Well guys, it wasn't planned, but 10 days ago I drove a few hours east and picked up a rust free 2006 LJ Rubicon. If you followed my 2004 TJ build (found here) then you may have seen me talk about possibly moving to an LJ. Having the TJ for less than a year, I had no intentions to sell it so soon or move to an LJ maybe ever. I spent a good bit of time and money over the last few months making changes and upgrades from the perspective that we would have the TJ for many years. The purchase of an LJ is primarily due to wanting more room for my two young children (almost 3 and 6) as well as doing so to avoid putting a large chunk of change into a front and rear axle swap on the TJ. I mentioned to the wife that I'd really like to entertain the idea of finding an LJ and she was fully supportive of the transition (isn't she awesome!). I started out my search in this region of the country (I'm in KY) but was willing to drive a reasonable distance for a vehicle that matched our wants and price range. Ideally I wanted a Rubicon model as it gives me the best foundation to build what I want at this time without having to look at the additional cost of lockers, SYE, etc down the road. Even though they can be harder to find than non-Rubicon LJs I felt that the price difference would be justified by some of the expenses spared later on.
The biggest requirement I had for any LJ we were going to purchase was that it was a solid vehicle from a frame/body/mechanical standpoint. My TJ is pretty much rust free (a little surface rust in some places underneath) and in pretty impressive shape for being 14 years old. Pretty much any other component can be repaired or replaced but I didn't want to deal with a rusty frame. The first LJ I went to look at was actually a 2006 Rubicon almost identical to the one I purchased but the inner frame rails (and several other areas of the Jeep) were pretty full of rust (and it was and still is advertised as "no rust"). I attempted to politely educate the owner on the rust problem he had but it seems he's waiting for a buyer who doesn't bother to actually crawl underneath his LJ. I was disappointed in the condition as the vehicle was an hour or so from me and met pretty much all of our wants. I passed and continued my search.
The other features we really wanted were:
Automatic transmission. My TJ is a standard and although I love a manual the wife really prefers an auto. I have to say that the convenience in stop and go traffic around town and general driving conditions had me not fight her on this.
Mileage. The TJ has 93k miles and I didn't want to move to a Jeep that had really high miles (although it wouldn't necessarily scare me off depending on the situation).
Rubicon Package. I tried to tell myself that I'd be fine with a non-Rubicon LJ if I found a good candidate or deal but the more I talked about it the more I realized that I'd probably regret not going the Rubicon route this time around.
Color. We were flexible on this. I didn't have a color I had to have, but we did have a few colors that we didn't want. The TJ is Light Khaki Metallic and while I never really even looked at that color before purchasing it I will say that it grew on me. We also were fine with Silver, White, Red, Green or Blue. We didn't want Black and the wife didn't like Impact Orange (although I really like it). I did really want a black/slate interior (versus tan or a lighter color) so when taking that into account it might have ruled out some particular colors (although that was an area I was somewhat flexible on).
Hard Top/Soft Top. The TJ has both a hard and soft top but because we drive it mostly in the spring/summer/fall and in good weather it rarely has a top or doors on. The hard top also can be a pain to store when not in use so I was fine with not having a hard top for the LJ. I might pick one up down the road based on our usage but the LJ won't be a daily driver and will spend its winters inside.
Expanding my search came across a 2006 Red Automatic LJ Rubicon in Virginia that was rust free, had two previous owners and had a really good condition body and interior with 105k miles. After calling the owner and requesting more information and pictures we agreed on a price and I met him to grab the LJ. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous as I've never before purchased (or agreed to purchase) a vehicle sight unseen, let alone one that I would have to drive a good ways to see or pickup. We met halfway between both of us and when I pulled up with a U-Haul car hauler this is how she looked.
The first thing I did was crawl around the vehicle and examine the areas that would have been a concern for rust, wear etc. It looked as good as it did in the pictures he sent so we headed out for a drive. Everything seemed as expected. The interior was in good shape with just a few little things that I'll touch up or replace and everything seemed to function (axle locks, transfer case, transmission etc). There was some play in the steering at certain speeds but I wasn't as concerned with that due to the entire suspension and wheel/tire setup being changed by me. There is a slight oil leak that looks like its coming from the valve cover which I'll address this week. I guess you could say there wasn't any major flags that caused me to want to walk away from our deal. So we completed some title transfer paperwork and he helped me load it up on the trailer.
Here we are all loaded up and on our way back to Kentucky! Fortunately for this situation the LJ came with 32" tires which gave us just enough length of wheel strap on the trailer to get everything buttoned down. Had they been much bigger I would have needed a little different solution to safely get it trailered back.
Once I was back home the first stop was at my folk's house since it was my mother's birthday and the wife and kids were already there. Everyone was anxious to see the new Jeep and my little boy was really excited because red is his favorite color (he told me many times when we bought the TJ that I got the wrong color).
Needless to say they were both pretty excited! Seeing them smile and having my little boy tell me that I had to let him help with everything on this Jeep reminded me ultimately why I decided to get a Jeep in the first place; memories with them.
So now after really enjoying working on the TJ I get to start all over with our new baby. Fortunately almost all of the new parts taking up half the garage and kitchen table that were purchased for the TJ will now find a home on our LJ. In the following posts I'll outline my vision and goals for this build by focusing on these areas: Suspension, Mechanical, Interior and Exterior (I do reserve the right to add or delete names of areas at my discretion!)
Thank you to all of the members here who've taken the time to document their own builds, answer questions or offer words of encouragement to those going through the process. I've found a lot of inspiration and knowledge on these pages and look forward to hopefully paying it forward.
The biggest requirement I had for any LJ we were going to purchase was that it was a solid vehicle from a frame/body/mechanical standpoint. My TJ is pretty much rust free (a little surface rust in some places underneath) and in pretty impressive shape for being 14 years old. Pretty much any other component can be repaired or replaced but I didn't want to deal with a rusty frame. The first LJ I went to look at was actually a 2006 Rubicon almost identical to the one I purchased but the inner frame rails (and several other areas of the Jeep) were pretty full of rust (and it was and still is advertised as "no rust"). I attempted to politely educate the owner on the rust problem he had but it seems he's waiting for a buyer who doesn't bother to actually crawl underneath his LJ. I was disappointed in the condition as the vehicle was an hour or so from me and met pretty much all of our wants. I passed and continued my search.
The other features we really wanted were:
Automatic transmission. My TJ is a standard and although I love a manual the wife really prefers an auto. I have to say that the convenience in stop and go traffic around town and general driving conditions had me not fight her on this.
Mileage. The TJ has 93k miles and I didn't want to move to a Jeep that had really high miles (although it wouldn't necessarily scare me off depending on the situation).
Rubicon Package. I tried to tell myself that I'd be fine with a non-Rubicon LJ if I found a good candidate or deal but the more I talked about it the more I realized that I'd probably regret not going the Rubicon route this time around.
Color. We were flexible on this. I didn't have a color I had to have, but we did have a few colors that we didn't want. The TJ is Light Khaki Metallic and while I never really even looked at that color before purchasing it I will say that it grew on me. We also were fine with Silver, White, Red, Green or Blue. We didn't want Black and the wife didn't like Impact Orange (although I really like it). I did really want a black/slate interior (versus tan or a lighter color) so when taking that into account it might have ruled out some particular colors (although that was an area I was somewhat flexible on).
Hard Top/Soft Top. The TJ has both a hard and soft top but because we drive it mostly in the spring/summer/fall and in good weather it rarely has a top or doors on. The hard top also can be a pain to store when not in use so I was fine with not having a hard top for the LJ. I might pick one up down the road based on our usage but the LJ won't be a daily driver and will spend its winters inside.
Expanding my search came across a 2006 Red Automatic LJ Rubicon in Virginia that was rust free, had two previous owners and had a really good condition body and interior with 105k miles. After calling the owner and requesting more information and pictures we agreed on a price and I met him to grab the LJ. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous as I've never before purchased (or agreed to purchase) a vehicle sight unseen, let alone one that I would have to drive a good ways to see or pickup. We met halfway between both of us and when I pulled up with a U-Haul car hauler this is how she looked.
The first thing I did was crawl around the vehicle and examine the areas that would have been a concern for rust, wear etc. It looked as good as it did in the pictures he sent so we headed out for a drive. Everything seemed as expected. The interior was in good shape with just a few little things that I'll touch up or replace and everything seemed to function (axle locks, transfer case, transmission etc). There was some play in the steering at certain speeds but I wasn't as concerned with that due to the entire suspension and wheel/tire setup being changed by me. There is a slight oil leak that looks like its coming from the valve cover which I'll address this week. I guess you could say there wasn't any major flags that caused me to want to walk away from our deal. So we completed some title transfer paperwork and he helped me load it up on the trailer.
Here we are all loaded up and on our way back to Kentucky! Fortunately for this situation the LJ came with 32" tires which gave us just enough length of wheel strap on the trailer to get everything buttoned down. Had they been much bigger I would have needed a little different solution to safely get it trailered back.
Once I was back home the first stop was at my folk's house since it was my mother's birthday and the wife and kids were already there. Everyone was anxious to see the new Jeep and my little boy was really excited because red is his favorite color (he told me many times when we bought the TJ that I got the wrong color).
Needless to say they were both pretty excited! Seeing them smile and having my little boy tell me that I had to let him help with everything on this Jeep reminded me ultimately why I decided to get a Jeep in the first place; memories with them.
So now after really enjoying working on the TJ I get to start all over with our new baby. Fortunately almost all of the new parts taking up half the garage and kitchen table that were purchased for the TJ will now find a home on our LJ. In the following posts I'll outline my vision and goals for this build by focusing on these areas: Suspension, Mechanical, Interior and Exterior (I do reserve the right to add or delete names of areas at my discretion!)
Thank you to all of the members here who've taken the time to document their own builds, answer questions or offer words of encouragement to those going through the process. I've found a lot of inspiration and knowledge on these pages and look forward to hopefully paying it forward.
