Just picked up a cheap WJ

bromel

bromel

TJ Addict
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Oct 11, 2018
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Location
Montauk, NY
I saw this pop up on Facebook market place and couldn't resist. Fully stock 1999 WJ with the 4.0. 148,000 miles. Original owner with a binder full of every single service record going back to purchase. Garage kept and no rust. Body has a few scratches and the bumpers are faded, but for $1600 I think I did pretty well. It's no TJ, but I'm going to have fun playing around with this one.

Anyone have any WJ upgrade suggestions?

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Great find! Looks clean!

First thing I‘d do is go through every maintenance item, and do the maintenance. Records are good and all, but only one way to know it was done correctly. Next I’d drive it for a while to shake it down for any hidden issues. Then start modifying... there are bumpers and lifts for them, I would probably gear a build of it towards overlanding more than crawling, or anything like that.
 
Yup, good idea. I'm finding a few little things. The 242 transfer case is leaking a tiny bit at the seam, and driver-side CV axle needs to be replaced as it clicks in 4x4, which was disclosed in the ad. Other than that I'm not seeing much.
 
If your main goal is off roading you need to pull that gas tank and put it somewhere so it won't drag on anything and everything you drive over. I'm still trying to figure out who decided putting the spare tire where the fuel tank used to be and then just mounting the fuel tank below it was a good idea.

Otherwise it's almost the same as any XJ and the ZJs that came before it.
 
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I ran OME springs and shocks on both my WJs and was very pleased with them... Just enough to clear some bigger tires and firmed up the ride & handling.
 
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Zorba said:
Lose the leather seats.
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I would almost agree with you, but like only if they aren't like the new leather seats that Jeep claims as being waterproof. I do like the leather in my JT, but have yet to prove Jeeps claim... I wanted a Rubicon with cloth... wife insisted on the Overland with leather, because of the color...
 
driftless said:
The frame looks solid, especially for NY state! If you plan to keep the WJ for awhile, get some Fluid Film on that frame (and inside the frame, too) to stop any advancing rust.
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Oh yeah, I'm preparing to douse the entire undercarriage in fluid film. I bought this primarily to be a winter beater so I can keep my TJ in storage.
 
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Zorba said:
Lose the leather seats.
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I had a 2000 limited wj.... most comfortable set of seats i ever sat in. Beats out my wk2 by miles.

Drove in a record breaking blizzard in wisconsin thru south dakota....
The quadratrac II/quadradrive system is amazing.
 
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Sancho said:
I had a 2000 limited wj.... most comfortable set of seats i ever sat in. Beats out my wk2 by miles.

Drove in a record breaking blizzard in wiscosin thru south dakota....
The quadratrac II system is amazing.
Click to expand...

+1

The seats in these are so comfy, and my dad pulled a loaded trailer up a steep snowy hill with his and it didn't even slip. Very capable Jeep even in stock form.
 
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I swapped WJ seats into my XJ and they're so nice. First a pair of leather power seats, but I was too lazy to wire them up before I found a pair of cloth manual seats and swapped again. Really comfy.

My co-worker had an 04 WJ with the 4.0L. It was good but eventually developed some terrible death wobble that he couldn't fix. It seems to be pretty common on those with a 3" lift or more. He eventually put on a heavy duty steering stabilizer from a full size truck that temporarily solved the problem, then ended up selling it because he was so frustrated after throwing away 3 grand to various shops trying to get rid of the death wobble (ball joints, track bar, tires, everything you could think of). The last straw was when he was coming down a big hill on the interstate and couldn't slow down for his exit because just touching the brakes made the death wobble set up, so he had to bypass the exit and take the next one and double back.
 
Great find! Now you're making me miss my 4.7L QuadraDrive with a 3" lift that I installed. I bought it from the original female owner. Her husband owned the Jeep dealership. That thing was great in snow. :cool:

p.s. I had the heated leather seats. It was like sitting on a comfy couch.

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bromel said:
They're really undervalued right now. You can pick them up for next to nothing in great shape.
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Not where I live. XJs, WJs and TJs are astronomically high if they are in good condition. Obviously clapped out ones are cheap, but I helped a friend find a 4.0L laredo WJ and any decent ones sold quick, some for close to 8 grand.
 
You guys wanna talk comfort, the pillow top leather seats from a ZJ are hard to beat!
 
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