On Saturday morning I drove up into the neighborhood surrounding the University of Washington to meet with a guy named Joseph about the possible purchase of his Jeep Cherokee.
After getting stuck in traffic because of an inspection taking place on the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge my brother and I arrived at Joseph’s place and the inspection began. Underhood, undercarriage, top, bottom, inside, outside, front and back. When the vehicle passed all those inspections, no leaks, no damage, the test drive began.
Y’all weren’t kidding when you said the 4.0L was a grunter. Over the hills, through the valleys, up the interstate and across town, we drove for 30 minutes.
We arrived back at Joseph’s place and the haggling began. I won. I knocked 25% off his asking price and he countered with minus 12.5%. I subtracted 6.25% from that and our total was agreed. It helped that I had a wad of Ben Franklin’s in my hand at the time that he couldn’t take his eyes off. It always does.
The papers were signed the deal was done.
I’d like you all to meet Buddy.
Buddy is a 1993 Jeep Cherokee 2-door. He has a 5-Speed and 4WD capabilities. He came with the roof rack you see in the pics and near new (10K) wheels and tires. He just rolled over to 132K this weekend and came with all the service records including a recent professional maintenance service of the transfer case.
Joseph was the second owner and bought it from a friend of his parents two years ago. I was kind of sad to take it from him as he was selling it for tuition (Biology major). I’ve heard the story of guys selling their first car while in college, but I’ve never actually been the buyer.
He was sad to see it go, but I promised him I’d take very good care of it and that truly seemed to make him a bit happier.
UPDATE: Just got back from the trusted mechanical facility. I seem to have missed a slight bulge on the low side of the upper radiator hose in my inspection ($34 installed). Also, a noise that I thought was the fuel pump, was the fuel pump (I assumed it was a lack of floor insulation in Jeeps). It’ll need to be replaced sooner rather than later ($300 installed).
Other than that, flying colors folks.
As chairman of the welcoming committee it is my honor to extend to you a laurel and hardy welcome to the XJ community.
Mine has yet to let me down, but I have only managed to put 130k on it since I purchased it in 99. One thing hat I would recommend is to get the shop manual for it. Not that silly Haynes thing but the one that Jeep puts out for its mechanics.
That’s a fine looking ride. 1993? From the pictures it looks like it’s in great shape. Congratulations! (What is this nonsense about treating it well? That thing is screaming to be taken out into the hills).
Looks like one of those EEEEVuhhl BATFE Jeeps that hunt down peaceful Pro2A people…. 😉
Actually, good for you.
Just beware icy conditions if you don’t have excellent tires. From experience, Cherokees can be a bit squirrely in/on winter precip.
Had four Jeep Cherokees all with 4.0L. That straight six keeps on goin’. Some friends sniff at it as old technology but it’s also reliable technology. Think you’ll find maintenance pretty easy too. Plugs easy to get to and an oil change take no time at all.
‘Nother word on the I-6: they don’t like continuous high revs, unlike, say, a Nissan I-6. The engine grunts just fine in the 2-3K region, keep it there. Watch the valve guides/seals, the oil consumption will go way up (and blow away your cat) if they start to go, they go fast when they do. If you want to do anything woodsy to it, forget the mudder catalogs, look in the rock-wrangler books. That engine does fine with the stock chassis, but if you put a huge lift and big mutha tires on him, you’ll be straining the I-6 to turn all that extra claptrap at those more severe angles, and push those hugely resistant tires down the road. 2-4″ lift and the highest-profile LT tires you can get, 85-series, should give you decent ground clearance.
Second the diss on the ice squirreling. My experience was in a Waggoneer I-6 about 30 years older, but the Sprague unit in the transfer case had a healthy grab to it when it locked and unlocked, almost ALWAYS breaking traction on ice and snow. If that was combined with a curve in the highway, the results could be verrrrrry interrrrresting.
BTW, those wide doors will take a decent-length gun scabbard….
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