I found this 2005 Unlimited Rubicon last July in NJ after a few months of searching for a new Jeep project. It is a 1 owner vehicle with 361,000 miles driven and in bone stock condition.
This is the vehicle I had ultimately wanted to purchase but didn’t have the budget for it. This Jeep with the combination miles and current state of well shall we say northern exposure was well under budget. This is exactly what I was waiting to find.
Things I knew going into this vs things I found out along the way.
I knew it was a 1 owner high mileage vehicle that was definitely going to need some work. It appeared from the pictures to be not to rotted. I called the dealer had a FaceTime to do a visual inspection and talk about the condition of the vehicle. He told me there was definitely surface rust on the frame but no holes, it had newer tires, the 4wd wasn’t working and the guy was daily driving it. The Jeep started right up sounded quite and when he closed the door it raind rust from underneath it. I laughed and said screw it, I’ll buy her.
It went to pick it up the following week. I drove it around a large gravel parking lot before I put it on the trailer and discovered that the 4wd light was on unless I actually put it in 4wd then it went out.
The lockers engaged but the rear light stayed flashing even though it was locked up.
The steering was like nothing I ever encountered before. It was incredibly stiff and almost impossible to turn at certain spots.
It did run strong and was very quite.
After a couple laps and getting it up to temperature I decided to put it on the trailer and get it home.
The first gut punch was when I went to hook up the chains and got a good look underneath with a flashlight.
After I got it home I really need to consider my two options here. Part or repair? After a little research and finding out that only a little over 12,000 of these were ever made I just couldn’t part it out.
This is the vehicle I had ultimately wanted to purchase but didn’t have the budget for it. This Jeep with the combination miles and current state of well shall we say northern exposure was well under budget. This is exactly what I was waiting to find.
Things I knew going into this vs things I found out along the way.
I knew it was a 1 owner high mileage vehicle that was definitely going to need some work. It appeared from the pictures to be not to rotted. I called the dealer had a FaceTime to do a visual inspection and talk about the condition of the vehicle. He told me there was definitely surface rust on the frame but no holes, it had newer tires, the 4wd wasn’t working and the guy was daily driving it. The Jeep started right up sounded quite and when he closed the door it raind rust from underneath it. I laughed and said screw it, I’ll buy her.
It went to pick it up the following week. I drove it around a large gravel parking lot before I put it on the trailer and discovered that the 4wd light was on unless I actually put it in 4wd then it went out.
The lockers engaged but the rear light stayed flashing even though it was locked up.
The steering was like nothing I ever encountered before. It was incredibly stiff and almost impossible to turn at certain spots.
It did run strong and was very quite.
After a couple laps and getting it up to temperature I decided to put it on the trailer and get it home.
The first gut punch was when I went to hook up the chains and got a good look underneath with a flashlight.
After I got it home I really need to consider my two options here. Part or repair? After a little research and finding out that only a little over 12,000 of these were ever made I just couldn’t part it out.