Expeditions with Jeep

[monkeyplunger]

How many people actually expedition with their jeep? I have found after 3 unlimited rubicons, CRD liberty, and cherokee i have spent appx 2000% more time dreaming some ultimate expo rig and working on it vs. using it. Anyone else find you spend more time working on this stuff vs. using it? I know its fun to tinker, invent, improvise, macgyver ****, but at the end of the day i take a step back and look at how much time in the field and i feel like a miniature version of our government. A whole lot of time, effort, and money and little result. For the money sunk i think i could have rented a helicopter to fly to remote regions, camp and fly back or better yet, get a BMW, drive all over in comfort, stay in hotels, then hire someone to fly me to remote regions and fly me back to my bmw so i can drive back in comfort stay in a hotel and take a warm shower.

 

[Kingsize24]

Sounds sad for you really. I use my Jeep all the time since I bought it. Just got back from a week trip in it yesterday.

 

[SulVento]

I suppose some of it depends on your idea/definition of expedition. We constantly pack ours up and head out for long day trips to trails/beaches with little or no accommodations

Love doing that as much as the multi-week gigs

*shrug*

 

[goin camping]

Go exploring for weekends all the time and for a week a couple times a year.

Other than tires and an Ursa Minor top. I don't much of any work on it at all. Prefer to be out in the desert than in the garage.

 

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: heh Heh, yeah-I've gotta agree with you on the dreaming/modifying and I've been doing it for quite a few years and 7 years on this Rubi and trailer-

I even had the trailer a year before I got the jeep and had started modifications already, but

I use the jeep weekly and the trailer seems to workout about once a month--

I've been very lucky, there haven't beejn any failures in the jeep or trailer after everything I've done toem--

So, yes I dream. but luckily I get to explore those dreams in the desert/Sierras--quite often-

You probably do the sme, it just doesn't seem like it-

:costumed-smiley-007:wings: JIMBO

 

[Lucky j]

What didn't you find out after 3 rubicon unlimited, I crd libi and a cherokee that was good for expedition?

You should have kept one and built it as you needed. Building 4 trucks can in deed be expensive, specialy when knowing that you are never getting back what you have invested in it.

I built my fist wrangler during 15 years and used it every chance I had, improving over the years. It was more an off road rig than overland. I build my new to me TJ unlimited in just over a mont for less than 1500$ canandian including kild lift and tires for expedition. Transplanting many of my old yj parts and accesories. I was out on a 8 days, 10 hours a day drive in avrage for 2000 miles up in Labrador. I'm leaving with it in 2 days for a road trip from Les Escoumins quebec down to Chicago with my little familly of 4.

What more do you need.

Don't look for the perfect rig, you will never find it or built it, it will never be perfect. Try to get there with a chopper when it is fog and rain. You will be staying at your hotel room for the sky to clear.

 

[onetraveller]

You've just hit the dirty little secret of the vehicle modification hobby. Most people never use the vehicle for the intent that they are modifying it towards. Fast cars, custom bikes, lifted Jeeps and trucks, overland vehicles. Most of them aren't used for much more then commuting to work, hauling the kids to soccer, and trips to the mall, or going to car meets to admire each others work. Very few people have the financial resources or commitment to ditch it all and set off around the world. That's why the stories you read on this forum are so special. Because those people have rearranged their priorities so that travel is top of their list. Not working a good job, saving for retirement, etc.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that many of us don't get out for a weekend camping trip or a week's vacation out in the wild. Run whatever you own, make time for your choices and get out and enjoy the world. We do have control of our destiny and it's up to us to make our lives what we want them to be.

Mike

 

[Davev1954]

If you enjoy the planning and dreaming - that's all that matters. Do what you enjoy and don't look back. I get a big kick out of buying stuff and finding solutions to problems that are only in my mind.

 

[monkeyplunger]

2006 lj rubicon - miles and room, 2006 crd - miles and tons of mech work, 2001 xj still on road with 250K miles, 2010 JKUR way underpowered, 2013 JKUR current . More miles than you can count. If you take weekend excursions which are many and we have taken the week and two week jaunts each year. You look at the prep time, mod time, research time. Just a whole lot o time not in the back country. each step of the way complexity increases. first just the wite and I. then the dog wife and i. then the first born wife and both dogs. now two kids dog and us. plus add to a job of exponential increasing responsibility and the helicopter and bmw is looking more attractive. looked at f350s, 250s, fwc, sports mobile, global ex, livin lite all look like more work than fun at times with the fam. its not depressing, i am happy to have these types of problems, very happy and humble about it. just looking for balance.

one thing i have noticed is that in the past when jeep trails were jeep trails it was more fun. seems like the majority are moving away from jeeps to f350s with fifth wheels and polaris RZR. camping in comfort and haul *** into the backwoods and back. My last trip to moab was testament. for years i would ride my mountain bike on trails with my dad or wife in a jeep slowly following along and you would have fun running into people here and there on the remote trails. roads were rough and slow for a jeep no matter the tire size. now last year i take the same trails and its crowded with UTVs hauling *** here and there. It used to take time and work now we have engineered a way for lazy people to go way far off the beaten path in short time. Same thing has happened to me in many places in az. the RZR's are very good at what they do. Put a cost to an F150, FWC type camper with trailer and RZR you get to cruise at freeway speeds in comfort, sleep in comfort, haul ***, cover a lot of ground with a RZR. compare that to a jeep with an off road trailer, or sports mobile. sorry for the rant. its friday, i am having some damn good IPA and challenging everyone who seems to have it all simply figured out.

 

[MTSN]

I'm guilty of the same to extent, and I've spent far more time over the years building and collecting vehicles than I have spent using them. It takes a lot of discipline to look at each mod and think "will i truly ever need this?". I think many of us on this forum in particular spend way more time dwelling on what ifs instead of why nots. I can remember a time in high school in my first (woefully underprepared) Jeep showing up at a buddy's house at 10pm on a Friday night to help him install a set of adjustable Rancho shocks which were amazing tech at the time, and after installing them we went wheeling in our trucks all night to test them out and just found a relatively level spot to park and sleep for a couple of hours before we went wheeling some more. We were total amateurs but learned so much and had a blast doing it. We used handheld CBs to chat with each other the whole time, and even after incurring some extreme body damage on of those trips we just shrugged our shoulders came home and got our rigs patched up enough to go out and do it again. I know it's things like that which got me hooked, and its important to remember those simple moments to try to focus on why it is we do all this stuff. While an AEV heat reduction hood and heated seats are amazing to have, they aren't necessary to capture the essence and fun of using these vehicles as intended.

 

[BADDANDY]

I hear you brother.
Single at 50, kids in college, job changes, loss of riding and Jeeping buddies, new Offroad area seasonal restrictions.
Reacquainted with an old female friend.
Sold my F150, Sold the slide in camper, Sold the Bandit, Sold the TJ, Sold the Blackcomb MB.
Bought a JK, Bought a Tiger, Bought a Neon, Bought an XR PRO MB.
I have to split my time between the JK, Neon, Tiger, DRZ, XR PRO and friend.
Lots of changes have led me to my current adoptions.
Notice they all take me into the great outdoors stock? But modded, take me way out there into the backcountry with self sufficiency and safety.
I split my time improving one of them when I'm unable to use another do to events, reroof, friend, weather or season.
I'm down to at least one of my life-style vehicles being used every day so I can take joy in that.
I love to research, plan, and accomplish mods, and yes that takes time. Sometimes I'd just rather mod than use.
I just hate it when planned mod time runs into planned use time.

 

[Lucky j]

I was in the atv world when I began as a teen, I got my drivers liscence and motorcycle as well. Keep the ATV, but hardly use it anymore. That 25 years ago. What I liked about the dualsport, I did not have to came back to put the ATV back in the trailer to get home. I simply kept on going on a larger loop. Then, I was stoped at a trafic light, a guy was talking with is girls friend in a topless jeep while I was cooking in the sun with my jackets and pants an not realy able to talked to anyone.

Got the 1st jeep brand new yj in 94 that I've just put to retierement/equipment donnor for the new to me TJL last december. I have decided that I wanted to keep it simple. Just pull my off road trailer around when need more for me and my new to me family and dogs. With all I had from the old YJ, I'm not even an 10 000$ canadian and it should be food for at leadt 20 years. (It will also be on snow removal duty at my cabin in winter).

We all make choices. Some large family still go out with ground tent camping, and they look happy.

But yes, inflatable fellow wannabe explorers also exist, not cause they need all that stuff, but because other people do it, so the numbers are groing.

And on my side, I'm on dry liquid until I get off from work tomorrow morning. Then I will have a nice improved coffee to began my off uniformed day!

By the way, when loaded, my jeep can be under powered, I might have to go slow on rough dirt road, but I do not care, cause......I'm on vacation'when I'm out there!

2006 lj rubicon - miles and room, 2006 crd - miles and tons of mech work, 2001 xj still on road with 250K miles, 2010 JKUR way underpowered, 2013 JKUR current . More miles than you can count. If you take weekend excursions which are many and we have taken the week and two week jaunts each year. You look at the prep time, mod time, research time. Just a whole lot o time not in the back country. each step of the way complexity increases. first just the wite and I. then the dog wife and i. then the first born wife and both dogs. now two kids dog and us. plus add to a job of exponential increasing responsibility and the helicopter and bmw is looking more attractive. looked at f350s, 250s, fwc, sports mobile, global ex, livin lite all look like more work than fun at times with the fam. its not depressing, i am happy to have these types of problems, very happy and humble about it. just looking for balance.

one thing i have noticed is that in the past when jeep trails were jeep trails it was more fun. seems like the majority are moving away from jeeps to f350s with fifth wheels and polaris RZR. camping in comfort and haul *** into the backwoods and back. My last trip to moab was testament. for years i would ride my mountain bike on trails with my dad or wife in a jeep slowly following along and you would have fun running into people here and there on the remote trails. roads were rough and slow for a jeep no matter the tire size. now last year i take the same trails and its crowded with UTVs hauling *** here and there. It used to take time and work now we have engineered a way for lazy people to go way far off the beaten path in short time. Same thing has happened to me in many places in az. the RZR's are very good at what they do. Put a cost to an F150, FWC type camper with trailer and RZR you get to cruise at freeway speeds in comfort, sleep in comfort, haul ***, cover a lot of ground with a RZR. compare that to a jeep with an off road trailer, or sports mobile. sorry for the rant. its friday, i am having some damn good IPA and challenging everyone who seems to have it all simply figured out.

 

[EMrider]

My family and work responsibilities take priority over everything at this stage of my life so I get out 3-4 times per year. Not as much as I would like, but the kids always go and I get enough time in BFE to keep me happy.

My vehicles are lightly modified to fit my needs. Maybe at some point I will really need a fully tricked out rig. But I doubt it will be a need as much as a want.

R

 

[toymaster]

You've just hit the dirty little secret of the vehicle modification hobby.....

I would not call it dirty or a secret. Some of the stories on here do make it seem like everyone sells all of what they got and spend years on the road. By far not the norm.

I like working on my stuff, no secret at all, and makes a dang fine hobby. When I do actually get the chance and the desire I have the equipment to do it. Beats the hell out of having the desire and not the equipment. I'm not one of these that buys/sells toys like hotcakes. I build and keep and then add other stuff to my collection. There is no reason at all not to have a heavy truck, 5th wheel RV, light(er) truck, horse trailer, equine, jeep, side x side, adventure trailer, motorcycle(s), white water raft, flat bottom boat, and a canoe. Each tool for its purpose.

 

[Dan Grec]

After zero hours spent modifying, I drove a bone-stock TJ from Alaska to Argentina.

Admittedly, I'm doing lots of work now on my JKU that I'm just about to start of 2 year lap of Africa in.

Before all of that I had an XJ that I drove across North America a couple of times.

Yes, I take my Jeeps on expeditions.

-Dan