Thanks! Trying to educate myself on on the 'what to look for' portion of the equation by reading the various good threads on here. Patience...well, I've been saving my 'fun money' for several years now towards a TJ dream, so what's the rush. Buying from FB Marketplace and the like just seems a bit intimidating, as I've never owned a Jeep before...worried a seller would pull something over on me and I end up with a dud of an engine, transmission, etc.
Yeah, I'm in Mass, there is a lot of junk up here. You usually need to look at a lot of em' to find a good one, and yes, there are some, even many, unscrupulous sellers. If you've been reading here, then you know rust, especially frame rust is the biggest issue with these old girls. Read those threads over and over. Get a good endoscope, get a chipping hammer, be willing to stick your finger in all of the holes in the frame and feel round. If you don't know how to tell if the frame is rusty, get some one who does to come with you. Often times they will "look" ok, but you tap on em' with a hammer and it will sink right thru the metal.
The driveline on these things are pretty solid for the most part. There's some tendency for some year (non-tupy) cylinder heads to crack causing water in the oil. Learn how and what to look for when it comes to this. There are some opda issues on the later models (05 and 06 I belileve) that you should be aware of.
There are some issues with the later 4 speed autos, I'm not an expert here, but I think this issue has been largely resolved by wranglerfix. Search for these issues as well if looking at one of these.
There are different rear ends (Dana 35 vs 44). This applies to non-rubicon only, since rubicons have front and rear dana 44s always, and I believe all LJs (unlimited, the longer version of the tj) all have rear dana 44s as well. This isn't a big deal unless you plan on going with significantly larger tires and/or are planning lots of off road duty. Then you really want the 44 as it's stronger. The Dana 35 can also be beefed up. Learn about these differences and how to tell the different rear ends.
Learn about the differences between the 4 and 6 cylinders and decide what you want (hint, you want a 6).
The 5 speed standard transmissions are both good options (AX15 and NV3550), the 6 speed seems to have some issues but I'm not an expert here, if looking at one, understand the possible issues.
You might want to become familiar with the different trim levels and the various options as well (SE, sport, X, Sahara, rubicon, etc).
There's a bunch of other things, but if you are reasonably mechanical, the only thing that really matters is rust. If you start with a good platform, the rest can be fixed. Also, for me at least, I have no interest in buying one that has had frame patches put on. There are companies that sell these patches (safe T cap is one). You should know how to identify a frame that has been patched with these, how extensively it was patched, and whether you would buy a repaired one in the first place.
So yeah, go south or west and buy one lol!
