I always wanted to do one of these, but I already had several Cherokees in various build stages before I found this site. Then along came #5 and I decided to take some pictures from the start and keep track of things as I went, so here for your consideration is my fifth Cherokee and first build thread.
I got this 91 four door from a friend who bought a Rubicon and wanted to concentrate on it. I paid $600.
Its a 1991 with 170,000 miles. 5 speed AX15, 4.0 Liter No rust (or so I thought) with several issues:
The heater did not work
Tilt steering was all loose
Windshield is cracked
Clutch would engage then quickly leak down and move the rig
Seat belt had been cut because the button would not release the buckle
Side trim was starting to peel
Won't start on the first turn of the key
Tires are shot
Shifter knob was a rock
no sound system
First job was to fix the heater. That turned out to be easy because the problem was the connector on the control. The clips just needed to be squeezed closed a little so they maintained contact. The next job was the steering column and that just required reattachment of the retaining screws down inside the column. The threads on this forum made that job easy.
Pulled the seat belts out and replaced the cut one. Found two quarters jammed in the latch. Replaced the clutch master cylinder and solved the bleed off problem
It was about this time that my 17 year old daughter started to take an interest in this jeep. She has driven the others and stated she wanted to have use of this one but wanted it lifted before she would be seen in it. so here she sits stock height. 15 inched from the the ground to the bottom of the rocker panels
I bought a Rough Country 3" lift with rear add a leafs and it raised the jeep exactly 3 inches. I will have to add that picture later.
When I went to reattach the side trim I found out that the passenger door had been replaced and that the new door had serious rust under the trim with at least three nickle sized holes.
I decided to plug the holes and use Herculiner to cover the rust. First I cleaned all the bad bondo and loose rust down to the actual metal. Then treated it all with Ospho rust converter. Then cleaned it up, roughed it up and taped it off.
Next was two coats of Herculiner with about 2 hours between coats.
While things were still wet I pulled the masking off and I am pretty satisfied with the results. You can also see the results of the lift in these pictures.
Next I will likely add wheels and tires.
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