Hi guys/gals,
I have a friend who is looking at buying a newer JK, after his 2001 anniversary edition TJ was totaled by some moron. I've offered to help him out, but I've never owned a JK, just know what I know from owning my own TJ. He's looking at the below JK Rubicon. Can you guys give me some advice on what to look for with this specific Jeep (since it appears to have been modified fairly heavily) and JKs in general? Thanks!
2012 Jeep Wrangler for sale in Hamilton - 1C4HJWCG8CL265716 - Rose Automotive
Below are the questions that I told him to ask the dealer in an email before he drives up there to look at it and drive it in person (it's about an hour away from us). I also added the dealer responses.
* Looks like someone set it up for some serious off-roading (or
made it to look that way) and then sold it before it hit 20k miles, I'd ask if they know why the previous owner sold it
* It looks like it has at least 33s or possibly 35s on it, which
typically require a decent amount of other work (longer springs and shocks, driveshaft replacement, etc.). It looks like it has Fox shocks installed in one of the pics, so I'd be curious what type of lift was done on it and what other work the previous owner did. If possible, find out what shop did the work for him to lift it
* Also related to the lift, I'd ask what gearing the axles are.
I think Rubicons are usually 4.10, but I'd ask the dealership to make sure, or better yet, crawl underneath and look at the differential cover and see yourself what they are. With tires that big, it changes the gearing so your gears are taller, which means that the longer gears don't get as much torque from the engine, which can cause it to downshift a lot more than normal.
* The spare tire is unusable, as it has the stock size tire.
You can't put tires of different diameter on the same axle without causing problems, so if you wanted to use the spare, I'd make them replace that tire with a comparable one to what you have on the other 4 wheels
Dealer said they would add a spare tire of the same size (a win finally!)
* Rubicons come with axle lockers, I would test those and make
sure they work, along with the 4wd hi and 4wd lo. I think the lockers only work in 4Lo though
* Looks like he has a pretty decent winch on there with
synthetic rope instead of cable (which is preferable). I'd test it out and make sure it winches in/out, and the winch clutch works properly. There may be in-cab controls, if so, test those out as well
* Make sure the fog lights mounted above the hood at the doors
work
I have a friend who is looking at buying a newer JK, after his 2001 anniversary edition TJ was totaled by some moron. I've offered to help him out, but I've never owned a JK, just know what I know from owning my own TJ. He's looking at the below JK Rubicon. Can you guys give me some advice on what to look for with this specific Jeep (since it appears to have been modified fairly heavily) and JKs in general? Thanks!
2012 Jeep Wrangler for sale in Hamilton - 1C4HJWCG8CL265716 - Rose Automotive
Below are the questions that I told him to ask the dealer in an email before he drives up there to look at it and drive it in person (it's about an hour away from us). I also added the dealer responses.
* Looks like someone set it up for some serious off-roading (or
made it to look that way) and then sold it before it hit 20k miles, I'd ask if they know why the previous owner sold it
Dealer stated they bought the Jeep from an auction and don't know why the previous owner sold it, it has had two owners
* It looks like it has at least 33s or possibly 35s on it, which
typically require a decent amount of other work (longer springs and shocks, driveshaft replacement, etc.). It looks like it has Fox shocks installed in one of the pics, so I'd be curious what type of lift was done on it and what other work the previous owner did. If possible, find out what shop did the work for him to lift it
Dealer stated they did not know what shop did the lift work, but the Jeep actually has 37s on it and a 2 inch lift. They said "we inspected it to make sure the work was done right, everything looks good". I'm skeptical.
* Also related to the lift, I'd ask what gearing the axles are.
I think Rubicons are usually 4.10, but I'd ask the dealership to make sure, or better yet, crawl underneath and look at the differential cover and see yourself what they are. With tires that big, it changes the gearing so your gears are taller, which means that the longer gears don't get as much torque from the engine, which can cause it to downshift a lot more than normal.
Dealer said they don't know what gearing is in the Jeep, but "it has Dana 44s" (yeah, no shit, thanks for the heads up)
* The spare tire is unusable, as it has the stock size tire.
You can't put tires of different diameter on the same axle without causing problems, so if you wanted to use the spare, I'd make them replace that tire with a comparable one to what you have on the other 4 wheels
Dealer said they would add a spare tire of the same size (a win finally!)
* Rubicons come with axle lockers, I would test those and make
sure they work, along with the 4wd hi and 4wd lo. I think the lockers only work in 4Lo though
Dealer said "4wd works". No response about the lockers
* Looks like he has a pretty decent winch on there with
synthetic rope instead of cable (which is preferable). I'd test it out and make sure it winches in/out, and the winch clutch works properly. There may be in-cab controls, if so, test those out as well
Dealer said "winch goes in and out and does have synthetic rope"
* Make sure the fog lights mounted above the hood at the doors
work
Dealer replied that fog lights work