You know, it really boils down to your current needs/wants vis-a-vis your memories of what you had or liked or needed in the past. I guess since I cannot change the past, would just give the strong and weak points of what I owned. I've driven 2,000,000 miles in something with a transfer case, and have no regrets....except one: About 1970, I was on my way to a gig and passed a vacant lot with a strange grey crew cab over truck with a corrugated aluminum camper top, a for sale sign, and 5300 original miles. See so-and-so in apt. xxx. $650.00. The owner had died in a diving accident off Catalina Is. and his widow wanted that truck gone. What was it? A 1964 willys model FC 170, 6 pass, crew cab, mil spec as XM677, One ton, SRW, Cerlist 4 cyl. diesel engine/3 spd. trans./3 speed t. case (yes, 3), they only made 42 of these, 24volt system. That last aspect was my eventual undoing. I contacted the widow, told her I wanted it, and asked if I could try to jump start the engine first (as it had not run since his death) and tried one then the other battery to get the thing running. I couldn't get it going and after a while two guys came over and said, "get away from my truck." Wha.....? They had paid the widow, sight unseen and bought it right out from under me. Disappointing to say the least. But, I learned. If you see something you really want, DO NOT HESITATE. Cement the deal right away. Rigs: for better and for worse
1. 1949 Willys 2-door Utility Wagon. All metal. Chevy 283 V8. My first SOA. 3 speed. Dana-18 t.case. Studebaker 30% Overdrive. 5.38 gears. D27 front axle/D-41 rr axle. 7.00/16 NDCC tires, and ******** Cepek 11x15 Farm implement tires on 10" wheels. I broke every drivetrain part at one time or another.
2. 1966 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, ragtop, factory pto winch, 4.10's, matching jeep trailer. We drove all over the west and actually slept 2-3 of us in there. Poor carbeurator design. Fairly tough drivetrain except for those pesky Burfields.
3. 1970 Toyota Land Cruser FJ55, four door wagon. I put a Chevy 307 (I'm sorry) with a four-barrel in there. Also 4.10's. I added a Hone overdrive 27%, which was a bad mistake. Had to rebuild it twice. I added power steering. Tomba burro. Power Loc rr diff. 3" spring lift. Warn 8K winch. I used that winch more than 300 times and wore out the little spur gear, going thru 3 winch cables in the meantime. Why would I buy a wagon? Now have two young children to go camping with. Those kids are now in their 40's. 53 gallon replacement gas tank and six, 5-gallon jeep cans (4 on the Confer Toyota jeep trailer) Our kids grew up in this thing. I put 183K miles on it. This was our Baja Beach Bus.
4. 1982 Jeep CJ8 Scrambler. I wanted to put a Cadillac diesel engine in it, but the ARB had other ideas. I have this one to this day and have put a lot into it:
1982 Jeep CJ-8, desert sand and Nutmeg, by now all rattle can Sand. AGR power steering box and pump, MORE 1-1/2” forward steering box brackets, Chevy power discs front and Cadillac disc rear, removable 10 watt CB, Full Kayline Nutmeg soft top and full soft doors, windjammer, 1/2 doors and bikini top, custom soft cab top, custom rear tonnau cover, rear seat. The frame has been beefed up, gusseted, and patched over and over again.
ENGINE: built for torque. Peak torque: 1400 rpm. Pulls down to 300 rpm.
4.4L I-6 block and crank, with .060” overbore pistons and rings,
4.0L, High Output head with Mopar MPI fuel injection, Hesco adjustable fuel regulator
Hesco with gage. H-264-14 cam (.470” lift) and Cloyes double roller timing gears and chains advanced 4 degrees, High Volume oil pump,
stock ‘95 XJ exhaust header, 2.5” aluminized tubing, cat and12” glasspack.
hand throttle, MORE engine mounts.
2-5/8” AutoMeter gauges (0-4K tach, oil, temp, Volt, Vacuum)
DRIVETRAIN:
NP-435 (6.69.3.34/1.66/1.00/8.26) Adapter by Advance
clocked Dana 300 w/ 5 gear TeraLow 4:1 gears, and Currie twin sticks, Woods drive shafts w/ extra long splines, 6 bolt SuperWinch hubs, u-bolt style u-joints, 130:1 crawl Dana 44, 30 spline front, w/ARB, Warn 4330 ChroMoly shafts, ChroMoly steering-over rods with 1 ton TRE's, Parts Mike steering-over knuckles, CTM U-joints, 4.88:1 Dana 60, 35 spline rear w/ARB, Mosier H.D. shafts, 4.88:1. 4XDoctor pig cages
SUSPENSION:
Springs-Over-Axle w/ 6 leaf RE SOA 2-1/2” lift springs with front reverse shackles.. Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks. H.D. shackles. Extra long S.S. brake hoses.
OFF-ROAD OUTFITTING:
Fenders trimmed to clear 36-13.50-15 Super Swamper IROC's on Rock Crawler 10” wheels, and 37-13.50-16 TCL ProComp XTerrains on 8” wheels
Extra wide rubber fender lips. Currie steering brace and welded/over boxed front frame horns, Radiator saver. Stubby 'rockhugger' front bumper, Ford Mutt recovery “D” rings. roll cage, Wrecking Ball Proof custom rocker panels, "Off-Your-Rocker" steel rear diamond plate quarter panels, 24 gal. steel tank and steel skid plate, Premier Power underhood welder (180 amp alternator), welding outfit, 4” AC grinder, Premier 20 lb. CO2 Power Tank. Class III hidden receiver hitch/ pintel Usual extra parts taken: regulator, hubs, spare T. case, frnt/rr yokes/ u-joints, complete rr driveshaft, main leaf with eyes, bag ‘o NBW's, some metal plate, brackets, strap, angle. Enough tools.
RECOVERY EQUP: Warn #8274 Winch, 20' and 30' towstrap, tree saver, snatch block, 3 “D” rings, 20' hardened chain with slip hooks, 4' breaker bar, Safety Seal tire repair kit. 60” hi lift jack. 4 ton bottle jack. 2 ton sissor jack. 2 ton come along. High volume 12v compressor. Pulled a M714 Viet Nam era SOA jeep trailer.
5. 1980 International Scout Traveller (118" wb), factory installed Nissan, 3.3L, 6 cyl. turbo diesel engine. T-19, all synchro 4 spd. 4.03:1 first gear/Dana 300, Texas pattern t. case. A great matchup. We put about 160K miles on this getting 21 mpg on the road. It was fuel sensitive and had two fuel filters. Only 101 HP. This was a great truck. It was well integrated and also the last gasp of the Scout brand.
6. 1990 Jeep XJ with Renix F.I. system (Renault). It was a good one until I rolled it 125 feet off a cliff in Telluride. Totaled.
7. 1989 Jeep XJ Limited replacing above XJ. both these had the bullet proof AW4 auto trans. This one had the just awful Bendix 9 anti lock brakes. After being part of a class action suit as it was terribly dangerous when you loose the accumulator, I just striped the entire system off the rig. Too much electronix already.
8. 2001.5 Dodge 3/4t. CTD. All the good stuff. Bought it new. I bought it because it had the best engine that had the best chance to outlive me. So far, so good.
9. 1999 Jeep XJ Classic. This is getting monotonous. We bought it as a snow car for my bride. It has been bullet proof.
10. 2004 Nissan Murano LE. all wheel drive. troublesome kiddie kar trans. pretty good mileage with traction control and a center diff lock, if no low range.
11. 2011 Jeep WK Grand Chero. Limited. All the bells and whistles. So far, a nice car for my queen.
12. 2009 Kioti 4wd, 3 cyl. 35 HP diesel tractor with a mongo rear pull snow blower among other things.
I think the only two I would have avoided would be the weak kneed Willys and the troublesome Murano. I liked all the others and they did what i expected them to do. Your life changes, and so does your ride. There is no going back. We have crossed the Rubicon.
regards, as always, jefe
elder of the tribe.
