I have recently purchased a 1979 wagoneer. It has had some fender trimming done but that is about it. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on where to start to make it an awesome trail/mud machine. Also i am on a limited budget so nothing crazy expensive please. Also, i think the carb is toast. Any tip/advice would be greatly appreciated. :confused:

A good place to start is in.............THE CHEROKEE FORUM!!

Like with any rig, the harder you want to hit the bumps and the gas, the more upgrades you will need. Is it a carbed straight 6 or V8? If it is a 6, you are in good shape, but it will not be as great in the mud as you may want. If it is a V8, you may have more drivetrain upgrades to do than you would with a 6.
You should have a D44 front and a D44 or AMC20 rear which are both good axles, but will start breaking if you are pushing 35 and up tires with a V8. I do not know what transmission and tranny it'll have, so whether that'll hold up depends.

I ran 33s on mine, D44s, T18a/D300 w/4:1, and a AMC 258 with a MPI conversion and it did great. If I had been running bigger tires and more power and/or had a heavier foot, the transmission and tcase would have been fine, but the axles would have probably needed upgrades.

So - fix the carb with something good that can run as well as possible at angles and in impacts (with bumps). Don't skimp on that part or everything else is useless. You may just want to run what's in it until it breaks at that point. The equipment in those jeeps are pretty stout. Running bigger than 33 or so will get stuff breaking a lot faster.