Project Justin's DD, 2001 Cherokee Sport

[JustinG]

So I got a DD and have retired the GSX to Weekend/AutoX Duty. I have been contemplating getting a DD. My three requirements were Room, Reliability, and Cost. So after much research and talking with others, this 2001 Cherokee with 130k fit the bill, we all know they are cheap and tanks, and it has the room Casey and I need/want. So, we are the 4th owner, this was a Fleet vehicle, purchased w/ 88k by Caseys Co workers parents, which was passed down to her, which was then purchased by me . Previous owners had this religiously looked after by a Jeep Dealership, oil changes every 3 months regardless of mileage, some Emissions hoses replaced, and new A/C compressor. It was painted a little over a year ago, the co workers mother got the pass front door dinged up in a parking lot and had the door replaced and it was mismatch, so before she handed it over it was resprayed. Its by no means an awesome paint job, but GM would put its stamp of approval on it.

I found out some cool stuff, this ain't your average Sport, thanks to some investigating by Jeff, we found out this was a Fed Govt fleet vehicle. They ordered it with HD cooling system, featuring an upgraded Radiator, tranny cooler. Also has HD suspension, giving it 1in of lift, heavier springs, and shocks compared to the stock suspension, and it has Skid plates.

Upon further inspection, the front diff seal has a slight leak, and the Oil drain does as well, so im gonna fix those up at some point, and I need to change the tranny fluid/filter, and prob do a coolant flush.

So on to the pics.....






Black/Grey cloth, and they had a radio and speakers installed, but i liked the radio out of the GSX better so I swapped that over.

FUTURE PLANS:

Well being as this is my DD we are keeping it mild for the 2-3 years its gonna be a DD, but immediate plans are....
-Get rid of the god awful vinyl stickers the painter put on there to replace to OEM decals, already pulled the one off the back hatch, next I gotta tackle the sides.
-Hitch, dad has one laying around we are gonna see if it fits, otherwise i gotta find one.
-Wheels, the steelies are god awful IMO, and im leaning towards some OEM "ECCOS" or some Black Steelies like Cragar D style wheels
-Safari Rack, so I can get the full size spare out of the back, and will give even more storage space
-Beefier Tires

FAR FAR FUTURE PLANS:
-3in lift
-TIRES, BIG ONES
-Front Hitch
-make it a fun weekend mall/trail rig

so back to the wheels....

Thoughts, keep in mind this will be on a stock height jeep with stock size tires. Im personally kinda feelin the Eccos, but want other peoples opinions, how bout we make a poll....

ECCOS


Steelies

[Mike]

VW!?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Hes not dumb :p

[Mike]

Yeah... he drives a DSM. Clearly brilliant...

[JustinG]

UPDATED, and Mikey, Im a slow learner.

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice man, I don't think the stock wheels you have on there look that bad.

[JustinG]

Nice man, I don't think the stock wheels you have on there look that bad.

the picture is deceiving, they have some rust on em, but I can always pull em and clean em and respray.

[fiveoh2go]

Looks clean, I'd just refurbish the wheels that are on it and save a few bucks. :dunno:

[Dave]

Nice. Are we gonna have a Jeep contingent soon to go with the Impreza/M3 ones?

I think you should pull the current wheels, clean them up and respray them. Gold, black, and a dark gray would all look great. If you insist on spending $$ though, get the black steelies.

[Jake]

I like the Eccos. Also liked the wheels that Jeff/Ryan's XJ had, the silver 5-spokes, thicker spokes than the Eccos. Both look good IMO.

Congrats!

[Steve85]

Nice!

I definitely should have gotten one of these "for my daughter" instead of the damn Cabrio.

I like the Eccos, and by that I mean I don't like the all black wheel on a black car look. That second pic looks cheap, IMO. I would refinish the stock wheels or find something else OEM Jeep somebody is dumping.

[JustinG]

......update to come.

[LC619FR]

Nice looking XJ...going through your plans hopes and dreams I noticed you wanted to go BIG on the tires, I'm sure Jeff's already told you the biggest you're really going to be able to stuff under there on a 3" lift is about a 31" tire without doing any trimming to the body. As far as wheels go I'd keep the ones you have and put some bigger meat on there, they'll handle a 10.5 tire fine, if you scratch it you can spray paint it. If you want to get away from the steelies that are on there now I'd go with the canyons that Jeff had on his, I think with a meaty tire they look slick on an XJ. The front diff leak is a pretty common thing on the D30 front axle, short of going to a lube locker gasket there's not a whole lot you're going to be able to do, and even if you get that it'll prolly still leak out around the fill plug. Just remember though it's a Jeep if you hear a new noise it means your radio's not turned up enough.
Just
Empty
Every
Pocket

[JustinG]

... I noticed you wanted to go BIG on the tires, I'm sure Jeff's already told you the biggest you're really going to be able to stuff under there on a 3" lift is about a 31" tire without doing any trimming to the body.

Yea i know, doubt ill go any bigger than that, the big tires was more so of a joke.

Update.....

So I thought the A/C just needed to be recharged.......NOT REALLY, so the evaporator was kaput upon further investigation, so pulled the dash and replaced the evaporator and heater core to be safe. Ran into some more trouble, floor board was rusted and had holes in two spots, one about the size of a baseball the other the size of a grape. :finger: So patch panels riveted and seam sealed in, and covered in undercoat. Well see what happens. Everything is bolted back up just waiting on the undercoat to dry in the floor board then the carpet, seats and console are back in. But its weird cause im not discouraged as many would assume. Its actually very easy to work on, you dont have to be a midget with the hands of a 3 year old to work on it, there is room to actually move. Anyways its holding an A/C charge, and the holes are fixed, next on the list are the front diff, painting the wheels, and adding some car chargers/cigg lighters under the rear seat and back cubby hole.

For the week I drove it til I tore it apart, I honestly loved it. :thumbup:

[BLAIR]

4.5 inch lift and 33's. quit being a FAG.

[JustinG]

Well most XJ owners know, the stock headlights suck, most people see up to a 4 volt drop from the battery to the headlight using the factory harness. Solution, buy or build your own harness, i chose the later. Installed the harness and everything but i have yet to find 2 5pole relays anywhere in richmond that arent like $12 each. So I cant tell if it has made a difference yet since its on the jeep but not hooked up. I also semi went the route jeff did on his/thayers jeep. I installed 2 cigg outlets in the rear, one is always hot other is on with the key, also put in a 3 cigg plug under the rear seat, 2 hot, 1 on with key. The cool thing is the 3 way plug i hacked has a safety shut off if the voltage gets too low, so all the outlets that are always hot are using that feature. My reasoning? Under the rear seat i plan on installing a streamlight flashlight with a charging station and plug in an inverter to the seat or cargo area outlets.

I found 2 hella 550s for $20 on craigslist so those will be mounted on the bumper and ill either keep em or mount em to a safari rack and purchase some round hella 500s at some point.

Headed to the junkyard tomorrow before the cookout in search of a hitch, factory fog light switch and extra roof rack cross bars to try and make a tire carrier til i can get a safari rack. Maybe even try and find some Eccos while im there since i know the guy who owns the junkyard

Pics to come....

[JustinG]

Found a hitch at the junkyard for $26, and the fogs are actually Hella 450s, came in the mail yesterday, should be installing this weekend, and painting my wheels as well. I'm really bad at this posting pictures stuff.

[JustinG]

I'm horrible at updating this....

$26 hitch installed. That's exactly how it looked out of the junkyard, didn't even have to paint it.


$20 hella 450s, found out these actually have some 100w bulbs in them, they make driving with the low beams on an option again.


And....
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Thoughts? Of course I'm gonna try and jew the guy down, but good decision? If I can get him to come down?

EDIT: Guy wouldn't come down in price, so looks like ill refinish the wheels on it tomorrow

[JustinG]

ordered this, should be here friday, not a hardcore rack but itll serve my purposes of a spare tire carrier/crap hauler

[ScottyB]

those hellas look kickass. you should see if you can find the plastic covers that say Hella on them. they look sweet and might come in handy on road trips or if you know you're going to be behind a car spitting gravel.

i used to have a set just like those (w/glass lenses) with the covers and i should never had gotten rid of them.