Welcome mate!
how extreme will you get with it?
Keep it stock and you'll have no worries, beat the piss out of it and you'll have a few things to fix down the track.
but don't be fooled, a Cherokee will take abuse beyond any other 4x4 I've seen (hell, look at mine!)
Before I bought my XJ I owned an XR6 and a Hilux,
since I test drove the XJ I never want another car again.
97 is a good year model, does it have the Fibreglass or the steel liftgate?