Trouble searching for the perfect TJ

Jumped on mine ...listed 16 minutes at a dealer ...went and looked at it that night after they closed and was back there 30 min before they opened .. crawled under lifted carpet test drove and took it home ...04 rubi $5000 ...load of miles but it just goes everytime without fail ..hasent missed a beat in 3 months...didn't care about color or miles just wanted Rubicon cause that's what me and junior like.
 
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You missed it, it sold at Barrett Jackson in January for $39,000. With 3461 miles.
I call it well bought.

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Brian Alcorn said:
Jumped on mine ...listed 16 minutes at a dealer ...went and looked at it that night after they closed and was back there 30 min before they opened .. crawled under lifted carpet test drove and took it home ...04 rubi $5000 ...load of miles but it just goes everytime without fail ..hasent missed a beat in 3 months...didn't care about color or miles just wanted Rubicon cause that's what me and junior like.
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5k? You got a hell of a deal
 
Brian Alcorn said:
Jumped on mine ...listed 16 minutes at a dealer ...went and looked at it that night after they closed and was back there 30 min before they opened .. crawled under lifted carpet test drove and took it home ...04 rubi $5000 ...load of miles but it just goes everytime without fail ..hasent missed a beat in 3 months...didn't care about color or miles just wanted Rubicon cause that's what me and junior like.
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Same, Mine came in on trade the day before at a Subaru Dealer... they were ready to wholesale it. Wranglers were not their thing.

We got the deal when they asked do you want to take it today? And I said yes, I don't want to drive 120 miles back tomorrow, we will need plates, registration, insurance today, that was at 4:30pm. We were gone before 5:30.

The easy way was to transfer my YJ registration which we did. But I forgot to bring the plates. So we had to "sneak" out of the lot without plates.... and drive 120 miles home. My wife tailgated me all the way.

That was 8 years ago. We got an '05 Rubi, original, low mile, college girl driven, for $13,800.

I'm not sure I'll ever buy private again. Watch the dealerships, especially the ones not in the Wrangler market. We have bought maybe 10 great vehicles that way.... including a '75 Trans Am.... from a Lexus dealer. My wife walks into the showroom, I walk into the back lot.
 
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There is a nice looking silver LJ for sale around the corner from my house. It’s an 06 6 speed. Has 110k on it. You could drive down here and pick it up. Asking $13,995. Frame looks good under it. Not perfect, but good. Been in some mud but doesn’t appear to have been in the rust belt anywhere. Has a brand new frameless Bestop on it. Like to have it next to mine. Twins (the kind that would cause a divorce)

2006 Wrangler LJ
https://www.graypointautomotive.com...-used-sport-utility-2-dr-winterville-nc.shtml
 
Curt-Curt said:
was looking in Texas saw a nice lime green jeep there in Houston, but i'm worried about flood damage after Hurricane Harvey.
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My wifes 15 jk is a flood jeep, I would buy another in a heartbeat. The water only went about half way up the radiator. Whoever cleaned it up missed the inside of the radiator, you can still see the mud line. Jeeps were designed to handle water better than a lot of vehicles. Her jeep with 50K miles still has the new car smell from whoever cleaned it up. I would gamble and buy again and hope I get a win. So far I feel that i have one on every salvage jeep I have. Tim
 
also looking at a 2001 sport with 98,871 miles in NC. it had the cylinder head gasket and cooling fan clutch replaced at 90,411 miles and the pinion seal replaced at 55,075 miles. has 32" tires for $9,500.00. should I be worried about engine problems?
 
astjp2 said:
My wifes 15 jk is a flood jeep, I would buy another in a heartbeat. The water only went about half way up the radiator. Whoever cleaned it up missed the inside of the radiator, you can still see the mud line. Jeeps were designed to handle water better than a lot of vehicles. Her jeep with 50K miles still has the new car smell from whoever cleaned it up. I would gamble and buy again and hope I get a win. So far I feel that i have one on every salvage jeep I have. Tim
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Tim that's a big gamble for $11,000
 
Well what are you able to fix yourself? Will this be a second vehicle or daily driver? I will fix anything except the inside of a new transmission so my opinion will be different than others. Oh and I wont straighten a frame, just because I dont have a frame machine...
 
Curt-Curt said:
Tim that's a big gamble for $11,000
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$12,800 and it has that piece of shit 6 speed, that may need replaced some day, the coolant system also has a slight seep, I don't know where it comes from but I can live with it until something fails. I figured I paid about 60% compared to going to the dealer and I would trust it to go across country.
 
Starrs said:
What are you looking for? Year, Miles, color, auto:manual, sport/rubi? I’m sure with all the Craigslist snoopers we have on here we can find you a nice tj.
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Year - 2000 to 2006, Miles - wanted to keep it under 150,000 (was worried about transmission with high miles), Needs to be Automatic, Sport/Rubi does not matter, Color - 1st Green, 2nd Yellow, 3rd Orange/Red, just not Gold.
looking for one with a hardtop too, but if the price is right with take a soft top and just buy a hard top. Looking to spend @ $10,000.
Thanks
 
Well you can search online and find some deals, I have seen LJ's that had 20K miles for $15K which was at a dealership, so there are good jeeps out there, but typically the better you get one the more it will cost. I was open to finding a deal, I bought a salvage LJ for 5200, I was 6800 shipped to my door, I have spent another $1500 on tires and a lift and body parts. I will be at about $10K to have what I wanted and I will have done most of the work myself. I still want to do a tummy tuck and and atlas, Dana 44's with elockers and warn lockout hubs on the front. I will be about $13K in my jeep with the fox reservoir shocks and have something that I feel that I can play with and trust. Doing the work myself adds to that trust.
 
I wouldn't trust photos even if they did sent them. I'd want to see it in person. And, if it's a clean Jeep for a fair price, by the time you are done sending emails back and forth and trying to get photos it'll be sold. Rust usually isn't a problem for vehicles here in the Southwest, but just because it's for sale here, doen't mean it's spent it's life here. Personally I'd just scour the ads regularly and when you see one interesting, hop in your car and go look without delay. Have cash or at least enough cash for a down payment to hold it until you can get to the bank. Also, let all your friends and co-workers etc know you are looking. The best deals are sometimes parked in a neighborhood with a for sale sign or by word of mouth and never make it to the want ads.
 
I drove 12 hours to north dakota, test drove the JK and then handed over the cash. I changed 2 idler pulleys on the way home and stopped at a dealer to get the radio code. Wife got 24 mpg at 75, I only average about 22...
Here is what my LJ looked like, it was just a salvage auction jeep.

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