- Location
- Ocala, FL USA
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!
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!
