04 Rubicon buying advice

[Cjustice]

Considering trading in my current ride for something a little different.

That something different being a 2004 Rubicon.
Asking price is $17000
This would be my first Jeep. I'd mostly use it for a 5 mile commute to work and back. Just looking for something sub $20,000 and solid. Carfax has this particular Jeep living in the southeast most of it's life, patricularly Alabama and Florida. Areas of concern for me are the 5 owners. I haven't checked it out yet in person but from what I'm seeing it looks fairly clean and rust free

Any and all advice is appreciated and welcomed.

 

[Starrs]

Looks very nice. That won’t sit very long at that price. Check the frame out when you go and look at it. If it doesn’t have any rust looks good to go to me. I hope somebody on here doesn’t vulture that from you haha

 

[Cjustice]

Looks very nice. That won’t sit very long at that price. Check the frame out when you go and look at it. If it doesn’t have any rust looks good to go to me. I hope somebody on here doesn’t vulture that from you haha

Hey thanks for the reply. If someone did then it's just not meant to be and that's alright to haha.

 

[Chris]

See here:
What should I look for when buying a used Wrangler TJ?

It looks clean, but less the frame is rust free, then you should walk away, no questions asked.

There isn't much to be concerned about with TJs other than rust, rust, and rust. The miles are fairly low, and based off where it's lived most of it's life, you shouldn't have salt issues (hence rust). However, unless you can get photos of that frame, it's impossible to say for sure.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Looks like a nice Rubicon though $17k seems high. If you buy it and start thinking it rides more stiffly than you want, come back here for advice on how to make it ride great.

 

[Brianj5600]

Coastal Jeeps can have rust issues too. My sister lived close to the Texas gulf coast and there were quite a few vehicles with major rust. It is a very nice looking Jeep, but seems a little high on the price to me.

 

[AndyG]

Looks like a nice Rubicon though $17k seems high. If you buy it and start thinking it rides more stiffly than you want, come back here for advice on how to make it ride great.

Hey Jerry ... With the Rancho series shocks make my Rubicon ride significantly better on rough roads than the bilstein's mataron it in your opinion.

The biggest thing that keeps holding me back is I don't know how to do the math for the shocks with my 4 inch lift and I'm clueless about the stops.

I guess my question is are they a little better some better or tremendously better.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Bilsteins are notoriously stiff and jittery on a Wrangler, I believe you'd like the Rancho RS5000X shocks a lot better. I was surprised how much I liked mine both on the highway and offroad.

 

[AndyG]

Thanks sir

 

[AndyG]

On the thread ,the Rubicon looks good .

Those run 14-16,000 typically .

Be sure that lockers lock .

 

[Cjustice]

Here are some photos from the dealer. Thoughts?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Here are some photos from the dealer. Thoughts?

Those just show the stock Rubicon axles and rear driveshaft, nothing unusual there other than the fancy differential cover on the rear axle.

 

[CybrSlydr]

For comparison sake, the TJ in my avatar is a 2006 Auto Rubicon with hard-top that I flew down to Texas and bought for $15,550 with a little over 100k on it.

 

[zebra12]

The hard top is off a pre-2003 TJ.

 

[AndyG]

Did he buy

 

[Thunderhead]

Grab it if you can. I paid 16k for mine with 70 k miles 4 years ago.