The next build is beginning.
About 4 years ago I bought a 1988 Jeep Cherokee that had been sitting under a tree at my neighbors house for a few years. It had belonged to a friend of his mother who used as her DD. She was old and passed away and the car was not wanted by the daughter so it was parked under the tree. I have always been traveling the desert on motorcycles my whole life and the last few years been going on Jeep trips with a buddy of mine. So I bought the basically stock Cherokee with the intent of my wife joining me on some desert trips. I proceeded to go down the rabbit whole of building an off-road vehicle that would meet my needs. About 10K later the Jeep had dana 44 rear end with ARB locker, Arb front locker, 6 inch lift, tires, wheels, roof rack lights, bumpers, winch eat....
So I took it out and it would go anywhere I wanted to go, over just about anything through the brush whatever I threw at it. Then I drove my wife around in it and she said I'm not going out in that. Too loud to uncomfortable, didn't trust it act. So in came a brand new 2020 Jeep JL Unlimited Rubicon. That I proceeded to add all the needed goodies to. This time after owning it 2 years I was just fed up with the build quality and total ineptitude of the Jeep dealers. 2 months in the shop having both axles replaced, steering box replaced and other crap, but that's not really why I wasn't happy with it. Every time I took it out to the desert it was filthy inside. Where I usually go it's either too hot or too cold so I'm not a Jeep guy that wants to take off the top and doors and drive around. This is with the windows up most of the time. Also it's a 3 or 4 hour freeway drive out to the areas I roam around and the Jeep is loud and fairly uncomfortable. So I sold it. The good thing was I bought it right at the start of Covid and got it for almost 10K under list and sold it for 60K. so I got back all of the money I'd put into it.
Now here is the reason my wife and I were never happy. For the last 25 years we've been driving LX's as our daily drivers. When I had my business we'd lease them and get a new one every 3 or 4 years. Now that I'm retired I keep them a little longer and have a 2013 LX570 as our daily with a LX600 on order. I wasn't sure I wanted to turn the 570 into an off road rig because I couldn't stand the idea of beating it up with the brush and stuff I do off-road. So I found a very nice 05 LX470 that had been a corporate car in San Diego most of it's life. Great maintenance records and zero rust.
So now my next build begins. I've come to realize that I enjoy the build process almost as much as exploring the deserts and mountains with these rigs.
I have sliders on order from WK and am looking at different front and rear bumpers. I want to add lockers front and rear and will be asking advice from time to time from people who've been there and done that on this site. The Jeep XJ had a good site for info and the Wrangler JL site was awesome for info. I'm really glad that this site exist and thankful for all the info available.
I'll post pics occasionally of my progress and trips.
Covered in Dust
Chris
About 4 years ago I bought a 1988 Jeep Cherokee that had been sitting under a tree at my neighbors house for a few years. It had belonged to a friend of his mother who used as her DD. She was old and passed away and the car was not wanted by the daughter so it was parked under the tree. I have always been traveling the desert on motorcycles my whole life and the last few years been going on Jeep trips with a buddy of mine. So I bought the basically stock Cherokee with the intent of my wife joining me on some desert trips. I proceeded to go down the rabbit whole of building an off-road vehicle that would meet my needs. About 10K later the Jeep had dana 44 rear end with ARB locker, Arb front locker, 6 inch lift, tires, wheels, roof rack lights, bumpers, winch eat....
So I took it out and it would go anywhere I wanted to go, over just about anything through the brush whatever I threw at it. Then I drove my wife around in it and she said I'm not going out in that. Too loud to uncomfortable, didn't trust it act. So in came a brand new 2020 Jeep JL Unlimited Rubicon. That I proceeded to add all the needed goodies to. This time after owning it 2 years I was just fed up with the build quality and total ineptitude of the Jeep dealers. 2 months in the shop having both axles replaced, steering box replaced and other crap, but that's not really why I wasn't happy with it. Every time I took it out to the desert it was filthy inside. Where I usually go it's either too hot or too cold so I'm not a Jeep guy that wants to take off the top and doors and drive around. This is with the windows up most of the time. Also it's a 3 or 4 hour freeway drive out to the areas I roam around and the Jeep is loud and fairly uncomfortable. So I sold it. The good thing was I bought it right at the start of Covid and got it for almost 10K under list and sold it for 60K. so I got back all of the money I'd put into it.
Now here is the reason my wife and I were never happy. For the last 25 years we've been driving LX's as our daily drivers. When I had my business we'd lease them and get a new one every 3 or 4 years. Now that I'm retired I keep them a little longer and have a 2013 LX570 as our daily with a LX600 on order. I wasn't sure I wanted to turn the 570 into an off road rig because I couldn't stand the idea of beating it up with the brush and stuff I do off-road. So I found a very nice 05 LX470 that had been a corporate car in San Diego most of it's life. Great maintenance records and zero rust.
So now my next build begins. I've come to realize that I enjoy the build process almost as much as exploring the deserts and mountains with these rigs.
I have sliders on order from WK and am looking at different front and rear bumpers. I want to add lockers front and rear and will be asking advice from time to time from people who've been there and done that on this site. The Jeep XJ had a good site for info and the Wrangler JL site was awesome for info. I'm really glad that this site exist and thankful for all the info available.
I'll post pics occasionally of my progress and trips.
Covered in Dust
Chris
