'95 Jeep
 

(a real Jeep, not a Cherokee)

- good year? bad year? things to watch?

Last year of the YJ. Six cylinder is the only engine to consider. Auto will be a slug, the ax15 will be nice. Dana35 rear won't take a beating off road with big tires. Not stable and safe as newer wranglers but you know that. Leafs front and rear make it easy to lift. There was no 96 and then the 97 is a million times better in every which way.

+1

Had an '87 YJ, now have a coil-sprung TJ.

Comments above are correct. The YJ was a joy because it was ratty enough to blast through anything and not worry about another scratch ot three.

The current Jeep is an '05 Rubicon that is my wife's daily driver.

Both are very easy to lift. Mild lift for the YJ is nothing more than extended shackles, while the TJ requires at least new springs and control arms. The coil-sprung Wranglers handle much nicer for on-road duty, but for the right price, a leaf-sprung YJ is a barrel of fun.

Jeeps are about the only vehicles that are routinely more modified than Porsches. A stock Jeep is nothing more than a "starter kit".

I say buy it, let all the aftermarket catalogs start arriving, and get your tools out. You'll start swapping parts very soon. It's a Jeep thing.

If you have salted roads in winter there look out for frame rust .Rear spring hangers and around the steering box.High milers also have rubber bushings fail on the front panhard rod.

My folks had a '95... All I remember is it was miserable on the highway....