Hello to everyone. My name is Jack and I picked up a white 97 sport tj from a neighbor who had it towed home. It sat for about 6 months when he decided it was too costly to repair. I picked it up for 3k. I though that was a fair price for 4.0 ,automatic, ac with a clean body. No hardtop but a clean soft top. Has about 125k miles on it. The bad was it needed transmission work , a radiator and the tires are shot. After getting it to my house I started looking a bit closer. It looks all stock except for someone put 31's with wheel spacers. Looks like it needs shocks and brakes eventually and seat covers and carpet. Turns out it needed a water pump not a radiator so I have fixed that, Took it for a drive down the street and that was scary. It bucked and surged and made terrible noises. Dropped the pan and found the typical grey/black dust but also some metal shavings. Not a lot but concerning. Here are a couple questions. Do I need spacers to run 31's on stock steel wheels and suspension ? Should I have the transmission rebuilt or change the filter and fluid and see if that helps the problem ? I have a shop that will rebuild it for $900 if I pull it and bring it to them. Any Locals in the Pleasant Hill/ Concord/ Martinez area want to come by and look / offer advice will be greatly appreciated. Socially distanced of course.
New member in California with a 97 Sport
- Thread starter jm71lt1
- Start date
OHFIVETJ
TJ Addict
Good score for 3k even it if needs some work. Like @bobthetj03 said I am in Martinez. With 3 young kids in the house I'm not sure when I'd be able to swing by but if it drives you're welcome to stop by the house.
Hope to see you on the trail. Let's see some photos.
Hope to see you on the trail. Let's see some photos.
Also if you need any tools or a bit of guidance my driveway is available. It looks like you have a great platform there to start wrenching on.
Do you have any long term goals for it?
Make sure you follow the norcal subform. We try to meet up every so often. The next planned run is slickrock in a few months.
$3k is a steal even if you need a ton of work. That could be less than salvage value in Los Angeles. 31" tires will work stock with no spacers but there is nothing wrong with running them, they might help keep it from rubbing when you are at full steering lock.
Thanks for the offer. I have most tools to wrench on it. I definitely can use guidance, I know just enough to get myself in trouble with vehicles. Woodworking is my area of expertise. Right now I need to have the transmission rebuilt so I can drive it. After that clean it up and learn more about TJ's before making a bunch of changes to it.
I knew from this forum I could run 31's just never read where anyone was using spacers. After I pushed it home and started looking at it closer, I thought maybe it wasn't such a good deal. You guys are at least putting my mind at ease. It looks like it was a tow vehicle at one time. All the bushings look original. Body is clean. I will change all the fluids , tune it up, get the tranny fixed and go from there. Looking forward to all the knowledge from the members here to help me along this journey.
Great forum Chris ! This will help me a lot.Wow, what a great price!
Welcome to the forum too! You’re in the right place
