MisterFubar
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So I've been throwing around the idea of getting rid of my wheeler project.
A little background. It's a 76 IH Scout that I bought in 2000. I built a fairly strong IH 345($$$) for it, rewired it and put an updated dash in, put a spring lift and 33's on it. The motor only had about 15 miles on it when I had to park it in a field for 18 months while I took a government sponsored vacation.
Fast forward 18 months. It took some work to get it drivable again and some of the bugs worked out after sitting in a field but I finally got it going again. Still running on the 33's but I swapped out my original Dana 44's for another set of D44's that were locked and had discs on the rear. After getting the new axles in and some other minor work done it I end up going on another vacation... this one was only 14 months.
During that vacation I went bench-building crazy and came up with some big plans for it and went on a part ordering frenzy. Ended up with a Dana 60 for the front and a 14 bolt for the rear, beadlocks, twin t-cases, fuel injection... the list goes on and on. Finally back home again I get my axles all built up, and start installing them and I find some major body rot, the only thing holding the floors together is the rhino-liner a previous owner had put down. No biggie, I pull the cage and start cutting the floors out. I ended up selling the cage because I planned on building a better one anyway.
Now it's about a year since I have worked on it, I've got a 5 month old daughter and it's sitting in the garage with no front axle, no floors or body mounts, and no fuel or ignition system. I really just don't have the desire to finish it, I know I'll lose my ass money wise if I part it now but I don't really care about that. I realized it's not really practical for what I need. It handled all the wheeling I ever did with the Dana 44's and 33" tires and I never broke anything, I had big plans to get out of the Midwest and go on some good wheeling trips but I have no desire to drive the thing across the country and I'm not going to buy a big truck just to tow it twice a year. Besides, I like wheeling for the scenery and a lot of what I would want to see or do in Moab or Colorado can be done in a rental Jeep.
So now I'm sitting here thinking I should just part/scrap the thing out. I know I'll make some decent coin back on the axles, and I already have a buyer lined up for the motor. I'm trying to think of any reasons to not do it, and the only thing I come up with is a little bit of sentimental value, and the fact that I have boxes and boxes of spare IH parts. I'm not sure if I want to deal with the hassle of selling them, and I won't throw/give away stuff I know is worth money.
So do I get rid of it and buy another stock IH for weekend drives and mild wheeling?
Do I get rid of it and throw a couple grand at my XJ and make it a little more wheelable?
Or do I man up, get my panties out of a wad and keep throwing money at it to get the stupid thing driving again?
A little background. It's a 76 IH Scout that I bought in 2000. I built a fairly strong IH 345($$$) for it, rewired it and put an updated dash in, put a spring lift and 33's on it. The motor only had about 15 miles on it when I had to park it in a field for 18 months while I took a government sponsored vacation.
Fast forward 18 months. It took some work to get it drivable again and some of the bugs worked out after sitting in a field but I finally got it going again. Still running on the 33's but I swapped out my original Dana 44's for another set of D44's that were locked and had discs on the rear. After getting the new axles in and some other minor work done it I end up going on another vacation... this one was only 14 months.
During that vacation I went bench-building crazy and came up with some big plans for it and went on a part ordering frenzy. Ended up with a Dana 60 for the front and a 14 bolt for the rear, beadlocks, twin t-cases, fuel injection... the list goes on and on. Finally back home again I get my axles all built up, and start installing them and I find some major body rot, the only thing holding the floors together is the rhino-liner a previous owner had put down. No biggie, I pull the cage and start cutting the floors out. I ended up selling the cage because I planned on building a better one anyway.
Now it's about a year since I have worked on it, I've got a 5 month old daughter and it's sitting in the garage with no front axle, no floors or body mounts, and no fuel or ignition system. I really just don't have the desire to finish it, I know I'll lose my ass money wise if I part it now but I don't really care about that. I realized it's not really practical for what I need. It handled all the wheeling I ever did with the Dana 44's and 33" tires and I never broke anything, I had big plans to get out of the Midwest and go on some good wheeling trips but I have no desire to drive the thing across the country and I'm not going to buy a big truck just to tow it twice a year. Besides, I like wheeling for the scenery and a lot of what I would want to see or do in Moab or Colorado can be done in a rental Jeep.
So now I'm sitting here thinking I should just part/scrap the thing out. I know I'll make some decent coin back on the axles, and I already have a buyer lined up for the motor. I'm trying to think of any reasons to not do it, and the only thing I come up with is a little bit of sentimental value, and the fact that I have boxes and boxes of spare IH parts. I'm not sure if I want to deal with the hassle of selling them, and I won't throw/give away stuff I know is worth money.
So do I get rid of it and buy another stock IH for weekend drives and mild wheeling?
Do I get rid of it and throw a couple grand at my XJ and make it a little more wheelable?
Or do I man up, get my panties out of a wad and keep throwing money at it to get the stupid thing driving again?
atriot: !
