I look forward to it Blue! I loved my ZJ but she just rotted away!

 

I know what you mean Dave. I like the WJ, but I really loved the ZJ I had. My son needed it, so I sold it to him. It was a southern truck, and was rust free.

 

Is that picture your WJ? It looks good. Mine doesn't have running boards and has grey plastic trim on the lower half. It's white also. I would like to find a preparation to make the grey darker, because it looks like battleship grey and I would rather have it a medium charcoal.

It's also a Pennsylvania car, so there is no rust on it yet! Give it a couple of years up here and it will start to go bad. They don't call Syracuse the Salt City for no reason!

 

I hear you. The rust will get to them in a hurry.

No, that was the '97 ZJ Limited/Orvis. This is my '04 WJ Special Edition.

 

Shucks, I'd have sold the '04 and kept the Orvis.

 

Hey, I've got a question. My 97 Laredo had 6-way power seats, lighted vanity mirrors, and other small things I don't find on my 00 Laredo. What gives? I thought a Laredo was a Laredo. I do have the optional larger tires though. I took the sun visors out if my 97 and not only do they not fit, there isn't a power harness in the door pillar.

Another thing. The previous owner installed a remote start system. If for some reason, I start to have electrical problems, should I remove the system?

 

It just came with a different set of option packages. Each package comes with different items grouped together. Some items may even be listed on different groups. Some are grouped under the Convenience Group, some under Tow Group, etc. My '97 ZJ Limited/Orvis had the 10 way heated black leather seats w/power lumbar. The normal Orvis had the 6 way 2 tone green/tan leather seats. Mine also had the Up Country package w/tow hooks/skids plates. It all depends on how it was ordered.
I'm not sure where the power comes from for the visors on the WJ. I can't tell by looking at the FSM.
That could cause issues later, but that's something you'll have to decide.

 

So I guess mine is what is known as Basic, with the optional size tires. It has the 245/70R16's on it. I had to swerve to miss a car that backed out in front of me the other day and it handled it superbly. A little tire squeal, very little body roll, and good recovery. Then I had to deal with the adrenaline rush! No time for the horn.

 

My '04 V8 WJ SE came new with 245x70x16's, while my brother's '04 4.0L WJ Laredo came with 235x75x16's. His doesn't have leather, sunroof, alarm, garage opener, but it has the Selec-Trac 242 t-case that some like. Mine's the Quarda-Trac II (AWD) 247.
Yeah, they handle pretty good as long as all the shocks and bushings are in good shape. Surprising for what they are. A box with live axles at both ends.

 

I will say that coil springs are better than leafs when it comes to road handling though. My Chevy V10 had leafs both front and rear. The old saying was "Rides like a rocking horse, corners like a couch." It had limited flexibility off-road however.

I bought my WJ because it was a cherry, had the 4.0 and 242 TC, and had been maintained. There was a list under the hood of what had been done and when. The owner's manual was still in the glove box with a list of oil changes and tire rotations. I firmly believe this vehicle was owned by someone who CARED about it! The owner's name on the title was female. It also was detailed before sale.

BUT, It's next 100K will be used as a Jeep, not a grocery cart!

 

You were fortunate to find a good one Dave. We've always had ours maintained since day one, so whoever gets it next will also get a full list of maintenance records. It's never had the thrill of being used off road, but I wouldn't call it a grocery cart.

 

I'm not saying that at all. All I'm saying is a lot of people buy Jeeps for statis symbols, not because they appreciate their versatility. I just wonder what purpose mine was used for. I have never bought a used vehicle with this kind of documentation before. It astounds me! I feel it has never been abused and I like that. My ZJ was ridden hard and put away wet. I bought it and was stuck with it. I wound up replacing all the frontend drive components, hubs, U-joints, ball joints, discs, rotors and front driveshaft. Then the trans s*** the bed. The rearend was the fault of the tranny guys replacing a pinion seal inproperly. The only things that were OK were the 4.0 and the T-case!

But, I was the one who made the mistake of buying it in the first place! It looked good and ran well. Water under the bridge.

 

I also bought my jeep from a "****" maintenance freak. It was very reassuring when I bought it, he handed me a folder with receipts for all of the mods made as well as all maintenance performed. I traveled 300 miles just to look at the jeep, so needless to say this alleviated alot of fears. Awesome. Thank God for good record keepers.

 

I picked up a 1998 ZJ Limited in Black.

It had some rust issues but they are being taken care of.

Was lucky to find a black 98 Limited ZJ in the JY with no rust issues and got what I needed from that for less than $200. I snagged the hood and rear hatch because the paint on those was better and no rust.

I had one fender that was rust out that also took a part of the rocker, so I took both fenders from the JY. I fixed the rocker and have replacement fenders also on black form the JY.

Sounds like a lot of work, and it is but at the end of the day it should be worth it.

Cost:

1998 ZJ ------- $700 ( because of rust )
Hood/Hatch --- $200
Fenders -----------$80

A few things to fix to pass inspection but those should cost less than $200

I'll be in it for a total of $1500 +/- when all is said and done.


I like walking through junkyards and buy old Jeeps to justify those walks!

 

That's great.
When I bought my '97 ZJ Limited I was happy with it at first. I had done a car fax check and it was a 2 owner Jeep with a clean history. It had zero rust, and everything worked. Even the underneath was immaculate, as was the engine compartment. You could still see all of the paint markings from when it was assembled at the factory.
Shortly after is when the noises became evident. Then I took it to a shop and had to have the rear axle completely rebuilt because of poor maintenance. I also had the front hubs replaced.
So it was apparently owned by someone that took great care of how it looked and ran, and kept it in a garage to protect it's finish, but failed to do some important maintenance on it. A leaking pinion seal cased all the rear axle damage when they let it run low.