Most expensive mistake you have made when building / modifying a rig? (1 Viewer)

[PGH854runner]

For me...getting into this gawd damned addiction in the first place!
Went on ONE FRIGGIN TRIP and now Im eternally BROKE and completely devoid of any other thoughts than 4 wheeling and cruisers. Try having friends who do NOT wheel...conversation is suddenly NOT easy.
I have to STOP myself from talking about rigs and 4 wheeling as most people develop little X's over their eyes and little birds start flying around their heads.

i thought this was only me!!!........this is why i come on here!!lol

 

[4rnr]

My most expensive mistake was when I sent my 80 up to Portal-Tek to get it worked on and have thier axles installed.

What I got back 4 years later was a shell, no slee 6" lift, 17" allied beadlock wheels, 37" krawlers (set of 5), 3" body lift, engine, transmission, transfercase, axles F&R, seats, windshield, nothing but the body, doors and frame.

Set me back 4 years and $30K

Im amazed you have access to 'mud in prision. Or did you get away with killing him in his front yard in front of his family with a spoon?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Im amazed you have access to 'mud in prision. Or did you get away with killing him in his front yard in front of his family with a spoon?

Honestly. I started watching that thread before things went south. Depressing story really.

 

[chicago]

Im amazed you have access to 'mud in prision. Or did you get away with killing him in his front yard in front of his family with a spoon?

x2
How did THAT happen!?!?!
They just parted it out on you? I dont get it?

 

[rusty_tlc]

For me...getting into this gawd damned addiction in the first place!
Went on ONE FRIGGIN TRIP and now Im eternally BROKE and completely devoid of any other thoughts than 4 wheeling and cruisers. Try having friends who do NOT wheel...conversation is suddenly NOT easy.
I have to STOP myself from talking about rigs and 4 wheeling as most people develop little X's over their eyes and little birds start flying around their heads.

I know that dull look in peoples eyes well.

I'd say joining up with Cruiser Club was the most expensive thing I ever did. I rode along on Rubicon with the Club Prez and started throwing money at my truck like it was a three dollar hooker and I was a sailor on leave.

I still don't classify it as a mistake though, great times, great people, no regrets.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I guess my most expensive mistake ( does free count as expensive? ) was accepting my first 60 as a gift. Needed an intake gasket but ran well after that. Stupid free truck started the addiction

 

[Cirbo]

Buying a TCI built 700R4 for the last project truck I built. What a POS.... and no support from those Fawkers.....

 

[4rnr]

Honestly. I started watching that thread before things went south. Depressing story really.

I figured there was a thread somewhere, in fact it did sound familiar. I think Ive heard the story before either on the board or around a camp fire....

 

[saucebox]

Buying a TCI built 700R4 for the last project truck I built. What a POS.... and no support from those Fawkers.....

x2. Worst $1500 ever. Lasted 6 mos., and all they would do is tell me I installed it wrong, and voided the warranty (and, for the record, I drug the whole damn car to their place in MS to prove that it wasn't hard-mounted to the frame/crossmember).

Other than that, I'd echo the rest. Spending way too much money to get something only to want to change/upgrade it a very short time later.

 

[Project FJ80]

Im amazed you have access to 'mud in prision. Or did you get away with killing him in his front yard in front of his family with a spoon?

lol, I here prision has everything we have out here, except you dont have to pay for it, the tax payers do.

But, I have to find him first.

 

[lenross1]

For me...getting into this gawd damned addiction in the first place!
Went on ONE FRIGGIN TRIP and now Im eternally BROKE and completely devoid of any other thoughts than 4 wheeling and cruisers. Try having friends who do NOT wheel...conversation is suddenly NOT easy.
I have to STOP myself from talking about rigs and 4 wheeling as most people develop little X's over their eyes and little birds start flying around their heads.

You're not alone! I want the rest of my family to buy cruisers so we can have a helluva fun family reunion!

at the very least we will have something interesting to talk about!

 

[ms018kmf]

Biggest mistake ever was buying a pair of used Bilstein 9100's for 450$. New 9100 coilovers are 550 each without springs so I think I can save some money here.

They were off of a full size Ford, I knew the spring rates were excessive for a mini but that wasn't the problem. I did not notice anything odd until I got the springs off. Somebody was welding too close to these things, the shocks had lots of welding pits and marks on the threads. The first round of thread cleaning was inadequate, the adjusters were moving fine without a load on them. However the adjusters would seize up on the damaged threads when the coilover was compressed.

I'm still trying to salvage these threaded parts. The replacement coilover bodies, adjusters and seals/wipers are about 500$ shipped. New coilovers would cost about the same as fixing these used ones.

Lesson: Don't be such a cheap ass with suspension components.

 

[chicago]

You're not alone! I want the rest of my family to buy cruisers so we can have a helluva fun family reunion!

at the very least we will have something interesting to talk about!

Yeup.
Trying to gauge weather people genuinely WANT TO HEAR about this crap or if they are just being "nice" is half of the battle.
Ive got a friend who doesnt know what end of a screw driver is the working end, but always reluctantly asks (out of politeness) how the build is going. If I continue with anything other than. "its good" he CHECKS OUT! So that is pretty much always my response now with most of the general population out there.
I feel SO ALONE in this world! Hence...why mud is considered a "porn" site in my house!

At least I have YOU GUYZ!!!!!

 

[GarageRat]

(what he said in the post right above)

Most the local yoda guys I know eventually get sick of my constant rambling even, at least until one of them breaks something or doesn't know what their options are for parts or needs some craigslist skills. Then I'm more popular than a nudist cheerleader at prom.


Oh and a new most expensive mistake, leaving the intake of a motor uncovered for literally 5 minutes while the carb was off. Sure enough some shrapnel got in and wreaked havoc on the pistons cracking 3 of them . Now the damn things completely bare steel because I figured I might as well restore it while I wait for some parts for the new motor to come off a huge backorder.

 

[Mad Chemist]

My most expensive mistake? Having a wife a wife that doesn't ask me about my checking account (we've been married for 4 years, and still keep separate bank account) allows me to spend more than I should. She's not the voice of reason I need at times!

 

[scottryana]

Most expensive would probably be trying to stay all Toyota when there are cheaper easier options out there.

I started building my 55 when there wasn't a lot of support for the 80 series axles and I had to wait forever on high steer arms. The motor was expensive and the wiring was foreign to the builders so it cost me way too much. I could have done junkyard 60's and a ramjet for 1/2 the cost.

The other expensive thing I did was find Ih8mud and Pirate4x4. Those fxxxers on those 2 sites are the ones that keep making me think about new things to buy. Even now I am thinking of a project that I really really shouldn't be.

Ryan

 

[chicago]

Most expensive would probably be trying to stay all Toyota when there are cheaper easier options out there.

I started building my 55 when there wasn't a lot of support for the 80 series axles and I had to wait forever on high steer arms. The motor was expensive and the wiring was foreign to the builders so it cost me way too much. I could have done junkyard 60's and a ramjet for 1/2 the cost.

The other expensive thing I did was find Ih8mud and Pirate4x4. Those fxxxers on those 2 sites are the ones that keep making me think about new things to buy. Even now I am thinking of a project that I really really shouldn't be.

OOOOH YEAH!
Mud and Pirate are the DEVIL!
For sure! you cant forget that. I can actually attibute this WHOLE Landcruiser thing to Orange FJ45. He was INSTRUMENTAL in BOTH of my cruiser purchases and a BIG influence in my current FJ40 build.

Georg IS THE DEVIL!!!!

 

[Jbissell]

Being a gear-head. Buying vehicles that spent their previous lives in the bitter rusty north.

Jman

 

[SNLC]

Somehow I ended up in this thread but it seems like it was a kind of fun/vent kind of a thread. Here are my past dramas.....covering nearly 15yrs.


#1: Paying assholes to do things they never did. This first happened in 2004 when I hired a shop in Denver called Linden Engineering to work on my 6x6 Pinzgauer. It happened again in 2009 when I bought a set of Portal-Tek axles from Rob and crew. Neither time did I get the royal shaft but also didn't get what I paid for and both times it left a foul taste in my mouth. A Note to any s***ty shops or vendors out there, you suck and may you rot in hell!!

#2: Built up my 83 Nissan Patrol for rock crawling. Round one of the build cost over $10k but only left me wanting more. One year of wheeling it and it was back on the chopping block. Round 2 netted much better results but in the end still needed many thousands of dollars to finish. By this time I was over rock crawling so scrapped the truck entirely. Parts and gear can/does get re-used but it is all the other stuff that was a waste.

#3: Having a diesel engine built in Australia. Sparing no expense on the engine build. While the engine is super sweet and being used in a new project, it didn't need a bunch of stuff I had done to it for the new project. The cost of this build was unreal, more than I am willing to say to people who are not close friends. Needless to say, if I could do it over, I would just buy a Turnkey v8 and never look back.

#4: Traded an 04 Tacoma that I had over $40k in for an FJ60 with a Ramjet v8. I was just over the Taco and after two months trying to sell it, the truck I wanted came along and the dude was willing to trade. I got the short end of the stick on this trade in a fairly big way. If doing it again, I would just sit on the truck longer to get what I wanted in the sell $$$ wise.

#5: Buying a 1980 LG61 Nissan Patrol in Colombia. I bought it at a good price at it was a killer truck. But I had to let it sit in Colombia for several years because when I bought it it was not 25yrs old yet. By the time it was 25yrs old, I had gotten hurt and had doc bills pilling up. Sold it for less than I had paid for it not counting nearly 3yrs of storage fees. It never made it to the USA.

#6: Selling an absolutely mint 40k original mile one owner 1966 Nissan Patrol for $10k. That was less than I had in it and had I done a few thousand more in work to it, it easily could have fetched $20k.

#7: Not staying focus on one truck. This has always been my problem and hopefully will not always be my problem! Countless thousands of dollars put into trucks only to let them go for nothing or never finish them.

Moral of my stories.....I never make money on trucks! I have learned some damn good hard lessons though and going into the next ten+ years of owning, building and using trucks I know the chapters will be written differently. No regrets though for the last 10+yrs with this hobby. I wouldn't be where I am today without the experiences, nor have the amount of gear laying around. My biggest advice to anybody new to the scene would be, buy the tools, do some research, learn to do it yourself, stay focused on one truck and see it through to the end!

Cheers

 

[1974FJ]

my bigger/most expensive mistake was building my truck as a daily driver/weekend wheeler when i subconsciously knew all along i was going to just wheel it and maybe drive it on Sunday... that being said i built it with a 5 speed manual and realized i would rather have an auto for wheeling. I built a great streetable rig with a 5speed and flawless body work and spent a alot of time and money turning into a auto just to beat it up.....i don't regret my decision because these things are meant to abuse but it has kept me from driving the thing for almost two years....

if you could tag members in your posts i would tag GLTHFJ60! we have had some fun wrenching on these bastards! as someone stated on the first page, this hobby has kept us from things like drugs/titty bars/gambling/other horrible habits and has made us more self sustaining individuals with much knowledge to pass on to others in need....