I've owned over 70 cars of all makes and eras. Somehow, never a Wrangler though. A gaping hole in my automotive experience. I corrected it today, finally! I found a '97 2.5 5-speed with 170k and its share of bumps and bruises. It has a 4" lift, but still the 31's. They are pretty worn, so I'll be moving to 33's in the very near future.
I went to drive the truck at lunch today and walked away impressed and disappointed. Impressed at the condition of the steel. There is no rust whatsoever on the truck, including underneath and in the engine bay. The top is in really nice condition and seat covers, which I figured hid ugliness, are just protecting nice seats. But it was downright terrifying to drive above 40mph. It wandered all over the road. And, no exaggeration, I could see 6 different repairs completely solely with zip ties. I said I'd think about it, then called him back with a lower price. He accepted and even brought it on a trailer to me since the drive was mostly highway and neither of us wanted to die today.
I spent a couple hours crawling around it tonight. Here are the findings.
I went to drive the truck at lunch today and walked away impressed and disappointed. Impressed at the condition of the steel. There is no rust whatsoever on the truck, including underneath and in the engine bay. The top is in really nice condition and seat covers, which I figured hid ugliness, are just protecting nice seats. But it was downright terrifying to drive above 40mph. It wandered all over the road. And, no exaggeration, I could see 6 different repairs completely solely with zip ties. I said I'd think about it, then called him back with a lower price. He accepted and even brought it on a trailer to me since the drive was mostly highway and neither of us wanted to die today.
I spent a couple hours crawling around it tonight. Here are the findings.
- Toe in on the front is nearly 2". That's right, TWO INCHES of toe in. That can't be helping the handling
It needs new tie rod ends, anyway, so I'll do them this weekend, then align. - Compression testing gave readings from 155 to 180 (cold motor, all plugs out, on battery charger, throttle open, crank until stable). Seems good to me.
- Plugs looked even and good. All gapped right.
- The muffler is a universal with the outlet at the wrong place, so it's just hanging there. Whatever. But the front is clamped above the big tray (I'm sure you have the proper name for it...) and hanging on so loose I think a good pothole would make it fall off completely. I figured that was the case when driving it and hearing the massive exhaust leak under me.
- The top was supposedly nearly new (and looks it, honestly). But the two zippers I tried to move were in terrible condition. I don't think I'm going to be able to take the top off without risking destroying zippers. Which sucks since I planned to do that this summer.
