well, this one is 5-speed, so more than likely the wife will have to drive mine. automatic is a bit more forgiving on a trail. she can drive manual just fine, but i think SHE will be safer in an automatic, since we do quite a lot of rock and trail driving.
oh man, it would be so awesome... i can stop putting my poor dodge through stuff that it's not prepared for.

 

it is a clean looking jeep, but at that price i would say no way.. talk them down

 

well, my bike is not worth that much either though. at least to me it's not. so, if it's an even swap, i think i can be happy.

 

You seem pretty amped up for it. I hope it lives up to your expectations. I almost can't wait to see your follow up when you test drive it.

 

look at the worst case scenario. i sell the 6.5" lift kit off of it, keep the 5-speed tranny with the whole clutch setup, keep the axles with lockers, use the panels to repair mine and i would still probably get close to my money's worth. that's if i just find no use for it whatsoever. wait, did i really say if i have no use for an XJ???

 

seems like you have your mind made up

 

I would be thrilled for an even swap... good luck with that. I dont know any dealers who want even swaps but quite honestly this is the time of year to sell a good bike so you might just get lucky! Hell put that bike on craigslist for 5k tonight just in case.

 

i just might.

 

well, their sign said open July 6th, but they're closed. i'm starting to get a bit discouraged about this XJ. i called the owner's cell phone and he said he'll be open this thursday. we'll see. i'll keep y'all posted.

 

hey good luck dude

 

thanks bud.

 

Dang it! I was looking forward to your review... guess we all have to wait.

 

i know dude. that's what i had been looking forward to all day.

 

i went and drove it... i think that XJ has served its purpose on the asphalt.
let's start with the salesman's attitude. very friendly, small business, one salesman. he greets me, and sees that i drive an XJ. i tell him i want the key for the XJ and he says which one. there's only one in that lot. this guy sells mostly jeeps and doesn't know which one is the XJ.
he recovers himself by saying, well i think there's only one in the lot, isn't there? he's looking for the key.
THE key is walmart made. but that's not a big deal, right? so i go ahead and start it. it starts beautiful, AC is blowing cold. windows work, locks don't.
he comes by and goes, well what do you think?
i say it's gonna need some work.
-what's wrong with it?
-it's more than one thing.
-well it's an offroad vehicle. might need some things here and there.
-it definitely need some motor mounts.
-what? it doesn't have any?
i almost fall on the floor laughing, but i fight it back.
he says, i don't know if you know much about offroading, but this has lockers that are really good off road.
i didn't even say anything, i just pointed my finger at my muddy XJ parked 15ft away.
-oh, he goes. do you have lockers?
-no.
-well this one does.
i take it for a drive. you can tell it has very low gears because when you let the clutch out it wants to fly off, which is pretty good.
1st - pretty good, 2nd - take it out and put it back in and it goes, 3rd - getting a bit sluggish. i touch the brakes and it doesn't wanna stop that easy. but that's understandable, it has huge tires and a pretty big lift.
i take a left turn. power steering pump is screaming for dear life. the steering wheel starts off straight, but when i return it back after the turn, it's turned to the left by 90 degrees. eventually it starts getting back to straight, but not all the way. i get up to about 60mph and it starts to shake a bit. but it clears out when you touch the brakes and slow down.
i bring it back. he looks at me and says, why did you bring it back clean? i shake my head. he's not surprised to see that.
i tell him that it rides rough.
-well, it's a rock crawler.
-so, is mine.
-they ride rough, don't they?
-not mine.
-yeah, i don't think this would be a good vehicle for your wife to drive around town.
-so, what can you do about the price.
-well, i've marked it pretty low and i can't do too much lower than that. i mean it has had a lot of work done to it.
-i understand. well, have a nice day.
-thank you for coming.
i think the guy knew within the first 5 minutes that he doesn't wanna sell me this XJ. he realized that i know too much about them...
so, here's what i saw.
-needs motor mounts
-valvecover gasket
-ball joints
-tie rod ends, or maybe a complete new steering system
-drop pitman arm
-adjustable track bar
-slip yoke eliminator
-will need a new clutch
-oil pan gasket
-door lock switch
-rear bumper
-drive belt
-tune up
if he would have considered taking the bike and giving me $1000 and the XJ it would be a quite fair deal. because i think that motor ran like a top at 212k miles.

 

HAHAHAHA!