Hi,
I found a 1979 cherokee chief at the local salvage yard for $500.00, and it's in running condition. All it needs is a gas tank. I drove it with a gas can and everything works fine. I don't know anything about this truck, but it looks simple and it has a solid front axle in the front. Can someone tell me if it's worth the trouble? thanks,

what 4wd system does it have? Is it a part time or fulltime 4wd? The part times are more desirable, but for the money, you can build a nice rig out of that.

It's 4wd all the time. There is no shifter inside but it has a big selector switch to switch it from hi. to lo. inside the glove box. the tailgate has a quadratrac emblem on it.

What is the jeep designation? WJ, ZJ, XJ, etc? If it is a Wagoneer, it is a body on frame truck and can be pretty desirable if it has a V8 and isn't rusted out. You can replace the full time 4WD with an NP-231 out of a Wrangler pretty inexpensively. You can also get a flipped Dana 300 kit. If it's a wagoneer the front axle should be a D44 and don't know about the rear. It'll be pretty easy to ID on the internet. You can make it a pretty capable wheeler that your not afraid to wheel hard for not a lot of dough. Even if it is an XJ, you don't have much in it and you can make it really capable for little money. Good look with it! Welcome to the herd! Baa aa aaaa

its probably got a 360 (maybe a 401), and d44s... but it could have a 304 and d44 fr/ amc20 rear... but a good truck(for a jeep ) none the less...

It has a 360 in it and it looks like a wagoneer. the only thing that worries me is the 4wd doesn't have a shifter, so i am assuming it's in 4wd all the time. the body is straight, no rust and the paint job is fadded.

It'll be a real easy/cheep junk yard fixer upper if its a wagoneer. As for axles, ask a lot of the guys what they're running in the front with their solid axle swaps!

Sounds good.

Does it have low range?

The other solution is to swap in a Tcase from a similar year rig that had part time 4wd. I'll bet where the hole is supposed to be is clearly evident on the trans tunnel to install the shifter. Then swap some manual hubs on the front axles and dump the slugs. I bet if you can find the parts, you could do all this for another $500-600...maybe less. Lifts are cheap. A full set of lift springs and bushings for a 4" lift is another $500-600. If it runs decent, give it a $150 tuneup with new plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor and you got a decent rig with tons of room in it for under $2k

all the Cheifs (maybe wagoneers too) had a low range... I think the only variations were full or part time 4wd and rear axles...

As far as the suspension goes, i am going to spring over the thing and tall sackle it. I need to know about that dana axles under there, because my plan is to use the tallest tires i can fit and some lockers. I was thinking about 35 and up on the tires. Later,

i wouldn't go any bigger than 35's on that heavy beast, no matter what stock axles are under there..

Heavy beast? A pathfinder is heavier.