Cherokee question

[Wingman]

Soon be in the market for a used Cherokee for a new driver.  What are the trouble spots (ie rust, etc)?  I\'m pretty familiar with the drivetrain stuff...

[rejeep]

Don\'t buy one here and there are no problems....

[Wingman]

Not worth driving a thousand miles to pick up a $1500 pile.  It doesn\'t need to last forever or even look nice, just safe.

[rejeep]

Look in ct or mass...... Have to send mike there anyway to pick up my mj

[MrMindless]

a $1500 pile there is a $2500 pile here - and \'everywhere\' is a rust issue on local rigs :)

[bear555]

The standard rust spots on mine are:
front driver corner of the roof, below the gas cap, bottom of the doors, inside the lip of the front doors on the body looking up when the door is open. If Jeep had put a better seal between the roof and side panels half of the rust would be gone.

Mechanical
If the AW4 auto transmission hasn\'t been over heated its good. When I was shopping of my XJ I must have driven 20 of them, every one had the shift from neutral to drive engagement clunk, but it never got worse on mine so I ignore it.
They put a few wire splices at the door so the power windows and front speakers can get flaky over time.

But given all that IMHO a used xj is the best bang for the buck in the 4x4 market.

If I find a good price on a used 4dr KJ Rubi I should be selling my xj.

[MrMindless]

bear555 wrote:

every one had the shift from neutral to drive engagement clunk, but it never got worse on mine so I ignore it.

that\'s gear backlash in the 8.25\"

normal for Dakotas too....

[thomasxj97]

Mostly the cherokee is a good offroad rig for the price.  I would recommend staying away from 1999.5 and newer models since they have more emmission stuff on them.  Also I hear many of the newer models blow head gaskets shortly after 100K miles.  to me the 1997 through 1999 are great years for cherokees.  They have the newest looks and interior, plus better driveline conponents.  cherokees are known to rust under the the foot rests.  Also keep an extra belt handy since it runs everything attached to the engine. lol.