I ended up pulling the trigger on it. I got him to come down $1,000 and got it for $16,500. Some might still say that’s a bit high, but what sold me on it is the overall condition. The interior looks brand new. Exterior and frame are also in excellent condition with no rust. It has only had two owners and both were in the carolinas.
The first owner was an older man who had it for about 13 years and kept it bone stock. The servicing book is still in the glove box and documents every single servicing for those 13 years, all the way up to 87k miles. The second owner had it for right at 3 years. He is the one who added the lift, tires, etc. and he kept the jeep in the garage and only put about $10k miles on it in those 3 years. It has never done any wheeling. I definitely think knowing that it was taken care of adds value to it.
I’m fine with the lift and wheels. I would prefer 12.5 tires to the 14.5, but i can live with the 14.5. I can just switch to 12.5 once it’s time for them to be replaced. The tires are definitely loud at about 50+ mph. That said, the tires are basically brand new (about 5k miles on them). And the jeep came with the matching fifth tire as the spare. I considered buying a different set of 35’s and selling these since they are in such great condition, but I don’t know how I would go about selling them if I went that route. Is that something I should be able to do if I wanted to go that route? Craigslist? Ebay (although I can’t imagine shipping these tires)? Any recommendations?
I don’t plan on doing any heavy wheeling. I wouldn’t mind some moderate wheeling at some point, though, which is part of why I went ahead and went with the rubicon instead of another trim that would need regearing, axles, etc.
I had to drive it three hours home on the interstate, and I was extremely surprised by how smooth it rode at higher speeds.