Hey scotty, love your work!
I am looking to but a 1999 cherokee with 60K miles on it. slightly lifted and used as a snow plow. is buying a plow a bad idea?
Thanks
lee
Plow vehicles are worked HARD. And it's 21 years old. Avoid.
60k HARD HARD miles. If its an automatic, oh boy!!!!!
it is... stir clear?
It depends. The Aisin automatic transmissions used on the old Cherokees are very robust, as is the 4.0 six. In normal driving they'll go hundreds of thousands of miles with minimal maintenance. However you're talking about a 22-year-old vehicle that has seen severe service. Also the stock unibody is not really stiff enough for plow duty and rust from salt makes the problem even worse. I'd be concerned about rust and if the Jeep doesn't have frame stiffeners welded onto the structural members it might well have chassis problems due to flexing while using the plow. (The guys into serious off-roading with these frequently weld in frame stiffeners along with their other mods so they can crawl over boulders without twisting up the chassis.)
Aside from all that, the general rule with buying this type of vehicle is to find one that's stock and clean rather than one that's been hacked up and may have issues due to questionable modifications. I'd walk away unless a mechanic says it's OK and it's very cheap.
ok. will do. thanks so much!