Hey guys, new to the forum. I'm looking at a 2015 Sahara with 80k miles for $24,000. Overall it's clean and the Carfax suggests it was highway miles. My only mechanical concern is a rusty driveshaft. Is this common? I've never had a JK, had a 97 TJ I loved. Looking to upgrade to JK now.

 

Pretty common, actually.

 

Driveshafts (stock) are made of a metal that obtains a surface rust very quickly. I assume they are not painted due to balance concerns. The good news is that the rust typically stops at the surface in our driveshafts. Similar to steel guardrails on the highway that are allowed to rust. The rust actually becomes somewhat of a protective barrier, preventing deeper rust in typical driving conditions.

 

Definitely normal. Even brand new JK's on the lot had rusty drive shafts. The only way they don't have rust on them is if someone went through the efforts to put some kind of rust inhibitor on the drive shaft every 3-4 months.

Typically, the part which rusts out the most on a JK is the gas tank skid plate, and that one actually looks pretty good.