1J4FT28S8VL513855

[Rex89]

1997 Jeep Cherokee XJ

 

4.0L, 5 speed (AX-15), 2wd

 

Current location: southeast Louisiana (Northshore area)

 

 

Was daily driving a TJ and realized I needed more space to haul kids and stuff. I really had been wanting an XJ anyway. So I set out to find a standard transmission 97+ XJ and sold the TJ. 

 

Took a while to find a 97+ XJ with a standard trans that was in decent shape. They seem to be disproportionately automatic, especially after 97. I don't even know if they made very many 4.0 L XJ with a 5-speed after 99, because every 5-speed I was finding from 2000-01 was a 2.5L. 

 

Finally found one in decent shape that was in budget. But the reason it was in my budget was that it was a salvage title...

 

 

A father and son had done a lot of work to restore it for the son's 16th birthday and unfortunately it got wrecked. So they decided to go ahead and sell it.

 

It was near Daytona, FL, about 10 hours from me. But I got a great deal on it and had it on the road less than a week later! Welded a new support in the front, put in a new radiator, and new condenser (and other new AC stuff it needed).

 

 

 

And I was extremely lucky that an XJ with the same paint code and with the parts I needed just so happened to appear in a nearby junkyard right before I went to get my XJ.

 

 

So I took what I needed off that and put them on mine. Almost good as new! I've been daily driving it since December, but just hadn't gotten around it to uploading it here yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JZLAJeep]

Nice work!

 

19 hours ago, Rex89 said:

Took a while to find a 97+ XJ with a standard trans that was in decent shape. They seem to be disproportionately automatic, especially after 97. I don't even know if they made very many 4.0 L XJ with a 5-speed after 99, because every 5-speed I was finding from 2000-01 was a 2.5L. 

I've noticed this too. I have owned three 5-speed XJs and they have been '94, '95, and '96. 5-speed XJs are fairly rare anyway, but they do seem to be rarer after '97. I've seen a few in ads, including an ad for a '97 two-door, 5-speed XJ once but the guy wanted what I thought was an outrageous price for what was otherwise a base model XJ with fried paint and some body damage. Apparently he got his asking price though.