Buying a parts XJ maybe, worth it or not?

[Skorpyo]

This isn't really a tech question... So I'm looking at an 88 XJ that is across town, listed that it runs and drives, but needs ujoints and has 243K miles on it. It looks to be in good shape, and what I'm really interested in about it is that it has power locks, windows, the silverish dash and all of the emblems my MJ needs. At $500 would it be worth it to buy the XJ, use the parts I need, part out the XJ and sell the remainder to the local JY (maybe $75) or just keep checking JYs and CL for the XJ parts I need?

 

I'm torn cause I also need to order a custom driveshaft and SYE for the MJ and that's about $500 as well. Thoughts and input appreciated.

 

ps. I'm also kinda torn cause the wife'll probably have a fit if I buy ANOTHER parts jeep haha

[WyoCherokee]

Driveshaft and SYE first. you can always find the electric components. Plus factor in all the labor required to strip down the donor xj for part out, garage space taken up, complaining wife, etc.

[Skorpyo]

Just now, WyoCherokee said:

Driveshaft and SYE first. you can always find the electric components. Plus factor in all the labor required to strip down the donor xj for part out, garage space taken up, complaining wife, etc.

Yeah... I'm leaning that way as well, its just getting tougher and tougher to find late 80s XJs that are direct swaps for those kinds of parts... JYs here suck and are usually picked clean. The two closest only have 3 pre 97 XJs combined and I really don't want to do the door swap as I like the original interior of the MJ (aside from the center console, which i did swap).

[PCO6]

Coincidentally I missed out on a complete '90 XJ yesterday that was very close by.   it went for $300 and I could have easily driven it home.   The body was shot but it had all of the mechanicals that I need to convert my '88 MJ from 2WD to 4WD.   I also have a '95 XJ so I could have harvested a lot of parts for both cars.  

 

If I have to track down all of the parts I need for the conversion I'm pretty sure I'll be looking at more than $300.   I'll find something but it's all of the extra bits that I was looking forward to.   It's great to have a stock of small restorable/rebuildable and saleable parts.   BTW - my wife has a limited sense of humour about more Jeeps too.

[Skorpyo]

Just now, PCO6 said:

Coincidentally I missed out on a complete '90 XJ yesterday that was very close by.   it went for $300 and I could have easily driven it home.   The body was shot but it had all of the mechanicals that I need to convert my '88 MJ from 2WD to 4WD.   I also have a '95 XJ so I could have harvested a lot of parts for both cars.  

 

If I have to track down all of the parts I need for the conversion I'm pretty sure I'll be looking at more than $300.   I'll find something but it's all of the extra bits that I was looking forward to.   it's great to have a stock of small restorable/rebuildable and saleable parts.   BTW - my wife has a limited sense of humour about more Jeeps too.

HAHA, funny. Yeah, I found a 95 XJ last year with the tranny and 4wd and it had been sitting for years and I got it for $300. it had power nothing and was rough but def worth the drive and trailer home. Good luck finding what you're lookin for!

[WyoCherokee]

Just now, Skorpyo said:

Yeah... I'm leaning that way as well, its just getting tougher and tougher to find late 80s XJs that are direct swaps for those kinds of parts... JYs here suck and are usually picked clean. The two closest only have 3 pre 97 XJs combined and I really don't want to do the door swap as I like the original interior of the MJ (aside from the center console, which i did swap).

I may have the electric door panels for you....... might get spendy to ship the regulators. Girlfriends 90 limited xj has power everything and she hates it. so I'm swapping over manual doors from a 94.

 

[Skorpyo]

Just now, WyoCherokee said:

I may have the electric door panels for you....... might get spendy to ship the regulators. Girlfriends 90 limited xj has power everything and she hates it. so I'm swapping over manual doors from a 94.

 

 

That would be sweet. PM me what you'd want for them and maybe itd be worth it if I can't find anything at the JY. I'm going to probably hit another one this weekend and see if I can get lucky. 

[PCO6]

8 minutes ago, Skorpyo said:

HAHA, funny. Yeah, I found a 95 XJ last year with the tranny and 4wd and it had been sitting for years and I got it for $300. it had power nothing and was rough but def worth the drive and trailer home. Good luck finding what you're lookin for!

Thanks.   I know they're out there!  I found a perfect donor MJ about 3 weeks ago - also for $300.   My brother and I drove 75 mi. to rescue it.   It was seized up solid and we could not get it on the trailer.   The vendor though he was sitting on a gold mine ($300) and it had to go as a complete unit - no parts taken off.  It started to break apart every time we tried to move it.  I asked him at least 5 time how long it had been sitting in his field and he wouldn't tell me.   If he'd said 5 years I would have guessed 10 easily.   It's still sitting there.  

 

 

[Dzimm]

I'd say if it has most if not all the parts you need, grab it.  By the time you spend the time to find all the parts you need, and spend the money to buy the parts individually, you'd be ahead buying this parts jeep.  I've noticed a huge decline in jy XJs recently and the prices of them going up.  Yeah you'll have to deal with the nagging wife but strip what you need and can sell quickly, then send it to the jy. 

[PCO6]

1 minute ago, Dzimm said:

I'd say if it has most if not all the parts you need, grab it.  By the time you spend the time to find all the parts you need, and spend the money to buy the parts individually, you'd be ahead buying this parts jeep.  I've noticed a huge decline in jy XJs recently and the prices of them going up.  Yeah you'll have to deal with the nagging wife but strip what you need and can sell quickly, then send it to the jy. 

I had a day when 3 guys came to my house for used parts.   Two of them were from over 100 mi away.   It turned into a small Jeep gathering.    The parts I sold almost covered the cost of the XJ I bought.   My wife was ... impressed!   LOL

[Skorpyo]

I reached out to the seller to see if they'd let it go for cheaper, if so I may take it and strip what I want and see how quick I can get rid of it. It would be nice to have a decent amount of renix era parts as spares lol.

[Jeep Driver]

Parts are getting harder and harder to find you better get it while you can

[cruiser54]

Low ball them. 

[jeeppapa]

Be nice to know if the motor or trans had been rebuilt. I'm rebuilding an 88 Eliminator and an 88 Pioneer. I lent my buddy a truck for about 7 months he suprised me and gave me his 93 Cherokee with 450,000 miles on it. It's not in that bad of shape and it had recently rebuilt tranny. That thing has saved me so much time and money. Instead of heading to the jk, I walk 15 yards to get my parts. I love hunt Jks for parts but it is such a crap shoot on finding the parts you need. Especially that part that's not produced any long that everyone needs. It's so nice to be able have it so available. Just the time saved not searching for parts is worth hundreds to me. Each time I drive to the closet pick part it costs me $20 in gas alone. So I say buy it.


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[Skorpyo]

unfortunately the seller never got back to me on my offer, but did informed me that it is now sold. (They why is the darn CL listing still up?!) It would've been a nice buy, but just not in the cards for now I guess.

[Minuit]

I don't really think you lost out too much. As a power window and lock guy: The 88 XJ wiring is suboptimal. The locks don't really work too well (there's about a 40 page thread about that on NAXJA if I remember correctly) and the window regulators aren't plug and play with later model replacements - you have to splice a connector. The Renix window regulators I've seen are veeeeery slow too. The silvery dash bezel can be found pretty easily, it's not a Renix era thing specifically. Emblems are out there. If that's all you need (other than the spare parts of course), I probably would've bought it piecemeal.

 

My favorite wiring for the PW/PL swap is from 91-92 XJs. The harness for it is nice and divorced from everything else (just plug in 2 fuse box taps, supply power and ground, and you're good to go) and all of the parts are available. I slapped my setup together in a weekend and it's worked flawlessly for 9 months. I've really enjoyed having keyless entry too.

[Skorpyo]

16 minutes ago, Minuit said:

I don't really think you lost out too much. As a power window and lock guy: The 88 XJ wiring is suboptimal. The locks don't really work too well (there's about a 40 page thread about that on NAXJA if I remember correctly) and the window regulators aren't plug and play with later model replacements - you have to splice a connector. The Renix window regulators I've seen are veeeeery slow too. The silvery dash bezel can be found pretty easily, it's not a Renix era thing specifically. Emblems are out there. If that's all you need (other than the spare parts of course), I probably would've bought it piecemeal.

 

My favorite wiring for the PW/PL swap is from 91-92 XJs. The harness for it is nice and divorced from everything else (just plug in 2 fuse box taps, supply power and ground, and you're good to go) and all of the parts are available. I slapped my setup together in a weekend and it's worked flawlessly for 9 months. I've really enjoyed having keyless entry too.

Definitely good to know. It's rare to see an older model XJ listed anywhere near me that isn't a rotting carcass hence my interest. There is a '91 about 1.5 hours south of me that has either a bad valve gasket or RMS and they're letting it go for kinda cheap, but I'm going to see if they'll come down in price since I'd have to drive so far and tow it back. It actually has all the same options the '88 did and since you say that's a better era for transplantation maybe I'll go with that. It is very tempting though to just replace the valve cover gasket, RMS and oil pan and have a fine running '91 XJ with all the options... Hmmm... 3 jeeps, might be pushing it with the significant other, haha...

[Minuit]

My wiring was from a '92, but it matched color-for-color with my '91 FSM. If you go through with this and need some tips, let me know. I honestly think you'd be fine grabbing it from the junkyard if you don't want to deal with buying a whole vehicle. I never felt like I needed the whole Jeep when I did it.

[Skorpyo]

Cool, well if I do find a JY set I'll be sure to follow-up with you. I decided to order my driveshaft and get the MJ back on the road before working about creature comforts. I figure not much use in power windows if all you can see is the garage from them...

[jeeppapa]

Did you check the axis's under it? If it has a tow package it might have 44s under it.


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[Pete M]

one 44.  front axle was always a dana 30 for domestic XJs.  

[Skorpyo]

Did you check the axis's under it? If it has a tow package it might have 44s under it.


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Never got to see it in person. Likely it did not as it didn’t have a visible hitch in the photos. Most CL listings don’t show axles unless it’s a modded rig unfortunately.

[jeeppapa]

The older XJs are drying up in LA area too. I talked to a manager about it. He said he buys them and they go straight to the crusher. He said they don't sell enough parts off them to make it worth taking up yard space. I cringe at the thought of what he is crushing. You still can find some of them in pick and pull yards. These days I always check the inventory lists and the dates they were put in the yards before I put in the drive time. The Renix for sure are really getting thin out there. I'm from KC MO. When I go there I bring a extra empty hard case. I pay allot less for the parts and there is more XJs in the yards and the occasional MJ. Parts go in the case and they come back with me. 2wks ago I found a 2 dr xj with great seats in it. It was late in the day and I banged my head against the wall trying to think of ways to get them back to CA that made financial and logistical sense. They were about 36.00 for each seat. I eventually had to walk on it. It still drives me little nuts thinking about it.
The suitcases can't weigh over 50 pounds, both of mine were rite at 50. I got one of the cases at GoodWill for 5 bucks. Just an old Samsonit but though as nails. On this trip I hit half price weekend and pulled 4" lift off an xj. There still was shiney not scratched up paint on the on the parts. Got the entire lift for about $35 including new set of Rough Country N2.0 shocks. They had some dirt on them but 0 rust. They look new. I pulled allot of parts and I only pull parts that look new or just flat out hard to get. I'll shut my pie hole now, but KC has some good you pick junk yards. 3 are pretty close to each other and 1 is on the KS side. I didn't see any MJs this time but heading back at the end of Oct. Fingers crossed that I will find an MJ.


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[whowey]

The older XJs are drying up in LA area too. I talked to a manager about it. He said he buys them and they go straight to the crusher. He said they don't sell enough parts off them to make it worth taking up yard space. I cringe at the thought of what he is crushing. You still can find some of them in pick and pull yards. These days I always check the inventory lists and the dates they were put in the yards before I put in the drive time. The Renix for sure are really getting thin out there. I'm from KC MO. When I go there I bring a extra empty hard case. I pay allot less for the parts and there is more XJs in the yards and the occasional MJ. Parts go in the case and they come back with me. 2wks ago I found a 2 dr xj with great seats in it. It was late in the day and I banged my head against the wall trying to think of ways to get them back to CA that made financial and logistical sense. They were about 36.00 for each seat. I eventually had to walk on it. It still drives me little nuts thinking about it.
The suitcases can't weigh over 50 pounds, both of mine were rite at 50. I got one of the cases at GoodWill for 5 bucks. Just an old Samsonit but though as nails. On this trip I hit half price weekend and pulled 4" lift off an xj. There still was shiney not scratched up paint on the on the parts. Got the entire lift for about $35 including new set of Rough Country N2.0 shocks. They had some dirt on them but 0 rust. They look new. I pulled allot of parts and I only pull parts that look new or just flat out hard to get. I'll shut my pie hole now, but KC has some good you pick junk yards. 3 are pretty close to each other and 1 is on the KS side. I didn't see any MJs this time but heading back at the end of Oct. Fingers crossed that I will find an MJ.


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Greyhound has a freight service that is reasonably priced for bulky stuff like seats. It's just not fast as it's space available in the luggage bin of their buses. Fastenal does it to through their stores as it's space available on their warehouse to store transfer trucks.

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[jeeppapa]

That's a hell of a good tip Whoway, thanks. That could solve some problems. That actually was the second set of seats I came across that I had to pass on. There's a greyhound station in KC about a 15min drive from my mothers house in Independence. Great idea. If you need parts and your taking a trip. Barrow some tools, take a morning and hit some of the local pick and pull yards. I have a blast each time. I treat it like a treasure hunt. I honestly believe theres allot of Scottish blood in every MJ owner because we can be so creatively cheap. But that part of the fun of it for me. Our club logo should actually in corporate the map of Scotland some how. Maybe a picture of BraveHart running down a hill to his MJ.


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