Price: ? It's listed for $7k OBO on marketplace (aspirational). It's SWMBO's Jeep, so I'm trying to set realistic expectations. I think $6K is more realistic...unsure if I can get her to sell it for less via GRM. It's not for everyone. I may be off-base on the price...but 90% of the TJs I see posted are either 4cylinders, automatics or 4cyl automatics. I've never had issues getting private messages through here...so let me know if you'd like more informaiton or pictures, etc. and I can call or email.
4.0 straight 6 with a 5-speed manual transmission. Yes, it's rusty. I've debated fixing it for a while, but frankly...if I'm going to be welding, I'd rather it be an old CJ or FJ40. Some of you may respond that it's worth $500. For a buyer who's not comfortable spinning a wrench, you're be right. She's said "no trades" but she does want a VW bus, but I think a Vanagon or even eurovan would be OK. She's also talked about replacing the aging Honda Odyssey our son has been driving around.
Located in Saint Augustine FL. We've had it for 5 or 6 years. It's been extremely reliable, zero mechanical issues in that time. Rear brake line rusted out last summer so I replaced wheel cylinders, soft line, & hard lines on the rear 1/2. Radiator hose started leaking, I replaced that a few weeks ago. Battery is only a few months old. I replaced the ignition tumbler last year, so there's a different key for the glove box/door (who even locks a Jeep anyways). The muffler and tailpipe is new. It's slightly louder than stock due to the straight-through muffler).
Good: it's lifted, like new 33" offroad tires, rides nice. It's a 4.0 straight 6 & manual transmission, this is probably the cheapest jeep you'll find with that combination. Full soft top setup w/1/2 hard doors. I'm not trying to hide or disguise the issues. Owned for the last ~5 years and it's been very reliable. Parts to address all of the rust issues are dirt cheap, if you have the time to fix things yourself.
Bad: it's rusty. It had some frame repair done a few years ago (main rails under the doors). It needs torque boxes done, 4 of the six body mounts are failing. The parts are inexpensive, but cost-prohibitive if you were paying a shop to do the work. Driver seatbelt is temperamental. All the black fenders were part of a bad powder coat batch, so they have surface rust & have been sanded, treated & resprayed. Amp for the stereo (overhead speakers + Subwoofer in the trunk) seems to have failed
jfryjfry said:
Pics no worky
The pics were working...not sure what happened. I'll add them back. SWMBO finally seems to be returning to earth regarding value expectations. I cleaned up the fenders (grinder, rust converter, bedliner) so I should probably take new pictures.
In reply to Hoondavan :
Warning, Brutal honesty inbound:
I took a look at the pictures when you first posted and thought to myself: "Good Grief! That things rusty"
This coming from a guy who's lived his entire life in rust belt.
I thought Florida vehicles would be cleaner. Did this thing live exclusively in salt water/ beach duty?
Indy - Guy said:
In reply to Hoondavan :
Warning, Brutal honesty inbound:
I took a look at the pictures when you first posted and thought to myself: "Good Grief! That things rusty"
This coming from a guy who's lived his entire life in rust belt.
I thought Florida vehicles would be cleaner. Did this thing live exclusively in salt water/ beach duty?
It does look pretty bad. She used to travel around FL quite a bit, but the last few years it's mostly been around town & on the beach. I don't think she's genuinely ready to sell it...hence the optimistic price expectations. It was pretty bad when she bought it, but we also live close to the water, so even while it's been under a covered carpark, the salt air tends to make exposed rust worse...even if it's kept dry.
I think she bought it off a military guy in JAX...so there's a good chance it lived elsewhere. I never saw the Jeep before she bought it. If it's anything like when she bought her full-size Bronco...she fell in love with the first one she saw. I think got a fair enough deal when she bought it...but I thought we had agreed NOT to ever buy something that needed rust repair again. We sold her full-size bronco to buy the Jeep because it was crusty (FL truck, but PO spent a few years in VT).
Some of the stuff underneath just needs a wire wheel and some rust converter. Other parts need to be grinded/cut & boxed (or replaced). The rear frame section & torque boxes are readily available & cheap. I think the rubber body mounts & bolts would be the most expensive part of fixing it (aside from the labor/time).
I know that the car market is location-dependent, but I would be pretty freaking flabbergasted if you could get anywhere close to $6k for that. So much rust... and yeah the metal is cheap but we're talking about a ton of labor here to do frame rails, body mounts, torque boxes...I suspect that a lot of people in this market would rather engine swap a clean 4 cyl than do all this repair to a 6 cyl. at least I would.
Indy - Guy said:
I thought Florida vehicles would be cleaner. Did this thing live exclusively in salt water/ beach duty?
Not to get too far off topic, but Florida cars tend to come in two rust flavors: Perfect and terrible. As soon as a car is half a mile from the beach here, it's totally rust free. But if it lives on the beach, it's wild how quickly they rust away. On cars that always park in the same spot on the beach, you can even tell which side/end is closer to the ocean.
I'm a block from the intracoastal waterway, and can leave bare steel outside for days without rust. My in-laws live basically just across the bridge, a few blocks from the beach, and can't keep a grill outside for more than a year before it dissolves.
FYI I can't see the photos, so I have no idea what the Jeep looks like.
In reply to Tom Suddard :
I think of most florida rust as top-down, not bottom up. You see lots of 80s japanese cars with rust starting at the drip rails, trunk lids, a-pillars and windshield aprons.
This doesn't look like FL rust, unless it was used for fishing/beach driving.
Hoondavan said:
This doesn't look like FL rust, unless it was used for fishing/beach driving.
I'm gonna guess it has been used for beach driving...
That's pretty crusty. I have/had much older Jeeps, but none as rusty as that. Around here, that would be a parts or ranch Jeep if it had lowish (<200,000) miles. Not saying it couldn't be fixed, but I don't think it's worth near that price. A coworker just sold his 2000 TJ for $4k, and it was mint compared to that. Just FYI.
I'd keep driving it 'til it fell apart.
Ohh man. Thats Midwest levels of rot.
From 10 years ago. These don't exist up here anymore.
SWMBO is approaching earth. I think she'd let it go for $5k. There are plenty of TJs available in that range, but they're all 4cyl automatics. I think a few days of work & $1k in parts and it's probably +$8k jeep. I'm still tempted to pull the trigger & fix it...but the list of projects at home continues to get longer.
I think if SWMBO hasn't been so lazy about getting the paper title from the tax collector it'd be sold long ago (Florida has an e-title option, fyi).
$4k GRM price or trade for another vehicle.
In reply to Hoondavan :
Hate to say it, but that's an awful lot of rust for $4k, I've seen basically mint and well taken care of TJ 6cyl for not much more than that. Glws
In reply to Grecobeemer :
People have been telling him that since March lol
Hoondavan said:
I think if SWMBO hasn't been so lazy about getting the paper title from the tax collector it'd be sold long ago (Florida has an e-title option, fyi).
You can request a paper title online. I just got one and it took less than a week.
In reply to budget_bandit :
Yep and just a reminder that $4k is still overpriced considering all the rust.
Every undercarriage bolt is a FML waiting to happen.
Grecobeemer said:
In reply to Hoondavan :
Hate to say it, but that's an awful lot of rust for $4k, I've seen basically mint and well taken care of TJ 6cyl for not much more than that. Glws
In Ohio that's normal rust for $4k but that's why we go to NC, TN and FL for cars
SWMBO is off the fence...she had me take down the for-sale listing. I'm disappointed...frankly I'd rather have this rusty thing out of my life and a few extra bucks in the bank.
She wants to sell our GX460 so she can buy a 2012ish Subaru outback (CVT and all!). Net-net she'd rather have a cheaper Subaru and the Jeep than just GX. I'm not excited to do the work on the Jeep myself...but If the work is done well it'll significantly increase the value. Anyone knowledgeable buying a Jeep "project" will want a steeper discount than she's going to allow. Lift kits, wheels, tires & soft tops are all expensive to the type of person who will write a check for the work. Unfortunately, the same people that know how to weld & would buy this type of project will also buy used wheels/tires/lift kits, etc...so the math doesn't work. I was pretty upfront and talked several people out of even taking a look a it it. It's been dead-reliable...but paying a shop to do any sort of rust repair would be cost prohibitive.
I really wish this thing was out of my life. Went to move it the other day & it made whoosh/pop sound & then won't start. Fuel gauge isn't powering on. Pushing the bleeder in the fuel rail returns nothing. I checked fuses & swapped the fuel pump relay w/the other relays & still nothing. No sound at the pump when turning the key. I picked up a new fuel pump but had to travel before I could swap it.
The bolts holding the fuel tank support/carrier are all rusty and will definitely strip out when I try and remove them. This is not something I'm looking forward to fixing.
In reply to Tom Suddard :
You stated the FL rust problem quite well! A friends 8 year old truck was dangerous rusty, from the cab, back. He fishes a lot.
That looks exactly like a typical beach beater.
I listened in thinking this might be the rig for the Key West to Dead Horse run, not certain I could even give it away in AK.
GLWS
In reply to RacingComputers :
Key west to Dead Horse? (googles it) That sounds awesome...in anything other than a lifted soft-top jeep!
There are drain holes in the frame and body mounts. They easily get clogged up w/Mud/dirt. If they're not cleared regularly...well, you know...Rust Never Sleeps.
All 7 bolts turned. 2 of the nuts on the long studs broke off at the middle of the stud. Apparently, they don't necessarily have to get removed. One of the studs broke the anchor w/the nut almost removed. There's no way to secure it from behind because it's inside of the bumper. No access for a sawzall. Grinder won't work "because plastic gas tank." I'm going to try a tiny cutoff wheel that attaches to my drill. I'm doing this repair at the bottom of my driveway instead of underneath my house (for safety reasons)
No bueno. Swapped relays w/no effect (fuel pump &, automatic shutdown relay), including 1 new relay in each slot. Still crank/no start. I was getting zero fuel when pressing the fuel pressure relief valve. I replaced the fuel pump & now it's getting some fuel at the rail...but still not starting. It looks like there's no spark t the coil. This could be caused by a bad crank position sensor...although if that were the CPS the fuel gauge should start working again when it's unplugged. I replaced the CPS & still having the same issue. I don't hear the fuel pump priming when turning the key...but I'm not certain the 1997 will actually prime before turning the key.
The internets has me leaning towards PCM (jeep word for computer) failure. There are a few videos of how to diagnose the PCM by checking for 5V at certain pins. I don't have the tool to pierce a wire to measure voltage, so I need to do a bit more research. Rebuilt PCMs are $500 to $700...so not something I'm willing to load up the parts cannon on that kind of issue. You can open up the PCM to inspect...sometimes very cheap capacitors will fail & leak, but not something I'm really equipped to replace on a circuit board. It's been raining pretty much every afternoon so I haven't had nearly as much time as I would like to wade through this.
