So, my wife and I had tossed around the idea of buying a nice Tacoma TRD offroad to build into a weekend wheeler/camper. Well, we came close to going to getting one and after a second look, decided to shelve that idea and I was given a budget to work with to acquire a vehicle to build. My criteria wasn't too restrictive- the whole thing has to be done on the cheap, so parts can't be outrageous. 4x4, capable of towing 1k-2k pounds several times a year, room for the dogs, my tools preferably room to sleep in the back when needed. Not too bad. I was looking at FS Broncos, Blazers, Cherokees, and other cars of the like. Historically, I don't like Grand Cherokees, but in my search for Cherokees, I found that the bigger brother Grand Cherokees had good reviews and was much cheaper for the mileage and condition. So enter the 2Grand Cherokee: 208,000 miles 2002 4.0 Grand Cherokee Laredo. Rebuilt motor seems runs well, no smoke, and perfect oil pressure. It's got a few inches of spacer lift, some pretty tired mud terrains, and looks like it was a mall crawler. No clunks, or rattles. The bad: A/C leaks, so I need to hunt that down. But thanks to Rightpedal's help, I have two vehicles with functional A/C at the moment, so I can be patient and not drive this till I get the A/C fixed. Rear window regulators are bad, and the power steering pump sings. That's all that I see at the moment. As the name implies, initial purchase cost is $2000, so that's where the total sits now.
The plans:
-Tires- going for a simple LT265/75/16 Tire- stock size for lots of trucks, a bit bigger than stock/what's on there now, should be a good compromise between off/on road performance.
I'm thinking of either Wrangler Authorities- a Wally world exclusive that seems to have good reviews, Kenda Klever M/Ts, or a set of Treadright recap A/Ts. All cheap enough I can get five of them and have a matching spare.
-Trans Cooler, because automatic
-Bumpers/winch/tow points- Time to start collecting steel and a welder. I want solid places to pull from, and I'll start hunting for a workable winch and hopefully spring for a synthetic winch cable.
-Hitch/trailer- I'm going to borrow my dad's trailer for some winter projects, so while I'm in MI we're going to do this part of it.
-interior will get set up with a secondary floor for gear and stuff with a top deck for an air mattress.
-Skid plates/maybe rock sliders
-Roof rack/awning
Beyond that, not much to do. Since it'll be a daily driver, driveline mods only to beef it up. Maybe in the long run an 8.8 ford/LSD if the right deal comes down to replace the glass D35 rear in it now.
Oh, and it's a selec-trac so the transfer case goes 2wd/AWD/4HI/4LO, not the normal full time AWD. It also missed the dual zone climate control that seems to go bad in these,
The plans:
-Tires- going for a simple LT265/75/16 Tire- stock size for lots of trucks, a bit bigger than stock/what's on there now, should be a good compromise between off/on road performance.
I'm thinking of either Wrangler Authorities- a Wally world exclusive that seems to have good reviews, Kenda Klever M/Ts, or a set of Treadright recap A/Ts. All cheap enough I can get five of them and have a matching spare.
-Trans Cooler, because automatic
-Bumpers/winch/tow points- Time to start collecting steel and a welder. I want solid places to pull from, and I'll start hunting for a workable winch and hopefully spring for a synthetic winch cable.
-Hitch/trailer- I'm going to borrow my dad's trailer for some winter projects, so while I'm in MI we're going to do this part of it.
-interior will get set up with a secondary floor for gear and stuff with a top deck for an air mattress.
-Skid plates/maybe rock sliders
-Roof rack/awning
Beyond that, not much to do. Since it'll be a daily driver, driveline mods only to beef it up. Maybe in the long run an 8.8 ford/LSD if the right deal comes down to replace the glass D35 rear in it now.
Oh, and it's a selec-trac so the transfer case goes 2wd/AWD/4HI/4LO, not the normal full time AWD. It also missed the dual zone climate control that seems to go bad in these,
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