Hx214
New Member
I'm new around here. Not new to the jeep world but new to the KJ. I have a TJ and have had XJ's on and off for a few years.
I work on engines/trucks/boats/etc as a hobby and always seem to have people calling me up with a car with a blown head or jet ski they sunk and want to dump it off for cheap. About a month ago at work one of the older guys walks into my room and tosses me a set of keys and asks me if I want a Jeep. I didn't even ask him what it was, I just said, Yep!
He walks me out to the parking lot and shows me his 2004 Renegade.
I looked at him and said, sorry man, I only really buy older stuff that needs work. I just rebuild stuff for fun I don't spend much on projects. (Basically telling him it was way to nice for what I do)
He says, how about $800?
Is there an engine in it??
He says it runs great but the frame is rusted out and the ****** is leaking, and I"M SICK OF THE RUST.
He walks me over to the rear passanger side and shows me the rear control arm. (The ones they recalled) It is completely rotted through. He took it into the shop because the sway bar fell off and was banging around. They told him it wasn't fixable and they would give him $750 but only on a trade in, and told him it was unsafe to drive.
I told him that the frame looked fine and the rear control arms can be changed out (this was before I knew about the recall) I even offered to do it for him, he says no and that he was just done with it. Says he called the local bone yard and they said they would give him $750. I went down to the bank, grabbed the money and bought the guy lunch on the way back. (I didn't even bother starting it, I knew I could get what I needed back out of scrap if I had to for that price...)
My company wasn't to happy about me leaving it in the parking lot for the weekend and my car hauler was with my brother in South Carolina so it was either call a tow or drive it home 25 miles...
I checked the "leaking ******" and it was just rust on the ****** pan. It was so thin that it was leaking. (The oil pan looks nice and clean though....thank god.... I'm sick of pulling engines...) I went to napa, grabbed some ****** fluid, topped it off and drove it home with my buddy in front of me in my car. I only went 35 mph but it drove fine, so I feel pretty good about the engine.
I parked in the garage for about a month. I have been doing an engine swap on my buddies Amigo but I'll be done at the end of this week and I can get started on this baby.
I attached some pictures to show the areas I need to take care of. I got a ****** pan and new filter ready to go, after swap and top off I hope to be done there. (With the rust being so bad on the pan, whats the opinion on a ****** flush? It has 139k on the clock, and from the looks of the body, I'm going to say she wasn't taken care of very well, so I doubt the filter has ever been changed.... I'm usually not a fan of ****** flushes only because my dad had one start to leak badly after one and this has higher miles. I'm thinking I'll need to put in about 7 quarts due to the leak, and I'm reading it holds 14. Anybody have any luck either way with a flush?)
I'm going to pull the renegade rocker guards off and see if I can save them.
The other areas are the rockers on the back of the driver side and the bottom of the driver door. I have a hobart 140 mig and live in the salt belt. I've gotten pretty good at saving rockers with some light body work so I think I'm set there.
The main issue is the rust across the back window. I've noticed some of you saying you have had rust around the top, but I don't think anybody that I have found on the net has had this much of an issue. The whole thing is basically rotted out. I might be able to handle a cut out and weld in if I can find a donor piece of steel off another Liberty, but I don't know. This one worries me because of the hinges on the rear window being mounted here. I might have to get creative here with a cut off wheel and some flat stock. This one is going to be tricky. Any ideas? (I don't really want to pay my body man to do this one... I can only imagine the estimate and with only spending $800 for the truck.... I'm just not one to pay for labor... Haha)
Also, has anybody here been contacted about the recall yet? I think I was reading late april. (And I did tell the old guy at work about the recall and he didn't care.... lol. Said he was done with it either way....)
Hoping to changes fluids, do the brakes and keep this for a summer truck to pull the skis to the lake and around town. The rust on this one kind of confuses me. The control arms are rotted but the frame is pretty darn clean. The one door is rusted but the rest of the doors and 90% of the body is nice and clean too. All in all it seems like a nice 4x4.
Thanks for any advice in advance and sorry for the long post!
I work on engines/trucks/boats/etc as a hobby and always seem to have people calling me up with a car with a blown head or jet ski they sunk and want to dump it off for cheap. About a month ago at work one of the older guys walks into my room and tosses me a set of keys and asks me if I want a Jeep. I didn't even ask him what it was, I just said, Yep!
He walks me out to the parking lot and shows me his 2004 Renegade.
I looked at him and said, sorry man, I only really buy older stuff that needs work. I just rebuild stuff for fun I don't spend much on projects. (Basically telling him it was way to nice for what I do)
He says, how about $800?
Is there an engine in it??
He says it runs great but the frame is rusted out and the ****** is leaking, and I"M SICK OF THE RUST.
He walks me over to the rear passanger side and shows me the rear control arm. (The ones they recalled) It is completely rotted through. He took it into the shop because the sway bar fell off and was banging around. They told him it wasn't fixable and they would give him $750 but only on a trade in, and told him it was unsafe to drive.
I told him that the frame looked fine and the rear control arms can be changed out (this was before I knew about the recall) I even offered to do it for him, he says no and that he was just done with it. Says he called the local bone yard and they said they would give him $750. I went down to the bank, grabbed the money and bought the guy lunch on the way back. (I didn't even bother starting it, I knew I could get what I needed back out of scrap if I had to for that price...)
My company wasn't to happy about me leaving it in the parking lot for the weekend and my car hauler was with my brother in South Carolina so it was either call a tow or drive it home 25 miles...
I checked the "leaking ******" and it was just rust on the ****** pan. It was so thin that it was leaking. (The oil pan looks nice and clean though....thank god.... I'm sick of pulling engines...) I went to napa, grabbed some ****** fluid, topped it off and drove it home with my buddy in front of me in my car. I only went 35 mph but it drove fine, so I feel pretty good about the engine.
I parked in the garage for about a month. I have been doing an engine swap on my buddies Amigo but I'll be done at the end of this week and I can get started on this baby.
I attached some pictures to show the areas I need to take care of. I got a ****** pan and new filter ready to go, after swap and top off I hope to be done there. (With the rust being so bad on the pan, whats the opinion on a ****** flush? It has 139k on the clock, and from the looks of the body, I'm going to say she wasn't taken care of very well, so I doubt the filter has ever been changed.... I'm usually not a fan of ****** flushes only because my dad had one start to leak badly after one and this has higher miles. I'm thinking I'll need to put in about 7 quarts due to the leak, and I'm reading it holds 14. Anybody have any luck either way with a flush?)
I'm going to pull the renegade rocker guards off and see if I can save them.
The other areas are the rockers on the back of the driver side and the bottom of the driver door. I have a hobart 140 mig and live in the salt belt. I've gotten pretty good at saving rockers with some light body work so I think I'm set there.
The main issue is the rust across the back window. I've noticed some of you saying you have had rust around the top, but I don't think anybody that I have found on the net has had this much of an issue. The whole thing is basically rotted out. I might be able to handle a cut out and weld in if I can find a donor piece of steel off another Liberty, but I don't know. This one worries me because of the hinges on the rear window being mounted here. I might have to get creative here with a cut off wheel and some flat stock. This one is going to be tricky. Any ideas? (I don't really want to pay my body man to do this one... I can only imagine the estimate and with only spending $800 for the truck.... I'm just not one to pay for labor... Haha)
Also, has anybody here been contacted about the recall yet? I think I was reading late april. (And I did tell the old guy at work about the recall and he didn't care.... lol. Said he was done with it either way....)
Hoping to changes fluids, do the brakes and keep this for a summer truck to pull the skis to the lake and around town. The rust on this one kind of confuses me. The control arms are rotted but the frame is pretty darn clean. The one door is rusted but the rest of the doors and 90% of the body is nice and clean too. All in all it seems like a nice 4x4.
Thanks for any advice in advance and sorry for the long post!