I think its time for me to make a thread after having my TJ for more than a year now
Here are some pictures from the day my dad and I picked it up after finding it in the ads and going for a look just to see how a well cared of 18-years old TJ should look, not even planning to spend that kind of money for a weekend toy. Fortunately when we saw it we decided we had to have it. As soon as we left the Jeeps previous owners yard, we exchanged the looks, decided to buy it, turned the car around and went back to negotiate the deal.
It is a '00 yellow TJ, 2.5L manual, that had only 42k kilometers on the odo (i think its around 25-30k miles or so) and we bought it from the first owner that had all the papers including the original receipt, service history, alarm installation receipt and manuals, original owners manual, keys etc. The poor guy had a heart attack (he is around 70yo now) and 4 convertibles - TJ, Smart, PT Cruiser and Golf Mark I, all in mint condition and decided to sell the Jeep, Chrysler and Golf as he wasn't able to drive them often and his sons weren't that interested in cars.
A week later I picked up the Jeep and drove it for 200 kilometers back home.
Everything on the jeep was stock, we got the soft and the hard top too, both in great condition.
The Jeep had a few paint scratches, roll bars and rims needed refreshment. The frame is sound with corrosion barely existent.
Also his son broke the front left flare indicator and they put something odd there just for it not to look real bad while they waited for the replacement to arrive from ebay, but in the meantime we bought it so I fixed it later.
Most of the damage was done by him trying to fix the roll bars and fender flares scratches using the spray paint (a lot of paint overspray on the vibrant yellow paint).
Even the tires were original and they were the first things to be replaced along with roll bar links that had a lot of play and rattled.
First thing I did was find an active sub that would fit in the trunk. It seemed like a must-have as I was 26yo and audio maniac. I also changed the sound bar speakers for high quality Hertz ones which didn't satisfy and will probably go out soon.
The sub did its work anyway.
A few months later we put on a new set of 30'' BF Goodriches on and that fixed the terrible tire squeel on tight turns and improved the looks considerably. It took a lot of hammering to take off the rims that haven't been off since the factory.
I also sanded and painted the rims matte black using plastidip which wasn't perfect but after a year its still going strong although I will redo it soon.
After that I installed the 2'' coil spacers set which introduced vibration that I fixed only a week ago by lowering the transfer case 1''.
Unfortunately I dont have pictures of installation but its not that relevant as it can be found anywhere.
Here are some pics of the TJ doing its thing (before the coil spacers)
Some time later I did a 1000km trip to Montenegro and Croatia by the sea and TJ found an old friend.
And the vehicle in front should also be a Jeep, but it doesn't look like one Disclaimer: The girl next to the Cherokee is not the reason I took the picture.. or is she?
After this trip last I didn't really drive it much or do any work so I don't have any pictures.
During the winter I drove it only 2-3 times on sunny and dry days to avoid getting road salt in my frame and kept in in a heated underground garage.
For this summer I did a regular service and also changed the original 18-years-old oils in the Danas, transfer case and the gearbox.
I also changed front right U-joint and lowered the transfer case 1''. Had the roll bars sanded, repaired and repainted but I will have to redo that because I am not satisfied with the painting quality.
My next problem is the distributor tick - the shaft has some play in axial plane (not rotational, its left-right-front-back play). I will change the whole distributor for a new one as it seems the shaft bearing is bad. It can only be heard when idling and there is no visible trace charring or carbon depositing inside the cap but its annoying af.
I am also thinking of regearing the axles because the fifth gear is unusable this way (maybe above 55mph which I never do, did today in an emergency and almost entered a death wobble for the first time - felt like I had a loose wheel) and all the gears are way too long for my taste.
Time for sleep now, its 02:30 here and I am getting up for work in 4 hours.
P.S. today I met an identical TJ in silver metallic in a village near my town, in mint stock condition. Couldn't believe my eyes as they are so rare here, more often you can see a GTR, GT3 RS, Huracan and stuff than TJ's!
Jeep wave for everybody!
Edit: still not sleeping.
Yesterday I cleaned and detailed my yellow baby and had a look at the paint condition. Its due for heavy-cut polishing and I hope I will have it done next week along with my new red baby - 290hp Seat Leon Cupra.
I will also have Sonax Ceramic Coating put on to try and keep the paintjob safe from minor scratches. You will probably laugh at that and think why does he care about he looks and paint so much but I guess I’m that kind of guy. I think I will never do hard offroading with this Jeep because I would feel sorry for it. However I might buy a ‘98 or so Grand Cherokee V8 to enjoy myself and not care about damaging it.
Here are some pictures from the day my dad and I picked it up after finding it in the ads and going for a look just to see how a well cared of 18-years old TJ should look, not even planning to spend that kind of money for a weekend toy. Fortunately when we saw it we decided we had to have it. As soon as we left the Jeeps previous owners yard, we exchanged the looks, decided to buy it, turned the car around and went back to negotiate the deal.
It is a '00 yellow TJ, 2.5L manual, that had only 42k kilometers on the odo (i think its around 25-30k miles or so) and we bought it from the first owner that had all the papers including the original receipt, service history, alarm installation receipt and manuals, original owners manual, keys etc. The poor guy had a heart attack (he is around 70yo now) and 4 convertibles - TJ, Smart, PT Cruiser and Golf Mark I, all in mint condition and decided to sell the Jeep, Chrysler and Golf as he wasn't able to drive them often and his sons weren't that interested in cars.
A week later I picked up the Jeep and drove it for 200 kilometers back home.
Everything on the jeep was stock, we got the soft and the hard top too, both in great condition.
The Jeep had a few paint scratches, roll bars and rims needed refreshment. The frame is sound with corrosion barely existent.
Also his son broke the front left flare indicator and they put something odd there just for it not to look real bad while they waited for the replacement to arrive from ebay, but in the meantime we bought it so I fixed it later.
Most of the damage was done by him trying to fix the roll bars and fender flares scratches using the spray paint (a lot of paint overspray on the vibrant yellow paint).
Even the tires were original and they were the first things to be replaced along with roll bar links that had a lot of play and rattled.
First thing I did was find an active sub that would fit in the trunk. It seemed like a must-have as I was 26yo and audio maniac. I also changed the sound bar speakers for high quality Hertz ones which didn't satisfy and will probably go out soon.
The sub did its work anyway.
A few months later we put on a new set of 30'' BF Goodriches on and that fixed the terrible tire squeel on tight turns and improved the looks considerably. It took a lot of hammering to take off the rims that haven't been off since the factory.
I also sanded and painted the rims matte black using plastidip which wasn't perfect but after a year its still going strong although I will redo it soon.
After that I installed the 2'' coil spacers set which introduced vibration that I fixed only a week ago by lowering the transfer case 1''.
Unfortunately I dont have pictures of installation but its not that relevant as it can be found anywhere.
Here are some pics of the TJ doing its thing (before the coil spacers)
Some time later I did a 1000km trip to Montenegro and Croatia by the sea and TJ found an old friend.
And the vehicle in front should also be a Jeep, but it doesn't look like one Disclaimer: The girl next to the Cherokee is not the reason I took the picture.. or is she?
After this trip last I didn't really drive it much or do any work so I don't have any pictures.
During the winter I drove it only 2-3 times on sunny and dry days to avoid getting road salt in my frame and kept in in a heated underground garage.
For this summer I did a regular service and also changed the original 18-years-old oils in the Danas, transfer case and the gearbox.
I also changed front right U-joint and lowered the transfer case 1''. Had the roll bars sanded, repaired and repainted but I will have to redo that because I am not satisfied with the painting quality.
My next problem is the distributor tick - the shaft has some play in axial plane (not rotational, its left-right-front-back play). I will change the whole distributor for a new one as it seems the shaft bearing is bad. It can only be heard when idling and there is no visible trace charring or carbon depositing inside the cap but its annoying af.
I am also thinking of regearing the axles because the fifth gear is unusable this way (maybe above 55mph which I never do, did today in an emergency and almost entered a death wobble for the first time - felt like I had a loose wheel) and all the gears are way too long for my taste.
Time for sleep now, its 02:30 here and I am getting up for work in 4 hours.
P.S. today I met an identical TJ in silver metallic in a village near my town, in mint stock condition. Couldn't believe my eyes as they are so rare here, more often you can see a GTR, GT3 RS, Huracan and stuff than TJ's!
Jeep wave for everybody!
Edit: still not sleeping.
Yesterday I cleaned and detailed my yellow baby and had a look at the paint condition. Its due for heavy-cut polishing and I hope I will have it done next week along with my new red baby - 290hp Seat Leon Cupra.
I will also have Sonax Ceramic Coating put on to try and keep the paintjob safe from minor scratches. You will probably laugh at that and think why does he care about he looks and paint so much but I guess I’m that kind of guy. I think I will never do hard offroading with this Jeep because I would feel sorry for it. However I might buy a ‘98 or so Grand Cherokee V8 to enjoy myself and not care about damaging it.
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