Well, after 12 years as a die hard Land Rover Nutzoid case, ... I have landed on what I think is the best 'Modern' platform Expedition Vehicle.
I still love Land Rovers- (don't particularly care for the direction they are taking rover right now), but in all honesty, my first expedition truck was a 1998 Jeep Wrangler 2 door. My first experience in an off road truck came in my uncles 1952 Willis Jeep that we road all through the middle Georgia red clay woods!
This started on an odd move. My wife had a G4 2008 LR3 competition truck which she hated. She said it was big, lumbering, and she hated the graphics. I told her she could drive anything she wanted. She chose a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon in Natural Green. SHE LOVES IT. Then, ... I LOVED IT! The new interior is just fantastic and it is so quiet inside compared to the 1998 I once had.
Here are pics of her truck:
So, the decision was made to find me one- and I chose the 2011 Jeep Unlimited AEV #44. I found the truck at NEMER Chrysler in New York State.
The challenge, ... I wanted to be able to pull my trailer and not have a slug.
Christopher Rogers is the service manager at NEMER, but more importantly, he lives the lifestyle- going on long trips through the New England back country. He knows these trucks. He personally took on my truck build and we did front/rear E-lockers, 4 to 1 Atlas T-Case, 513 Gearing, under body protection- and much more. The truck still has a few things that I am doing to make it "work" for me, but it is fantastic! (Thanks Christopher! and Jeff at AEV for walking me through it!
The 513 gearing and ProCal are the key to this thing. It literally seems like it has twice the horsepower of my wife's Rubicon. (I know it is a mere function of ratio and synchronization, but the sensation is more H.P.)
I wanted the Sahara Tan color and was not too particular about the interior.
Warn 9000i with Viking Synthetic Line in Yellow. There are IPF's on the truck now, but the Hella 4000's are on order. I'll give these IPFs a run in the meantime to see which I end up liking better.
Water Storage in rear bumper with pump.
Swing Away Rear Tire Carrier with Light and if you look in the spare, you'll see the rear brake lamp AEV offers. AEV Shovel mount is integrated in the rear carrier and the shovel is enroute.
AEV Snorkel with PreCleaner
35" BFG KM2 Mud Terrains on AEV Savegre wheels in their matte texture finish black
Rear Door Interior Smittybilt G.E.A.R rear storage system
Front Windshield AEV Banner
Rear storage with two pelicans and fire extinguisher- First Aid Kit in the rear door storage system.
Smittybilt G.E.A.R seat back storage
Got my Garmin GPSMAP478 with Nexrad weather radar.
I opted not to have the nav, but my wife has it, and it is a fantastic set up, so I may be going with that, but it is a plug-n-play system from Mopar.
It has the Freedom top which I think is fantastic. It allows the front two passengers to be in the sun, but the kids don't complain about being blown away in the back seats. Mine has the top painted to match which I think works great on my truck, but my wife's is black which she likes.
All in all- I think it is going to be a fantastic answer to my desire to have an "easy" button, which the rovers were for sure ... NOT!
The great thing- my entire family loves these two trucks. Before, I was the only one loving my rovers. It is nice to strike a balance for a change.
D
I still love Land Rovers- (don't particularly care for the direction they are taking rover right now), but in all honesty, my first expedition truck was a 1998 Jeep Wrangler 2 door. My first experience in an off road truck came in my uncles 1952 Willis Jeep that we road all through the middle Georgia red clay woods!
This started on an odd move. My wife had a G4 2008 LR3 competition truck which she hated. She said it was big, lumbering, and she hated the graphics. I told her she could drive anything she wanted. She chose a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon in Natural Green. SHE LOVES IT. Then, ... I LOVED IT! The new interior is just fantastic and it is so quiet inside compared to the 1998 I once had.
Here are pics of her truck:
So, the decision was made to find me one- and I chose the 2011 Jeep Unlimited AEV #44. I found the truck at NEMER Chrysler in New York State.
The challenge, ... I wanted to be able to pull my trailer and not have a slug.
Christopher Rogers is the service manager at NEMER, but more importantly, he lives the lifestyle- going on long trips through the New England back country. He knows these trucks. He personally took on my truck build and we did front/rear E-lockers, 4 to 1 Atlas T-Case, 513 Gearing, under body protection- and much more. The truck still has a few things that I am doing to make it "work" for me, but it is fantastic! (Thanks Christopher! and Jeff at AEV for walking me through it!
The 513 gearing and ProCal are the key to this thing. It literally seems like it has twice the horsepower of my wife's Rubicon. (I know it is a mere function of ratio and synchronization, but the sensation is more H.P.)
I wanted the Sahara Tan color and was not too particular about the interior.
Warn 9000i with Viking Synthetic Line in Yellow. There are IPF's on the truck now, but the Hella 4000's are on order. I'll give these IPFs a run in the meantime to see which I end up liking better.
Water Storage in rear bumper with pump.
Swing Away Rear Tire Carrier with Light and if you look in the spare, you'll see the rear brake lamp AEV offers. AEV Shovel mount is integrated in the rear carrier and the shovel is enroute.
AEV Snorkel with PreCleaner
35" BFG KM2 Mud Terrains on AEV Savegre wheels in their matte texture finish black
Rear Door Interior Smittybilt G.E.A.R rear storage system
Front Windshield AEV Banner
Rear storage with two pelicans and fire extinguisher- First Aid Kit in the rear door storage system.
Smittybilt G.E.A.R seat back storage
Got my Garmin GPSMAP478 with Nexrad weather radar.
I opted not to have the nav, but my wife has it, and it is a fantastic set up, so I may be going with that, but it is a plug-n-play system from Mopar.
It has the Freedom top which I think is fantastic. It allows the front two passengers to be in the sun, but the kids don't complain about being blown away in the back seats. Mine has the top painted to match which I think works great on my truck, but my wife's is black which she likes.
All in all- I think it is going to be a fantastic answer to my desire to have an "easy" button, which the rovers were for sure ... NOT!
The great thing- my entire family loves these two trucks. Before, I was the only one loving my rovers. It is nice to strike a balance for a change.
D
The truck looks awesome, wish I could have talked Brandy into tan. I'm seriously jealous of you and Dale. Let me know how the 4000's work out. I opted for the 4000 compacts due to mounting and overall size on Brandy's 08. Would like to see the full size 4000's on an AEV bumper before I outfit her 2012.
