I am an XJ Owner again

[robert2008]

After a four year absence I am back with an XJ. I had to sell my previous XJ due to divorce, so I took this opportunity to get the XJ I've always wanted. It literally took me nearly a year to find one after buying a house with a garage finally. I found a one owner (yes, you read that right!) 1996 SE with 4x4, 4.0 HO, 5-speed, two door! I pick it up this evening and barely slept last night.

I got it for under $1,000, so it obviously needs work. The floor pans need patching or replacement (but frame in good shape) and it needs a few other miscellaneous items. It's got 183k miles on it, but it won't ever be a daily driver for me. So that mileage seems more than doable for my purpose. The guy that is selling it special ordered it with no frills but wanted the 4.0 and 5-speed combination, so to me it's a great fit. I've always wanted a two door, and that was difficult to find along with the 5-speed. The seats are nearly perfect, and the interior is in good shape overall. It does need some paint work, but that's all part of the fun. No rust on the body thankfully!

Pic attached and wish me luck!

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

Congrats. You went the same route I did... I wanted that same combo if I ever bought another one. Enjoy!

 

[robert2008]

Thank you. I had to be patient, because you find XJs that you like. I was really stuck on the manual transmission, and the two door always appealed to me. This one checked all the boxes except it has dummy gauges, but I have already ordered a full gauge set from eBay, and it looks like a pretty simple swap along with two sending units. Truth be told I would have rather gotten a '97 up, but I am very happy none the less.

 

[XJ 2.5]

Almost identical to mine but I have a 98 with a 2.5. What are your plans for it?

 

[robert2008]

I had a '92 2WD (bought it brand new) with the 2.5 liter, MT and two doors! I actually pulled a Larson All American 180 boat with that Jeep. It wasn't fun going up hills, but it got the job done.

I'm not big on modifying Jeeps, so it will be mainly stock. I'll patch/replace the floor pans. The hood release cable is broken on it, so that will be a project. Eventually I'll replace the springs and shocks and rebuild the front suspension. New paint will be in its future as well. I've got a instrument panel coming to replace the dummy gauges.

The biggest thing I'll do to it is to set it up to be towed flat behind my motorhome for vacations and trial riding.

 

[robert2008]

Moved my images to imgur...

When I bought it:

After changing wheels, tires and painting it this Summer:

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Welcome back to the fold.

I'd check the door hinges too - as I'm sure you recall, the 2-Dr models tend to be rough on the hinge welds...

 

[robert2008]

Welcome back to the fold.

I'd check the door hinges too - as I'm sure you recall, the 2-Dr models tend to be rough on the hinge welds...

They are in amazing shape for a '96 with 200k miles. It was a one owner, and it was taken care of mechanically.

 

[deesiexj]

Ha, looks just like mine did when I picked it up. Even down to the vaguely rusty steel wheels

 

[robert2008]

Ha, looks just like mine did when I picked it up. Even down to the vaguely rusty steel wheels

Ya, those wheels could have only been saved by a sand blaster. I gave them away on Craigslist. I need to clean up the wheels I have for it this summer. I'm going to go through the suspension and brakes also.

 

[lawagoneer]

Looks nice. Mine is a 2 door but has the auto trans, I would love to have a 5 speed.