88 xj 4wd with 188k miles on the body. The 4.0 motor is from a 96 with 80k miles on it. It's a bit rough, but that's what I wanted. I wanted something that I would not be afraid to beat up.
I paid $1200 for it and picked it up today after selling my old Fiat.
The good is it's a workhorse. Runs pretty good. Oil pressure is at a solid 60 while driving. Charging at just under 14v. I was suprised how much torque the 4.0 has. It has brand new tires and a massive Reese hitch that is damned near brand new. It has a slight lift (about 2-3 inches).
The bad..... it's got a small rust hole in the right rear wheel well. The most concerning issues with rust is just in front of the right leaf spring. Where the unercarriage/floorpan begins the radius to the front edge of the wheel well is rusted through the metal. When I test drove and looked at it, I saw a small hole there. When I got it home I took the wheel off to get a better look. It's definately gonna need some welding work done.
Another potential issue is that it may have a broken motor mount or tranny mount. When accellerating a bit hard, usually (not always) turning right I hear and feel a quick thumping. I feels and sounds like it is coming from under the console/tranny area. It almost feels and sounds like the drive shaft is thumping against the undercarriage. I crawled under it to look for a place where it may be doing this and counld not find it. While threre I noticed that it looks like the rear tranny seal is leaking. I also think the rear main is/was leaking. The cross brace under the motor/tranny will definately not rust as it sits now. I cannot see any fresh oil. I'll have to keep a close eye on the oil level unitl I figure out where it is coming from.
The body is in relativelt decent shape. The rockers are solid. Both front doors have a bubbling area of rust centered near the bottom edge. THe left rear fender also has a small bubble near the bottom, about two inches in front of the fender flare.
I plan on addressing these areas by cleaning the rust out, then coating with bedliner.
The paint on the roof is flaking off. I'm gonna sand the roof and paint the whole thing with bedliner.
I know that this thread is worthless without pics. I took a couple and could not post them due to a resepction issue with my phone. I'll go outside to smoke one and try to send them again.
Based on the vast Cherokee experience of members here compared with no experience on my part, I'd love to hear some feed back and opinions on which options I have to address these issues.

 

Forgot to mention one thing. The Cherokee has new shocks also. THe rear shocks are air shocks. A buddy of mine suggested that I get rid of teh air shocks and go with oil shocks. He tole me that they are really rough on it and will eventualyl damage the car. Is this true?
He claimed that they do not absorb bumps. Becuase they are so stiff they do not compress when you hit a bump as much as an oil shock. He statedf this causes the energy from the bump to transfer through the shock and go into the body where the shock smount. True or false? As stated, I am very new to off roading and issues that relate to offroad vehicles.

 

drivers side motor mount sounds like its dry rotted.

Cut out the rust and fill it in.

Air shocks are better for off-road, but not good for DDing. Yes the shock mounting points take a beating.

If you think there is a leak, there probably is.

 

By jeremy128 at 2010-10-26


By jeremy128 at 2010-10-26

 

Nice Renix Jeep.