Hey all, I am new to this forum, have had a couple WJ's in the past, and now time has come where I want to pick up an XJ, preferably a 97-01 4x4 of coarse. I am hoping that I can find some things on here to look out for when buying one, as well as eventually what I would want it to be/do. I currently am looking for one solely to tow my motorcycle when we venture on up into the mountains.... my wife's Kia Soul has done it the past couple times, but I am going to kill that thing if I keep on doing it. Eventually would like to get into some trail seeking, and venture out into the 4x4 wilderness. I think it would be a great adventure for myself and the fam. I have a wide range of mechanical skills from cars, to bikes, to aviation... so if I happen to find one in good shape body and interior wise, a rebuild/build would not be out of the question.

Anyway, hope to see you all around, and I'll poking in some comments/questions along the way. Any comments on helping me find what I am looking for is greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to CF. Besides the obvious body & mechanical issues, make sure all the electrical features work without any problems. Some Jeeps are plagued with lots of those, and they're seemingly hard to find/fix. Look out for the semi-common issue of over heating too. Plagues lots of folks until they just give up and sell off their troubles to someone else.

 

O yea, I just looked at a 97' yesterday that the guy had put some $$ into the a/c and before he got it working, it over-heated and blew the head gasket... and he wanted WAY to much, ha.

 

Yeah, there's a ton of them out there that are waaay over priced. You'll find a nice deal on a fairly clean one if you're patient.