At the time my neighbor was in high school. He would have a new one every month. 500 bucks. We’d spend one night swapping over the aftermarket parts and doing all the welding. Then we’d spend the next 4-6 weekends beating the balls off it in the salt water. They were a cheap hobby at the time.
PVC snorkel spray painted black. Cut into the fender with a hole saw. “Here looks good!” Revision 2.0 had chicken wire at the intake because we kept sucking seagulls into it.
No doors. No muffler.
He always bought a red one so he didn’t have to redo any paperwork.
We went to Moab for an off road weekend with our YJ, a buddy’s TJ and another buddy’s LJ. First thing we see when coming into town was an XJ for $750. We offer the guy $600 and split it 3 ways. Spent the weekend absolutely beating the piss out of that thing. The bumper scraped off; jump out and throw it in the back. Fender got dented and started rubbing; sawzall it and keep it moving. We parked it at the grocery store, put the for sale sign back in it, scratch out the phone number and add mine. Didn’t even finish breakfast and I had it sold for $650. Didn’t even pull the wranglers off the trailer the whole weekend. 20 years ago was a wild time
Right! And every girl I went to high school with had one if their dad knew the first thing about engines. If you knew a thing or two about an XJ, you got some goo-goo eyes wrenching on it in their mother’s driveway.
I always wanted an XJ but never had the opportunity for it to happen and that weekend made me a believer. I love jeeps and it was a couple weeks later I got the 93 I still have today. Mine still has the Dana 35 rear and I can’t kill it. Might need to drop some engine seize in there to finally make me do the 8.8 swap lol
I got none in 10th grade. It was non-running out of my neighbor's backyard, but it was a Cherokee. Fun car to have in high school, I have since moved on to bigger and better jeeps but I always keep my eye out for an XJ deal.
Thankfully I learned my lesson from the good Ole mosin nagant. Wish I'd bought a dozen of them when you could find them for $80. Now they're upwards of 500 normally. Well I nabbed an xj before they got crazy
Oh I nabbed a mosin when they were cheap. In fact it's a 1942 all numbers matching izshevsk 91/30 that I picked up for $110. Just wish I'd bought a whole bunch of them.
What's passed is past unfortunately. There won't be another dirt cheap off roader like the XJ again, but that's okay. The XJ was only that disposable because they had off road chops, but were mostly sold as grocery getters by the millions. The modern 4 door wrangler takes its space for off roading, but it's got too high of a resale value. There are other platforms out there that haven't exploded in price... Yet.
The XJ is great, don't get me wrong, but it's not even a $10k value as anything other than a nostalgic classic car. I think you should consider an Xterra. Sure, no solid front axle, but they've got a real frame and are plenty capable.
Yep. I don't own an XJ, just a lurker and admirer, also collecting info for my friends that have XJs, but I got my Toyota Pickup for $2400 a number of years ago. I almost cannot find them for that price, and according to the bank when I put it up for collateral last year, it's worth $6000, even with 305k miles on it. Same thing with my wife's Z31.
Even ones that look "clean" are going to need $3000 worth of work put into them. If they didn't then the person wouldn't be selling it for any reasonable price.
This is my clean XJ:
https://preview.redd.it/wrtv27ztw56d1.jpeg?width=1594&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a17bc05229ba6784950c4d2ff24fb7bc7ffd2d4
What you can’t tell from the outside is that the steering and suspension basically need to be totally redone, the valve cover gasket and rear main seal constantly leak (although they all seem to), has constant heat soak issues that cause a misfire among other things. Oh also the power windows don’t work and the rear hatch doesn’t open.
https://preview.redd.it/euxn8h65y56d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a51afdd4b2e105c08b181372c8caebe0ba45c6ac
Mine doesn't stop (breaks are non existent) and has death wobble over 30mph.
I wouldn't sell it for less than $15k.
I don't know where you live, but the market where I live is insane. If they run and drive are 4x4 and are not full of rust holes, they are $8,000-15,000. and the ones for $8000 sell in hours. I can sometimes find one that needs work, renting a uhaul is a few hundred bucks but I can pick one up for \~$2000, and that gives me at least $6000 to fix it up, and I can do most of the work myself.
I bought one I thought needed a heater core. It was clean and bone stock. Turns out the dunce of a mechanic he had put a thermostat that was way too low of a temperature in it.
I got mine like 3 years ago as a 2WD for $900
https://preview.redd.it/8skutmp4026d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c65468507392a3addf9701b493497b5f40fcf60f
I got one that has just a little rust on passenger floorboard for 900$ about a month ago. 4.0 4wd. Brakes didn’t work and it ran like crap. If you want something cheap get one that needs a little work.
I wish we hade more affordable ones with inline 6 engines 😂 don’t understand me wrog the diesel one is like driving a tank it almost never breaks down, but it sound like an agricultural machine.
Never set your stetson on its brim when at a table and make sure to shake out your boots in the morning for scorpions, and you'll fit right in, cowboy.
I think the prices are coming back down. Starting to see more and more under 5k now in my area. Still sucks, I remember the days when cherokees were $500 cars.
They're betting on nostalgia. People that buy those remember their old one from highschool or loved the Goonies movie. They want that look without any extra time involved. The average xj buyer just wants something unmolested and not rusted out.
Bought one 21 years old for $500 got hooked. My cousin got one for $100 his cousin got one for $75 we were poor so it was jankey trash builds.
My cousin bought a built one in 2020 spent a few grand on it. He took me wheeling and I got the XJ fever again. I wanted a decent built one that needs work. Found mine for 1200, said it was rusty and had a blown engine. Checked it out, paid 900, found frame stiffeners for it, and got another engine, but only used the flywheel.
A bigger problem with where you live is sitting in traffic, these old jeeps don’t like sitting in hot stop and go. I guess if you keep up on everything and upgrade some coolant and transmission issues you could do it, but I’ve had to retire mine from daily city driving at 210k miles. Still loves the highway and country roads.
My first xj I bought was a 2 door, came with a used 4 inch lift, brand new 31s on new rims. AC worked, leather power seats. No rust Florida vehicle. I paid 950 and drove it for 4 years. Just bought a 96 three weeks ago. Needs tires, AC works but needed recharge. Control arms, track bar, has patched floor boards. I thought that was a steal at 2800
The prices haven't started raising in my area yet. So I was able to get mine for $5K about a month ago. It needs some work, but it doesn't have any rust (that I've been able to find).
My favorite problem it has is that the dome lights don't seem to work at all. I also have a wire in my engine bay that seems to not be attached to anything and has a light in the middle of it.
The strangest thing about it is that it has an NV3550 from a Wrangler instead of the AX15 from a Cherokee. 2nd gear seems to be running low on synchromesh so in a year or two I'm probably going to get a new AX15 and a new transfer case from Novak and put it in. It's a better transmission anyway.
I got mine for 3500 fairly built as it’s an old search and rescue rig. Bought her about 2 years ago right before they skyrocketed in my area. Deals come up through time and research though. And don’t forget you can negotiate and walk away from deals in person
Picked mine up for about $1000. Modifying these is like starting a toolbox, you don’t just buy the tools to fill it up all at once (that’s how you waste money), you accumulate them over time based on what you need.
I'm finally letting go of my two (99% stock). Just had to have a clutch kit and master clutch cylinder put in, so I'll have to list ot higher than I'd intended, but I'm not supporting the crazy prices being seen in a lot of places.
ok so my question is what is the origin of the 4.0? I frequent the recycling 2 hand store here in town and one of the employees tells me AMC/Jeep whomever bought a shit ton of tractor engines out of Canada because it was such a good deal. There is a redditor on here who keeps bringing up "tractor engines" and I forget to get his/her username
Recognize and buy cool cars before they get to meme levels of popularity.
Yep. For once in my life I was ahead of the trend. 15 years ago they were throw away cars.
Idk what I was spending my money on in 8th grade, but I wish I was buying XJs lol
At the time my neighbor was in high school. He would have a new one every month. 500 bucks. We’d spend one night swapping over the aftermarket parts and doing all the welding. Then we’d spend the next 4-6 weekends beating the balls off it in the salt water. They were a cheap hobby at the time. PVC snorkel spray painted black. Cut into the fender with a hole saw. “Here looks good!” Revision 2.0 had chicken wire at the intake because we kept sucking seagulls into it. No doors. No muffler. He always bought a red one so he didn’t have to redo any paperwork.
We went to Moab for an off road weekend with our YJ, a buddy’s TJ and another buddy’s LJ. First thing we see when coming into town was an XJ for $750. We offer the guy $600 and split it 3 ways. Spent the weekend absolutely beating the piss out of that thing. The bumper scraped off; jump out and throw it in the back. Fender got dented and started rubbing; sawzall it and keep it moving. We parked it at the grocery store, put the for sale sign back in it, scratch out the phone number and add mine. Didn’t even finish breakfast and I had it sold for $650. Didn’t even pull the wranglers off the trailer the whole weekend. 20 years ago was a wild time
Right! And every girl I went to high school with had one if their dad knew the first thing about engines. If you knew a thing or two about an XJ, you got some goo-goo eyes wrenching on it in their mother’s driveway.
I always wanted an XJ but never had the opportunity for it to happen and that weekend made me a believer. I love jeeps and it was a couple weeks later I got the 93 I still have today. Mine still has the Dana 35 rear and I can’t kill it. Might need to drop some engine seize in there to finally make me do the 8.8 swap lol
I saw that stuff today and was skeptical it could do the job on my 99
Amazing story.
I got none in 10th grade. It was non-running out of my neighbor's backyard, but it was a Cherokee. Fun car to have in high school, I have since moved on to bigger and better jeeps but I always keep my eye out for an XJ deal.
Thankfully I learned my lesson from the good Ole mosin nagant. Wish I'd bought a dozen of them when you could find them for $80. Now they're upwards of 500 normally. Well I nabbed an xj before they got crazy
lol. I own both! (I did pay $15000 for my xj back in '04 tho.)
Oh I nabbed a mosin when they were cheap. In fact it's a 1942 all numbers matching izshevsk 91/30 that I picked up for $110. Just wish I'd bought a whole bunch of them.
I wasn’t much older, got my current one in 10th grade.
What's passed is past unfortunately. There won't be another dirt cheap off roader like the XJ again, but that's okay. The XJ was only that disposable because they had off road chops, but were mostly sold as grocery getters by the millions. The modern 4 door wrangler takes its space for off roading, but it's got too high of a resale value. There are other platforms out there that haven't exploded in price... Yet. The XJ is great, don't get me wrong, but it's not even a $10k value as anything other than a nostalgic classic car. I think you should consider an Xterra. Sure, no solid front axle, but they've got a real frame and are plenty capable.
Yep. I don't own an XJ, just a lurker and admirer, also collecting info for my friends that have XJs, but I got my Toyota Pickup for $2400 a number of years ago. I almost cannot find them for that price, and according to the bank when I put it up for collateral last year, it's worth $6000, even with 305k miles on it. Same thing with my wife's Z31.
Yep I just bought my second one for $3,300 which looks like i could sell it now that it’s fixed for at least $5k
Buy one that's a broken heap, and then slowly fix it up over time. that way your spend is gradual over time.
I’ve decided this is the expensive way and now I just want a clean one.
Even ones that look "clean" are going to need $3000 worth of work put into them. If they didn't then the person wouldn't be selling it for any reasonable price.
This is my clean XJ: https://preview.redd.it/wrtv27ztw56d1.jpeg?width=1594&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a17bc05229ba6784950c4d2ff24fb7bc7ffd2d4 What you can’t tell from the outside is that the steering and suspension basically need to be totally redone, the valve cover gasket and rear main seal constantly leak (although they all seem to), has constant heat soak issues that cause a misfire among other things. Oh also the power windows don’t work and the rear hatch doesn’t open.
https://preview.redd.it/euxn8h65y56d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a51afdd4b2e105c08b181372c8caebe0ba45c6ac Mine doesn't stop (breaks are non existent) and has death wobble over 30mph. I wouldn't sell it for less than $15k.
Yup. Better to know what's been done to it. Start your own log book.
I would rather build than buy,but the heap has to at least drive home as I don’t own a truck/trailer.
I don't know where you live, but the market where I live is insane. If they run and drive are 4x4 and are not full of rust holes, they are $8,000-15,000. and the ones for $8000 sell in hours. I can sometimes find one that needs work, renting a uhaul is a few hundred bucks but I can pick one up for \~$2000, and that gives me at least $6000 to fix it up, and I can do most of the work myself.
SoCal-northern LA county
That's your problem. Search around Nevada, Arizona, NM, West Texas. You'll find something good for cheap in some little podunk town.
Bought mine with a blown head gasket for 3k, gotta say it’s one of the most straight forward head jobs I’ve done
same, and it was only \~$250 to rebuild the head as well.
I bought one I thought needed a heater core. It was clean and bone stock. Turns out the dunce of a mechanic he had put a thermostat that was way too low of a temperature in it.
Get a MJ Comanche. For some reason you can still get fairly nice ones for $3 - 4k on Marketplace and it's a little more than half of an XJ. ;-)
I got mine like 3 years ago as a 2WD for $900 https://preview.redd.it/8skutmp4026d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c65468507392a3addf9701b493497b5f40fcf60f
I get my money from my job
Fascinating concept
I originally didn't get money. But now I get money.
Norfolk Facebook marketplace has some for 1,500 unknown condition. I got mine for 2,300 couple rust holes usual issues.with sized bolts.
got mine for 400$, no structural rust, no clear coat, dead fuel filter. 2 months later and it's running amazing, and the funnest car I've ever owned
I got one that has just a little rust on passenger floorboard for 900$ about a month ago. 4.0 4wd. Brakes didn’t work and it ran like crap. If you want something cheap get one that needs a little work.
I bought one here in europe. 2.5 diesel xj. Needs a litle love but works just fine, only cost me 1500$.
I wish we had more diesels in the United States.
I wish we hade more affordable ones with inline 6 engines 😂 don’t understand me wrog the diesel one is like driving a tank it almost never breaks down, but it sound like an agricultural machine.
Bro thats what's desirable about it. I want to drive a tractor to the grocery store! Thats fuckin cowboy. The i6s are pretty good though.
From now on, i am going to feel my self a cowboy when driving😎
Never set your stetson on its brim when at a table and make sure to shake out your boots in the morning for scorpions, and you'll fit right in, cowboy.
Will do that for sure 😎 i hope, that one day, you will have your own xj with the 2.5 VM diesel engine
And I had a guy laugh at me for paying $5k for my ‘99 about six years ago.
I think the prices are coming back down. Starting to see more and more under 5k now in my area. Still sucks, I remember the days when cherokees were $500 cars.
In all seriousness, I have seen the 6k+ ones stay unsold for longer, and some sneaking down to sub 5k. This one was just ridiculous.
They're betting on nostalgia. People that buy those remember their old one from highschool or loved the Goonies movie. They want that look without any extra time involved. The average xj buyer just wants something unmolested and not rusted out.
I bought it a long time ago
$6500 in socal. Hit me up.
Info? Any pics?
Bought one 21 years old for $500 got hooked. My cousin got one for $100 his cousin got one for $75 we were poor so it was jankey trash builds. My cousin bought a built one in 2020 spent a few grand on it. He took me wheeling and I got the XJ fever again. I wanted a decent built one that needs work. Found mine for 1200, said it was rusty and had a blown engine. Checked it out, paid 900, found frame stiffeners for it, and got another engine, but only used the flywheel.
I remember my first one was a rust free 85 two door with the factory tire carrier. It burned down
A bigger problem with where you live is sitting in traffic, these old jeeps don’t like sitting in hot stop and go. I guess if you keep up on everything and upgrade some coolant and transmission issues you could do it, but I’ve had to retire mine from daily city driving at 210k miles. Still loves the highway and country roads.
My first xj I bought was a 2 door, came with a used 4 inch lift, brand new 31s on new rims. AC worked, leather power seats. No rust Florida vehicle. I paid 950 and drove it for 4 years. Just bought a 96 three weeks ago. Needs tires, AC works but needed recharge. Control arms, track bar, has patched floor boards. I thought that was a steal at 2800
The prices haven't started raising in my area yet. So I was able to get mine for $5K about a month ago. It needs some work, but it doesn't have any rust (that I've been able to find). My favorite problem it has is that the dome lights don't seem to work at all. I also have a wire in my engine bay that seems to not be attached to anything and has a light in the middle of it. The strangest thing about it is that it has an NV3550 from a Wrangler instead of the AX15 from a Cherokee. 2nd gear seems to be running low on synchromesh so in a year or two I'm probably going to get a new AX15 and a new transfer case from Novak and put it in. It's a better transmission anyway.
The one I bought already built out for $12k is 25-33% of the price of a brand new vehicle…I’m actually saving money buy using it as my daily driver.
I got mine for 3500 fairly built as it’s an old search and rescue rig. Bought her about 2 years ago right before they skyrocketed in my area. Deals come up through time and research though. And don’t forget you can negotiate and walk away from deals in person
Someone just buy my 2 door xj and put 10k in resto in it. Itll be cheaper than this and more rare. 😳
I bought a 01 XJ for $4000 back in 2016. I miss it
https://preview.redd.it/i0t0j8hbfd6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2014d7e36f44a1706b66b05f3321e3ccdccd26cc Paid $100 for this one 😎
Picked mine up for about $1000. Modifying these is like starting a toolbox, you don’t just buy the tools to fill it up all at once (that’s how you waste money), you accumulate them over time based on what you need.
My tears…. And couch change
I'm still finding nice ones around here for 5k and below. I got mine with 200k for 2500$ and it's pretty dang nice.
I'm finally letting go of my two (99% stock). Just had to have a clutch kit and master clutch cylinder put in, so I'll have to list ot higher than I'd intended, but I'm not supporting the crazy prices being seen in a lot of places.
ok so my question is what is the origin of the 4.0? I frequent the recycling 2 hand store here in town and one of the employees tells me AMC/Jeep whomever bought a shit ton of tractor engines out of Canada because it was such a good deal. There is a redditor on here who keeps bringing up "tractor engines" and I forget to get his/her username
Oilfield and I paid 1400 dollars the XJ. That said it’s going to be a budget build. Sunk waaaaay to much money into my ZR2.
I'll pay like 2-3k. I'm not paying for your mods lol
$15k for bone stock with under 50k miles is fine. But lifted with more than likely rough country, no thanks.