Post edited 6:53 pm – November 16, 2009 by BlinkCherokee

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Hi everyone, my name's Edgar.  I found this forum a few weeks back when looking thru an event thread on the JeepForum.  Checked out the site, looked thru the gallery and realized I knew one of the founders – John (JeepMan97), haha.  We went to high school together.  I still remember his Jeep from way back when.  We even chased down a guy together who backed into his bumper and took off one night while parked in front of Dunkin Donuts, haha.

I'm a Mustang guy at heart, and an Admin over on ChicagolandMustang.com – so I was glad to find a local Jeep Forum as well.  I store my Mustang in the winter, so it does not get driven until spring.  I previously had a Crown Vic (Police Interceptor) as my Winter DD:

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It was a fun car, but I had always wanted an XJ from the get go.  I was originally looking for one last winter as well, but came upon the Vic before I could find one I wanted.  I finally tracked one down that I liked about two months back after casually hunting around during the Summer/Fall.  I traded the Vic and now have a new project to play with.

Its a 97' Cherokee SE.  It currently has a 4.5 inch Rough Country Lift, on American Racing wheels wrapped in 32×11.5 Goodyear MTR's.  It was originally from Virgina, and has only seen two Chicago winters.  So there is very little rust (if any at all, mostly surface), it is in great condition. 

I know some do not like the RC Lifts, but I have been happy with it thus far and haven't had any problems.  But I have only driven it on paved roads, haha.  I've never been off-roading, and hope to learn a lot from this forum.

Pics of the truck:

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The Jeep and the Mustang:

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Since owning the truck and after the above pics I have done a few things.  Tinted all 7 of the rear windows, alarm + remote start, added the missing lug nuts from the pics above (haha), replaced the hatch struts so it no longer falls on my head when opening, replaced the front windshield molding so it doesn't have to be held in place with tape any longer, and I started swapping out a lot of the interior panels.  Some of the panels were cracked and beat up, the interior is the light gray color.  So I have been picking up dark gray interior pieces from various forums.  So far I have replaced all of the panels from the rear seats back, including the carpet. I was happy to see no rust or holes in the floor when changing out the rear carpeting. 

Next up on the list of small things to do: New Magnaflow cat (old one has a metallic rattle), clean the NSS (reverse lights only come one when shifter is between Park and Reverse – not when in gear), install power door lock actuators wired to my alarm for the front doors (manual locks), and acquire some Jeep center caps to fit to my wheels (seen a cool write up I am going to follow).  A few larger items I'd like to do in the future: trim fenders, 33's, new front bumper.

Sorry for the long post, but work is slow today, haha. Thanks guys!

-Edgar

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hey guy. find me a ZJ and i'll let you drive the Overland!

^Found you one.  Haha.