Well, I’m getting pretty darn close to being an official Jeeper! This is technically the third Jeep I’ve owned, the other two being an ‘83 Cherokee and an ‘83 CJ5, but neither of them ever made it past project level to driver...
This one, a 97 TJ has been sitting in my garage for over 4 years but ito really close to getting on the road. I got it from a buddy minus tranny, thpransfer case, skid plate and drive shafts. No luck finding an original tranny so I ‘upgraded’ to an AW4 out of a Cherokee. It’s got a tummy tuck skid plate and I fit a mega short slip yoke eliminator to the T-case to help with rear drive shaft length. It sat in a mostly finished state for over three years but a couple months ago, I bit the bullet and had a high school buddy come get it and he finished up a bunch of the details. He finished up the tranny mounting, shifters for the tranny and T-case, motor mount lift, had driveshafts faded up to proper length, adjustable upper control arms for the rear diff. He rigged up the neutral safety switch so it’ll start and run. He drove it around his place a little and now I’ve taken it for a couple laps around the neighborhood. I’m building a new wiring harness for the AW4’s computer so it’ll shift like it should. I’m also adding in a switch to lock it into 1st gear when I get it out wheeling. I’ve still got some stuff to do but it’s getting very close. Last week I got a new wiper motor installed, the winch installed and wired up, bumper locked down. I’m waiting on a couple plugs to finish the wiring harness and it’ll be ready to test drive some. I’ve got seat covers and a new top to install. It’s got 33-10.50’s on it and I want to get a matching 5th tire for the spare and a new rear bumper with a hitch and recovery points. It’s got less than 92,000 miles on it so I think it’s got lots of life in it! Considering it’s been sitting for 15 years, it fired up and runs great.
Great looking Jeep! Just a baby at 92k!
