Epic: Grand - A beast in the making

After the LastMJ cab burned (more on that in future posts), I was in the need of a vehicle. I wanted to continue on with my Jeep passion but have something much more practical for my growing family. My wife and I had our first baby a few months before this and I had visions of dragging a small/medium trailer for camping trips so I set my sights on a V8 Grand Cherokee. I've been a fan of the ZJ for a long time. I love the body styling and function of them. The suspension set up is nearly identical to the TJ/LJ Wrangler, so parts are readily available. I decided I wanted to more modern looking 1996 - 1998 interior. A 1998 5.9L Limited would have been beyond awesome but people apparently think they are made of real gold and wanted way to much money for a pile of crap.

Found a really clean 1997 Limited down south close to the border and called them for a meet up. The Jeep was is really good condition, had about 88k on the odometer but had a wicked noise coming from the Aluminum Dana 44 in the back end. After a test drive and talking with the sellers, I ended up going home empty handed. Too much money and the seller seemed like they were trying to cover things up. Wouldn't talk about maintenance or history of the vehicle; just didn't feel right.

Scoured the ads for a couple more weeks, checked out a total junk vehicle that was completely misrepresented in the ad. The guy said he dropped a ton of coin into the transmission and that's why he was selling it for that much. It's been 2 years and I bet he's still trying to sell it.

 Happened to check Craigslist one night right before bed and came across exactly what I was looking for. 1996 5.2L V8 ZJ Grand Cherokee 4wd. Called the guy the next day and met up with him. Jeep had some rough spots that need some work but the price was right. I drove away with the Jeep a happy guy!

The day I bought her