To sell or not to sell? 2004 LJ

100% this, if that's the only thing missing on your rig just swap it. It's time consuming and has a lot of little pieces to not miss but it's not difficult.

I have 2 under my belt technically, one going auto the other going manual. Hopefully will have another couple I help with shortly.

Even knowing just the basics, I suspect one could start the swap with some forum help and get right through it with no issues.
Post up a few pics- What needs to be done here? So on and so forth.

The highest difficulty would be just finding all the parts. Find a reasonable running and driving donor, swap between the two, sell the donor when done.
 
Even knowing just the basics, I suspect one could start the swap with some forum help and get right through it with no issues.
Post up a few pics- What needs to be done here? So on and so forth.

The highest difficulty would be just finding all the parts. Find a reasonable running and driving donor, swap between the two, sell the donor when done.

That’s a great idea. My guess is that the OP may be able to sell the donor TJ as an auto for a bit more than paid for as a stick.
 
That’s a great idea. My guess is that you may be able to sell the donor TJ as an auto for a bit more than paid for as a stick.

Normally I would agree but life doesn't work like that. If you need a manual for a swap, now all the ones that you saw a month ago for 10 grand are 15. When you go to sell the auto for the 15 you saw them selling for a month ago are now 10 grand.

Hopefully prices will continue their downward trend and the market gets more realistic. Free Covid money nearly ruined the used car market.
 
Have you looked at the market recently? You will no doubt get a pretty penny for your lj but what will you spend to get the jeep you want but manual? And then go through it to fix all the stuff previous owners did that you don't like. I say keep what you have and manual swap it.
 
Jesus dude

You know, it occurs to me that you may have thought that the drama llama comment was directed at you which for reasons unknown happened to produce an inordinate of ire that you then fired off in my direction. If so, I do apologize for not being more clear with some contextual clues that I was still referring to our whiny southern gent with the tenderest of feelings. If not, then continue taking things far more seriously than is prudent.
 
@NYC-TJU - I don't know how long you've owned your LJ (sorry if I missed it) but there's a lot to be said for long term ownership of a vehicle, especially when you know and like it like you do yours. I've owned my 04 LJ for 7 years and, although not that long, I like it and think I know it well enough that I can hear and feel when something is going wrong with it. I know what I have and haven't done to it, what parts are new, used, etc. and what I said to myself I should think about replacing. I've restored cars from the ground up and having "touched" pretty much everything on them you know when things need attention.

EDIT: Mine is an automatic and I'm OK with that. If I really wanted a standard, I'd make the switch. I've done a lot dumber things. :rolleyes:
 
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EDIT: Mine is an automatic and I'm OK with that. If I really wanted a standard, I'd make the switch. I've done a lot dumber things. :rolleyes:
It is only dumb when you succumb to believing what others think actually matters. It doesn't, do what makes you happy and fulfills your desires.
 
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Lots of folks got confused by the fact there are no OEM 04 Unlimited models with manuals
I didn’t know that🙄 so OP can obviously disregard my idea of buying a manual version and swapping parts before selling the auto.
It is only dumb when you succumb to believing what others think actually matters. It doesn't, do what makes you happy and fulfills your desires.
What others think can matter a lot to me, IF their knowledge comes from carefully considered experience or well designed experiments, as opposed to just being an opinion. When I’m armed with good information, fulfilling my desires is more likely to make me happy😀

Example: there is a lot of well founded knowledge here and that’s a big reason why I’m on the forum. Trick is filtering out all the opinion.
 
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I didn’t know that🙄 so OP can obviously disregard my idea of buying a manual version and swapping parts before selling the auto.
No, that idea works as long as you don't go hunting for an 04 TJ Unlimited with a manual. Lots of 03-04 TJ manuals out there though.
Trick is filtering out all the opinion.
That is a trick.
 
It is only dumb when you succumb to believing what others think actually matters. It doesn't, do what makes you happy and fulfills your desires.

Lot of truth and lot of depth in this. I love it.

I just wrote (ranted? blabbered? ) in Garrett's build thread and reading this right afterward hits me hard (in a good way). Understanding what it is really that we desire and what it would take to fulfill said desire sometimes becomes very tricky.
 
I would keep it they only made 8500 or so black unlimiteds in the three year models, 2200ish in 04, leave it auto and cherish it. It looks great and every time I look at mine I smile.
 
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I have the same dilemma. I have a well built 98 TJ , but n a whim I bought a pretty untouched 05 LJ . Do I flip the LJ or build it and sell the TJ?

88A4E3DB-9A91-4B92-83BC-4906A062FCF2.jpeg
 
I would definitely swap the manual in if I were you… you seem to love the lj you have now, as you should, but you wish it were manual, make that happen.

Yeah I guess I figured this was something that would be cost prohibitive or way too complicated. I'll look into it more. It's honestly the dream scenario to have this baby as is but manual.
 
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@NYC-TJU - I don't know how long you've owned your LJ (sorry if I missed it) but there's a lot to be said for long term ownership of a vehicle, especially when you know and like it like you do yours. I've owned my 04 LJ for 7 years and, although not that long, I like it and think I know it well enough that I can hear and feel when something is going wrong with it. I know what I have and haven't done to it, what parts are new, used, etc. and what I said to myself I should think about replacing. I've restored cars from the ground up and having "touched" pretty much everything on them you know when things need attention.

EDIT: Mine is an automatic and I'm OK with that. If I really wanted a standard, I'd make the switch. I've done a lot dumber things. :rolleyes:

Completely agree. It's nice to know all the little maintenance details that only come with doing it all over time.