Gear Whine and Floor Patching

Hi all,

I went to go look at an XJ yesterday...96 classic, 4.0 AW4 4 DR. IT has a 3.5" lift, SYE, bumper and winch, 8.25/D30 w/ 4.10's and it's sitting on 31" BFG AT's.

I like it a lot, and I like the price and mileage (87K and $3600).

But here is the kicker. The Jeep originally came from the midwest and the floors were rusted through. The owner tells me that the hole was about 1.5 ft long by 6" wide on one side and slightly smaller on the other side. He did not replace the floors, he said that instead he pulled up the carpet and used a "patch kit" that involved riveting new sheemetal in. Everything is totally covered in some sticky goop so I can't really see what he did. Should I shy away from it just because of this?

Second question, he bolted in some axles which I can only imagine were out of a 4 banger or something...he says they have factory 4.10's in them. They whine. How wary of this should I be?

Aside from those two, the Jeep is in perfect copndition for the most part.

What does the braintrust think about these issues? The vehicle will be driven over 100 miles per day on SOME days....sometimes for weeks (going to be a winter beater).

Thanks in advance.

bad news, skip that for sure.

I'd keep looking. There are too many for sale to settle for something like that.

Sounds like a midwest floor patch job. Not a bad thing especially if the PO lets you know about it before selling it to you. As long as he did a good job of fixing it, it shouldn't be a worry. You might get some money dealing leverage because of it though.

mccastlej said:

Sounds like a midwest floor patch job. Not a bad thing especially if the PO lets you know about it before selling it to you. As long as he did a good job of fixing it, it shouldn't be a worry. You might get some money dealing leverage because of it though.

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He says he did it like 7-8 years ago (he's had the XJ since 24K) and I see no signs of rust re-emerging anywhere underneath. I take that as a good thing....though it still scares me for sure.

No rust anywhere else...not even in the front of the rain gutters or anything....of course I'm tempted to offer him around $2800-3k.

XJ's of that year with that mileage go for more like $5-6k around here....

So we got two nay's and one sorta yay so far.....anyone else want to chime in?

at 100 miles a day, you'd find out why the gears are singing to you pretty soon-- unless your reserve cash has enough for axle rebuilds, I'd find one that is mechanicaly sound if you're planning to drove it right away.
--Shorty

Shorty said:

at 100 miles a day, you'd find out why the gears are singing to you pretty soon-- unless your reserve cash has enough for axle rebuilds, I'd find one that is mechanicaly sound if you're planning to drove it right away.
--Shorty

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Yup....tht wouldn't really be until the winter.

Instead of rebuilding I would try and swap in other ones.

How tough is it to source an 8.25 with 4.10's? Did they really come factory stock on any significant number of 4 bangers?

Low ball him cause of the axles. Swapping axles isn't a easy job and does take some time. If you really are interested and the axle whine is an issue, check the gear lube level before you buy it. If they are empty, or low, you might be replacing them sooner than you want. If they are full, check how much you can move the driveshaft yoke. If you don't find any problems, drive it till they break.