Buying a JK, newbie needs help

lolitsjerad998

lolitsjerad998

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Joined
Apr 17, 2021
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Location
Kansas City mo
https://imgur.com/a/TiOQaDC

I'm looking into getting into the jeep community and don't want to make any mistakes, my main one being rust. I'm from the midwest so salted roads are pretty common in the winter months.

I found a 2012 2 door wrangler with 135k miles on it for $14k. It comes with a hard top, 4inch rubicon express lift, 35inch Mickey Thompson tires, and a smittybilt rear bumper. The owner has done a recent oil change, break job, tire rotation and alignment. The owner also stated that this vehicle has never been taken off road.

My main concern is with rust as I know this is a big issue with wranglers, as well as the stated engine problems with the 2012 new engine. Is this a good deal, or is this going to be a money pit?

Thank you in advance.
 
Have you looked under it to check out how bad the rust is, if it's not that bad it can be coated so it can get worse. I can't see from your pictures , if he won't let you crawl under it so you can look for scratches and rust don't buy it.
 
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The pictures I see look to show only some minor surface rust. what you don’t want to see are areas where the rust has weakened the steel.
 
JK’s aren’t as notorious for rust as say a TJ, but those springs look shot. Lots of surface rust too. The price has to be right because you’ll be refreshing this one with a bit of elbow grease which includes time.
 
I wouldn't pay over 10k for that thing.

It also had dual steering stabilizers and in my opinion that says a lot of the previous owner and what parts he put on it/how he treated it. I would be walking.
 
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I would walk for the simple reason that they did an inner fender delete.

The inner fenders are there to protect the engine components from things like: driving through puddles, driving on dusty roads, driving on gravel roads. You don't need to take a jeep off-road to mess it up.

aside from that, generally the underside rust looks very normal for a 2012. The shocks and springs are almost done, but the frame looked fine.
 
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I'd buy stock instead of inheriting other issues unless of course you know them well. Most Stock Jeeps have never even seen the dirt. Plus if it does not have 4.11 or 4.56 gears a lifted Jeep would suck for daily driving.
 
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