aftermarket 4 wheelers are new to me. i do most all of the work on my 1959 el camino myself (have not worked on a lot of other cars). i have a lot of tools. i have never lifted a vehicle or dealt with aftermarket suspension. that said a good starter 4x4 i can work on myself and learn would be good. the 1990 land rover i had was at 280,000 miles when it was stolen and i never put one dime of maintenance into it so not any experience with that. if i were to purchase that jeep i'm assuming by the time i was done with it i would have the knowledge to build my own someday. for the $ i don't think i could buy a stock '99 xj and build it myself. or maybe i could? a simple lift and tires would get me started. hmm...maybe time to start pricing lift and tires=) can a lift be performed properly in one's driveway??

 

You can install a lift properly in your own driveway, if you know how to and know that an alignment will be needed after the fact. depending on wheels/tires youre looking for about a grand on those at least (paid 950 for my tires alone) and No, you couldn't build a jeep like that for 6500 it would be close but doubtful....IF youre using all new parts, now if you buy good used parts you can.

 

just seeing that video tells me to run the other way. who knows what else hes driven it through thats not on video? again, im a firm believer in buying only mostly stock vehicles, but to each his own. keep in mind youve got a great forum here for any questions you might have about building a rig from stock.

 

agreed. this forum rocks!

 

This one is mine FWIW

And I completely disagree with what everyone else is saying. I'd much rather buy a built Jeep than a stock one, just for the cash you save. You pay what, 25 cents on the dollar for mods, if that? Who cares how hard they beat on it, thats what this stuff is designed for. Worst case is that you have to replace something that you would have replaced anyway if it was stock.

 

if its been beat on, then you will be replacing everything at some point anyway, so your almost spending your money twice. why not build it from stock and have the ability to point to it and say "yeah, i built that"

 

I guess if you have the time, skill, tools, motivation and cash to do it yourself... then that's a good way to go. I personally have none of those other than the cash though.

And again... this stuff is made to be beat on. What kind of stuff are you thinking of that would need to be replaced? All armor can be bashed up pretty bad and still serve it's purpose. Lift components can take a pretty good beating.

Plus I really think the idea of 'bad installs' is overblown. Really how many ways are there to install a lift? I understand the sentiment and I'm partially playing devils advocate here... but I really don't think there are that many people out there installing lifts on their vehicles who don't know what they are doing. And if it is some sort of hackjob, it would be easily noticeable the first time you looked at the rig.

 

My Jeep for sale, for example. Bone stock is worth what, $4,000? I'm asking $6500, and this is what I've put into it in the last year.

Lift + install = $1,000
Tires (six 35" Baja Claws) = $1500
Front locker = $700
Rear locker = $700
Stereo = $500
Front bumper = $400
Rear bumper = $400
Steel wheels = $200
Rocker guards = $200
Chassis stiffeners = $200
Gas skid = $50
Hella lights = $100

Seems like it would be a much better deal for someone to buy mine than to start from stock... right?

 

Modified vehicles have usually been through a rougher life than a stock vehicle, therefore the risk of the vehicle ****ting the bed is higher.

 

No offense man, but I also wonder why someone is selling a vehicle that they dumped a bunch of money in that recently.

 

No worries, I would wonder that also. In my case I'm selling because I want to go bigger, and I would rather start with a Wrangler to do so. I've been building this rig up over the last year, but kind of hit a limit. I want to go long arm, I want a roll cage, I want to run topless and doorless. I could either spend a ton of money plating caging and reinforcing my XJ, and chopping it to pieces... or I could sell it and start with something a little easier to work with.

So no hidden problems, everything works great, I'm just moving on.

I'm sure this isn't the case with every Jeep for sale, but I feel that people should give modified rigs a chance. More often than not it's a good way to save a lot of time and money, if it's already built with what you want.

 

I still think Cherokees are a steal though either way, built or stock. Price out a 4.0 TJ with similar miles and mods. They sell for double what a similar Cherokee goes for.

 

so it seems lots of people think this is a fair price.
i think i might just go look at it!

 

I think it's too high. I'd say it'd be worth 4-5k depending on condition and rust. Xjs have a history of being rusted out

 

After spending what I've spent building my cherokee, i would buy this one in a heart beat...after i test drive it of course. But as others have said, the guy looks like he took care of it and wheeled it right....no skinny pedal idiot slamming everything around.

Offer him $5750 and go from there.