Haven't seen too many ZJ's on here.

[JakeC]

Hello!

My name is Jake, I stumbled across this forum while on another forum for Jeeps. I never really knew this type of "lifestyle" existed. I'm a pretty hands on type of guy and plan to do most, if not all modifications for my Jeep. This is my first Jeep, and being all around car guy, i love it. I'm not yet into the whole expedition thing just yet, as it requires money and lots of time, and both of those are scarce at this time. I plan to build my Jeep to play in gently off-road and to maybe breach into the expedition thing slowly as modifications allow as well as being my daily driver. It's a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with the 5.2l 318. I do not own a garage, so work will probably be slow.

Here she is:

When I first picked her up, bought her off of my girlfriends father for $2300 with about 18X,XXX miles. Now around 197,XXX.

Swapped the AWD NP249 transfer case out for a 1999 Jeep Cherokee np242 so now I've got the choice of 2WD, 4FULL TIME, 4 PART TIME, N, 4LO.

Modifying some screening material to be used as a bug barrier while going to the drive in, or camping.

Spraying the spare with plasti-dip. I've read tons of online applications and tutorials on the many uses of it. Also, the gold accents on the Jeep are atrocious. The Jeep has also been de-badged.

Planned Modifications:
3.5 Inch lift
Tow hooks on the front
Recovery Gear
CB Radio

I've yet to be off-roading in it, and will most likely be going with some of the guys around the state when I obtain the correct recovery gear.

I plan on taking welding classes at the local community college, and will hopefully be fabricating some of the stuff for my Jeep as well, such as bumpers, skids and a roof basket, but only when those items are necessary.

Nice to meet all of you!

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Welcome, glad to see you swapped out the quadracrap case for the 242. Pretty much any off-road question you can think of has been asked and answered on the internet before, except in the world of expedition travel where the XJ/ZJ are still pretty new to the scene. One of the reasons that the ZJ is not often used for expedition travel is that the weak uni-body cracks much easier than a real solid frame found under most rigs.

 

[stoneydude]

Welcome. There are a couple ZJ owners on here.

 

[xjman88]

Welcome to the portal and to the Jeepin way of life. Any questions hit us up. Did u find a cb yet? Let me know as I have a few extras and also a budget boost.

 

[JakeC]

Welcome, glad to see you swapped out the quadracrap case for the 242

Yeah, i hadn't known a lot about the 249 issue until i purchased the car and a few months later drove three hours across state for school weekly. I was sitting in a parking lot, with the Jeep off and the vehicle kept lurching forward. Needless to say, i assumed something was bad. I favored the 242 over the 231 because of its options. Also, I have noticed that Toyota's seem to be some of the more favored vehicles for expedition travel.

Welcome. There are a couple ZJ owners on here.

Thanks for the welcome, yeah I've noticed a few. Glad to see there is a Jeep section here, i look forward to learning tips and tricks as well as solutions to problems that may occur.

Welcome to the portal and to the Jeepin way of life. Any questions hit us up. Did u find a cb yet? Let me know as I have a few extras and also a budget boost.

The Jeep way of life is quite... fuel inefficient. But I've also never driven a vehicle that has still felt completely solid with close to 200,000 miles on it. Thankfully I have most of the receipts from the previous owners and they took quite good care of it. I have yet to find a CB, but I'm quite interested in the Cobra 75 WX ST 40 Channel. Just because it's pretty low profile, and most of the unit will be hidden underneath the dash. But I've never really dealt with CB radios before. I've been toying with the idea of a budget boost, and I don't really want a lot of lift in my Jeep, just enough to make it through some uneven terrain.

I figured I could gain some valuable knowledge here, and will be sure to ask questions when problems arise.