I found one locally and is not advertised for sale but the owner wants to sell to get it off his lawn. It an Auto V8. Some rust but not too bad IMHO. Has not been driven since 2001. Have not inspected the engine yet. Are these old style SJ jeep reliable to own or should it be avoided? I do know of a 79 Golden Eagle for sale as well but it's in rough shape compared to the 77. Any insights?
define reliable? It's a 70's jeep. They look cool, but I've worked on a few 70's jeeps before.. They need some love to stay moving. The major bits are good solid designs, so that's not a problem. If it's an Auto/V8 make sure it's not quadratrac. Those things get negative gas mileage and lack a low range.
Mechanically they are typically pretty solid but the sub systems are a total mis-match of what ever they could get on the cheap. Should be the quadratrac for the transfer case and the turbo 400 for the transmission. Either 360 or 401 for the engine. Get the least amount of electronics as possible. They tend to fail and the wiring wasn't the best.
Rust gets them bad too. Make sure you get a decently solid one. It's very easy for it to be swiss cheese.
They like their gas too. 10 MPG a good day with 8-9 more likely. All that being said, I'd love another one but they are too expensive to feed now that gas is not $1 a gallon.
Would a 4 speed be better than auto for this type of jeep?
The TH400 is pretty bullet proof. The only advantage with the manual is you get the part time transfer case so you may get 11-12 MPG. It would be the D20 transfer case IIRC. You will get the Dana 44 axles on both ends regardless.
On any full size Jeep check the body mounts for rust. And the rockers. And where the tailgate mounts. And anything in between.
I looked at what appeared to be a nice original '77 Cherokee. At closer inspection it was original, and the hard to find parts were all there, but it was in need of restoration. All the above needed attention. It was an obviously well cared for Jeep, and it was an original owner Jeep. But rust doesn't care.
I'm thinking $1000 is too high for the price he wants. Originally he blurted out $1500 but quickly dropped it to $1000 because it doesn't run. Anyone know of a good website or forum that covers the type of jeep I am looking at? Right now I wanting to walk away but the pull is very strong with this one. Besides I got too many Volvo's in my stable and would like to branch out a little since I don't have a truck or jeep to haul the non runners around.
Sine_Qua_Non wrote: I'm thinking $1000 is too high for the price he wants. Originally he blurted out $1500 but quickly dropped it to $1000 because it doesn't run. Anyone know of a good website or forum that covers the type of jeep I am looking at? Right now I wanting to walk away but the pull is very strong with this one. Besides I got too many Volvo's in my stable and would like to branch out a little since I don't have a truck or jeep to haul the non runners around.
http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/
$1000 seems like a lot of a non running rusty jeep. Give him just over scrap value.
Looks like you can buy a running one for $1000-$1500 http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=78
4wd low range was an option on those. We actually swapped a qudratrac setup into a jeep for a trail rig once, and I really liked it. We built the th400 with a manual valve body and set it up with a ratchet shifter. The qtrac tcase isn't bad, the problem is nobody ever replaces the chain. The chain stretches, jumps a tooth, and blows the case. If you replace the chain they are pretty reliable. It was actually a pretty popular setup for offroad racing back in the 70s.
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