I'm a lucky guy....quite a few of my vehicle purchases have started with my wife musing "ya know, wouldn't it be fun if we had a...." That's how I ended up with a motorcycle. And that's also what sent me down the rabbit hole of learning about Jeeps...which ultimately landed me here with you smart, passionate, crazy people.
After she planted the seed with me that we should look at getting a Jeep, I spent the 2nd half of 2020 reading, learning, asking a few questions and eventually deciding that an LJ should be my (our) first Jeep. I was sold on the fact that when cared for properly the 4.0 L I6 seems to be fairly indestructable. And that the extended wheelbase version of the TJ offered a bit more space for our family of 3. I was also drawn to the thrill of hunting for one that was in good shape since when I do decide to sell it down the road it will retain quite a bit of it's value.
My wife thought a Jeep would be a fun family vehicle for us to enjoy with the top down/off around town with our 10 yr old daughter. For the past 8 years I had been daily driving a Ford Transit Connect that had been purchased and used as a vehicle for my company so I was ready for something a bit more fun as well. My daily commute is a short one so gas mileage wasn't a big concern - heck, half the time you'll find me bicycle commuting to work anyway. I knew I would miss the utility of the Transit - but I have access to an array of trucks and trailers at work so I was ready to move it on.
I'm no stranger to buying vehicles sight unseen and doing the fly out drive it home routine. I live in Indianapolis and have gone as far west as South Dakota for my '96 Honda ST1100 motorcycle (still have it and have logged 60,000 miles across over 20 states) and out to New York for my '08 Kinetic Blue Acura TL Type S (regretabbly sold it when I started my business and needed the Transit). The more I learned about how it can be a challenge to find an LJ in good condition with reasonable miles, the more I broadened my search. Pandemic travel? Meh - we'll figure that part out later.
First things first - I have to sort out and prioritize the search criteria to use....after judging from afar whether or not it has a clean frame, do I want a manual? Auto? Do I care? Relatively stock seems ideal because it means fewer opportunities that someone has screwed something up as they've modded it, but if I can find one with a few minor mods that wouldn't be the end of the world. Color preferences from the family: Black, Silver, Midnight Blue, Khaki.....not White. I tell them I'll do my best but the search is a never ending battle of internet browsing, debating whether each one is too far away, too expensive, not quite the right combination of options etc. It was like my own Jeep version of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Then reaching out to sellers to ask questions and hoping that when I do I'm fast enough to be positioned to commit to the purchase and that my calendar allows for the logistics of going to get it.
As many of us know (or have come to realize), it is always better to not be in a rush to purchase a vehicle - especially when the vehicle is a bit of a unicorn and you want to get it right. So my wife watched as I spent hours scouring the internet for said unicorn - the one in Chicago went too quickly, the one in Texas was just a bit too far, the one here in Indiana was listed as an LJ but really wasn't...you get the picture.
Eventually I found one that had been listed for sale in North Carolina for a few weeks during the December holiday season. Why hadn't it sold yet? What was wrong with it? Is everyone else just distracted by cold weather and the credit card bill they were racking up making Christmas gift purchases? Someone had posted a link to it on the For Sale Finds thread here on the forum...but it hadn't garnered any conversation good or bad. What did that mean?
I did my due dilegence - sending the seller a list of questions and getting prompt replies. I demonstrated my knowledge by the questions I was asking (guided in part by the info I had soaked up here on the forum) and he demonstrated his honesty with very straight forward, reasonable answers. This eventually led to a call or two and there were no red flags that came up as we worked through the process....so onto the logistics of making the purchase we go!
Normally I would have flown to NC and driven home, but with the pandemic still raging I chose the one way car rental option instead. Of course there was still the risk of getting all the way down there and finding something that would keep me from acquiring the vehicle, but I had relative confidence I had done my homework on both the vehicle and the character of the seller. I hit the road on Saturday morning, arrived at my hotel near the seller's home on Saturday evening, met the seller on Sunday morning and took 90 minutes or so to inspect the vehicle, do a test drive and process payment/paperwork...and then I was on my way for a 10.5 hour session of "getting to know your new Jeep at highway speeds."
Come to find out, the seller is active miltary and had purchased it from owner #2 and had also done a long distance deal before flying from New Jersey to Michigan to buy it and drive it home. He then accepted a station assingment in Alaska (!) and he drove it cross country (!!) where it spent the next few years. Then after being transferred to Ft Bragg in North Carolina, he shipped it there and it wasn't seeing much use since he had started daily driving his pickup - so he was ready to move it along to it's next owner.
What will I need to do to it? Gotta get her home first....but I look forward to documenting my projects here. As I do so, I'll add to this index:
K&N CAI delete & return to OEM airbox
Rear Defroster Tab Reattachment
Hardtop Removal (Harken Hoister Install)
Bestop TrekTop NX Install
Noico Sound Deadening Rear Cargo Area
Noico Sound Deadening Front Seating Area
Inner Shifter Boot Replacement
BedRug Carpet Install
Underseat Security Drawer Install
Cooling System Overhaul
Shock Replacement
Tom Wood's Rear Driveshaft Install
ProComp Wheel/KO2 Install
Fumito Oil Pan Valve Install
CB Dash Shelf & RAM Phone Mount Install
Half Door Project (Part 1)
Chrysler RB1 Radio "upgrade"
LED BackUp Lights from @Claytone
Walker Exhaust System Install
CurrectLync Steering & Spicer Front Ball Joints
As a baseline starting point for this thread documenting my journey with it, here are a few of the photos used in his for sale listing for my new to me LJ:
After she planted the seed with me that we should look at getting a Jeep, I spent the 2nd half of 2020 reading, learning, asking a few questions and eventually deciding that an LJ should be my (our) first Jeep. I was sold on the fact that when cared for properly the 4.0 L I6 seems to be fairly indestructable. And that the extended wheelbase version of the TJ offered a bit more space for our family of 3. I was also drawn to the thrill of hunting for one that was in good shape since when I do decide to sell it down the road it will retain quite a bit of it's value.
My wife thought a Jeep would be a fun family vehicle for us to enjoy with the top down/off around town with our 10 yr old daughter. For the past 8 years I had been daily driving a Ford Transit Connect that had been purchased and used as a vehicle for my company so I was ready for something a bit more fun as well. My daily commute is a short one so gas mileage wasn't a big concern - heck, half the time you'll find me bicycle commuting to work anyway. I knew I would miss the utility of the Transit - but I have access to an array of trucks and trailers at work so I was ready to move it on.
I'm no stranger to buying vehicles sight unseen and doing the fly out drive it home routine. I live in Indianapolis and have gone as far west as South Dakota for my '96 Honda ST1100 motorcycle (still have it and have logged 60,000 miles across over 20 states) and out to New York for my '08 Kinetic Blue Acura TL Type S (regretabbly sold it when I started my business and needed the Transit). The more I learned about how it can be a challenge to find an LJ in good condition with reasonable miles, the more I broadened my search. Pandemic travel? Meh - we'll figure that part out later.
First things first - I have to sort out and prioritize the search criteria to use....after judging from afar whether or not it has a clean frame, do I want a manual? Auto? Do I care? Relatively stock seems ideal because it means fewer opportunities that someone has screwed something up as they've modded it, but if I can find one with a few minor mods that wouldn't be the end of the world. Color preferences from the family: Black, Silver, Midnight Blue, Khaki.....not White.
I tell them I'll do my best but the search is a never ending battle of internet browsing, debating whether each one is too far away, too expensive, not quite the right combination of options etc. It was like my own Jeep version of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Then reaching out to sellers to ask questions and hoping that when I do I'm fast enough to be positioned to commit to the purchase and that my calendar allows for the logistics of going to get it.As many of us know (or have come to realize), it is always better to not be in a rush to purchase a vehicle - especially when the vehicle is a bit of a unicorn and you want to get it right. So my wife watched as I spent hours scouring the internet for said unicorn - the one in Chicago went too quickly, the one in Texas was just a bit too far, the one here in Indiana was listed as an LJ but really wasn't...you get the picture.
Eventually I found one that had been listed for sale in North Carolina for a few weeks during the December holiday season. Why hadn't it sold yet? What was wrong with it? Is everyone else just distracted by cold weather and the credit card bill they were racking up making Christmas gift purchases? Someone had posted a link to it on the For Sale Finds thread here on the forum...but it hadn't garnered any conversation good or bad. What did that mean?
I did my due dilegence - sending the seller a list of questions and getting prompt replies. I demonstrated my knowledge by the questions I was asking (guided in part by the info I had soaked up here on the forum) and he demonstrated his honesty with very straight forward, reasonable answers. This eventually led to a call or two and there were no red flags that came up as we worked through the process....so onto the logistics of making the purchase we go!
Normally I would have flown to NC and driven home, but with the pandemic still raging I chose the one way car rental option instead. Of course there was still the risk of getting all the way down there and finding something that would keep me from acquiring the vehicle, but I had relative confidence I had done my homework on both the vehicle and the character of the seller. I hit the road on Saturday morning, arrived at my hotel near the seller's home on Saturday evening, met the seller on Sunday morning and took 90 minutes or so to inspect the vehicle, do a test drive and process payment/paperwork...and then I was on my way for a 10.5 hour session of "getting to know your new Jeep at highway speeds."
Come to find out, the seller is active miltary and had purchased it from owner #2 and had also done a long distance deal before flying from New Jersey to Michigan to buy it and drive it home. He then accepted a station assingment in Alaska (!) and he drove it cross country (!!) where it spent the next few years. Then after being transferred to Ft Bragg in North Carolina, he shipped it there and it wasn't seeing much use since he had started daily driving his pickup - so he was ready to move it along to it's next owner.
What will I need to do to it? Gotta get her home first....but I look forward to documenting my projects here. As I do so, I'll add to this index:
K&N CAI delete & return to OEM airbox
Rear Defroster Tab Reattachment
Hardtop Removal (Harken Hoister Install)
Bestop TrekTop NX Install
Noico Sound Deadening Rear Cargo Area
Noico Sound Deadening Front Seating Area
Inner Shifter Boot Replacement
BedRug Carpet Install
Underseat Security Drawer Install
Cooling System Overhaul
Shock Replacement
Tom Wood's Rear Driveshaft Install
ProComp Wheel/KO2 Install
Fumito Oil Pan Valve Install
CB Dash Shelf & RAM Phone Mount Install
Half Door Project (Part 1)
Chrysler RB1 Radio "upgrade"
LED BackUp Lights from @Claytone
Walker Exhaust System Install
CurrectLync Steering & Spicer Front Ball Joints
As a baseline starting point for this thread documenting my journey with it, here are a few of the photos used in his for sale listing for my new to me LJ:
Last edited:
Congratulations!
