Hey guys,
New guy here. I'm not new to Jeeps though, I've owned 5 XJ's and one YJ, however this is my first TJ. I've wanted one for a long time, but I've put off buying one mainly because I have thought that they were over valued and it has taken a while for my Scotch-Irish thriftiness to find what I considered a good enough deal to pull the trigger on.
I know I'm going to have lots of questions, but a little about this TJ:
It's a 1997 Sahara with a 5 speed and 145k miles on it. Everything works like it should. It's a 2 owner vehicle with no rust. The first owner was an older gentleman who never took it off road and owned it since it was new and the second owner only had it a year. He bought it for his high school senior son who was more into golf than 4 wheeling and couldn't seem to fit his golf clubs in it. So now I am the lucky owner for just a little under $7k.
The first thing I noticed was that the oil pressure gauge was kind of wonky and after a little research I bought an $8 oil pressure sensor and in about 5 minutes had that fixed.
The second thing I noticed was that there was a small crack in the top of the radiator. About $67 and 30 minutes later I had that fixed as well.
It needed new tires really bad, so a couple of mouse clicks over at discounttiredirect.com and I had 5 new 235-75R15 Goodyear Wranglers for $330 including shipping after rebate.
The steering wheel must have had the leather removed, because it was awful thin and the top part had become separated from the core, so I whipped it in some paracord I had laying around and fixed that. No more twisting in your hand and it's much thicker and feels great.
Now it appears that the left rear Monroe shock is blown out, so for the time being I just grabbed 4 OEM style Sensen shocks off of Amazon for about $60 until I figure out what I want to do with the suspension.
It only came with the spice hardtop and since I'm selling my Miata and this will now become our "fun" vehicle I grabbed a Bestop Trektop NX which has all the necessary hardware. I'll probably sell the hardtop because I have a 2003 4 door Tacoma TRD that can serve as my foul weather ride and once the Miata is sold I can part the TJ in the garage.
Looking forward to learning a lot here and getting to know everyone and maybe going on some excursions. I will follow up with some specific questions about suspension, lighting upgrades, driver's seat fixes, etc... in some other more specific threads. Anyway... On to the pics after the first wash...
New guy here. I'm not new to Jeeps though, I've owned 5 XJ's and one YJ, however this is my first TJ. I've wanted one for a long time, but I've put off buying one mainly because I have thought that they were over valued and it has taken a while for my Scotch-Irish thriftiness to find what I considered a good enough deal to pull the trigger on.
I know I'm going to have lots of questions, but a little about this TJ:
It's a 1997 Sahara with a 5 speed and 145k miles on it. Everything works like it should. It's a 2 owner vehicle with no rust. The first owner was an older gentleman who never took it off road and owned it since it was new and the second owner only had it a year. He bought it for his high school senior son who was more into golf than 4 wheeling and couldn't seem to fit his golf clubs in it. So now I am the lucky owner for just a little under $7k.
The first thing I noticed was that the oil pressure gauge was kind of wonky and after a little research I bought an $8 oil pressure sensor and in about 5 minutes had that fixed.
The second thing I noticed was that there was a small crack in the top of the radiator. About $67 and 30 minutes later I had that fixed as well.
It needed new tires really bad, so a couple of mouse clicks over at discounttiredirect.com and I had 5 new 235-75R15 Goodyear Wranglers for $330 including shipping after rebate.
The steering wheel must have had the leather removed, because it was awful thin and the top part had become separated from the core, so I whipped it in some paracord I had laying around and fixed that. No more twisting in your hand and it's much thicker and feels great.
Now it appears that the left rear Monroe shock is blown out, so for the time being I just grabbed 4 OEM style Sensen shocks off of Amazon for about $60 until I figure out what I want to do with the suspension.
It only came with the spice hardtop and since I'm selling my Miata and this will now become our "fun" vehicle I grabbed a Bestop Trektop NX which has all the necessary hardware. I'll probably sell the hardtop because I have a 2003 4 door Tacoma TRD that can serve as my foul weather ride and once the Miata is sold I can part the TJ in the garage.
Looking forward to learning a lot here and getting to know everyone and maybe going on some excursions. I will follow up with some specific questions about suspension, lighting upgrades, driver's seat fixes, etc... in some other more specific threads. Anyway... On to the pics after the first wash...
