Would you pay $4500 for

Saw a XJ for sale locally today. If you guys could help me out and let me know if this seems like a good deal that would be great.

98 XJ 4 door
105K miles
auto

ARB front bumper
rock hard rear bumper with tire carrier
trans cooler
gas tank skid
transfer case skid
crager soft 8's
32" good year mt/r
old man emu nitro shocks
jks upper/lower CA's
thinking maybe between 3.5 and 4.5 inches of lift

looks a little banged up. both bumpers have some dings in them, and the gutters are a little bent in. also the hatch has a big dent in it as well as the metal near one of the rear windows

looks built well, but possibly beat on. this thing wont die on me will it? hard to tell.

thanks for any advice

i paid 3500 for this (as it appears in the pic)




take it for a test drive, get under it, pop the hood, look for leaks anything obvious, see if the seller would let you take it to a repair shop you trust for an inspection, most places wont charge for that, and if they do it shouldn't be that bad

seems well built, and not bad miles!

If it seems mechanically sound, and the dings and dents are mostly cosmetic I'd buy it. Seems like a decent price considering I just paid 4k for a bone stock 99 Sport with 95k on it.

It's always hard to tell what you are getting when you buy someone else's project. Generally I would pay less for a modified rig than a stock one, but it all depends on the components and what shape it's in.

Offer him 3000 and see what you can get him down to. If you do get it, I'll be more than happy to take the bumpers off your hands.

That rock hard rear bumper is almost a grand by it self

you know its been beat...keep that in mind.

I paid 3k for mine stock

I traded a 98 4 cylinder TJ with a super35,locked and lifted on 34s for a bone stock 97 XJ. Than again...the TJ needed a new frame,lower CA mounts,clutch/trannywork and a bunch of other stuff. So I mean, its all relative

Here in tucson, it is not hard to find a jeep for 6-8K and if you want a 98', you could add a couple more K to that. That is stock at a used dealer, any were from 4-6K in paper. After finance, my 93 cost over 12K and my 95 cost just over 13K. If something like that was offered here, it wouldn't last long.

i paid $1800 for my '98 2 door!

i paid 2,300 for a semi lifted 93 Country

cox_xj said:

i paid 3500 for this (as it appears in the pic)

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Did that include the loose nut visible behind the wheel?:laugh:

ThE HiV said:

Saw a XJ for sale locally today. If you guys could help me out and let me know if this seems like a good deal that would be great.

98 XJ 4 door
105K miles
auto

ARB front bumper
rock hard rear bumper with tire carrier
trans cooler
gas tank skid
transfer case skid
crager soft 8's
32" good year mt/r
old man emu nitro shocks
jks upper/lower CA's
thinking maybe between 3.5 and 4.5 inches of lift

looks a little banged up. both bumpers have some dings in them, and the gutters are a little bent in. also the hatch has a big dent in it as well as the metal near one of the rear windows

looks built well, but possibly beat on. this thing wont die on me will it? hard to tell.

thanks for any advice

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Forgot to mention it also has a warn winch in the ARB bumper.

all parts underneath look fairly new. (labels still on the leaf springs, old man emu shocks are still yellow, and the lift springs in the front are still silver. no rust underneath either.

rear diff looks to leak a little bit. but everything looks pretty good. i think i might take it for a ride later.

what could be some problems I would have if this things was beat on real bad. im not worried about the dings in the body, and all the parts seem top notch. but should i be warry of any motor trans issues. how do 97 + XJ's hold up around 100K miles.

my 93 is at 215K and is bullet proof but has been babied.

ANy 4.0 can kick 200k's ass VERY easily...
Chances are, if thats an AW-4, the tranny would be fine, too...

Big kicker... Take the diff covers off, and check the tranny fluid for water intrusion/forgetfulness

check the tranny fluid for water for sure..
hes not going to pull diff covers on a truck thats for sale.
run it around the block if it seems to drive decent and has decent power id prob buy it..

I suggest you hook up with someone who is experienced at mechanics and get them to take a good hard look at it. Look for rusted out floor pans (fresh undercoating is a sign of coveruop work), rust on suspension parts, heavy rust, not the usual surface rust. Run the engine with the hood open and listen for unusual noises. Drive it in 4WD and listen for unusual noises. If the current owner is uncomfortable with you checking it out real well walk away. There are plenty of good XJ's out there for sale.

ThE HiV said:

Forgot to mention it also has a warn winch in the ARB bumper.

all parts underneath look fairly new. (labels still on the leaf springs, old man emu shocks are still yellow, and the lift springs in the front are still silver. no rust underneath either.

rear diff looks to leak a little bit. but everything looks pretty good. i think i might take it for a ride later.

what could be some problems I would have if this things was beat on real bad. im not worried about the dings in the body, and all the parts seem top notch. but should i be warry of any motor trans issues. how do 97 + XJ's hold up around 100K miles.

my 93 is at 215K and is bullet proof but has been babied.

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Took it out for a drive tonight. not bad. a few more accessories on it that i forgot to mention. looks like it has some sort of long arm kit, the control arm mounting point have been relocated down about 2 inches.

also has rusty air intake

now for a couple questions. it has a switch for an ARB air compressor which is mounted under the hood. is this for air lockers. nothing is connected to the air chuck on the compresser, but there are two switches in the dash for arb front and rear lockers. the compressor comes on when the switch is turned, but was not sure about lockers.

coul also not get the winch to work. its a warn and there is a cover on top of the unit where a remote would plug in. but no remote included. this is from a used car dealer, and the guy has NO CLUE about anything on it.

it drove very well. got up to 70 on the highway, no wobble. just vibrations from the mudders on it.

only noise i could hear was a kocking when wheels were turned at full lock.

----- so if some one has any clue about the winch or the lockers, or if they think its worth the 4500 please chime in. I wanted to trade in my 93 XJ for atleast 2000, but i could only get 1200 out of him. still seems like it might be a pretty good deal.

Hell, wheres it at? I'll come buy it. If it's got on it what you say is on it-its got 4,500 worth of accessories.

Look for blue air lines or possibly stainless(if they replaced/upgraded them) coming out of the differential housings, probably near the top of the axle housing or I've even seen people run them out the diff cover.

It may have had arb's in it and they removed them before selling/traded so even if it has the air lines, that doesn't guarantee that it has ARB's.

If it drove good I'd say go for it and bring it home and start tearing it apart and take some pictures so we can help identify everything.

ThE HiV said:

only noise i could hear was a kocking when wheels were turned at full lock.

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Tires are probably rubbing on something at full lock. Take a look under it and it should be pretty obvious if it is.