Sell the 4 door MJ or keep? Decisions decisions

[043500]

Alright I'm in a debate with myself.

A fair few of you know I bought a 70% complete 4 door MJ a couple years ago with the intention of it being my oldest son Calvin's first daily driver.

Well in lieu of divorce and other life things happening nothing major has been accomplished on it.
Calvin will be 15 this November and I don't see turning this thing into a 16 year old kid's DD by the time he is 16.
Could I do it cheaply and half assed...yes. Would he be happy with it...yes. Would I feel good about it...not really.

It sill needs back doors fabbed, converted to 4wd (not a necessity but...LOL ), paint job, new rockers fabbed up, roof line body work will need to be completed, paint job



My goal is that if my Christmas bonus is close to what it was last year is buy Cal a decent 4WD XJ and do a few things to it for him then drive it over the next year so once he is 16 it should have any major bugs/issues worked out.

My thoughts are
1) keep it...it runs and drives now. If I get rockers welded back in it (I can get 2X4 and 2X6 steel affordably enough to do so) I could feasibly put it on the road then as a back up DD just w/o doors. No biggie I rarely drive my MJ with doors on anyway. I drove a CJ5 for nearly a year as a DD and rarely even put the top on much less doors. I can always convert it to 4WD once I allocate parts and time and eventually could have the rear doors fabbed correctly and the roof line body work done right.

2) OR sell it. Use that money either towards Cal's "new" XJ OR put it towards my MJ...which needs tires, tierod and draglink shortened, new rear brakes, T-case clocked which will require new or modified X-member and the list continues.

3) OR go ahead and get an estimate on getting it done within the next year...at least the bodywork that we cannot do? I'm almost afraid to see what it will cost. PLUS this rig would really be DD only as with it being so long and then being what it is I doubt trail riding it would be a smart idea. I know he will want to do some offroading in his own rig once he has it.

I feel somewhat naked now not having a back up vehicle...which for a while Cal's would be until he turns 16 and needs it daily...but my dodge although running strong has 207K miles and climbing. So selling the 4 door would not effect me that way for about a year...but then I do miss having a jeep just to tool around in...and the MJ is not conducive for much street driving at all plus it's getting less and less practical as my kids grow. Cal can't use the "back seat" at all any more in my MJ and Luke and Maddie are growing like weeds so it's only a matter of time before they don't fit either...which of course brings me to a 2nd dilemma of not having a family friendly trail rig soon and I don't know what I'm going to do with that...that's gonna be a hard one without either getting rid of my MJ and getting another XJ or just trying to have 2 trail rigs...which in my case would be a luxury I may not be able to afford.

So I've yammered enough. Just trying to get ideas as time is running out and I don't have the time nor the funds to do everything I want!

[themauler]

Not everyone is going to agree but sell the 4 door MJ to another cherokee enthusiast. Use that money to buy a 4 door XJ and repair your trail rig. Statistically there is a good chance you could dump a ton of body work money into the 4 door MJ and then it gets totaled in an accident then you end up with nothing.

I believe that will keep everyone happy

[Lowrange2]

Sell the 4dr MJ. Without hesitation. Buy a nice little late model XJ for the oldest.

Part out your trail rig. While I know it might be difficult to part with, you don't have the opportunity to use very often and a mildly built streetable XJ would be MUCH more practical for you. That would solve your backup DD issue and family not fitting issue.

[043500]

Hey Nick. You interested? LOL And I had thought about that putting that much into it and then if something did happen to it that'd be a hard pill to swallow.

Yeah Andy that's what I've been toying with.

Getting rid of the trail rig would be tough though...not even sure I'd part it out. Probably just sell as is. Damn it hurts even saying it. Having 2 XJ's one for me and one for Calvin sounds enticing though.

[Ghost]

I'd sell the 4 door for sure. GL!

[Cottontail]

Dump the project and get you a "new" XJ for Calvin. Yep. Sounds like there is a lot of agreement....

[043500]

LOL I just listed the 4 door MJ for sale. Will put pics up later today or tomorrow.

Now to debate on selling the trail rig.

[XjNick95]

Just as a thought... since you have a cummins and all... If you sell or part out the trail rig to get a father and son XJ combo.. and also if he gets into wheeling. Get your self a decent sized goose neck or tag along to haul both rigs behind the cummins to the trials.

[043500]

Originally Posted by XjNick95

Just as a thought... since you have a cummins and all... If you sell or part out the trail rig to get a father and son XJ combo.. and also if he gets into wheeling. Get your self a decent sized goose neck or tag along to haul both rigs behind the cummins to the trials.

That's on my wish list...but I'm also hoping to have at least 1 jeep that can make the drive anywhere anyway.

[Lowrange2]

Originally Posted by 043500

Hey Nick. You interested? LOL And I had thought about that putting that much into it and then if something did happen to it that'd be a hard pill to swallow.

Yeah Andy that's what I've been toying with.

Getting rid of the trail rig would be tough though...not even sure I'd part it out. Probably just sell as is. Damn it hurts even saying it. Having 2 XJ's one for me and one for Calvin sounds enticing though.

You'll get double the money parting it out.

Assuming you have desirable axles and all.

[xjtrailrider]

I feel for you on the divorce thing, puts a dent into plans for sure.

Sell the 4 door MJ, get the kid a XJ. Do a mild build on it and let him take it from there, he will be too broke to get into trouble from that point LOL!

[043500]

So Calvin doesn't know it yet but I worked out a deal with YellowXJ (Travis).

He has a ;93 XJ 2 door...solid body etc. CHEAP with clean title. I can put the motor and rear end and front suspension in it from the 4 dr MJ and then put it aside (I even though about making the bed into a trailer). Would be a matter of getting rear lift springs, wheels/tires, and then a front axle, and 4wd trans and t-case.

We're going with the story that Travis is buying the 4 dr MJ to use to fix up the 93 2 dr XJ...then once we've all worked on it for a few weekends between his birthday (Nov 30) and Christmas it will be his "present" as it were for both of those occasions.


So a little side jump from the initial idea to sell it but it will donate a LOT of parts to get him rolling and a back up rig for us for a little while.