Buggy building on a budget

[Mr.OverKill]

...... He's going to need to learn how to spot quickly. I don't want him to end up like Dave Taylor.

OH DAMN THATS GOTTA STING!! ( and i havent even been on the trail with david and i could feel the heat! )

 

[FarmerMatt]

OH DAMN THATS GOTTA STING!! ( and i havent even been on the trail with david and i could feel the heat! )

The truth always hurts, especially coming from a woman knocked up by CRASH. If a woman of that little intelligence understands you're a dweeb than you have issues & Taylor does have issues...

 

[Goatman]

Wow! Should I get this thread back on track?

Nah.....

 

[tealcherokee]

OUCH......couple of people throwin around some fireballs here......

nice buggys btw

 

[043500]

Wow! Should I get this thread back on track?

Nah.....

I think you just started this thread to see wha kind of wacky stuff we'd come up with.

 

[Goatman]

I think you just started this thread to see wha kind of wacky stuff we'd come up with.

And no one has.

I did, sort of. I also used it to think through some options for upcoming projects. Like everyone, I would like to have everything. A super reliable camping trail rig and fun driver, and a super capable light weight buggy.

Maybe someday......

 

[Roxtar]

I would like to have everything. A super reliable camping trail rig and fun driver, and a super capable light weight buggy.

The funny part is, isn't that why we picked an XJ?
To have it all?
So we built and built and built to be more and more capable of the one aspect.
Then one day we woke up realizing we'd lost the other.

 

[XJ_ranger]

The funny part is, isn't that why we picked an XJ?
To have it all?
So we built and built and built to be more and more capable of the one aspect.
Then one day we woke up realizing we'd lost the other.

exactly - room for 4, gear for 4, solid front axle...

now i never carry more than me and one passenger, rarely drive my XJ, have swaped a different axle in the front (same amount of effort to swap into any other vehicle)...

hmmm :wierd:

 

[Goatman]

The funny part is, isn't that why we picked an XJ?
To have it all?
So we built and built and built to be more and more capable of the one aspect.
Then one day we woke up realizing we'd lost the other.

Good point, that is why many of us built XJ's. Mine is still a great trail rig and, if I left the full doors on, it could still be a daily driver. It's become noisier as I keep removing things, but if I carpeted the roof like I've been meaning to it wouldn't be so bad.....the heater and A/C still work. It's a great all around rig, which is exactly what it was designed for.

It's just the lure of a bullet proof rig with no sheet metal to be concerned about and the fun of putting it into spots we wouldn't with our current rig.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

The funny part is, isn't that why we picked an XJ?
To have it all?
So we built and built and built to be more and more capable of the one aspect.
Then one day we woke up realizing we'd lost the other.

not all. i started with an XJ, cuz that's what I had.

 

[Lupine]

The truth always hurts, especially coming from a woman knocked up by CRASH. If a woman of that little intelligence understands you're a dweeb than you have issues & Taylor does have issues...

What kind of a dumba$$ insults a woman with at least four different kinds of hormones raging inside her body?

 

[woody]

I'm diggin this so I can learn & avoid as many traps as possible as I piece mine together.

Seema like a lot of it is just to forget about the cheap part... or at least make wise compromises
<edit> I probably fell into a trap from get-go by getting an oddball 60 for "cheap"

 

[BIGWOODY]

The funny part is, isn't that why we picked an XJ?
To have it all?
So we built and built and built to be more and more capable of the one aspect.
Then one day we woke up realizing we'd lost the other.

I first picked a Scout in 1991 and proceeded to dump close to 20k in it and it was still a POS. It sat at my house like yard art for 4 months when some other soon to be 4x4 poor guy offered to buy it, just for the 60's and the new 42TSLs on it..the best $3500 I ever made, I lost my ass but that PIT was out of my life and I was officially done with wheeling.A few years later along came a low milage 87 xj wagoneer with wood paneling for $700 it looked and drove like new. I noticed the D44 in the rear and decided to just put a small lift on it and that was it..no more money pits for me. First 3" and 31's then 5.5" and 33's..hmm needs gears now, might as well lock both ends too, "I mean I'm in there anyway" I told my wife, "what's a few hundred more to lock it?". Then 35's and hacking the body, "it's old and I didn't pay much for it, I'm just "trimming" it". After a near roll a cage was a must have, "geez, you want me to get hurt?" I told her. Then 36's, "hmm a good deal on beadlocks probably need those". "Honey, the SXs have a better sidewall than the TSLs, it'll save money in the long run". I started breaking front shafts a lot more than occasionally. The full width axle swap and now I was fully commited.
The XJ ended up crushed and parted out after blowing by the 20k mark in just a few shorts years. Then an MJ went through the same thing except expanding where the XJ left off.
This Oct. I quit fooling myself, after putting my wife through college for the last two years (it only ended up taking her 7 years to get a 4 year degree, her dad passed the tuition off to me after our marriage). I rewarded myself with a large budget buggy build and told my wife, "this is it, I'm done after this, no more mods etc.. when it comes out of the garage, it's officially done, period." She doesn't believe me and that's cool, it gives me room to add rear steer in the fall, after a spring and summer of wheeling.
The XJ is a badass platform, but if you get the bug really bad , a buggy seems to be the only cure, for me anyway.

 

[xj4moab]

Well said I am at the same point :laugh3:

I first picked a Scout in 1991 and proceeded to dump close to 20k in it and it was still a POS. It sat at my house like yard art for 4 months when some other soon to be 4x4 poor guy offered to buy it, just for the 60's and the new 42TSLs on it..the best $3500 I ever made, I lost my ass but that PIT was out of my life and I was officially done with wheeling.A few years later along came a low milage 87 xj wagoneer with wood paneling for $700 it looked and drove like new. I noticed the D44 in the rear and decided to just put a small lift on it and that was it..no more money pits for me. First 3" and 31's then 5.5" and 33's..hmm needs gears now, might as well lock both ends too, "I mean I'm in there anyway" I told my wife, "what's a few hundred more to lock it?". Then 35's and hacking the body, "it's old and I didn't pay much for it, I'm just "trimming" it". After a near roll a cage was a must have, "geez, you want me to get hurt?" I told her. Then 36's, "hmm a good deal on beadlocks probably need those". "Honey, the SXs have a better sidewall than the TSLs, it'll save money in the long run". I started breaking front shafts a lot more than occasionally. The full width axle swap and now I was fully commited.
The XJ ended up crushed and parted out after blowing by the 20k mark in just a few shorts years. Then an MJ went through the same thing except expanding where the XJ left off.
This Oct. I quit fooling myself, after putting my wife through college for the last two years (it only ended up taking her 7 years to get a 4 year degree, her dad passed the tuition off to me after our marriage). I rewarded myself with a large budget buggy build and told my wife, "this is it, I'm done after this, no more mods etc.. when it comes out of the garage, it's officially done, period." She doesn't believe me and that's cool, it gives me room to add rear steer in the fall, after a spring and summer of wheeling.
The XJ is a badass platform, but if you get the bug really bad , a buggy seems to be the only cure, for me anyway.

 

[Weasel]

And no one has.

I did, sort of. I also used it to think through some options for upcoming projects. Like everyone, I would like to have everything. A super reliable camping trail rig and fun driver, and a super capable light weight buggy.

Maybe someday......

does it have to look super nice all the time? I would like to keep building on the unibody idea...Lose some of the roof, maybe chop it in a bit, dovetail the rear, maybe front, and instead of adding 1/4" plate all over the place start adding laminates to key areas. Weld up all the seam in the unibody, ect. Still would have sheetmetal to dent but you could have what you want above. Would be more time consuming and require some thought but I think it would be neat.

 

[Goatman]

Well, here are some examples of XJ buggies. The issue for some of us is that we already have all the good parts on our rigs, just too much sheetmetal. So, where to go from there. Examples......since this is the subject, though these aren't necessarily budget.

Sean, OneTonXJ

Paul Sinclair

 

[Goatman]

Mark Hinkley

Dave Taylor

 

[Goatman]

Led Lancos

FarmerMatt

 

[BIGWOODY]

What's that in the background?

 

[Joe]

Richard,

Talk to Robert I think one of his friends had a buggy for sale or even trade. I don't really remember the facts, but give him a call.