Apparently Unicorns do exist, and it can be found in Phoenix Arizona

One thing that any Jeep Cherokee (XJ) enthusiast will tell you is how much they love their 4.0-liter inline six engine. There is no denying that the 4.0 is a good and reliable engine. Right now the fad is swapping in big V8's like the LS1 or small block 350's. Of course if you want to do any serious off roading or even rock crawling you need that low end torque that comes with diesel engines. That is why the Cummins 4BT is a fairly common engine swap found on the XJ. But what if you could get an XJ, with a diesel, that had been factory installed? What if you could go and purchase that vehicle right now? What if said XJ was still looking like new and cost less than $9000? Yeah, I know. I would buy it too... if it wasn't on the other side of the country in Phoenix, Arizona

Unfortunately the auction ended, but it looks like the vehicle did not sell, at least not on Ebay. What you are looking at is a very rare 1986 Jeep Cherokee (XJ) with the Renault-made 2.1-liter SOHC turbodiesel 4 cylinder engine. Originally from the factory this engine put out 85 HO and 132 lb. ft of torque. It puts power to the wheels with an Aisin-Warner 5 speed manual transmission. That power gets distributed to the four corners via the NP207 Command-Trac transfer case that had manual lock in as opposed to the vacuum actuated MP228/229 versions from later years. This particular example also has a Trac-Lock limited slip rear differential. All of this is great, but the most amazing thing here is the 34 MPG the owner claims to have gotten on his most recent 1,800 mile trip he took it on.

The interior is no slouch either. When I said that this thing was in like new condition I wasn't blowing smoke. The gold interior is exceptionally clean and is completely stock except for the radio head unit and aftermarket coin and cup holder. To look at this XJ you would never know that it has over 133k miles on the clock (although about half of those were racked up from being towed behind an RV). One owner has had this XJ and has lovingly taken care of it since it was sold in 1986, and it shows.

My first Jeep I ever owned was a 1998 Cherokee XJ. She was rough around the edges and beat up but she was reliable and never left me feeling like I wasn't going to get to my destination. There is no doubt that the XJ is one of, if not the best, Sport Utility Vehicles ever made. I miss mine and would love to have one like this in my garage. What do you think?

What does it take to kill a Jeep Cherokee (XJ)?

The answer is a whole-freaking-lot. In the video below a group of guys take their XJ that was used to help build their off road trails and put it to the test after it is no longer road worthy. After broken wheels, run ins with trees, rolling, and a bevy of other torturous events, this XJ just keeps going and going and going.

This video is living proof that the Jeep Cherokee (XJ) is the ultimate post-apocalyptic vehicle to own. The 4.0-liter i6 is truly bulletproof. Forget your Timex watch, the XJ can take a licking and keep on ticking.

My own personal trip down the Jeep rabbit hole.

I would like to take a moment to share with all of my readers the Jeep that made me fall in love with the brand.

This is the 1998 Cherokee XJ that I used to own before I handed it over to my step son when he needed a reliable mode of transportation for work. I traded a 1998 Ford F250 with a rusted out frame for this XJ. Both had almost identical miles and mechanically were in the same condition so it was a straight up trade. When I took delivery it was a bone stock XJ with about 135k on the clock and a severely sagging suspension.

The first thing to go was the broken and ugly side molding. When I took the Fender flares off the screws in the brackets broke as is the way of their people. So rather than fixing it, I figured I would leave them off and see how I liked the look.

The next stage was a completely homebrew lift. Up front I went with ZJ coil springs but I sadly do not remember exactly what shocks I went with. In the rear I went with HD leaf springs for a 2 inch lift (although it ended up giving me more due to the stiffness) and skyjacker shocks. I upgraded all of the bushings and dropped the t-case 1.5 inches to compensate for the added angle on the drive shaft. I made my own brake lines and called it a day.

Once that was all said and done the brakes got a complete overhaul. Everything from the lines to the pads were replaced. Everything that stopped the vehicle was brand new. Of course while I was under there I replaced the steering stabilizer and shortened the exhaust (who needs a muffler anyway!)

Under the hood I got rid of the factory airbox and replaced it with a Spectre cone filter that amazingly fit right onto the stock intake hose. The oil blowoff hose was replaced with an even smaller Spectre filter, because why not? All plugs, wires, the distributor cap and rotor were replaced and the vacuum ball inside of the bumper was relocated to between the battery and fuse box. the fuse box, vacuum ball, and fan shroud were painted the same OD green as the front grille and wheel centers for effect (although I'm not quite sure what the effect was).

While I was under the hood I decided to replace the non working factory fog lights. I wired in a new toggle switch to go with the back up light over ride (more on that in a minute). The fog lights that I used were nothing special, just a pair I picked up on clearance at Advance Auto Parts. I mounted those in the same spot as the factory lights.

In this picture you will see 3 toggle switches. the big one at the top is for the fog lights. the middle one was currently unused, but was going to be for my fan over ride that I never got around to wiring up. The bottom switch was my back up light over ride. As is the case in the XJ, my Neutral Safety Switch was going bad. So what I did to counteract that was wire up a switch that had two different functions. Firstly it would allow me to turn on my back up lights in the event that they didn't come on on their own but would also allow me to turn them on without the vehicle being in reverse if I needed to be back there for some reason. Sadly I never got around to installing the upgraded lights back there...

So that is it. Other than basic maintenance and a few sensors needing replaced that was my first Jeep "build". I hope you like it, I look forward to getting work started o my Commander. I have quite a few ideas now I just need the time and extra money to get them started.