Well, this past weekend Old Krusty went for a tumble down a rock pile. Thank God neither me nor my friend were hurt much. But sadly the Jeep suffered tremendous body damage that cannot be repaired.
It still runs and drives actually, for the most part it seems intact mechanically. It has a 4.5" RC lift, brand new front and rear lockers, some brand new front end parts, brand new receiver, front bumper, winch, good 33s, spacers, and a bunch of other smaller new junk. Lots of good parts, which leads me to the next thing,

I am definitely getting another XJ. But can't decide what to do next now.
I can't decide if I should buy something already lifted and built up a little bit, this MIGHT save me a lot of time of my own from having to invest in building it, then part out whatever I don't use from mine.

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I buy a straight, stock XJ and build it from the ground up. I already have many parts I can use off my rolled Jeep. This would take longer but give me a more predictable and personalized outcome in the end.

Thoughts? I'm leaning towards buying a stock one and building it myself, but what do you guys think?




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Honestly, just try to find something rust free. You can easily remove parts off of the vehicle you buy and install the stuff off of your jeep. A lifted xj will probably be cheaper than a stock XJ in good shape. They can command quite a pretty penny.

 

Oh no, Zingo. Glad you weren't hurt badly. Sorry about the Jeep. RIP Old Krusty, you were good.

 

I'd go with the rust-free route. If there are any nice parts on the new jeep that you don't need just sell them or keep them in reserve.
Also, maybe an exo-cage?

 

Well, I searched a bunch of sites are there is basically zero rust free or even low rust XJ's for sale anywhere near me in my price range. I would have to drive several hours south to find anything like that. Or have one shipped up without seeing it in person. That's not a risk I was willing to take especially since my end goal isn't a crazy built and clean rig. I just want a budget rig I can drive around town and hit all the trails in my area.
So after looking at a couple stock rigs, and a few modified rigs I pulled the trigger on this lightly modified '97.

It has a 4.5" Rusty's lift that looks fairly new, likely within the last 2-4 years I estimate?
​​​​​​It has an aftermarket rear bumper that a spare tire carrier can be mounted on. "SOLID" diff covers, 33's, rear ZJ disc brakes, roof rack, a couple other very small things, and a couple new parts.

It's pretty rough around the edges and rusty just like alllll the others in MN. but it seems to run decent and goes down the freeway decent. My favorite part is the brakes. They all look pretty new and work VERY well. This is especially pleasing since the brakes caused the demise of my red Jeep. 😭

I'm creating a large list of stuff it needs or I want to do to it. It was cheap enough though and hopefully will serve as a good base to rebuild something very similar to my rolled red XJ.



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