I know what i want, but which year.

[whanso1]

What years of the TJ's were the good years, which were the bad years?

I want:
Wrangler. TJ.
4.0 manual
80,000 or less miles
cruise control
a/c
heat
hard top (cuz soft tops are pretty inexpensive)

I will llikely be selling my 06' Nissan Titan (yeah... i know) to pay for it, maybe a trade in (worth about 8k i guess). Maybe i'll keep it. I drive my vehicle less than 5k miles per year.

I had a CJ7 for 6 years, but that was some 6+ years ago. I miss having a jeep. So i am looking for a jeep, one of them there dernned danging fancy TJ's i use to hate so much (hey, it was a jeep thing... what is a coil spring? where does the shackle go on that coily thing? hhaha). Looking to spend less than 10k, preferrably free. I might go to an auto auction and just pick up a body damaged TJ.

But what i'm not hip to anymore is what years had what problems, what was good about which years.

I don't know the difference between and X or a sahara or whatever (and don't really care, i just want a jeep, it won't be stock long either way). I do know about the rubicons, but that is out of my price range i'd guess.

I've been surfing the net, and looking at 02-06 wranglers. About 12k for one in good/great condition at Carmax i have my eye on.

(sorry for the rookie question)

Got some links?

 

[goldtj]

well,i'm no expert,but looked at every Jeep on auto row before i bought mine.what you are saying holds true,as far as resale.i initially wanted a decent Jeep for $7500.00 or so.what i found in that price range were mainly beat-up or 2.5 strippers,and i wasn't ready to spend that much and have to spend a lot more for whipping it into shape.i finally found a 2003 TJ,with only 40,000 miles,in perfect shape,without any telltale signs of off-road abuse,pretty much fully loaded,with hardtop,a/c,automatic,everything i wanted,in a rare,one-year only color which i loved.the front and rear bumpers were dinged from some idiot who didn't know how to drive,and the spare tire had a cracked rim.they were asking $13,500,which was $5 grand more than i planned to spend.but after i was done beating up on the salesman,i got it for $12,500.i considered that a bargain.as part of the deal,he threw in the awesome priveledge of letting me totally rape,pillage,and plunder a Yj which was an Obama clunker trade-in!mine had the hardtop,so i got the soft top,with all hardware,factory half doors,spare tire,and everything else i could cram into the wife's Impala!found out a lot of that stuff is different,so sold the top and all on ebay for almost $750.00!bought a brand new Bestop supertop with hardware on ebay for $350.00,a brand new Mopar twin tube bumper on ebay for $100.00,and a wicked recovery bumper for the rear on ebay for another $100.00.also found a factory wheel on there for $40.00!i'm happy as hell,and got a low-mileage Jeep that i can make into what i want!2003-2006 Tj's are better,i hear-'03 was first year for overdrive transmission.bluebook on mine is still over $12,000!the rubicons are even higher-wish mine was a rubicon instead of a sport,but i can upgrade all that stuff in due time!but based on my experience,what you want from '03-06 will be at least $12,000 in nice condition.around here 04-06 models nice are still bringing in over $16,000!x is cool,sahara is more of a city boy,sport is what mine is,and rubicon is top dog!

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

If you're gonna lift it, hold out for one with a d44 rear axle. It's the one with the more octagon shaped diff cover compared to the round cover of the weaker d35. Many or most Sahara's had the d44 year, no X models have the d44 rear axle.

 

[jps4jeep]

Lots of sport models also have the D44.

the changes to TJ's over the years are very minimal, nothing like the YJ that went from carb to EFI. the biggest differences I can think of, going to a distibutor free ignition in I think 2001, the 6 speed manual in 04 or 05 and then a couple cosmetic changes like head light switch and radio shape.