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Advice on purchasing 2004 Wrangler 137K miles 11K

1K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  WesttownWilly 
#1 ·
There is this 2004 Wrangler Sport with 137K miles on it, I am wondering if I should go check it out or not. Price is 11K.

The exterior and engine looks good on the pics, title is clean.

Any advice on what I should be looking at if I test drive it? Is 137K miles too much?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Try doing a search, there are a bunch of threads with a lot of information on here. The biggest thing is rust. Be sure to crawl underneath it and check out the frame rails, especially near the lower control arms and the skid plate. Also where the body mounts are. Pull the carpet up and look at the floor boards. 137k miles is nothing if proper maintenance has been done, the motors are pretty bulletproof. Just check for any knocks and obvious signs of trouble. Then everything you would do if buying any other used car, make sure all the electrical components work and that everything functions normally. Be sure to check the 4wd too.
 
#4 ·
Do what HPclayto says. Find dirt, put it in 4 hi and lo, listen for weird sounds. Not rock crawling, but find a construction site and go.
On rust--any is too much. Deal now or deal later when you sell because any is too much. With that said, surface issue is one thing. Inside the frame and "just the rear end" is far too much.
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
Wrangler Finger Waggle: Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for :) sweet. It's nice to have an actual list, you always forget some of this stuff.

ThatTJguy: thank you, I'll try and find some terrain but it might be tricky where I am. And gotcha on the rust, will keep my eyes open :)
 
#8 ·
How much is it to replace a clutch on a 04 wrangler approx?

Clutch replacements at a shop are anywhere from $500-$1500 around here.
In general I'd estimate around $800.
If you do it yourself you can get a clutch kit as cheap as $160-even cheaper on rockauto. An Exedy kit is only $117.

Also, I can't comment on cost of the Jeep. Here in New England that jeep would be below $7k more then likely.
But then again, around here "no rust" doesn't exist.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
almost identical, 2004 X with 120,000, zero rust @ $9,500 about 4 months ago, but it needed rear brakes, a water pump & a couple other odds & ends which in the end sent me over 10k.

The problem we all face when in the market for these prized vehicles is that the good ones go so damn fast after being listed that you really need to be ready to pull the trigger even if that means ponying up a few bucks more than all the experts say it's worth... otherwise you may find yourself chasing your tail for quite a while :pcwhack:
 
#11 ·
Like ThatTJguy said, any rust is too much. It's a pain to kill and a pain to work around. Makes everything harder to remove. Not to mention the potential resale value.
There are plenty of rust free TJ's to be had if you're a little patient. Depending on if your area gets salt on the roads.
If you do live in a rust belt area, keep open the option of traveling to areas that don't use salt.
 
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