Looking to get myself into an XJ
 

Welcome..Thank you for the post.

I can think of one question.. Has the Jeep been off road.

Welcome to the site SaintAriel12

one Question is if its ever been in a wreck also is there any warranty on it!

91-99 are the years I look for, if you are going to use it off-road and add bigger tires, make sure it has the Chrysler 8.25 rear axle, not the Dana 35.

Look for rust drive it around 50 to 60 mph and see if you get any death wobble (heavy shaking of the front end not a deal breaker but a good negotiation tool as its probably going to need the front suspension rebuilt) serious oil leaks drive it for a bit and see what's wet under neath again not a deal breaker if you're even a little mechanically inclined but a good point of negotiation.

I'd stay away from examples that have had sawsalls taken to the fender wells it's a good sign its probably been wheeled hard

there should be a sticky thread here and a ton of YouTube vids of the common things to look for on the XJ

Is there a reason you are so dead set on a manual?
I love manual trans vehicles myself... but when you look at what you're doing off-road I wouldn't discount the AW4.... Look up how auto and manual trans' both work and you'll see why I made that statement...

Either way... good luck on your search.

agreed I'm typically a hardcore manual guy but 1)the AW4 is a really solid transmission and 2)it makes life off pavement a lot easier 3)they're much easier to find clean examples of than the rarer manuals.

Thanks guys, really appreciate the help, i have found two manual xj's but i may end up getting an automatic. the one i found is already lifted so saves me the money of getting a lift kit for the manual