Well, not my first post here, but figured Id start posting up pics of my ongoing project.
Names Mike, I live in Attica NY (30 min west of Buffalo). I originally started wheeling a 1988 GMC Jimmy Gypsy, Brought that thing back from the grave. Including swapping out a blown motor and redoing practically everything on it from ball joints to interior work.
It was my baby and I loved it too death,It went EVERYWHERE. Except for the part of it eating ball joints, CV shafts and steering components every 3k. I needed a newer vehicle to drive, so i sold this to a member of my local 4x4 club and picked up my 2006 F150.
Well this summer, I got bitten by the wheeling bug bad, and not wanting to deal with IFS again, I figured id pick up something like my jimmy, but with a solid front axle.
Thus I picked up a well worn 1996 Grand Cherokee Laredo, 4.0 /Auto/ NP242 for 300.00 off of a friend who just wanted to get rid of it. Floors are still solid, but the doors, hatch and bumpers were rotten. Now, This is a build with budget in mind. Not gonna be a retarded pile of shit, bhut im also not gonna spend 1200.00 on a long arm lift kit when a simple budget boost will do fine. On to the pics! (mind you i started this build in summer)
A week after i got it (you can see the rust, bottoms of doors had huge holes in them.)
notice the hood 
I trimmed all the fenders…
And while i had the front fenders off for painting, i cleaned out all the rust and undercoated it.
Notice the rot? (Trail ready 
)
How it sat , a month and a half after getting it. The bottom half has been herculined. Yes it has been rattle canned, i dont care that its not a professional paintjob, its just gonna get resprayed when it gets scratched up on the trails, and after swapping the fenders and doors, it was 4 different colors.
New hatch
New doors
Other side
The grill
Im trying to figure out something to do with the rockers, as they’re pretty thin / rotten already. maybe just cut them out and weld in some 3x3 angle iron? Dunno still kicking around some ideas.
And yes i know i have to seal up the floor
Few weeks later…
went out to the garage and got some more work done. Cleaned up the knuckles and chiseled all the rust off, than gave em a nice coat of Hammerite.
Crusty crusty CRUSTY
Painted nice and clean (i know its not POR-15 or chassis black, but honestly i cant justify spending 100.00 on paint thats gonna get run through the mud)
Axle cleaned up and brushed (very crusty, yeesh i really am beginning to hate salt)
First coat
got the diff cover painted the same color as the jeep body… 
so far its all comin together nicely.
So so far, Ive bought the HP 30 for 50.00,
I think im ahead of the game
Too date, i have totally disassembled and freshened up the rear axle (good lord the oil /water/ rust mixture smells like total SHIT), cleaned the interior, did total tune up, swapped out the water pump because it was PISSING, and installed an e-fan while i was at it.
I also purchased the following from Just Karter
JKS front sway bar disconnects
Cobra 18WX STII (very nice radio IMHO)
Fire Stick swivel door mount for antennas
four foot firestick antenna.
Grabbed Grand Cherokee Upcountry springs (stiffer and .75in higher than the current springs) off of a guy on craigslist who was parting a 1997 Orvis edition grand. As soon as im ready too swap in the HP 30 front ill toss those in all around.
Also managed too grab a free roof rack off of a guy who traded some car repairs for it.
Heres how it sits right now
Got the roof rack mounted, and the lights run.
Seeing as the glovebox release was broken, and i have a center console too hold important stuff on runs anyways, i opted too remove it entirely and mount the CB in its place. fits nice
Hayden/Imperial electric fan setup i got from advance auto. i opted too run both the lights and the fan off separate relays / switches. While i do have the controller from my old setup, i much rather have the peace of mind knowing the fan is definitely “ON”
And finally, the switch location, thought it was a nice touch, and i figured id get orange too match the gauge cluster needles.
All that’s needed now is too finish rebuilding the front axle(new hubs, balljoints, axle u joints) and swap it all in along with installing the mopar tranny cooler and doing a tranny flush. Lots of work, but hopefully itll be done by May
.