My TJ is a 97 as well; and earlier this year I had to transplant the whole body and drivetrain to a replacement frame. Mine rotted out on the driver side just ahead of the rear wheel arch. (I didn't put a lift on mine either; I just had to get it back running again safely ASAP, since I have a 16 yo that just got his license) and I didn't think that he needed any help as a "cop magnet" beyond simply being a new driver! I have had my 97 since "Y2K" got it with 19K on it now has 91K, 6 cyl stick, what gets me is that 18 months of the 9 years I have owned it my TJ sat in a dry garage since I was laid up and under Dr's orders not to drive a stick (THAT sucked) so the timing of that all meant that it missed out on 2 whole winters, definitely the 2 worst winters we've had since owning that Jeep; 2 years less salt exposure; yet the body is about an 8.5 out of a 10 (dings and scratches here and there NO rust) I'm surprised that the body is so good when the frame was so bad on mine! I POR 15'd the replacement frame and undercoated the snot out of every square inch I could, with Dupli Color truck bed coating while the body was sitting on sawhorses and/or suspended in my garage by 2 come-a-longs from the ceiling joists to keep it that way; I mean I had that stuff sitting here on the shelf anyhow, may as well use it up
I hope to have my Jeep another 20 years especially since it was (1) the closest thing to brand new that I'll probably ever have back when I got it it was 3 years old with 19K on it then; (2) it cost me as much as all the other vehicles I have owned in 26 years of driving put together, back when I got it, especially considering the interest on the 5 yr loan; (3) I still have not "grown tired" of it; (4) I tend to drive the snot out of my vehicles to get my "money's worth" (5) it's a 4.0 which is pretty much indestructible with a little maintenance
I found a '99 frame from Craigslist for $500 that had been stored in a garage since it was parted in '01; (at least that's the story the seller gave me, he'd bought it for a now-abandoned project) and boy that frame was night n day, in better shape than my original frame. so I figured I'd do what I could, to keep it that way. I also have an 01 XJ and father-son buddies with both a XJ and a TJ that have been asking me about teh Cliffs. I may have to show them the way out there one weekend.
BTW neither of my Jeeps have ever been "wheeled" beyond what was needed to get thru unplowed roads in these Chicago winters. Yet anyway.
