A self evaluation into jeeping

[Muskylounge6801]

At least I was smart enough at the dealer that day to say that I needed to upgrade the bumper. She conceded that one point.

I think both of you are equally crafty

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[McKenzie]

Why didn’t you just order a rubicon extreme recon. To get the 2” lift, 35” tires and beefier axles along with 4.56:1 gears to better deal with 35” tires? It’s cheaper all around if you look at all the stuff individually. That’s what I did. I originally had a day 3 bronco reservation but cancelled that after the endless delays and hard top issues. Got the rubi instead. Just picked it up Friday.

Beautiful Jeep! I love the green. It’s no orange, but nobody’s perfect ?

 

[Cowboy from hell]

Nothing in life is free and hobbies are expensive. I have bounced around different hobbies over the years and have decent collection of each(guns, knives, and sounds weird but Halloween masks). As you age your tastes change and things that used to matter to you, don't anymore. When I was in my 20s I had a jacked up TJ and it had lots of goodies installed. I thought that's how all jeeps should look. Now in my 40s I have(soon, this week) a 2 door rubicon that I kept bare bones from factory to keep cost down and have a blank canvas for mods down the road. I actually plan on keeping her stock! No lift or bigger tires. My tastes have changed and I like the look of the little guys with pizza cutters on them. I know jeeps are very capable as is.....Godbless!

 

[wibornz]

Seeing photos of cool mods others have done and cool places they've gone feeds the fever.

jlwranglerforums.com lets you register for free, but it's the most expensive website on the 'net. ;-P

No truer post has ever been posted on this forum.

 

[Jamrock]

Hello,

I'm @entropy and I'm an addict.

Recognizing the problem is the first step to recovery. We are here for you.

Seriously though, you are making some important points. Food for thought.

 

[wibornz]

I bought the Jeep for one reason, to Jeep travel. Specifically to travel to Alaska in retirement. I bought a Rubicon because of its extra Capacity for off road Performance. I believe in using approx 70% of the capacity of my vehicles ability. I did not need lockers, I wanted lockers not to get somewhere, but to get out of somewhere if that makes sense. To me lockers, winches, bigger tires, lift is all about increasing the capacity of the vehicle to get out of something. My main goal was that my wife would not have to walk 60 miles out of the mountains or desert or where ever.

About 6 years ago, I saw this video,




We are long time off road enthusiasts and said to my wife hey check this out. This is what we need to do in retirement. She was all in. I started an investment account specifically to save towards the down payment of the Jeep. I saved for 3 years and ordered the Jeep about 3 weeks after retirement. I could have ordered it right after retirement, but a day after I retired, I loaded up the ATVs with a friend and left Michigan to South Dakota for a couple weeks of ATVing in the Black Hills.

So after buying the Jeep, I had three years to build it the way I wanted for our trip to Alaska. I say three years, because my wife retired three years after me. We used those three years to build and get us ready for extended Jeep travel.

I am probably just over $27,000 in upgrades, and maintenance to the Jeep in the last three years. This does not include the money spent on the camper and the camper upgrades. That would be a different thread. We have probably spent that much Jeep traveling all over the US during this time.

In the last three years we have done a lot of Jeep traveling........ A LOT.

So for the upgrade and I have done a lot, the only one that I think was unnecessary is the snorkel from Rugged Ridge. I had not intended to do this, but showed it to my wife and she was like buy it. She is way more gungho than I am and when I showed her the snorkel, she pressed the buy now button........ If I left the upgrades to her, the Jeep would be on one tons with a hellcat Hemi motor in it. I literally had the discussion with her about 1 tons and a Hemi. A $70,000 upgrade and she was like BUY IT! I was like hey we could have a new C8 Corvette for that price and she said, "Fuck that Corvette get the Hemi."

So we are 20 days away from leaving on a 11 1/2 month Jeep wheeling, hiking and camping trip. That has evoked from a solo trip for me and my wife to three Jeeps with campers and five of us going. We have set aside 10 weeks for Alaska. We will do all the western states from the Mexico border to Dead Horse Alaska and back to Michigan.

This is kind of what our point of interest look like on the map. This does not include BOH trails or any wheeling that we will do along the way.

Believe it or not, the Jeep to me is nothing more than a vehicle to take me places. I love to travel and see thing and experience life. So now I Jeep travel. I used to motorcycle travel. Motorcycled all over the US and Canada for years, ATVed and SxS all over the US. To me it is about having a vehicle that will take you places that other vehicles may not. So sold my motorcycle a year ago August. Why, well there was just no where left that I wanted to ride my motorcycle to. Also, my wife that would also ride her own motorcycle or ride with me just could not stand the long days on the bike anymore so she was also less inclined to go with me. I remember the day well that I decided to sell off my motorcycle. I had came home from a 250 mile ride and was like that was just unfulfilling. The fun was gone. I had the Jeep at this time and was Jeeping often with my wife. The ATV and SxS were not getting used as we took the Jeep north now. They had to go too.

We were pretty much exclusively Jeep traveling.


So to finish up, when I was 23 years old I met a guy that turned into a mentor for me. He said to me, make sure you travel and see the world. Show the world to your kids. Let them know the world is larger than their home town. He follows with your kids will never care that you bought new leather furniture or put a bigger deck on your home. They will remember the experience of travel for ever. I went home and told my wife that we need to set aside five grand a year to travel on and we did. 5 grand was the base line. At times it required a lot of overtime to make it happen and I did a lot of overtime at different periods in my life to make it happen. The point is is happened. My now adult kids will often reminisce with my wife and I about past travel. It is priceless.

The thing is have a plan for your Financial future, don't spend it all on today, put some away for tomorrow. It is a balance, there will be things that you do in your twenties that will no longer be fun in your thirties and so on and so on. Just as there will be things that you will do in your forties or even your fifties that you may not be able to do in your sixties or seventies. It is all about balance and timing. You get one chance to get it right. Time is the only thing that can't be bought but can be spent. Spend it wisely or foolishly is on the individual.

Fuck I am wordy this morning. I should have just said spend your money on the things that bring you joy and experience while building a secure financial future.

 

[Jamrock]

Too many people live without any joy.

There needs to be something that gives you a reason to wake up in the morning. If you don't have something to be passionate about, is life really worth living?

As @entropy has said, maybe it is about finding the right balance. I have met too many people with regrets about the things they didn't do.

 

[Austin23]

Great thread, with excellent thoughtful posts all around. Wibornz, it sounds like you are about to embark on the Jeep adventure of a lifetime and it's hard to put a price on that. Your trip embodies much of what owning a Jeep means for a lot of us on this forum. For many of us, Jeeps are more than just a vehicle to get us to work and the grocery store. They represent the promise of adventure and exploration otherwise not taken. And Jamrock I couldn't agree more. I believe one of the keys to a happy life is to look forward to something you are passionate about each and every morning when you get out of bed. Of course as with all good things in life, responsibility and moderation is key. Just like that 100 year old fireplace, sometimes the original brick and mortar is all you need to get the job done. Jeep on!

 

[Headbarcode]

I bought the Jeep for one reason, to Jeep travel. Specifically to travel to Alaska in retirement. I bought a Rubicon because of its extra Capacity for off road Performance. I believe in using approx 70% of the capacity of my vehicles ability. I did not need lockers, I wanted lockers not to get somewhere, but to get out of somewhere if that makes sense. To me lockers, winches, bigger tires, lift is all about increasing the capacity of the vehicle to get out of something. My main goal was that my wife would not have to walk 60 miles out of the mountains or desert or where ever.

About 6 years ago, I saw this video,




We are long time off road enthusiasts and said to my wife hey check this out. This is what we need to do in retirement. She was all in. I started an investment account specifically to save towards the down payment of the Jeep. I saved for 3 years and ordered the Jeep about 3 weeks after retirement. I could have ordered it right after retirement, but a day after I retired, I loaded up the ATVs with a friend and left Michigan to South Dakota for a couple weeks of ATVing in the Black Hills.

So after buying the Jeep, I had three years to build it the way I wanted for our trip to Alaska. I say three years, because my wife retired three years after me. We used those three years to build and get us ready for extended Jeep travel.

I am probably just over $27,000 in upgrades, and maintenance to the Jeep in the last three years. This does not include the money spent on the camper and the camper upgrades. That would be a different thread. We have probably spent that much Jeep traveling all over the US during this time.

In the last three years we have done a lot of Jeep traveling........ A LOT.

So for the upgrade and I have done a lot, the only one that I think was unnecessary is the snorkel from Rugged Ridge. I had not intended to do this, but showed it to my wife and she was like buy it. She is way more gungho than I am and when I showed her the snorkel, she pressed the buy now button........ If I left the upgrades to her, the Jeep would be on one tons with a hellcat Hemi motor in it. I literally had the discussion with her about 1 tons and a Hemi. A $70,000 upgrade and she was like BUY IT! I was like hey we could have a new C8 Corvette for that price and she said, "Fuck that Corvette get the Hemi."

So we are 20 days away from leaving on a 11 1/2 month Jeep wheeling, hiking and camping trip. That has evoked from a solo trip for me and my wife to three Jeeps with campers and five of us going. We have set aside 10 weeks for Alaska. We will do all the western states from the Mexico border to Dead Horse Alaska and back to Michigan.

This is kind of what our point of interest look like on the map. This does not include BOH trails or any wheeling that we will do along the way.

Believe it or not, the Jeep to me is nothing more than a vehicle to take me places. I love to travel and see thing and experience life. So now I Jeep travel. I used to motorcycle travel. Motorcycled all over the US and Canada for years, ATVed and SxS all over the US. To me it is about having a vehicle that will take you places that other vehicles may not. So sold my motorcycle a year ago August. Why, well there was just no where left that I wanted to ride my motorcycle to. Also, my wife that would also ride her own motorcycle or ride with me just could not stand the long days on the bike anymore so she was also less inclined to go with me. I remember the day well that I decided to sell off my motorcycle. I had came home from a 250 mile ride and was like that was just unfulfilling. The fun was gone. I had the Jeep at this time and was Jeeping often with my wife. The ATV and SxS were not getting used as we took the Jeep north now. They had to go too.

We were pretty much exclusively Jeep traveling.


So to finish up, when I was 23 years old I met a guy that turned into a mentor for me. He said to me, make sure you travel and see the world. Show the world to your kids. Let them know the world is larger than their home town. He follows with your kids will never care that you bought new leather furniture or put a bigger deck on your home. They will remember the experience of travel for ever. I went home and told my wife that we need to set aside five grand a year to travel on and we did. 5 grand was the base line. At times it required a lot of overtime to make it happen and I did a lot of overtime at different periods in my life to make it happen. The point is is happened. My now adult kids will often reminisce with my wife and I about past travel. It is priceless.

The thing is have a plan for your Financial future, don't spend it all on today, put some away for tomorrow. It is a balance, there will be things that you do in your twenties that will no longer be fun in your thirties and so on and so on. Just as there will be things that you will do in your forties or even your fifties that you may not be able to do in your sixties or seventies. It is all about balance and timing. You get one chance to get it right. Time is the only thing that can't be bought but can be spent. Spend it wisely or foolishly is on the individual.

Fuck I am wordy this morning. I should have just said spend your money on the things that bring you joy and experience while building a secure financial future.

Awesome post! I'm glad you didn't go with the short version. Every point you made spoke to me.

Thanks for posting, and happy travels with the wife and friends! We look forward to hearing about it and seeing your pics along the way!

 

[HungryHound]

I bought my Wrangler in 2018. It was a base sport 2 door. I don't need the Rubicon I said, I just wanna get to some good hunting locations and do light off-roading. We had decent salaries back then, and were renting. A base sport seemed to be the perfect Jeep for us. We couldn't get a good loan interest rate, so I put about 80% down payment.

I ended up taking that jeep, 100% stock, to trails that were a little too difficult for the base Jeep, but it was fun. in 2019, exactly when the Jeep was 1 year old it was totaled. Wife and I decided to get another JL, but I had the opportunity to upgrade to a Rubicon or a 4 door. We both had new jobs, great salaries, could afford the Rubicon no problem and had set up an appointment to go over a 2019 4 door Rubicon. I started getting second thoughts about the 4 door, so the dealer showed us a Sport S 2 door, not a Rubicon. They had an awesome deal for this sport, but it didn't have lockers. My wife and I left the dealer to have lunch and talk over it. The savings were considerable over the Rubicon, we could buy this Jeep outright with the insurance money. We thought about all the upgrades we wanted for our house, the investments for the kid we were planning to have, camping trips, etc etc.... So many things we could do with that extra 12k. Did I really need that Rubicon?

I bought the Sport S, and been keeping the upgrades "budget oriented". I have a rubicon suspension on it, metal bumpers, winch, tranny/engine skid plate, front locker, rear LSD, rubicon M/T takeoffs, and a few other things. I have taken that Jeeps on tough trails, I've picked hard lines, I've pushed its limits. And everytime I pushed its limits I upgrade the weak point. Then I push it again.

Last week I ordered bilstein shocks. Another upgrade.... and while I was having a Whiskey by our restored 100 year old fireplace. I realized all these "budget" upgrades were adding up to thousands. Thousands that could be used to add more upgrades to our home, thousands that could be invested into the stock market for us or for our daughter. Thousands that could cover camping trips. I realized this is never gonna end. Jeeps are expensive, not just the vehicle itself, but the hobby. It is really expensive, and you can always increase the challenge as you increase the capabilities of your Jeep. I've done difficult trails with my Jeep, I've had lots of fun, it is extremely capable and I could take it to many Jeep trails other cars will struggle big time. I have no regrets. It can take lines only Jeeps can, it can take me to places no other car can. Pushing these boundaries would take me to even more places, but it costs lots of money. I made a difficult decision, the decision to stop pushing my little Jeep and spend my funds elsewhere. Because if I don't stop now, I never will.

I wanted to share my story because I know that lots of you have spent a lot more on these Jeeps that you initially thought you would. Those of you with Sports, and Rubicons (Saharas dont count - just kidding). I have wheeled my Jeep at every stage, from bone stock, to suspension upgrade, to tire upgrade, to winch and lockers. Your Jeep, at its current state is extremely capable. Rubicon or not. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of spending thousands more on your Jeep then you don't have to. Don't let forums and youtube tell you how capable your Jeep is. Let the trails tell you, let YOUR skills tell you. Then decide for yourself, do you really want to spend thousands more to take that line?.

This feels like an intervention. Did my wife put you up to this?

 

[HungryHound]

I bought the Jeep for one reason, to Jeep travel. Specifically to travel to Alaska in retirement. I bought a Rubicon because of its extra Capacity for off road Performance. I believe in using approx 70% of the capacity of my vehicles ability. I did not need lockers, I wanted lockers not to get somewhere, but to get out of somewhere if that makes sense. To me lockers, winches, bigger tires, lift is all about increasing the capacity of the vehicle to get out of something. My main goal was that my wife would not have to walk 60 miles out of the mountains or desert or where ever.

About 6 years ago, I saw this video,




We are long time off road enthusiasts and said to my wife hey check this out. This is what we need to do in retirement. She was all in. I started an investment account specifically to save towards the down payment of the Jeep. I saved for 3 years and ordered the Jeep about 3 weeks after retirement. I could have ordered it right after retirement, but a day after I retired, I loaded up the ATVs with a friend and left Michigan to South Dakota for a couple weeks of ATVing in the Black Hills.

So after buying the Jeep, I had three years to build it the way I wanted for our trip to Alaska. I say three years, because my wife retired three years after me. We used those three years to build and get us ready for extended Jeep travel.

I am probably just over $27,000 in upgrades, and maintenance to the Jeep in the last three years. This does not include the money spent on the camper and the camper upgrades. That would be a different thread. We have probably spent that much Jeep traveling all over the US during this time.

In the last three years we have done a lot of Jeep traveling........ A LOT.

So for the upgrade and I have done a lot, the only one that I think was unnecessary is the snorkel from Rugged Ridge. I had not intended to do this, but showed it to my wife and she was like buy it. She is way more gungho than I am and when I showed her the snorkel, she pressed the buy now button........ If I left the upgrades to her, the Jeep would be on one tons with a hellcat Hemi motor in it. I literally had the discussion with her about 1 tons and a Hemi. A $70,000 upgrade and she was like BUY IT! I was like hey we could have a new C8 Corvette for that price and she said, "Fuck that Corvette get the Hemi."

So we are 20 days away from leaving on a 11 1/2 month Jeep wheeling, hiking and camping trip. That has evoked from a solo trip for me and my wife to three Jeeps with campers and five of us going. We have set aside 10 weeks for Alaska. We will do all the western states from the Mexico border to Dead Horse Alaska and back to Michigan.

This is kind of what our point of interest look like on the map. This does not include BOH trails or any wheeling that we will do along the way.

Believe it or not, the Jeep to me is nothing more than a vehicle to take me places. I love to travel and see thing and experience life. So now I Jeep travel. I used to motorcycle travel. Motorcycled all over the US and Canada for years, ATVed and SxS all over the US. To me it is about having a vehicle that will take you places that other vehicles may not. So sold my motorcycle a year ago August. Why, well there was just no where left that I wanted to ride my motorcycle to. Also, my wife that would also ride her own motorcycle or ride with me just could not stand the long days on the bike anymore so she was also less inclined to go with me. I remember the day well that I decided to sell off my motorcycle. I had came home from a 250 mile ride and was like that was just unfulfilling. The fun was gone. I had the Jeep at this time and was Jeeping often with my wife. The ATV and SxS were not getting used as we took the Jeep north now. They had to go too.

We were pretty much exclusively Jeep traveling.


So to finish up, when I was 23 years old I met a guy that turned into a mentor for me. He said to me, make sure you travel and see the world. Show the world to your kids. Let them know the world is larger than their home town. He follows with your kids will never care that you bought new leather furniture or put a bigger deck on your home. They will remember the experience of travel for ever. I went home and told my wife that we need to set aside five grand a year to travel on and we did. 5 grand was the base line. At times it required a lot of overtime to make it happen and I did a lot of overtime at different periods in my life to make it happen. The point is is happened. My now adult kids will often reminisce with my wife and I about past travel. It is priceless.

The thing is have a plan for your Financial future, don't spend it all on today, put some away for tomorrow. It is a balance, there will be things that you do in your twenties that will no longer be fun in your thirties and so on and so on. Just as there will be things that you will do in your forties or even your fifties that you may not be able to do in your sixties or seventies. It is all about balance and timing. You get one chance to get it right. Time is the only thing that can't be bought but can be spent. Spend it wisely or foolishly is on the individual.

Fuck I am wordy this morning. I should have just said spend your money on the things that bring you joy and experience while building a secure financial future.

Have a great trip. We too have started doing "Jeep Trips" again.

 

[HungryHound]

For me, it's always about buying in at the most capable level for a Jeep. I went from a '98 Sahara (had all the offroad goodies before the Rubicon came out) to a '21 Rubicon. Money wasn't a concern since I made the payments to my savings account after the Sahara was paid off. Even had money left over.

As noted by others, buy the Jeep you need. I use mine as a Jeep and a daily driver. The JL does both better than the TJ. I looked at the Willys and upgrades made it more expensive than the Rubicon for what I need in a Jeep.

Our first trip was to Moab and surrounding states. I would not have been happy with anything less than the Rubi. I pushed its limits in stock form (added a winch and secure cargo box). Again, I've been wheeling for 40 years, so I needed a vehicle to match my getting stuck skill level. I'll eventually get 35s and a little lift after the 33s wear out and the warranty is gone, but that's it. My 23 year old TJ is still stock and probably worth a fortune, but it's still fun to drive on the weekends so I'll keep it too.

Happy Jeepin'

 

[OllieChristopher]

I bought the Jeep for one reason, to Jeep travel. Specifically to travel to Alaska in retirement.

The Alaska trip is on my bucket list to do on my Super Tenere. My plan is to go to obscure places in Canada and Alaska. Going up Dalton to Deadhorse and other "popular routes" does not interest me. I'm all about the roads less traveled!!

I will tell you a Jeep sure will be much more comfortable!!

 

[OllieChristopher]

My 23 year old TJ is still stock and probably worth a fortune, but it's still fun to drive on the weekends so I'll keep it too.

I was curious and checked what a loaded 1998 AMC Sahara is worth NADA. You are right!! $6,995.00 average and $11,000.00 high retail in TN!!

I'm blown away at the ridiculous high value a old Jeep is worth!!

 

[HungryHound]

I was curious and checked what a loaded 1998 AMC Sahara is worth NADA. You are right!! $6,995.00 average and $11,000.00 high retail in TN!!

I'm blown away at the ridiculous high value a old Jeep is worth!!

When I went to pick up the '21, 4 salesmen gathered around the TJ while I was inside. The fact that it was still stock (I put 31s on it, but no lift, no rub) amazed them. Of course, when I walked up behind them, I had to ask "what's it gonna take to get you boys into this Jeep today?".

I've seen them going for $20k in Florida. Don't know if they're selling that high, but folks are asking.

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