What problems to look for in 2nd hand Wranglers?

[Big_T]

Now a vehicle like this could have been punished every time it got driven, but still look good all polished up in a yard right?

What goes wrong with these Jeeps by the time say a 98 model has done 80,000+ ?

Any tips of what I should be looking for when I am crawling underneath and over a wrangler at the local Dealers yard?

I apologise if this is one of those well covered FAQs... thing is most of the guys here seem to have had their's forever and are talking mods etc..

[Jeff]

Keep an eye out for scratches on the transfer case skid, leaks in the seals, and mud in the engine bay.

[billsta]

if you're looking for a TJ at the dealers, itmight be hard to find those scratches and mud etc, as jeff said, they usually do a damn good job at detailing it..(from what i've seen)
but from a private sale, it might be more noticable..

however, you might want to have a look at for leaks at the remain, sump, diffs, tx case tranmission, head, etc.. then
than take it for a drive and look for everything that dont seems right :D

and look for previous damage, pranks etc.. check with your traffic authority??

im sure there are 100millions things you can look at, but you'll proberly never find them until you buy it... as always... so sometimes its a bit of a suprise on what you get...

what do i konw i dont know anything about jeep [img]tongue.gif[/img] :D

cheers

good luck

[ 27 January 2003, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: billsta ]

[Big_T]

thanks for the info Billsta

[Wooders]

Look out for rigs that have a lift and they can't give you the details of what they've done....They might not have address the vibs properly and you could have any of a range of issues.
If it's got a SYE then it's worth jumping at.
If it's got the diff ratios done then ditto...
But I've seen quite a few where the lift has been pretty poorly thought out when fitted....
Mine you there's plenty out there that have had them professionally fitted by shops like Suburban & USA4x4 and are excellent - yet the owner won't know what's been done - so you need to figure that out yourself....
Anyways that's my reasoning for being a little wary of mods...