New to TJs and looking to buy, need some advice

[MadcityTJ]

Hello everyone, i'm new to Wranglers and i'm in the process of finding a relatively clean example for daily driver duty as well as light offroading for excursions into the north woods of Wisconsin and hauling my bikes around. i've got several leads, but i need some advice about what constitutes acceptable frame rust and what's repairable. one of the candidates is in generally ok condition, though it has 195,000 miles. one of the frames rails looks like this, however.

is this repairable? the guy wants $4500. is that a good price? comes with hard and soft top. the rest of the jeep looks like this:

Thanks for helping a newbie!

 

[Chris]

Holy cow... Stay far, far, far away from that thing. That frame is just waiting to snap in half from that rust (it happens too!). Rust is a Wranglers worst nightmare. If you can afford it, you ought to look to spend more money and get a TJ that is rust free. That rust is very, very bad. The resale value with that sort of rust is next to nothing.

 

[Starrs]

Walk from that one. Looks like it would be a pretty thorough resto. New KO2s on the front look good. Rear is old style KOs tires. Hard top would be worth some money but they screwed in the racks. I dunno looks like a lot to fix. What other leads did you have?

 

[MadcityTJ]

well this one is 20 minutes away from me, and the price was really appealing. the others i have as leads are an hour away and are at the top of my price range. looking to keep it close to $6k.

one of the other candidates:

$6,900, 190k, Ford 8.8 rear end and Tummy Tuck. way overbuilt for my needs, but it looks really nice.

other one is less nice, but comes with a plow. waiting on underbody pics. mileage unknown as of yet:

 

[Starrs]

That frame looks roached too. The second one was obviously a plow rig if it comes with one and you can expect the frame to be rusted as well. 6k is gonna be a hard number to stick with if you want a solid tj. Deals are out there, but if the frame looks like those don’t throw 6k away.

 

[MadcityTJ]

here's the 2nd one from a different view, it didn't look like rust to me, just paint issues:

 

[Starrs]

Oh ok. It’s hard to tell in those photos. Def check it out. If you go look at it take some pictures and post them up here so we can see. Multiple sets of eyes helps a ton!

 

[MadcityTJ]

totally, i really appreciate the help. i'm hoping to go look at it on Sunday afternoon. tlaked to the owner via phone this evening and he said that it has been driven in the summer only in the 3 years since he boxed the rear frame and did the Ford 8.8 setup, and he keeps it stored in the pictured climate controlled storage during winter. definitely sounds promising, and what paint/rust is there i could likely sand and POR. if it's too bad, i'll walk away. i've got the cash on hand, but i don't technically have to buy until mid year.

 

[Starrs]

totally, i really appreciate the help. i'm hoping to go look at it on Sunday afternoon. tlaked to the owner via phone this evening and he said that it has been driven in the summer only in the 3 years since he boxed the rear frame and did the Ford 8.8 setup, and he keeps it stored in the pictured climate controlled storage during winter. definitely sounds promising, and what paint/rust is there i could likely sand and POR. if it's too bad, i'll walk away. i've got the cash on hand, but i don't technically have to buy until mid year.

Nice with a private seller cash is king so you can dicker a bit too. Yea I’m gonna do some POR15 and possibly some Eastwood in my frame when the weather changes. I just had my frame undercoated with rustoleum before this winter and it’s held up really well.

 

[fourpointzero]

here's the 2nd one from a different view.

If you look closely (attached image) you can see it was already ‘repaired’ with a rectangular patch, indicated by the yellow marking:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jjvw]

here's the 2nd one from a different view, it didn't look like rust to me, just paint issues:

View attachment 32666

That one has a long arm kit. I would stay away from it. Short arms are better.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[73ebody]

There are some good ones out there, just gotta keep hunting for them. I feel your pain as I am currently looking as well. The problem with being in the Midwest is the road salt. Worst thing ever. Eats bodies, frames. locks nuts in place, etc. I am going to expand my search out outside my area (IL/WI) border because there's slim pickings nearby! Went it comes to frame rust a small rubber mallet or dead blow will tell you all you need to know about frame rust. A good frame will "ring" when you tap it, any areas that are bad will just thud. Of course ask the owners permission before banging on the frame rails. The first thing I'm gonna do when I find a decent TJ is pull into the garage and address any surface rust on the frame I find. Clean it up, paint it, and coat it with anything and everything I can to keep any rust from re-appearing.

 

[CybrSlydr]

Another suggestion folks on here have given me is take an 8oz ballpeen hammer and use it to test the frame and bits. If it has a nice clear ring, then it's good - if it thuds or sounds mushy, run like hell.

 

[TJ2]

if it thuds or sounds mushy, run like hell.

This cracks me up (no pun intended) :risas3:

 

[Chris]

I might also add that I personally think it’s impossible to find a mostly rust free TJ in good condition for 6k, unless maybe it’s a 4 cylinder SE model.

I’d love to be proven wrong, but any TJ I’ve seen in that price range is a project (which is fine if you don’t mind a project) and has serious rust.

But hey, I would love to be proven wrong!

 

[MadcityTJ]

some more underbody shots of the crawler. looks pretty goo to me, except for one of the body mount points. i'm not looking for something that's going to last a decade, probably more like 5 years.

worst one

has a little dent in the windshield frame, but doesn't look like it would affect much, just a character builder.

I do wonder about the soft top at the top, however, doesn't look sealed. how much do replacement windshield frames run?

 

[MadcityTJ]

the other TJ with a plow looks salty underneath, but doesn't look as bad as i thought. that said there's definitely rust under there.

I like the other one better, but a wash, internal and external coating of this one might be ok for my length of ownership?

 

[Starrs]

the other TJ with a plow looks salty underneath, but doesn't look as bad as i thought. that said there's definitely rust under there.
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I like the other one better, but a wash, internal and external coating of this one might be ok for my length of ownership?

Run from a plow jeep. Inside of the frame is going to be shot. Don’t worry about the outside on that one...worry about tj inside. Rust from inside out. The simple fact that it was a plow jeep makes it worthless.