender is bent in-getting fiberglass
front clip is cracked
hood and roof are pretty toasted

What I want to do:
I would like to make a true pre-runner. My ultimate dream has always been to head out to mexico and drive around for a month chasing the swell surfing hard to get to spots.

My plan for the truck in the next couple weeks:
Go through the entire thing checking all the oils and grease everything.
Clean the sand and mud out of every little crack.
Pull the interior carpet and rhino line
Find some nice leather seats at the junk yard to swap in.
Pull the bumpers and stock fender flares.

What do you guys think I should do with the engine? 200,000 miles? Im thinking replace the head gasket and go through everything I can.

Front axle is HP dana 30. Would it be worth it to pull the driveshaft for daily driving? is there any resistance that could be released.

Plans for build:
Replace dana 35 with chrysler 8.8 with 4.11s open
Truss the hell out of the 30
Front pre-runner bumper
Rear Bumper
Fiberglass
lower control arm drop brackets.
Probably run bilsteins 7100s
Unibody reinforcement everywhere I can.
Probably run 33 all terrains.
Big roof rack and lots of lights.
Exhaust

drove it home 2 hours today on the highway cruising at 90-100 the whole way and it just floated along like a cadillac.

welcome back to the fold

Have any more pics?
Thing looks sweet.

Nice score.:cheers:

Good lookin' rig, sounds like a good start. A Mexican Surfari sounds like an excellent idea :thumbup:.

Going to Baja in two weeks, I am...looking for trails and NO trouble, I am. Getting to Punta San Jose on a dirt trail that was part of the Baja 500 or 1000 is a very fun part and I look forward to doing it on the now lifted heep...

So went through the entire truck today. Cleaned mud and sand out of every inch. Washed everything down and went through the suspension.

What i found!

No shocks in the rear lol. I don't know how I missed this when I bought it. One of the rear shock mounts on the body the bolts broke off. So I Guess it wont be hard to just go right through the floor board and into the cab soon.

The front steering is hiem(sp) joints so they need attention they are grinding bad.

The engine needs a good bath. The angle on the lower control arms is very extreme i need some drop brackets asap.

the exhaust is rusted through in a couple spots. and one of the welds is just broken totally.

Its nice to know everything though now.

So im sitting here thinking of my route of build. Im thinking Ill reinforce everything before doing anything.

I wanna run control arm drop brackets but i dnt wanna have to remove them later on to put on frame rail brace.

that baja trip sounds like a lot of fun! I'd be down to do something like that when I finish my cherokee...and learn to surf haha

im doing it for sure. hell i might just drive through central america down to like costa rica or something.

my buddy is doing it on a motorcycle: www.wheelchallenge.com

Keep us updated on the build!

I would seriously consider long arms if you're going to build a true pre-runner. Drop brackets put a lot of stress on the stock LCA area and it's very possible for them to crack off the uniframe rails. Especially with extreme wheeling of frequent jumping that risk would grow tremendously. Just food for thought, the final decision is obviously up to you. Nice rig by the way.

I agree with Long Arms. I love the ride that I have. I think it's a smoother ride than it was stock, and it handles whoops pretty darned well!

don't forget limit straps!

ya maybe long arms would be the best choice. Ive got no shocks in the rear at the moment and its a daily driver so im going to design a rear cage to stiffen the rear and run shocks up through the floor.

worked the exhaust today and just dumped it.

If i were to run drop control arm brackets i would brace the hell out of that area for sure. I guess well see how money is.

That thing looks purrdy!

I agree, a 4-link long arm setup would be ideal, but i think Jim is running welded DB's and his truck has seen some airtime. There might be pic's somewhere,maybe Jim could report on how they are holding up.

ya i honestly doubt ill be getting any air. Im going to have a bunch of supplies with me and surfboards so most of the time ill just be cruising.

I think for the price and effectiveness drop brackets welded up with frame stiffeners would do the job

I had loong arms on mine and LOVED them. You rig reminds me of my old one. ALOT!!!!