I got this poor baby at a reseller for auction vehicles (and paid too much for it, sadly, but it was my first time) just over a year ago.
Carfax told me it had been in 3 accidents during its lifetime, but the last one totaled it.
As you can see, it took a hit on the driver side front.
Aside from that, it had minor body damage all over from rough treatment. All the plastic trim and mirrors were road rashed. Prior owner ran wires everywhere, put in a horrible aftermarket security system and light bars. Drilled holes everywhere to hang crap on it. But other than that, it looked solid.
I have a buddy (a band-mate) that owns a collision shop and he offered me the friend discount as long as I was willing to wait behind any other work he had to do. That's why this took so long.
We replaced the wrecked suspension with a RC 2.5 inch lift kit. (Yes, I know RC is trash, but this is going to be a mall crawler. It's been through enough in its life)
I scored a new fender and a set of 5 brand new JK wheels and tires for almost nothing on FB marketplace.
The "other things" that were bad that we didn't notice at the time of purchase were as follows:
1. Transfer case was broken in half - Luckily not a Rubicon, so finding a replacement was fairly easy and cheap.
2. The wreck pushed in the grille enough to damage the cooling system, so the radiator, fan, clutch, water pump, etc needed replacing.
3. Previous owner had apparently ordered the wrong cold air intake and frankensteined it (I particularly like the little air filter on the valve cover). I replaced it with a new K&N.
4. This was the scary thing - the motor mount on the driver side was broken off the block, and it took all three bosses with it. I thought this meant new engine, but I googled and found out about Brown Dog motor mounts. After seeing they were 6 months behind on orders, I found a guy on Facebook that bought but ever used some and he was willing to sell them to me for his cost. Since those mounts use all 7 bosses on the block, I was good to go.
5. The last nasty surprise was to find that the axle housing that we'd inspected was bent after all. I looked into a replacement, but the local 4WD shop told me they could straighten it, so I let them do that, as well as ball joints, alignment, front driveshaft, etc.
6. The pleasant surprise was that the brakes were new all the way around and didn't need any work.
Finally, I got it home with the paint and body work done and started putting on all the stuff I bought over the last year.
Now I get to DIY all the little things!
Carfax told me it had been in 3 accidents during its lifetime, but the last one totaled it.
As you can see, it took a hit on the driver side front.
Aside from that, it had minor body damage all over from rough treatment. All the plastic trim and mirrors were road rashed. Prior owner ran wires everywhere, put in a horrible aftermarket security system and light bars. Drilled holes everywhere to hang crap on it. But other than that, it looked solid.
I have a buddy (a band-mate) that owns a collision shop and he offered me the friend discount as long as I was willing to wait behind any other work he had to do. That's why this took so long.
We replaced the wrecked suspension with a RC 2.5 inch lift kit. (Yes, I know RC is trash, but this is going to be a mall crawler. It's been through enough in its life)
I scored a new fender and a set of 5 brand new JK wheels and tires for almost nothing on FB marketplace.
The "other things" that were bad that we didn't notice at the time of purchase were as follows:
1. Transfer case was broken in half - Luckily not a Rubicon, so finding a replacement was fairly easy and cheap.
2. The wreck pushed in the grille enough to damage the cooling system, so the radiator, fan, clutch, water pump, etc needed replacing.
3. Previous owner had apparently ordered the wrong cold air intake and frankensteined it (I particularly like the little air filter on the valve cover). I replaced it with a new K&N.
4. This was the scary thing - the motor mount on the driver side was broken off the block, and it took all three bosses with it. I thought this meant new engine, but I googled and found out about Brown Dog motor mounts. After seeing they were 6 months behind on orders, I found a guy on Facebook that bought but ever used some and he was willing to sell them to me for his cost. Since those mounts use all 7 bosses on the block, I was good to go.
5. The last nasty surprise was to find that the axle housing that we'd inspected was bent after all. I looked into a replacement, but the local 4WD shop told me they could straighten it, so I let them do that, as well as ball joints, alignment, front driveshaft, etc.
6. The pleasant surprise was that the brakes were new all the way around and didn't need any work.
Finally, I got it home with the paint and body work done and started putting on all the stuff I bought over the last year.
Now I get to DIY all the little things!
