Newby here (if you can consider a 74 year old a newby). Wanted to join this forum since I just purchased a pre-owned 2000 Wrangler Sport. Also, after reading the "about" section of the forum I was impressed with Chris' dedication to both the forum and his religious convictions. Looking forward to participating here.
So the Jeep. I bought it off the 'net from a local independent dealer, and did what research I could, which wasn't much since it came with absolutely no documentation. I did get to meet with the nearby shop that did the inspection and oil change on it before it was offered for sale and they felt it was in pretty good shape for a 25 year old vehicle. It had 178K plus miles on it, and the body and interior were in very good condition (a couple of small tears and cracks inside but nothing too bad) and I was impressed with the ride. It rode great with no wandering and the engine seemed strong. A few rattles here and there but I guess that's to be expected. It appears to be in stock condition, although someone along the line added larger tires, 31X10.5R15 to replace the stock 30X9.5R15 tires. Interestingly, they left one of the original sized tires on the spare holder.
Now for the surprise- I had a local shop check the frame out and what I thought what was mainly surface rust turned out to be a bit more than that. So much so that I'll be paying about 3/4 the price of the purchase price for the repair. Ouch! So now I'll have a 25 year old Jeep costing me around $14-$15 thousand dollars. Looking on the web that doesn't seem too unreasonable (please don't tell me otherwise!) so there you are. Of course I could have bought a newer Jeep for that amount, but didn't want a newer one- too much silly and for me useless technology. I'm old school and want button and levers you can push and pull to get things going.
Anyway, looking forward to being here and learning more about these TJ's.
So the Jeep. I bought it off the 'net from a local independent dealer, and did what research I could, which wasn't much since it came with absolutely no documentation. I did get to meet with the nearby shop that did the inspection and oil change on it before it was offered for sale and they felt it was in pretty good shape for a 25 year old vehicle. It had 178K plus miles on it, and the body and interior were in very good condition (a couple of small tears and cracks inside but nothing too bad) and I was impressed with the ride. It rode great with no wandering and the engine seemed strong. A few rattles here and there but I guess that's to be expected. It appears to be in stock condition, although someone along the line added larger tires, 31X10.5R15 to replace the stock 30X9.5R15 tires. Interestingly, they left one of the original sized tires on the spare holder.
Now for the surprise- I had a local shop check the frame out and what I thought what was mainly surface rust turned out to be a bit more than that. So much so that I'll be paying about 3/4 the price of the purchase price for the repair. Ouch! So now I'll have a 25 year old Jeep costing me around $14-$15 thousand dollars. Looking on the web that doesn't seem too unreasonable (please don't tell me otherwise!) so there you are. Of course I could have bought a newer Jeep for that amount, but didn't want a newer one- too much silly and for me useless technology. I'm old school and want button and levers you can push and pull to get things going.
Anyway, looking forward to being here and learning more about these TJ's.
