I just went through this exercise and there's another thread on this forum. Unfortunately, I didn't end up renting a plane. I was only looking for Cessna 172, not Cherokee. Here's what I found last week:
Classic Air Aviation at Falcon Field, Mesa, AZ.
http://www.classicairaviation.com/aircraft-rental/aircraft
Aircraft is $125 hourly, wet, and only reimburse $3.50 gallon for fuel. CFI is $60 hourly. For checkout, they'd require 60-90 minutes of ground school and 60-90 minutes flying. Two-hour daily minimum for multiple days.
Arizona Flight Training Center at KGEU in Glendale, AZ. Aircraft is $130 hourly, wet. Fuel reimbusement unknown.
Checkride and sign off would be similar, maybe less. CFI is $60 hourly. Three hour daily minimum for multiple days.
I also spoke with Mike Sherman at Fly Goodyear. This airport is on the Western side of Phoenix. I liked Mike from our phone call.
http://www.flygoodyear.com/, 602-317-5849 Goodyear Airport, Goodyear, AZ 85338. 2003 Cessna 172S IFR, 180hp, $127 Wet hourly, no real minimum.
Feel welcome to PM or email me for more details. Phoenix has a pretty stupendous amount of student pilot traffic, fixed-wing and rotor. Many are foreign, especially Asia. Airports are busy.
If you're just going up for an hour or two, it's probably easier to bring the CFI and have him/her handle radios, traffic, and airspace. I've done that very successfully in other areas. It would have been a very pretty area to fly around.
Enjoy...