Ok so yeah. Today what I did to my jeep is recover it. And it's not all roses. The thieves sheered the rear pinion, not sure how good the rest of the transmission is. Rear leaf springs are both busted. As far as driveline goes, that's the preliminary extent of damages. I will be doing a more thorough assessment in the coming days.

Beyond that, I have a busted rear hatch window. There actually is interesting.... Upgrades? The thieves fixed my shifter ****, installed pod fog lights, and removed my stock sealed beam headlights and replaced with those crappy LEDs. But hey, those might be brighter than what I had!

Then, there's the cleanup. There is so much TRASH in my jeep. Anyone want a crappy free cell phone? A laptop battery? Ugh it's aweful. I will have more updates after I get it on jack stands

 

Wow that sucks , I hope that the rest of the jeep is OK .

 

But at least you got it back. So many vehicles stolen here get cut up & shipped to Nigeria or the Middle East.

 

Very true at least I got it back. It was involved in multiple police chases (such as they exist here in Washington state USA where the cops aren't allowed to get into pursuits). We are waiting to find out what the insurance company is going to do.

I'm going to be installing some new security to my jeep, including an RFID ignition module, distributor interrupt, fuel pump disconnect, and a battery cutoff switch, as well as trackers, air tag and a tile

 

& to think, I can't remember the last time I locked mine

Good luck with the insurance

 

bad story.

I have had 2 XJs "written off" by the Insurance companies cause the "aged" value is so low.

Admittedly they were not really economically repairable,
but the good thing is got to keep them both as well as getting paid out, and they are both drivable but have excellent spare parts

One was modified, so I told the folk that ran into me I would drag them through civil court unless they paid compensation. We settled

I got another XJ and swapped the mods of the crashed one

My Xjs owe me nothing, 3 x '96

I have a complete going spare in my backyard, 150 VINS off mine. I have taken parts off it several times to keep me on the road until needed parts could be obtained

radiator, power steering hose, alternator. Viscous Fan bearing & housing was a real ****-saver. Had to get the bearing from Canada, took 3 weeks

If I suspect a failed sensor, I have a known working OEM one to try, makes the parts canon more like a sniper rifle

 

@awg that's my concern as well. I looked into agreed value insurance but I didn't get very far.

 

well you have the vehicle, so at least thats in your possesion

I just sent them pictures and they agreed they were write-offs, and sent me a payout, which was about $2500 each ( 5+ years ago)

You can just ring them up and ask them what is the payout value ?

I have settled lots of insurance cases, they just want to be done with it quick and cheap as possible, and let you pay to fix if you want

One thing to careful of is it isnt declared an "unrestorable write-off" or it can never be legally registered again

Anyway, after the Insurance payouts, and I did a standover job on folk that rammed me, cause that Jeep was worth $5K +, I think they gave me +2000 as well, so I bought another '96 for $2K, swapped over the lifts & mods, and I was well in front

The one I got had a totally rust free body, lots of miles, but I have virtually every spare part I need, 2x complete going spare vehicles, albeit with some accident damage (and they both have rumbling D35s)

 

Car thieves should be hanged till dead. That will greatly reduce thefts of cars.

 

Yeah... same here. and since I had all custom ignition, and a manual transmission, AND (if I may be frank) it's the ugliest, and definitely super identifiable jeep in the area, I considered it theft proof. I was wrong
I literally laughed! In all seriousness, unfortunately here in Washington state, law enforcement are allowed to pull over vehicles that are stolen only after they have done something that warrants pulling over. If the thieves decide to run, law enforcement isn't allowed to pursue.... I hate this states politics, but not delving into that here

 

Update with pictures!

Found at location

Fun mirror mod 🫤

All the PINK spray pain! 😑🤬

Poor mirrors😮‍💨

I don't even know...

Pinion is loose enough to fit a few quarters in there. Oh, and it wobbles when tires are rotating

Cross member from the REAR side... They nailed something hard in reverse!

Leafs on both sides are shot

...

Cross member from front

Transfer case looks alright? Was able to drag and push jeep into garage in 4 with no rear drive shaft and the rear end unable to move

Rear hatch... I'm just gonna get a new one

Those headlights are gonna give me headaches... I don't like em. Thieves replaced my stock incandescents with these plastic junk lights

So... Had replaced door and fender with white ones... Thieves spray painted black... It's peeling. The Cherokee symbol? Also, note the new fog lights... Those are actually being kept! 😮‍💨😁

 

@awg yeah insurance was pretty much exactly the opposite of what i was thinking was going to happen. Since mine is a '90, I was expecting a very low amount. I'm considering this a win for me.

So, all my friends here, I have a settlement of about $2500, but I need to keep this as inexpensive as possible. I'm probably going to get the leafs and hatch out of a junk yard. I will be taking apart the rear diff today to find out the extent of the damage. I'm hoping (without much actual hope) that it's just the pinion. if it's not I will be needing a new rear end altogether. I am replacing my drivers quarter window with a rotopax insert. if I can do a rear end and new leafs, that'd be cool, but I don't think my budget is going to warrant that. I'm unsure about the cross member, and I might need a new drive shaft

 

Doesn't seem that long ago that an XJ wouldn't be worth anything like $2500, but, anyway, seems like a result.

Good luck in the junkyard - & with the repairs/rebuild.

 

Not sure how it works out there, but here in PA when our 2008 Mazda got hit and the insurance adjuster said they were totaling it I provided receipts for work that had been done in the last year. They actually gave me more based on what I had put into it, but they did take the car...

 

I might have been able to do that, but I wasn't worried about nickles and dimes. To be frank I had no expectations of anything more than a few hundred dollars given pre-theft condition and age