Hi everyone. I was looking for a Jeep for a while, and I spent some time studying up on the different models since the CJ, and I settled on the TJ being right for me. I’m in Texas and I was looking all across the state on craigslist and Facebook marketplace trying to find one in good condition without a lot of modifications and obviously zero rust. My only real requirements were my new TJ had to have a manual transmission (I’ve never owned an automatic) and the 4.0 engine.
After about a month of looking at for sale ads every day something very interesting popped up, and it was in my own town. The Facebook marketplace ad said “… I got this Jeep from my parents and I don’t know if I wanna hold onto it“. So my first thought was some rich spoiled high school or college kid got the Jeep as a free gift and just didn’t care about it. Then I saw the mileage listed: just 11,000 miles. For a ‘97 TJ? Must be a mistake, right? But what if it was true? The photos in the ad showed a very clean looking Jeep that seemed to be 100% stock. Wow.
I called the number that evening and I pushed to be the first person to see it the next morning since I was only about 8 miles away from the seller. The next morning I arrived a little early and was greeted by a nice guy who looked to be in his early 60s. Was he the dad of the owner? Nope. It was his Jeep. So there was no spoiled rich kid. I asked about the parents reference in the ad and he explained that 25 years ago his parents, who own a ranch about 50 miles away, purchased the Jeep from a local dealer and just used it to putter around the ranch. Now these parents are in their late 80s or so and they don’t drive anymore - so this guy got the Jeep from them. But he already had a newer JL Jeep and really didn’t have a need for this TJ.
As it turns out, the 11,000 miles was genuine – backed up by paperwork (and the excellent condition of the vehicle). I crawled underneath and the frame was perfect and I could even still see some chalk marks from the assembly line quality assurance process. It drove great but the seller pointed out the tires - with lots of tread left - were 20 years old and cracked. The original factory spice top was gone - a victim of 25 years exposure to the Texas sun. We made a deal and I drove at home – slowly because of the ancient tires - and I began to see what I needed to do to it.
So, just 11,000 miles over 25 years of life is less than an average of 500 miles per year. And there was documentation saying the last time it was serviced was in 2016 less than 500 miles ago. Certainly it’s not ideal for a vehicle to sit used for long periods and I felt there was a lot of deferred maintenance that I needed to address to make it roadworthy. Here’s what I’ve done to it so far:
- New Toyo tires
- New Bestop sailcloth spice top (but those door uppers in the photos are the original ones from 1997)
- New serpentine belt
- New spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor and coil
- New CCV valves and grommets
- installed rebuilt front brake calipers (one locked up on my way home from the tire shop and would not release)
- New soft line brake hoses with full brake fluid flush
- Oil and filter change and new air filter
- coolant flush
- Bosch H4 headlights
Next up: new transmission fluid, new differential fluid front and rear, and I’ll be greasing all the zerks
Everything works on the Jeep as it should. Killer a/c. At this point my plans are to keep it pretty stock because it’s kind of a time capsule and there aren’t a lot of unmodified TJ‘s around.
After about a month of looking at for sale ads every day something very interesting popped up, and it was in my own town. The Facebook marketplace ad said “… I got this Jeep from my parents and I don’t know if I wanna hold onto it“. So my first thought was some rich spoiled high school or college kid got the Jeep as a free gift and just didn’t care about it. Then I saw the mileage listed: just 11,000 miles. For a ‘97 TJ? Must be a mistake, right? But what if it was true? The photos in the ad showed a very clean looking Jeep that seemed to be 100% stock. Wow.
I called the number that evening and I pushed to be the first person to see it the next morning since I was only about 8 miles away from the seller. The next morning I arrived a little early and was greeted by a nice guy who looked to be in his early 60s. Was he the dad of the owner? Nope. It was his Jeep. So there was no spoiled rich kid. I asked about the parents reference in the ad and he explained that 25 years ago his parents, who own a ranch about 50 miles away, purchased the Jeep from a local dealer and just used it to putter around the ranch. Now these parents are in their late 80s or so and they don’t drive anymore - so this guy got the Jeep from them. But he already had a newer JL Jeep and really didn’t have a need for this TJ.
As it turns out, the 11,000 miles was genuine – backed up by paperwork (and the excellent condition of the vehicle). I crawled underneath and the frame was perfect and I could even still see some chalk marks from the assembly line quality assurance process. It drove great but the seller pointed out the tires - with lots of tread left - were 20 years old and cracked. The original factory spice top was gone - a victim of 25 years exposure to the Texas sun. We made a deal and I drove at home – slowly because of the ancient tires - and I began to see what I needed to do to it.
So, just 11,000 miles over 25 years of life is less than an average of 500 miles per year. And there was documentation saying the last time it was serviced was in 2016 less than 500 miles ago. Certainly it’s not ideal for a vehicle to sit used for long periods and I felt there was a lot of deferred maintenance that I needed to address to make it roadworthy. Here’s what I’ve done to it so far:
- New Toyo tires
- New Bestop sailcloth spice top (but those door uppers in the photos are the original ones from 1997)
- New serpentine belt
- New spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor and coil
- New CCV valves and grommets
- installed rebuilt front brake calipers (one locked up on my way home from the tire shop and would not release)
- New soft line brake hoses with full brake fluid flush
- Oil and filter change and new air filter
- coolant flush
- Bosch H4 headlights
Next up: new transmission fluid, new differential fluid front and rear, and I’ll be greasing all the zerks
Everything works on the Jeep as it should. Killer a/c. At this point my plans are to keep it pretty stock because it’s kind of a time capsule and there aren’t a lot of unmodified TJ‘s around.