So I picked up a new (to me) daily driver, now that the Boy is 16, he has taken over my XJ as his ride (I honestly bought it a few years ago as a project car for me and him to fix up and work on together, with the intention of giving it to him when he got his Driver's license... mission accomplished).
Well, I was missing how handy it was to have an unmodded vehicle with A/C to daily drive and take road trips in. I love my TJ, but 5 inches of lift, 35's, no A/C, and no protection from the elements during the summer can get old for routine errands.
I've been watching the local "Lemon Lot" for a few months. It's a county lot that you can buy a $10 permit and park a vehicle on for 2 weeks to sell.
Well, a decent WJ popped up there last week, and the asking price was 5k, so I called the guy.
It's a Laredo, with the 4.0, a 42re and a 242 t-case. It needed tires an a little cosmetic work, but everything else was working good. It was his daughter's high school car, but she's going off to college, so they are buying her an econo-box Mazda.
It has 135k miles, but looked really well maintained, not like a kid's car, except for a dent in the passenger front fender. Owner says it was his father in law's vehicle, who bought it new. When Father in law asked away 5 years ago, owner's daughter started driving it. Owner is not a car guy, but understood basic maintenance, and had regular service done at the Jeep dealership the next town over.
The trans fluid is darker that I like, but didn't smell burnt. Oil needs changing but it's not black, and there was no excessive carbon buildup that I could see looking in the oil fill hole. As preventative maintainence, I'm going to change engine oil, trans and t-case fluid, and diff oil. Probably will tackle a radiator flush in a few weeks, too.
I'm pretty happy with it as a decent little suv to run errands in, and am looking forward to getting the maintainence up to snuff and maybe doing some light body work and paint correction.
Well, I was missing how handy it was to have an unmodded vehicle with A/C to daily drive and take road trips in. I love my TJ, but 5 inches of lift, 35's, no A/C, and no protection from the elements during the summer can get old for routine errands.
I've been watching the local "Lemon Lot" for a few months. It's a county lot that you can buy a $10 permit and park a vehicle on for 2 weeks to sell.
Well, a decent WJ popped up there last week, and the asking price was 5k, so I called the guy.
It's a Laredo, with the 4.0, a 42re and a 242 t-case. It needed tires an a little cosmetic work, but everything else was working good. It was his daughter's high school car, but she's going off to college, so they are buying her an econo-box Mazda.
It has 135k miles, but looked really well maintained, not like a kid's car, except for a dent in the passenger front fender. Owner says it was his father in law's vehicle, who bought it new. When Father in law asked away 5 years ago, owner's daughter started driving it. Owner is not a car guy, but understood basic maintenance, and had regular service done at the Jeep dealership the next town over.
The trans fluid is darker that I like, but didn't smell burnt. Oil needs changing but it's not black, and there was no excessive carbon buildup that I could see looking in the oil fill hole. As preventative maintainence, I'm going to change engine oil, trans and t-case fluid, and diff oil. Probably will tackle a radiator flush in a few weeks, too.
I'm pretty happy with it as a decent little suv to run errands in, and am looking forward to getting the maintainence up to snuff and maybe doing some light body work and paint correction.
