bigfish55

Hello All

We inherited a 1997 cherokee 4 dr with the 4.0 engine. My youngest son really liked it so we decided to get it up and running for his first car. This jeep had not been driven in 9 years, and was sitting under a carport in East Tennessee. It is a 1997 and it had 77,000 original miles i think it is a ZW? The owners had bought it for there mountain home and just got to old to drive it. I borrowed a big trailer and we went up and got it and towed it back to NE Florida. We have done most all of the basics, and have it running good. Of course we had to put a 1.5 inch leveling kit and black wheels and 31 inch all terrain tires on it so it would look proper for a junior in high school. We think the next thing that needs to be done to the truck would be to redo the front end. The steering has quite a bit of play so i was thinking of ordering him a front end rebuild kit. We do not need anything fancy, just a good price kit that covers most everything since the original stuff is 25 years old and i am sure all of the bushing and such are shot.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, along with any advice. Now that i see he really likes the jeep i think we are going to make it good for him for the next 4 or 5 years.

I will put a picture of it below, this was the night we got the tires and wheels on.

Cheers.

WestyXJ

That is a "ZJ" Grand Cherokee.
As far as the steering play goes, as was noted in your previous post in the Cherokee section, have someone
saw the steering back and forth while you and your son lay on the ground underneath it, looking for any play in the tie rod ends, track bar
etc, etc.
If you find any, repair & replace.
It could be that you need to adjust the steering box.
There are great tutorials on youtube.
Be very careful if you try this though. Too much tightening and the box is shot.
The other possibility, if everything else checks out is that your just not familiar with how
a lifted Jeep drives and feels.
Did you get it aligned after the lift?
Are the tires balanced?
Just some things to think about.
Good luck!

wingless

Welcome to the forum.

Nice looking ZJ.

This reply shows the parts I used to restore my stock Up Country ZJ to new handling condition.

Some of the parts will need to be different for your ZJ w/ the lift kit.