Allow me to introduce myself, as I am new here, but not new to the scene:

So my prior 4x4 vehicles have been a 2002 Ford Ranger Edge 2wd which was just a fun little truck, it was as capable as a stock 2wd truck could be expected to be, but was still fun:


Unfortunately, continuous engine problems got it lemoned. This turned into a 2002 Ford Ranger Edge 4x4 which really got me going on off-road driving. The Ranger was stock throughout its 16K life before I got t-boned and it disappeared. While I enjoyed the technical "clean" aspect of wheeling the old 2wd truck (and trying to find safe places to play), this one allowed me to enter some of the "Florida" (e.g., "everything is mud") wheeling to enter my history:



That being totalled lead to my F-150 (2wd) and the Samurai to beat on (I thought about going 4x4 in the F-150, but for the additional cost of having a nice (and large) truck to beat up, I could just buy the Samurai outright).

This F-150 now has some 80,000+ miles and is my daily driver:


The Samurai was lifted 5" with heavy fender trimming, ran 4:1 t-case gears, 3.73's (stock) in the axles, with a spool in the rear, and 31x11.50 Baja Claws on some 15x6 steelies. It was snorkeled and straight piped with cut hinges on the doors with steel front and rear bumpers and some other here's and there's. It was ugly, loud, underpowered, and great fun to drive. The only real problem it ever gave me on the trail was slipping the splines on the front driveshaft because I could outflex it

The Samurai came to me looking like this:


It could fake being pretty, like this:



It was even a tough little truck, and after a flop into someone with "real" mud tires (40" hawgs)'s tracks, it more often looked like this:


But it required a bit of this:


Once I sold the Samurai, somewhat relative was my Ninja, I got involved with this little guy for a while (and is still my daily driver on occasion - I have a 60mile daily commute so sometimes I give the F-150 a break):


I just now - as my new "something to wrench on" purchased a 1992 Jeep Cherokee. My only requirements for my new wheeler were: Fit 4 people, SFA, real 4x4 (e.g., 4lo not AWD crap), and running. Enter my $500 XJ:


Now, this beast has rust (e.g., missing) rockers, but the main areas of unibody are strong. It's at 210,700 miles and the top of the motor was rebuilt @195,000. It has an AW4 that was replaced at 195,000 miles as well.

I drove 140 miles each way to pick it up (a nice little road trip with my brother in law), and drove it back home averaging 70MPH and receiving a (rough) ~22MPG.

The bad:
The tailgate inner panel is gone.
The radio is gone.
The speakers in the front doors are hacked in and not wired to the missing slot for radio. They are presumed dead.
The driverside door sags just a little.
I'm missing my front passengerside turn signal plastic
Missing rockers from rust, and rusty passengerside front floorboards.
Faded-to-gray roof paint
Horrible exhaust
No air conditioning (heating or cooling)
The "bottom teeth" of the passengersidefront window are gone, so previous owner said if I roll window "all the way down" it may get stuck, but down to like 1-2" is safe.
I've got a coolant leak - gotta track down the hose/clamp situation.
The interior dome light doesn't work
When I turn on the headlights, the right blinker (indicator on dash) lights up (but doesn't flash, and doesn't affect the exterior lights)

The good:
It was $500!
Engine runs strong and feels powerful.
Gas mileage was better than expected.
I got a "fullsize" spare, even if its only got 235's on it right now.
The windows all work and are manual
The locks all work and are manual
My brights, headlights, and all turn signals work.
Hazards work
Nice "class 3" 2" hitch on the back wired for 4/7 pin and reinforced well.
Tailgate shocks are new and hold up gate
Seats are in great condition (front and rear)
All front area carpet is in great condition (front and rear seats)
Steering is great
Ride is great
All fluids are clean and it has a new air filter
New radiator
All seatbelts work and retract properly, etc.
Transfer case engages smoothly and pulls evenly.
All glass is intact.

The indifferent:
Not sure what to think about the violet tint on all the rear windows... my wife thinks it's pretty though - and I think it'd be pretty PITA to remove, so it stays.

The plans now:
Make it a nice little camping toy. Nothing extreme - as while Florida has some great terrain and mud is fun to romp in, I don't feel like "competing" with the guys on 5tons with V10's and tractor tires.
Clean up the rust is a must. This will be the biggest/hardest part I'm sure.
Go up 2 - MAYBE - 3" of lift.
29-31" semi-aggressive tires (29" TSLs call to me)
Lock both axles with aussie's or lockrites
Go bedliner on the floors once rust is cleaned up. Not a big fan of carpet in a toy.
Take out dead air conditioner head and fill that and radio slot with a nice dashmount CB.

P.S.,
Yes, I use "quoted" phrases a lot. IDK why.

 

nice heep

 

congrats on the new XJ ...

 

lookes good. but the rockers are easy just check out my jeep build it is labeled as "the gremlin" and be thankfull your floorboards are not as bad as mine. but looks good cannot wait to see more on this one.

 

Yeah, I'd been snooping on multiple Cherokee forums since I won this on e-bay this past monday. For $500 had no idea what I'd find when I got there. Seeing your thread - well, umm, at least yours still has some rockers Mine on the passengerside are extremely bad; however, all of this has be terribly sad that I left the aluminum welding shop I worked at priorly before I learned really anything other than being a shop-boy. I am not sure how I will go about fixing them, but I may end up having to pay someone to weld in and do miniature boatsides for it, as I'm good with a sawzall and hacksaw but not so much with a tig or mig.

 

Looks like a good start...

 

So, after reading (can't remember who/where) someone's horror story about the sogginess of XJ's dampener under the carpet, I cut into mine in the rear hatch area. I don't have any rust that goes through from the outside, and yet it was heavy as hell and I could literally wring out the dampener pad. The carpet was perfectly dry though

Anyway, the rear carpet's out, debating how quickly I'm going to rip out all the rest of the carpet as well, as I've got no need to have soggy DAMPener sitting in there:

Time: 5 minutes
Tools: Serrated-edge of pocket knife
Cost: A minute or two re-sharpening blade later.

Before:


What was lurking beneath:


The soggy mess removed:

 

Added to plans: Take out dead air conditioner head and fill that and radio slot with a nice dashmount CB.

 

A little work today:

The exhaust when it came home:


The exhaust cut, tightened up on its hangers, and tipped off with some less-homo paint:

 

I also looking into any information about WTF is with these shocks. Wrapped around the rear hitch is an air valve that runs off to the back (very thick tubed) shocks. Obviously they are valved and adjustable and not stock, I've just never seen quite a similar setup:

This:

Which is this up close:

With this line off of it:

Leads to:

 

Air shocks, I haven't seen a set like that in a long time...

 

Makes ya wanna sit in the back of an old Lincoln Town Car and take it over some sweet speed bumps huh

 

Got the coolant leak dealt with today, was just a matter of pulling out the connection here:


And adding some new teflon tape to seal it (and tightening it better).


Still on the fence about swapping my running gear or getting into the heavy rust repair :/

 

i also have a 92 cherokee. I think whoever owned it before you was a little strange... red tailpipe and purple tinted windows?

 

Yeah, I was mucho surprised that the interior didn't stink of marijuana

Times are slow right now. Cold weather and holidays means it's time to cash in on overtime, and the sun goes down around 5PM :/