keep n fix, or ??? (pics)

well i have a 95 xj sport 4 door 4x4 4.0 5 speed with 290k on the clock. i have had this for alittle over 3 yrs, i paid 800 bucks for it. it was going to be a project but has more or less just been a daily driver. i repaired the floor bords, well i just screwed in some sheet metal over what was left, i put a new radiator water pump, tune up. thats about it to date. however since this has become a daily driver and comming into winter, i need this thing or i need to sell and buy somthing to replace it, i was looking into a WJ. but i have thought to keep, and fix all the things i have "delt" with......original suspension all components, slave cyc, and or clutch, front pinion seal, rear brakes havent worked in about a year, needs new axle u joints and crive shafts prob need new joints too, oh and tires! sooo... what do you all think????

i would fix it!

I'd fix it minimally. Fix the brakes and the u-joints, all pretty cheap, and then fix whatever breaks as it breaks. Ignore minor problems that don't threaten reliability, and you can get through at least another winter for practically nothing. Get some decent snow tires, and if the tires outlast the Jeep you can sell them separately.

I have spent about $2500 (oops, plus tires) on the MJ project. Most of the parts have come from the junkyard except "moving" parts, brakes, sensors...important stuff. Almost the whole interior was in the bed of the truck, which wasn't even bolted on. I gave it a rattlecan paint job, re-did the whole interior, and replaced everything in front of the engine, alt, p.s pump, harmonic balancer, waterpump, compressor, pulleys, belt...plus injectors, intake...and everything BEHIND the engine, tranny, TC, u-joints. The entire front end either replaced or spiffed up...and...allllll the lights. This was just to bring it back from the abyss and make it slightly better than 1988 stock.

http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u196/chasdwitt/ALL%20JEEP/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ16

It took me two years between work, lack of $$, rain, snow, junkyard trips, obsession, trial and error, waiting for parts and this forum and others. It's been an incredible learning experience. Wouldn't trade it for the world.

The guy in the Willys is my old man at 80, without whom none of this would have happened. Thanks Pops

Fix it!!

I know you won't like what I am going to say, but...

Here's something that one of my VW buddies has on his outgoing messages:

"Who wants to ride some 20 year old honda that works all of the time no matter what. Thats boring as hell."

Soon I am going to go that way, the boring way. It is really hard to keep up with the Jeeps. Reliability issue aside, why do you always have to break something in order to fix something else? This is what I am really sick of. The guys at the counter at Autozone, Advanced Auto and the local stealership know me by name...

My wife has a Mazda3, which isnt even a Honda. Recently I did tune up and it was such a pleasure to work on it. Everything was so clean, just as it just came out of the factory. Not to mention that this was the only work, besides oil changes and tire rotations ever done to it. And guess what, at 77K it looks much better than the Jeep when it left the factory. Besides, cars these days are also cheaper to maintain...no wires, cap and rotor, possible ignition coil to buy anymore, just sparkplugs...

So, it is up to you: If you enjoy and most importantly have the time, I'd say go for it and fix it, but am warning you that you will be fixing stuff that you broke during the fixing... After all, there aren't many vehicles out there that are so well behaved on the road and off road and are so simple and elegant. You get into it and the ergonomics are superb.

But I am warning you, that you will be spending many hours just trying to keep up with it. IMHO, if you enjoy tweaking, you will be better off with a Honda, etc...no fixing needed and if you are itching to work on it, you can always do a modification or two.

My two cents.

Best

Boris

I don't believe in selling XJs.

I'll give you what you paid for it. Drive it up to Alaska, I'll give you the cash, and I'll pay for your one-way ticket flight on the 'red-eye' express, from Los Anchorditch, to SeaTac. You can hitch-hike from there.

Seriously, a 4X4=$X$. Period. However what I did was to get a cheap economy car for summer, and work on the XJ at the same time.., to prepare it for mostly bad weather in the winter. Sometimes I go for summer excursions where the ecocar can't go. What did I do to the XJ this past summer: 2" Old Man Emu stock lift, coils/leafs, OME NitroSport shocks, replaced stock front bumper with an ARB Bull Bar 'Roo bumper w/WarnM8000 winch, rust control; body, and chassis, removed the rear sway bar, installed front sway bar disconnects, replaced front oil seal, cleaned out old anti-freeze fluids, replacing new, with distilled water, replaced tie-rod ends, Kevin's sourced track bar, and associated parts, steering box brace, (went to alignment shop to tweek to perfection). Installed CIBIE headlights, with custom harness. Last year's summer; Replaced wind shield, fixed headliner, driver's side floor plate area fix, replaced all seats with better used ones, (not from an accident involved vehicle), cleaned engine compartment, replaced spark plugs, wires, cap, and rotor, installed engine heater for winters, complete rear brake job, including ER brake adjustment, front and rear propeller shaft u-joints, replaced XJ roof rack for one from an old Cherokee, model 17, replaced a few small bulbs, one cracked tail light lense, obtained new replacement headlight bezels, Bridgestone Blizzack studless winter tires.

So, I figure that if I keep going along this-a-way, I will end up with a dependable new vehicle, with cheaper recycled, and new costly parts, lol. In other words, I put a small down payment on a versatile vehicle, and I am saving monthly dollars, (what could be considered as monthly payments on a new vehicle).., lol, in a XJ piggy bank, and each summer I break the XJ piggy bank, make the 'new' changes, plus the slight mods., from the lump sum saved for said purchases. Next summer, I intend to get an extra set of wheels, 29" mud tires, small trailer. Some of us can afford to have an XJ done quick time, but some of us others must save up, and prioritize upgrades. Consider your XJ as a type of project, and you will have many happy hours driving a $X$, I mean 4X4 box on wheels. Did you know that Canadians drive on square tires, and wheels? True.., saw it on South Park once, or twice. Must be they do a lot of square rock crawling!

Its got a pretty straight body, and a 5 speed which you just dont see very much, and looks to me to be a great stripped down interior cherokee. It's probably noisy as hell with no carpet but as a DD around town its tough to beat em.
Just start modifying it one thing at a time and you will never want to get rid of it because you will keep wanting to do more.

Wallyman said:

Its got a pretty straight body, and a 5 speed which you just dont see very much, and looks to me to be a great stripped down interior cherokee. It's probably noisy as hell with no carpet but as a DD around town its tough to beat em.
Just start modifying it one thing at a time and you will never want to get rid of it because you will keep wanting to do more.

Click to expand...

yeah it sure is noisy, and thats what the suck part is as a dd!

oh well let the fun begin, i truley didnt want to part with it, but had to entertain the idea