Just got back from looking at that LJ. 2006 with 101k miles. Looked pretty sound mechanically. The underneath looked clean. It appeared that the transmission, transfer case, and axles had been serviced at some point. The brakes may need some attention but I don't think its anything worse than pads and rotors. It seemed to drive fine, shift through the gears OK (automatic), and no problems driving in 4 hi or 4 low. I think for the most part it is fine mechanically.
My biggest concern was that the whole car had been repainted. Both the body and the hard top. The owner claimed this was due to vandalism and not accident damage. The Carfax backed that up. There was some damage to the plastic of one of the front marker lights which he said was from the same incident. I initially noticed the Jeep logos were missing on the sides and then noticed some runs in the paint here and there. He said the paint job comes with a warranty.
Also, the previous owner (he's the second owner) had installed a tow bar with a trailer brake controller. There is Teraflex budget boost spacers above the springs and airbags in the rear springs so I'm guessing the previous owner was doing some heavy towing.
Lastly, there is no service history. The owner has a "friend" who is a mechanic and who does all the service for him. He said he can get some more information when service items were done. He didn't sound like he knew much about cars himself.
Personally, I liked the guy and wanted to trust him and think its a good car. But I like to see that paper work.
At the end of the day I got him down on price but we were still $500 apart on price. He came down to $13500. Thoughts?
Thank you!
