2005 LJ Rubicon with hardtop. 50k miles

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I bought this jeep saturday drove 8 hrs to see it....I wouldn't have even known it was for sale if it wasn't for this post.

more details to follow

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Looks great - more details please !

I can't believe the seller still has the ad up as sold lol he must have been proud of this one. I may make a "build" thread for the jeep but as far as things go there is very little I want to change or modify. I may swap the OME shocks out for Ranchos. It is basically in mint condition no one has painted or undercoated the frame or floorboards ever it's just plain clean and rust free. I looked inside the frame with an endoscope there was only one spot by the rear passenger lower control arm that has a few specks of surface rust. Other than that all I found were a couple of sticks and a acorn.

The tires are load range e apparently. Idk if old man emu shocks are supposed to ride stiff but going over bumps at 45 I get a bad shake that is not as pronounced at highway speeds. The psi was at 40....lol after reaching the Cleveland area I dropped it to 30 psi but it didn't make much of a difference. It's enough to rattle the doors and spare tire. The jeep did come with the original wheel and tire size but for some reason the carrier is rattling even with the tire off.

There is a slight oscillating vibe 75-80. Quite frankly this is the least of my worries

Finally it's a NSG. I knew what I was getting myself into after a year and a half of driving my nsg with 150k miles. But I was surprised to see such a low mileage example grind into second if you upshift fast. Shift like a grandma and problem resolved. Likewise you have to place it into first before going into reverse as well to save yourself from grinding. I anticipate a tranny rebuild in the future.

All in all I'm very happy. But it's tough to juggle the situation with the salt being on the road right now. I can't drive the darn thing anywhere without having to wash it. It's currently in a temperature controlled garage I washed out the inside of the frame rails looked inside with my endoscope to make sure it was all dry then sprayed eastwood internal frame coating. I will then do fluid film inside the frame rails and try to find some way to plug the holes. I intend to try and garage it and drive my TJ instead but I will have to drive the LJR 3 miles in the salt once a week or so. I'll still take salt over mud any day.

Good luck to everyone on the hunting it took me 4 years and 4 TJs to find a jeep I can finally be proud of. Sometimes people compliment me on my TJ when I pull into a parking lot because they dont know it has a bad frame etc and I have to say oh it's nice but this but that. I'm lucky to finally have a jeep where there really are no "buts".
 
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I forgot to add- the previous owner said he bought the jeep a year ago from Illinois. The title confirms that. It had a 2017 Missouri inspection sticker and service record in the jeep. It had a 2015 Amarillo Texas service record stuffed into the owners manual.
 
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