2002 Jeep Wrangler TJ Sahara, 4.0
A TJ with the 4.0 and a question the seller will only answer in private
Overview
Compiled by Kept from the seller's intake answers, the documents supplied and published records for the model. The seller does not write or edit this section, and nobody from Kept has inspected the car.
This 2002 Jeep Wrangler Sahara is finished in white with the factory hardtop and is offered from Krugersdorp by , its third owner and the keeper of the vehicle for twelve years. It carries the 4.0 litre straight six through the five speed manual and shows 217,600km. Both tops are included: the hardtop is fitted and the soft top comes with its frame.
The file from 2014 is complete and covers the things a TJ is documented to need. Cooling in 2018, the front end rebuilt in 2021 with a track bar, steering damper, ball joints and tie rod ends after death wobble appeared, underbody treatment in 2022, a clutch in 2023 and a pre-sale service in April. The 4.0 is the reason these are still on the road at this mileage and this one has the service record to go with it.
One question went unanswered, and the shape of the decline matters. Asked whether the vehicle has ever been submerged or taken water into the cabin or driveline, the seller declined to answer on the page and offered to discuss it privately with a serious bidder. Kept does not carry private answers. A disclosure made to one bidder in a message is not a disclosure, because the room cannot read it and cannot price it, so the question is published as declined and stays that way.
The other flaws stated are a hairline crack in the exhaust manifold at the number three runner, audible from cold; a soft top with a crazed rear window that does not seal at the left corner; surface corrosion on both rear spring hangers and the cross member, treated in 2022 and not cut out; and both front seat frames creaking with the driver's base rewelded.
Model background
The TJ ran from 1997 to 2006 and brought back the round headlamps the YJ had abandoned, along with coil springs at all four corners in place of leaves. Underneath it kept the solid axles, the low range transfer case and the 4.0 litre straight six, an engine with a reputation built on being almost impossible to kill and easy enough to fix that people did it themselves.
The Sahara was the trim with the flares, the wider tyres and the better seats, and it sold to people who wanted the capability and did not intend to sleep in it. Most were used lightly. The ones that were used properly show it in the same three places every time: the spring hangers, the cross member and the front end geometry.
In South Africa the TJ competed against the Land Rover Defender and a lot of bakkies, and it lost on load bed and won on the fact that the engine kept running. The used market here treats them as working vehicles rather than collectables, which means most have been modified and few have twelve years of invoices behind them.
Essentials
- Lot
- KPT-077
- Year
- 2002
- Model
- Wrangler TJ Sahara, 4.0
- Mileage
- 217,600 km
- Transmission
- 5-speed manual
- VIN
- 1J4FA59S82P703914
- Location
- Krugersdorp, Gauteng
- Seller
- krugersdorp_tj
- Seller is
- Private, third owner, 12 years
- Watchers
- 187
Seller interview
Before the car went live, the seller answered a standard set of questions plus a set our tools generated for this model from its documented failure modes. The full transcript is public, including anything they declined.
9 of 10 answered, 1 declined. A high score means the seller told you more, not that the car is better.
Inferred from the seller's answers and this model's known failure points. Nobody from Kept has inspected this car.
1 question the seller declined
Has this vehicle ever been submerged, or taken water into the cabin, the differentials or the transfer case?
Water ingress on a vehicle used in river crossings is a documented risk and leaves no trace in any record a buyer can check.
Known flaws
The seller's own list of what this car needs money spent on.
- 01Asked whether the vehicle has ever been submerged or taken water into the cabin or driveline, the seller declined to answer publicly and offered to discuss it privately with a serious bidder
- 02Exhaust manifold has a hairline crack at the number three runner, audible on a cold start
- 03Death wobble appeared in 2021, track bar and steering damper replaced, has not returned
- 04Soft top is included but the rear window is crazed and does not seal at the left corner
- 05Surface corrosion on both rear spring hangers and the rear cross member, treated in 2022, not cut out
- 06Both front seat frames creak and the driver's base has been rewelded
Service record
Documents & what's included
What physically comes with the car.
- 01NATIS registration certificate, in krugersdorp_tj's name
- 02Invoices for every service from 2014 to 2025
- 03Both tops: the factory hardtop fitted and the soft top with its frame
- 04Photographs of the underbody, spring hangers and cross member, published
- 05Two keys
- 06Roadworthy certificate issued within the last six months
Note from the seller
The seller's own words, published as written. The only copy on this page they control.
I have had this since 2014 and it has done Lesotho four times, the Baviaanskloof twice and everything in between. It has been maintained by the same shop in Krugersdorp the whole time and every invoice is in the file.
What I would want to know: the manifold has a hairline crack you can hear on a cold start, the soft top rear window is crazed and does not seal at the left corner, there is treated surface rust on the rear spring hangers and the cross member, and the seat frames creak. The death wobble that showed up in 2021 was fixed properly with a track bar, a damper, ball joints and tie rods, and it has not come back in four years.
On the water question, I said I would rather talk to a serious bidder about it directly than put it on a public page. I have been told that means it goes up as a decline. I understand that and I am leaving my answer where it is.
Comments & offers
6 comments · 3 offers
He will tell one buyer on the phone and not the room. That is the whole thing this site exists to stop. Whatever the answer is, it is worth less to him as a phone call than it would have been as a sentence.
Everything else here is disclosed to a level most sellers would not bother with. Rewelded seat base. Hairline manifold crack. Treated and not cut. He is clearly not a man hiding things by habit, which makes the one blank stranger rather than less strange.
For what it is worth, water in a TJ is usually a diff and transfer case oil job and a wiring nuisance, not a write off. The problem is that we are all now guessing at which of those it was, and the guess is always worse than the fact.
I hear you and I am not moving. Anyone who is serious can phone me and I will tell them exactly what happened and when. I understand what it costs me to leave it as a decline.
And then the water question. Private answers are not answers. If it has been through a river bonnet deep, say so and let people price a diff oil change. If it has been under, say that too. Silence on that specific question on a vehicle that has done Lesotho four times reads one way.
Death wobble fixed with the whole front end rather than a damper on its own is the right way to do it and the invoice shows the parts. That part of the listing is exactly what I would want.
Comments & bids
6 comments · 3 offersThe crowd checks the report. Offers post inline, and the seller answers directly. Most recent first.
He will tell one buyer on the phone and not the room. That is the whole thing this site exists to stop. Whatever the answer is, it is worth less to him as a phone call than it would have been as a sentence.
Everything else here is disclosed to a level most sellers would not bother with. Rewelded seat base. Hairline manifold crack. Treated and not cut. He is clearly not a man hiding things by habit, which makes the one blank stranger rather than less strange.
For what it is worth, water in a TJ is usually a diff and transfer case oil job and a wiring nuisance, not a write off. The problem is that we are all now guessing at which of those it was, and the guess is always worse than the fact.
I hear you and I am not moving. Anyone who is serious can phone me and I will tell them exactly what happened and when. I understand what it costs me to leave it as a decline.
And then the water question. Private answers are not answers. If it has been through a river bonnet deep, say so and let people price a diff oil change. If it has been under, say that too. Silence on that specific question on a vehicle that has done Lesotho four times reads one way.
Death wobble fixed with the whole front end rather than a damper on its own is the right way to do it and the invoice shows the parts. That part of the listing is exactly what I would want.