Suggested YJ, CJ, ?

Daughter wrecked my XJ. Not sure of the status yet. If it turns out to be too bad I'll be selling it. If so I may try to pick up a Wrangler, or CJ to replace it. What would be recommended in the under $5000 range?

Sarge

Resist the urge to join the darkside!!! Let the short wheel base guys play with their own stuff!!!!

LOL!! Well in all honesty anything with 4 wheels is a secondary vehicle for me. Whatever I get has to be able to tow a bike trailer if I need to make a run to rescue a friend. And every so often that means I gotta drive thru the median or a small bit on the side of the road. The XJ worked great but mine is a 2WD and that caused a problem once and the longer wheel base actually made getting turned around in a few spots "fun".

One of the reasons for thinking the shorter dudes also has to do with availability here. I seem to see more them then I do the XJ's.

Sarge

We have about three times as many SWB jeeps here as we do XJ/MJ's. Usually, the prices are higher than that though. We get alot of high school posers wanting them. I strapped out a girl in a TJ , last night, and I never even put it in 4wd.

I understand about the turning radius, but you do get a nice warm ride in the winter.

w_howey said:

I understand about the turning radius, but you do get a nice warm ride in the winter.

Click to expand...

Good point. Living in St Louis, it is kinda important too.

Sarge

Having both a 98XJ and an 89YJ it would be tough decision, the YJ's up to around 91-92 up in this area can be gotten under $5K if you shop around. Some of them are in very nice conditon. Look for one with the 'dual top' option, the hard top in the dual top comes with full doors with wind up windows, soft tops come with half doors and soft windows. Soft tops have no security unless you put in a tuffy lockbox or center console.
All that said, I grab the YJ on nice days, top and doors off and spend the drive with a big S*it eating grin on my face. It is also warm in the winter with the hard top on though a bit noisy, consider the aerodynamics of a XJ= contoured brick, aerodynamics of a shorty=big barn.
My only real thought of a downside to the shortys is working on the tranny or transfer case, they have one whopper of a plate under there and while I have not had to get intimate with that area of the undersides of the YJ 'yet' it looks like it could be a royal PIA.
My next is a TJ dual top either sahara or rubi, depends on how good the business does this year.:anon:

CJ or YJ? Depends on what you find. Both are great. I'd start hunting around and see what you get for 5k in your part of the country.

Couple of things to watch for. 1987-89 YJ's sometimes came with a pukegoat transmission. You'll want to stay away from that piece of junk. My YJ justs sits in the garage while the ZJ and the XJ do all the daily driving. They're not the most practical thing on four wheels but they are also a lot of fun to drive and can keep up with an XJ off the pavement.

CJ's are nice because they don't come with all the fancy electonics making them a little easier to work with. I've had my '95 YJ for 5 years and for 3 of them it did all the daily driving. To date it has cost me $0 to fix. Every penny spent on it has been for mx and gas. Best reliablity of every car I've ever owned.

CJ if you want to swap in a V8.... YJ if you are happy with I6.... get a newer one with the 4.0L and EFI.. it is worth the few extra bucks to never deal with a carb again...
mike

Thanks folks. Have the XJ ripped apart now and making up my mind whether to rebuild or replace soon. Saw a sweet looking YJ yesterday but the seller must be doing crack...$30K.

Sarge

Sarge said:

Thanks folks. Have the XJ ripped apart now and making up my mind whether to rebuild or replace soon. Saw a sweet looking YJ yesterday but the seller must be doing crack...$30K.

Sarge

Click to expand...

That's another thing you're going to encounter. Jeep people in general never want to pay a fair price when buying, and alwaus want too much when selling. We're that way here, for the most part, but the SWB guys are infinitely worse.

With a $5000 budget you should be able to pick up a nice mid-90s XJ with 4WD a lot easier than you'll find a comparable year YJ for the same price range.

I would skip the CJ. As someone pointed out, get a YJ with EFI (I think that started in '91, the same year the XJ changed to the Chrysler EFI). The carbs they used on the early YJs were junk. (Ask Rich Pierson )

The frames on the YJ is far superior to the CJ. I have had both, and I was constantly plating the frame on the CJ...they crack at the steering box and spring perches. That, and any CJ has been owned by at least 200 wiring gurus, the 1st place you should look is under the dash at the wiring. If it looks like a hairball your cat barfed up, RUN AWAY FAST!

HEY, those BBD 's are not 'junk' just 'design challenged'
I still need to get the tank back in now that we cleaned up all the crud under that tank and got rid of the surface rust, did the priming, painting and undercoating. Had to allow a full day between coats of the primer/sealer, paint and undercoating. One frigging WEEK spent on listening to drying paint, geeze... Upside is he got the nose stripped, primed and rattle can repainted we're not touching that carb till after we get the tank in and get it running, then comes the rebuild, man that kit has alot of small parts Gonna be busy all weekend at pocono for the nascar race but this time I get to spend time in the pits meeting people, only have to do sunday doing tickets

XJ looks fairly easily fixed, wont be pretty but it'll run. However it may still be sold as my soon-to-be-wifes daughter wants it. So I'll still end up looking for a replacement. So far it sounds like a '91 or newer YJ which hasn't been too heavily modified with both hard and soft tops. *grin* I agree Eagle. Seems the instant they add so much as larger tires they want way more money for the rig.

With $5000 I believe you could find a newer, lower milaged XJ then YJ. Dont forget the comfort and storage room you'll be giving up.
Ok, if your set on the CJ/YJ, I'd give another vote for the YJ, get the injected 4.0, the frame is better then a CJs and the Body is also better (wont rust as easy as the CJ).
Good luck and have fun with whatever you get.

I'm listening to y'all but in all honesty the extra room and comfort in the XJ is sort of a moot point for me. I don't use the XJ enough to really need much room. My XJ is packed with crap I never use. I can't say I haven't enjoyed my XJ but it hasn't grown on me to the point of devotion. My kids love it cause of the room and the good a/c.

Considering I spend 10-13 hours a day in an un-airconditioned 3/4 van doing sewer and drain work, a/c really isn't a point with me. As for the price I know myself and will most likey end up looking for something much cheaper. For whatever reason I've always wanted a CJ style jeep. But if I find a decent pickup cheap I could end up with that also.

I'm also researching now but may not get anything for a month or more. I could end up with another XJ...just don't know.

Sarge