Picked this 95 zj in December 2015 for $1000 after I had to sell my xj due to financial reasons. Lucked out and got to keep my wheels and tires, wheel spacers and roof bars and had some extra parts in the garage.
Pros:
junkyard 5.2 with 115k miles
New tie rod ends and ball joints
No rust
No body damage
New general tires

Cons:
Terrible alignment
Steering wheel sideways
Brakes shot
shocks blown out
No headliner
missing interior trim pieces
no radio
AWD all the time

Plans for the junkyard dog build:
32s, spidertrax 1.25 in wheel spacers, roof bars, thrush muffler, and a few small pieces from my old xj (nobudgetxj)
3.5 inch rough country lift from the jy with control arms, shocks, etc
RE front track bar from jy rear track bar drop bracket
Extended brake lines from 1 ton dodge from jy
Jy brakes
Plan on doing an np231j swap as soon as I can find one out of a 95
As soon as my budget allows, I will be swapping a hp dana 30 front and 8.8 with posi rear axle

for some reason I can't upload pics so as soon as I figure it out I'll post all that I have.

 

looking forward to see what you do

 

Got my front end lifted and got my tires on today and started on the rear, everything's unbolted and ready to be dropped and replaced with the rest of my junkyard score rough country lift. I put pics in my album if anyone wants to check it out. I'm definitely gonna have to trim front fenders and cut and roll the rears to keep the 32s of them. Plan on finishing up the rear, trimming fenders, install RE front track bar, and install my extended front brake lines tomorrow

 

Picture time!...hopefully



The day after I brought it home, not bad for $1000








Oil and trans pan gaskets filter and fluid





Score at the junkyard for a less than $200





Leftovers





On the body, motor is from the junkyard a little over 120k





First parts I put on this jeep (roof bars)





Started as a simple brake job and ended up replacing the steering knuckle





After front lift install and extended brake lines before I made brackets to keep them from flopping around








Another junkyard score, I could spend all day at that place








My old xj on v8 zj coils and bastard pack procomp lca's and ebc front brake pads and rotors

 

you got those lift from the junkyard too? cool! anyway, nice build, man. you got some great skills.

 

Thanks a lot man. I was actually just there looking for a headliner and walked up to a grand that I had looked at about an hour earlier and noticed the silver springs in front so I crawled underneath and saw a gold mine, just couldn't leave it there. I'm a junkyard addict haha definitely more to come

 

Nice score. My whole lift came from the junk yard on my 88 XJ. Even though the front is a Rusty's it all came from the junk yard including the rear springs from a Dodge Dakota. I haven't scored a whole vehicle from the JY though.

 

Yeah I Lucked out for sure the body is straight besides 2 small dents 1 on hood and the other on the hatch and no rust. After changing all the fluids and filters it runs like new and shifts smooth I hate the AWD but it will be gone soon. Thanks for checking out my mini build

 

Been nothing but rain the last 4 days so I still haven't got my zj finished up yet hopefully this weekend I'll get to finish up the brakes, alignment, and trimming the fenders and front bumper

 

I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Junk yards are the bomb, I always look around for rare ZJ specific parts like the tire carrier or 5.9 parts

Good score!

 

Finally got my brakes worked out today and took it for a test drive everything worked great. Now I need to trim my fenders before I end up tearing one off. I'll post pics when it's done

 

Got my front fenders trimmed so my tires don't rub when I turn. Gotta go to the jy this weekend and pick up a front bumper so I can trim it and put it on so my jeep doesn't look wrecked anymore

 

Th e wife is gonna get a. 05 grand cherokee on Monday so I get to sell her old ride an 02 trailblazer 4x4 and use that money to build my jeep. I have the best junkyard ever all their prices per part are set no matter what vehicle

 

That's what it looks like now with the front bumper off. Hopefully within the week plans are as follows:


242 transfer case $75
1 ton dodge axles front rear $275 together
Beefier coils in the front plan on keeping the same ride height though $20
Durango steering box $25
Electric fans to replace the mechanical fan 2x$20
Winch and mounting plate I have no need for the heavy metal bumper
Maybe a roof rack?
thought about swapping the interior from a 98 around $200

all the prices are from the junkyard I frequent and I usually get better deals since I'm there so much. Hopefully this thing is about to get wild! Keeping around a 32 for tires though ill keep you guys posted