Sinking Creek 4WD Association

Slinkey:
2000 Jeep Wrangler Sport

Fr: D30, ARB, 4.88's, PSC cover
Rr: D44, ARB, 4.88's, Alloy USA shafts, PSC cover
Eng: 4.0, K&N, Bored TB
Tran: NV3550
Tcase: NV241OR
5.5" Rubicon Express Long Arm w/ RE monotube shocks
37x12.50R15 Good Year MT/R
PSC cage
Front Warn bumper, Warn 9.5ti, Amsteel Blue
Rear Warn bumper w/ tire carrier & BMW hi-lift mount
Kilby skids
Currie HD steering- waiting to be put on
Nth degree shock shifters and spring relocators- waiting to be finished

lol @ washout flop


nice pose on kodak though

shmoken875 wrote:

hutch wrote:Sad thing is, I didn't even want it, but it falls back to the ole you scratch my back, and I scratch yours kinda thing.

wanna give it to me?

Umm...........





























NO



It came in pretty handy as a tax break this year, so I guess it has some good qualities.

jäger-kreister:

did you ever get video of slinkey pulling wheelies in the foxridge parking lot?

affende wrote:lol @ washout flop


nice pose on kodak though

Kreis dont pose. DUde gets it.

And I forgot about that pic, I test drove the fawk outta that cage to make sure it was good enough for you.

Leach wrote:

affende wrote:lol @ washout flop


nice pose on kodak though

Kreis dont pose. DUde gets it.

judging by the flop on washout (by the looks of it kreis was driving down the washout .... diagonally lol) i wouldnt doubt that one bit.

yeah, he was driving down it with the passenger side tire on the bank, not down in the washout.

Trust me, that made for a long night.

Ok, now I'm gonna be nosey. Less the cost of the Jeep itself, how much have you spent on that damn thing in "extras"?

affende wrote: judging by the flop on washout (by the looks of it kreis was driving down the washout .... diagonally lol) i wouldnt doubt that one bit.

driving down the washout, somewhat diagonal, around 1am I believe it was. Flexed they hell out of her right up until she went over...



tried backing out of it and saving her like so many other times, but it was too late and the front tires grabbed hard and spun me around...



made for a very looooonnnnngggggg night....





for general knowledge...
TJ flop on passenger side = minimal problems
TJ flop on driver's side = oil fills throttle body and cylinders = big f'in mess

hutch wrote:Ok, now I'm gonna be nosey. Less the cost of the Jeep itself, how much have you spent on that damn thing in "extras"?

I started to figure it out once, including previous smaller lifts that have come and gone, and I stopped and burned the list in order to maintain my sanity...

I would say in full life cycle, 2", 4", 6", 33's, 35's, 37's decent lift, crappy lift, finally long arms, gears, lockers, many wheels and tires bent and toasted along the way, (TWO bfg sidewalls sliced open at same exact time at Kodak, buying a thornbird to get home ) NV241 to replace 231 that exploded on 81, winch, bumpers, yada yada yada, has to be in the 15-16 k neighborhood ...this is excluding money made back from selling things such as stock pieces, upgraded lift pieces and tires and such as I upgrade.

I worked 90+ hours a week doing construction last summer of high school and every summer and break in college. This gave me a dangerous cash flow and the jeep had some nice growth spurts at times when I was single...

Slinkey wrote:

hutch wrote:Ok, now I'm gonna be nosey. Less the cost of the Jeep itself, how much have you spent on that damn thing in "extras"?

I started to figure it out once, including previous smaller lifts that have come and gone, and I stopped and burned the list in order to maintain my sanity...

I would say in full life cycle, 2", 4", 6", 33's, 35's, 37's decent lift, crappy lift, finally long arms, gears, lockers, many wheels and tires bent and toasted along the way, (TWO bfg sidewalls sliced open at same exact time at Kodak, buying a thornbird to get home ) NV241 to replace 231 that exploded on 81, winch, bumpers, yada yada yada, has to be in the 15-16 k neighborhood ...this is excluding money made back from selling things such as stock pieces, upgraded lift pieces and tires and such as I upgrade.

I worked 90+ hours a week doing construction last summer of high school and every summer and break in college. This gave me a dangerous cash flow and the jeep had some nice growth spurts at times when I was single...

That's about what I figured. From the math I've done, it looks like what I want to build will cost me in the 15-20K range. 15 being if I keep my senses, the higher number, if I go all out drop 3 grand on wheels, or something stupid like that. The biggest issue for me, is having the time to work on it. I don't want to half ass it, so it would take a lot of time. I figure it would be cheaper in the long run to just build it once instead of in "stages". I can't see getting much of a return on used parts, so factor in the loss from "upgrading" vs. whatever the down time is worth just to wait on what you really want . I guess what the down time is worth varies from person to person. I still think I would be better off just to go find something pretty much like I want and buy it instead of build it.

hutch wrote: That's about what I figured. From the math I've done, it looks like what I want to build will cost me in the 15-20K range. 15 being if I keep my senses, the higher number, if I go all out drop 3 grand on wheels, or something stupid like that. The biggest issue for me, is having the time to work on it. I don't want to half ass it, so it would take a lot of time. I figure it would be cheaper in the long run to just build it once instead of in "stages". I can't see getting much of a return on used parts, so factor in the loss from "upgrading" vs. whatever the down time is worth just to wait on what you really want . I guess what the down time is worth varies from person to person. I still think I would be better off just to go find something pretty much like I want and buy it instead of build it.

I would definitely recommend doing it once and doing it "right" the first time. Mine being done in stages was never planned, but in hindsight I think it was for the best, as the jeeps abilities and mine grew together (even though its abilities will always be superior to mine). When I bought the Jeep, my idea of wheeling was hitting a couple mud holes down at Quantico. I never thought it would have turned out the way it did. I stared with some coils spacers, body lift and 33's. The jump to 35's was purely a want. Then as time went on most things were upgraded out of "need." Put on a real crappy 4" lift, then replaced it with RE 4.5" spring which road bad with the crappy lift’s control arms. Toasted my stock rear spiders gears and had it welded up to get by. Then I made the leap to gears and lockers and long arms all at the same time. That was the biggest spurt. Most other items have been upgrades as things break or wear out.

My problem in college was I had a place to work on the jeep during the summer, but had no time. Then back at school I had the money from summer and plenty of free time but no good place to work on it. Most of my modifications were done in the parking lot at Foxridge. Borrowed a shop press from Delaney to use out on my balcony and pulled the axles out from under the jeep and installed the ARB's and gears in my kitchen during the winter. Put the axles back under with the long arms ready to go. Much thanks to Wilfong for the help.

You are correct in assuming there isn't much money in selling old parts. It is basically a sunk cost and anything you can get is free money at that point. Like I said, there wasn't a real plan. I got decent money for selling tires, but that's because I never wore a set out and got rid of them with a lot of life left for the next person.

I will build another when I get more settled down with work and all in a few years, but it will be done right the first time and will be something I piddle with on weekends and will probably take a couple years to complete. It will be more relaxing than this buildup. This was my DD for over 5 years, I did a good amount of mods to it while still making payments on it. Had many a weekend on off road trips where I didn't know if I would ever make it back to tech for classes on Monday morning because the jeep was broken.

It is hard to evaluate the relative cost and value of putting your own time in to a rig as opposed to buying one pretty much the way you want it. Obviously when I was in school my only option was to chug along and upgrade as the budget allowed. Now that I work full time, make a decent salary, and am lacking in free time, I find more often than not, my time is more valuable to me than what it costs to have things done by others (in general, not the jeep), but at the end of the day, I think it is a lot more fun wheeling something knowing it has your blood, sweat, and tears built into it.

sorry for being so long winded.
PS sticker on jeep was $24k to begin with that's not what I paid though

hutch wrote:That's about what I figured. From the math I've done, it looks like what I want to build will cost me in the 15-20K range. 15 being if I keep my senses, the higher number, if I go all out drop 3 grand on wheels, or something stupid like that. The biggest issue for me, is having the time to work on it. I don't want to half ass it, so it would take a lot of time. I figure it would be cheaper in the long run to just build it once instead of in "stages". I can't see getting much of a return on used parts, so factor in the loss from "upgrading" vs. whatever the down time is worth just to wait on what you really want . I guess what the down time is worth varies from person to person. I still think I would be better off just to go find something pretty much like I want and buy it instead of build it.

Hutch once the BJ is a bit more buttoned up maybe we could talk about sending one of your Jeeps to school.
________
Jaguar xj

Slinkey wrote:
It is hard to evaluate the relative cost and value of putting your own time in to a rig as opposed to buying one pretty much the way you want it. Obviously when I was in school my only option was to chug along and upgrade as the budget allowed. Now that I work full time, make a decent salary, and am lacking in free time, I find more often than not, my time is more valuable to me than what it costs to have things done by others (in general, not the jeep), but at the end of the day, I think it is a lot more fun wheeling something knowing it has your blood, sweat, and tears built into it.

I feel ya there. My free time to me right now is worth a lot. A lot of the "little things" I need done, I pay someone to do, just so I can halfway try to keep up with everything else I need to get done. On the flip side, big things like a Jeep build, I really want to do myself. The other slight delima is the knowledge of fab work and welding that will need to be done. Set a Harley frame in front of me, throw all the parts in the floor, and I'll have you riding in a couple days. Stick a tape measure in my hand, and tell me to weld on new spring perches for an SOA set up, well that might take as long as building the bike. I grew up with Chevy's and Harley's with only a couple goals for either one. Make it haul ass, and make it look damn good.
Obviously, building a Jeep to wheel has little to do with hauling ass or looking good, so I'm kinda stuck while I try to learn a new aspect of wrenching.

just booger weld and duct tape the fucker, it'll run