New guy, big plans for new Jeep.

[Boogalooper]

After writing this out, I must warn people...it is a long winded post, I still have so much more to say but this is my first so i'll stop with what I have. :smiley_drive:

So, first off a little bit about me. I have been around 4x4's my whole life, camping in the woods, driving atv's the lot. Well recently I just got my first Jeep to call my own, it was a freebie which makes it even better :wings:. I'm 22 supporting me and my girlfriend (and soon to be baby when it comes) also start my Automotive Maintenance Technician training (fancy term for mechanic) later this month.

So with all that I have very little time to stick into the jeep (School from 7:30am-4:20pm and work from 4:20pm till 2am) but, I do have big plans as I still have my weekends to work on the beast.

Now, a little information about the Jeep, as I said it was free it's not in the best of shape, but it's decent. It does run/drive the 4 HI and LOW do work, it has a set of 31" Cooper Discovery S/T's Tire pic.. It does have its share of rust (it's a 21 year old Jeep that is in Wisconsin it's expected) Rust by the door handles, under the doors, on the rear bumper, behind the rear wheel wells ect.

When the previous owner parted with it, it had a bad knock, so he thought he had blown the engine. Silly guy just ran it out of oil, I filled'er back up and the knock went away. I did notice that it is leaking oil onto the exhaust by the header so it's not 100%. Also when I turn the wheel fully either way it makes a pretty bad grinding noise (half shaft? CV? Tie rod? not sure)

The Jeep has not been on the highway, hasn't left my parents property as I don't think it's safe to drive yet.

Ok, now for future plans, I SHOULD be getting my money for school, and with loans and what not, after school is paid for I will have a decent chunk of coin left over (6 grand or so) that I don't need to get anything with (Like I said school will be paid, tools will be bought, and I have a stable income/house so it's all extra)

First thing I'm doing, I'm putting it in the shop to have them go through the engine and make sure it's all good (I'm just starting my training so thats a bit advanced yet)

Second, going to go through the suspension, drive train to make sure it's save to drive.

Third comes the lift, plan on going with a 3.5" RC suspension lift kit

Fourth, after the lift (since I have 31's already) I'm going to start with my Armour and the first thing I'm getting is a new front bumper link I think this thing is just amazing.

Fifth, after the bumper is installed, of course I need a Winch. Haven't set my heart on anything yet, just something that's capable of recovery 8-10,000 lbs

Thats my plan before winter fully sets in as I want to go winter camping before the baby comes, and next year is a whole new beast.

Rear bumper/tire carrier, a bran new set of 5 31x10.50x15 Goodyear Wrangler MT/R Kevlar tires. Off road lights, 3 on the bumper 5 on the roof and a few hidden ones for reverse/underneath trail lighting. Need to figure out my roof rack and storage as well as upgrading creature comforts inside. New sound system, in car PC, Nav, onboard air, water storage....the list goes on and on.

Very very far down the road I'm thinking I would like to do a VW TDI swap for fuel economy and if they're tuned/geared right they can be very nice.


Photobucket Link to album

 

[Capt Eddie]

CAUTION THIS REPLY IS FROM A 51 YEAR OLD MAN WITH KIDS IN YOUR SHOES!!!! Start by looking at the transportation that you have for yourself and your girlfreind. Are they 100% dependable? You will have to have a way to school and work. She needs to be able to get to the doctors and shopping. Put the chunk of change 6 GRAND, in the bank, you will need it later. After all this is done, then start to think about the Jeep.

 

[haven]

X2. Those free weekends will be, and should be, filled with your family responsibilities. A reliable 4 door car for your family should be your first vehicle priority (putting the baby carrier into the back seat of the Jeep will get old real fast).

 

[Boogalooper]

I understand what you both are saying. Don't get me wrong I am not saying I'm going to abandon them, not saying I'm going to blow all my money on it either. It may have sounded like that and if it did, I'm sorry. As of right now my girlfriend is about 3 months along, so the baby is a ways away yet. I have a car that has been VERY good to me (My trusty VW) and my girlfriend also has a car (not the best, still working the bugs out of that little Ford Contour).

And the spending time thing, we spend as much time as we can together, I say I want to have that stuff done by winter because when the baby does come I'll be very very busy. The only reason why I will be able to do what I want to, is my girlfriend wants to help, she's always been wanting to build a vehicle and even go out and camp like I do, so it's going to be a win win for now, we work on the Jeep as well as spend time together.

My money plans Capt Eddie, are to spend ~1500 on the lift/bumper/winch and I am allowing ~1500 to be spent to making it super reliable and the other ~3000 will be stuck away for baby supplies. I have a job that can more then support the 3 of us (sure it's a factory job but it's 30k a year) also, we are living in a house that is paid off, so...we have that covered too.

I'm a guy who likes to have every thing planned out before I do it, so I've been thinking about this and figuring out how it will work for awhile I was just seeing if any body else would do something else first.

 

[bldeagle10]

X2. Those free weekends will be, and should be, filled with your family responsibilities. A reliable 4 door car for your family should be your first vehicle priority (putting the baby carrier into the back seat of the Jeep will get old real fast).

i could not agree more with the carseat comment, back before i found myself to be single, i had to put a kiddo in the back and it meant the drivers or passenger seat had to be moved all the way forward, otherwise the carseat had to be placed in the middle and that just doesnt work with me..i want it to be behind a seat for safety reasons...

nice looking XJ though, i love mine, it should serve you well! good luck and ill be looking forward to your progress

 

[Boogalooper]

Well I haven't had to deal with that yet, but luckily my girlfriend is short enough, so she can have the seat almost all the way forward and still be comfy. When we have more then one passenger in the Jetta we have to do that too...all the Germans must be short or something. It is something we both know that we're going to have to deal with, and so far we're okay with it. Sure it may change as we actually have to do it, but if/when that comes we'll have to deal with it.

 

[bldeagle10]

it is a hassle sometimes, when you are in a hurry mostly, but for me it was livable, i will gladly drive with my knees against the dash like its some sort of go kart if that means the baby was safe and the girl was comfortable, and i get to keep my jeep

 

[reece146]

We never had any problems whatsoever with baby seats in the back of the XJ - first in the centre and then both outboard positions once our second son came along. They are both on mini boosters now since the Jeep's rear shoulder straps are not adjustable for height. There's tons of room in the back of an XJ for kids.

The safest position for a baby seat is the centre; think side impact. For kids in boosters it is the outboard positions because the centre position doesn't have a shoulder belt. Side impact is still an issue (stiffeners and rails are bound to help) but statistically you are more likely to be hit in front or rear than the side. You could use one of those "bucket boosters" that incorporate the harnesses but my boys would have no part of that once they were big enough to use "big people" seat belts.

Try to keep the front seats as far away from the baby seats as possible. With the crappily built gear in a Jeep I wouldn't expect the rear seat back of the front seats to remain vertical if there was a strong hit from behind. That said, I set the seat to where I was comfortable when I was driving (all the way back) and that was that.

All this said, just use the Jeep and don't be fearful. You do what you can to control your destiny and to not be negligent but ultimately it is all up to fate and luck.

 

[reece146]

I agree with most of the comments about the money. You still want to do things though. Life is too short to be drudge and work until you are old enough to buy things outright and are too old and feeble to use them properly.

Maybe what makes sense is have a sensible nest egg put aside at say this $6k you were talking about and then for every bit of money you additionally save put some of that into the Jeep. OR set the nest egg size at a slightly smaller value if that means getting the Jeep to a point where you can really use it with the whole family. With an XJ there is no reason why it can't be the totally reliable, daily driver vehicle that the family relies on provided it is in good enough shape. I have to wonder if a rust belt, free Jeep is that vehicle though.

2¢

 

[redthies]

My thoughts exactly. Could you take that $3000 you talk about for upgrades and maintenance and find a mildly built XJ in the SW? No rust goes a loooooong way!

 

[bldeagle10]

We never had any problems whatsoever with baby seats in the back of the XJ - first in the centre and then both outboard positions once our second son came along. They are both on mini boosters now since the Jeep's rear shoulder straps are not adjustable for height. There's tons of room in the back of an XJ for kids.

The safest position for a baby seat is the centre; think side impact. For kids in boosters it is the outboard positions because the centre position doesn't have a shoulder belt. Side impact is still an issue (stiffeners and rails are bound to help) but statistically you are more likely to be hit in front or rear than the side. You could use one of those "bucket boosters" that incorporate the harnesses but my boys would have no part of that once they were big enough to use "big people" seat belts.

Try to keep the front seats as far away from the baby seats as possible. With the crappily built gear in a Jeep I wouldn't expect the rear seat back of the front seats to remain vertical if there was a strong hit from behind. That said, I set the seat to where I was comfortable when I was driving (all the way back) and that was that.

All this said, just use the Jeep and don't be fearful. You do what you can to control your destiny and to not be negligent but ultimately it is all up to fate and luck.

i personally think my issues were because the car seat she had was absolutely HUGE. the jeep was my dad's before it was mine and they never had problems with my little brothers car seat. my experience just wasnt that great, from what i have been told it is safer to have the child behind the drivers seat, you are most likely to be hit on the passenger side if it is a side impact, other than that this is arizona which is a horrid state to drive in (5 million idiots on the road) and id probably end up getting rear ended before i get hit from the side... i just know the fire fighters and city officials say to put the seat behind the driver. regardless, an infant in an XJ can be done, just dont buy a cadillac sized car seat!

 

[reece146]

Yeah, when I see what some friends went through with their cars I will take your point as being apropos. All of a sudden a nice 4 door sport sedan wasn't good enough and they had to stick these absolutely massive car seats into a minivan. Rampant stupidity due to the brand name on a car seat. A CAR SEAT! I still don't understand why they didn't see how absolutely retarded that was.

 

[Boogalooper]

My thoughts exactly. Could you take that $3000 you talk about for upgrades and maintenance and find a mildly built XJ in the SW? No rust goes a loooooong way!

No the thought hasn't crossed my mind, because what I didn't mention is I'm signed up for what my school calls a "double major" and what they mean by that is after my 2 year ASE course, I'm going to go through a 1 year collision repair course which will teach me all the body work knowledge I would need to know.

Also, if I take the 3,000 and say, find a good solid jeep in say Texas (all for figures) thats 1260 miles from my house. I have to then drive down there (would take the VW, 50 mpg highway) thats roughly 25 gallons or diesel, which at an average of 4.50 a gallon is $113 each way (this just make me think my math is wrong...but I don't think so.)

So we're $113 in fuel down, then I pay the 3,000 for a jeep which say, gets 20 mpg highway. Thats about 63 gallons, at an average of $4 a gallon for gas is $252 for the trip back, add that to the $226 is $478 in gas/fuel then at least that for food/lodging for 2 people. Not to mention I need to find the time to take off from work. (rough figures late at night I could be off if I am feel free to correct me, this was all just an example not saying it's going to happen.)

Thats not impossible, but not going to do that right now. Anything I buy for the Jeep that I want to do soon I can always swap over, right now it's just maintenance/exterior that I can always put onto a more solid Jeep after this winter. I really don't want to go through another winter with my Jetta I want to park it for the winter and take care of the rust that is starting on that


Another thing I forgot to mention. This Jeep was FREE, if I stick $1000 to the shop to have them get it good as new, it will be like I bought a mildly rusty Jeep for...$1000 I think that would be a great deal, just me though.