(Specs and upgrades below)
My family is selling its much-loved camping and adventure rig. This Jeep is extremely comfortable while being a capable rig on moderate to gnarly trails. We’ve been a lot of places in this Jeep and had some great experiences. It spent the first third of its life as a family hauler, then the rest as an adventure vehicle mostly. I do drive it to work about once per week to keep things running in good shape.
The V8 is powerful and has been very reliable for us, as has the transmission. The transfer case and axles have been reliable too. Although I don’t baby this Jeep, I’m more of a “low & slow” wheeler. I also have taken care of mechanical issues promptly as they have arisen to maintain reliability as we venture far from cell phone coverage. This early WJ has the mechanical fan on the motor, which is considered more robust than the later hydraulic fan. The front brake calipers are the Akebono models from later WJ’s, which replaced the problematic calipers that came on this Jeep originally. I never experienced the rotor warpage that old style was prone to cause, but replaced them on my mechanic’s advice anyway.
The inside is comfortable and quiet, with a nice ride on the road and a much better ride on the trail compared to some other trucks. Frankly, it’s a really refined vehicle for the way we use it! Modifications were chosen with a lot of thought to quality, strength, usefulness, and comfort.
The dual-zone climate control works great and the A/C blows cold. The seat heaters in this thing get so hot, they’re definitely not OSHA-approved! Great for cold mornings in camp… yes, I’ve been known to sip coffee with the seat heaters on waiting for sleepy campers to wake up on cold mornings. Don’t judge me.
It is currently wired for a rear auxiliary battery. I will happily leave the wiring and Hellroaring isolator/combiner if you want it for an extra $100. The Hellroaring unit is an excellent solid-state isolator/combiner and the wiring was cleanly run to the rear cargo area with fuses under the hood and in the back. This will save some coin (copper’s expensive!) for someone wanting to run a fridge as we did.
As I had two ham radios and a CB radio, there are Panavise “ears” installed on either side of the center console. I’ll leave these installed if you want them.
Lastly, I was going to upgrade to an NV242 transfer case with 2-Hi, AWD, 4-Hi, & 4-Lo, so I bought an HD model and a matching rear driveshaft from a V8 WJ. I will throw them in for another $350. It’s a fairly easy swap, but I figured I’d wait until my NV247 went out and it just keeps on going! (Not that I’m complaining).
Asking $7,500. Please get in touch with me if you would like to schedule a time to see and drive the Jeep or have any questions. For my asking price, I will happily drive the vehicle to meet you... as far as the Bay Area, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc. so I can catch a cheap flight home.
-Chris
Specs
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited (WJ) with Tow Package
135,000 miles
Silver exterior
Black interior with wood accents
Engine: 4.7L V8
545RE automatic transmission (had firmware upgrade years ago)
Transfer Case: NV247 transfer case (AWD and locked 4-low)
Front Axle: Dana 30 with U-joint drive shaft
Rear Axle: Dana 44HD (aka 44A)
Axle ratio: 3.73
Tires: LT265/75R16 BF Goodrich T/A All Terrain
Brakes: Front & rear disc (front calipers are Akebono, the model that the later WJ’s came with, not the troublesome original style)
Sears Diehard Platinum AGM group 65 battery
Tow package included oil coilers & high-output alternator
Sliding & tilting power sun roof
Two-level seat heaters (the high setting gets HOT)
Premium audio package (sounds good for a stock setup)
10-disc CD changer
Upgrades
Iron Rock Offroad 3” coil lift with heavy-duty track bar
Bilstein 5125 shock absorbers
JKS Quicker Disconnects (front swaybar)
Iron Rock rear sawybar end links
Tenneco heavy-duty steering stabilizer
Iron Rock Offroad bump stop extensions
Iron Rock Offroad rock sliders
Black steel 16” rims
Mopar front skid plate
Mopar transfer case skid plate
Mopar gas tank skid plate
Kennesaw Mountain front bumper
Driving/fog lights wired to factory switch
Smittybilt XRC 10,000lb winch
Protofab rear bumper with (a really nice) swing-out spare tire mount
Thule heavy duty load bars
Yakima Load Warrior basket with two extensions (covers length of roof)
Yakima shovel mount
Yakima Hi-Lift jack mount
Added crossovers to dash tweeters
Rubber floor mats in front and cargo area
Antenna mounts on both tail lights
Hellroaring isolator/combiner and wiring for rear auxiliary battery
Known Issues
Rear passenger power lock doesn’t work (my son calls it the Jeep goose because it makes a funny noise)
Driver side front window is slow to go up and down
Tires rub a bit when flexed
Front driver seat leather surface is worn in the usual places
Back seat bottom broken on driver side (can’t see it unless it’s tilted up to put back seats down)
Some “Desert pinstriping” and a few blemishes on exterior paint (not too egregious… I still drive it to work. Detailer may be able to polish these out)
Some scrapes in the rock sliders and skid plates (glad they were there!)
Headliner has a couple spots and small tears from packing big stuff
Steering wheel leather is a little mushy – a common problem with this vintage Chrysler steering wheel
Couple screw holes in out-of-the way trim pieces – nothing front-and-center or too noticeable
Recent work done
Front CV axle shafts
Front wheel hub bearing assemblies
Rear brake pads
Hood struts
Five-tire rotation (I like to keep all five in sync)
Wipers
New BF Goodrich All-Terrains (5)
Transfer case fluid (Mopar NV247 limited slip)
More photos will follow after I remove the radios and clean all the Borrego and Sierra dust out. :sombrero:
My family is selling its much-loved camping and adventure rig. This Jeep is extremely comfortable while being a capable rig on moderate to gnarly trails. We’ve been a lot of places in this Jeep and had some great experiences. It spent the first third of its life as a family hauler, then the rest as an adventure vehicle mostly. I do drive it to work about once per week to keep things running in good shape.
The V8 is powerful and has been very reliable for us, as has the transmission. The transfer case and axles have been reliable too. Although I don’t baby this Jeep, I’m more of a “low & slow” wheeler. I also have taken care of mechanical issues promptly as they have arisen to maintain reliability as we venture far from cell phone coverage. This early WJ has the mechanical fan on the motor, which is considered more robust than the later hydraulic fan. The front brake calipers are the Akebono models from later WJ’s, which replaced the problematic calipers that came on this Jeep originally. I never experienced the rotor warpage that old style was prone to cause, but replaced them on my mechanic’s advice anyway.
The inside is comfortable and quiet, with a nice ride on the road and a much better ride on the trail compared to some other trucks. Frankly, it’s a really refined vehicle for the way we use it! Modifications were chosen with a lot of thought to quality, strength, usefulness, and comfort.
The dual-zone climate control works great and the A/C blows cold. The seat heaters in this thing get so hot, they’re definitely not OSHA-approved! Great for cold mornings in camp… yes, I’ve been known to sip coffee with the seat heaters on waiting for sleepy campers to wake up on cold mornings. Don’t judge me.
It is currently wired for a rear auxiliary battery. I will happily leave the wiring and Hellroaring isolator/combiner if you want it for an extra $100. The Hellroaring unit is an excellent solid-state isolator/combiner and the wiring was cleanly run to the rear cargo area with fuses under the hood and in the back. This will save some coin (copper’s expensive!) for someone wanting to run a fridge as we did.
As I had two ham radios and a CB radio, there are Panavise “ears” installed on either side of the center console. I’ll leave these installed if you want them.
Lastly, I was going to upgrade to an NV242 transfer case with 2-Hi, AWD, 4-Hi, & 4-Lo, so I bought an HD model and a matching rear driveshaft from a V8 WJ. I will throw them in for another $350. It’s a fairly easy swap, but I figured I’d wait until my NV247 went out and it just keeps on going! (Not that I’m complaining).
Asking $7,500. Please get in touch with me if you would like to schedule a time to see and drive the Jeep or have any questions. For my asking price, I will happily drive the vehicle to meet you... as far as the Bay Area, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc. so I can catch a cheap flight home.
-Chris
Specs
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited (WJ) with Tow Package
135,000 miles
Silver exterior
Black interior with wood accents
Engine: 4.7L V8
545RE automatic transmission (had firmware upgrade years ago)
Transfer Case: NV247 transfer case (AWD and locked 4-low)
Front Axle: Dana 30 with U-joint drive shaft
Rear Axle: Dana 44HD (aka 44A)
Axle ratio: 3.73
Tires: LT265/75R16 BF Goodrich T/A All Terrain
Brakes: Front & rear disc (front calipers are Akebono, the model that the later WJ’s came with, not the troublesome original style)
Sears Diehard Platinum AGM group 65 battery
Tow package included oil coilers & high-output alternator
Sliding & tilting power sun roof
Two-level seat heaters (the high setting gets HOT)
Premium audio package (sounds good for a stock setup)
10-disc CD changer
Upgrades
Iron Rock Offroad 3” coil lift with heavy-duty track bar
Bilstein 5125 shock absorbers
JKS Quicker Disconnects (front swaybar)
Iron Rock rear sawybar end links
Tenneco heavy-duty steering stabilizer
Iron Rock Offroad bump stop extensions
Iron Rock Offroad rock sliders
Black steel 16” rims
Mopar front skid plate
Mopar transfer case skid plate
Mopar gas tank skid plate
Kennesaw Mountain front bumper
Driving/fog lights wired to factory switch
Smittybilt XRC 10,000lb winch
Protofab rear bumper with (a really nice) swing-out spare tire mount
Thule heavy duty load bars
Yakima Load Warrior basket with two extensions (covers length of roof)
Yakima shovel mount
Yakima Hi-Lift jack mount
Added crossovers to dash tweeters
Rubber floor mats in front and cargo area
Antenna mounts on both tail lights
Hellroaring isolator/combiner and wiring for rear auxiliary battery
Known Issues
Rear passenger power lock doesn’t work (my son calls it the Jeep goose because it makes a funny noise)
Driver side front window is slow to go up and down
Tires rub a bit when flexed
Front driver seat leather surface is worn in the usual places
Back seat bottom broken on driver side (can’t see it unless it’s tilted up to put back seats down)
Some “Desert pinstriping” and a few blemishes on exterior paint (not too egregious… I still drive it to work. Detailer may be able to polish these out)
Some scrapes in the rock sliders and skid plates (glad they were there!)
Headliner has a couple spots and small tears from packing big stuff
Steering wheel leather is a little mushy – a common problem with this vintage Chrysler steering wheel
Couple screw holes in out-of-the way trim pieces – nothing front-and-center or too noticeable
Recent work done
Front CV axle shafts
Front wheel hub bearing assemblies
Rear brake pads
Hood struts
Five-tire rotation (I like to keep all five in sync)
Wipers
New BF Goodrich All-Terrains (5)
Transfer case fluid (Mopar NV247 limited slip)
More photos will follow after I remove the radios and clean all the Borrego and Sierra dust out. :sombrero:
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