I've reached that point in the hobby where it's really starting to require dedicated, special purpose gear. And the first "need" to be satisfied will be a dedicated set of detecting wheels. We currently have a 2007 Subaru Outback that we love AND serves our day-to-day needs hauling Joy back and forth the 2 mile trip to her work quite well. It's also a good "grocery getter", Grandmonkey haulin', freeway scootin', all purpose vehicle. But the last group hunt Joy and I attended was in a very large corn field that had more than one muddy ditch to cross. Now I'm very sure both I and "Subie" would have had no problems whatsoever crossing the muddy ditch, plenty of others in lesser vehicles had already done so. And Subie is no wuss off road either. Symmetrical All Wheel Drive, Sport Track Transmission mode, 17" ground clearance and a few other goodies make it just as at home in a cornfield ditch as she is cruising down the freeway at 80mph. But the potential for a boo boo is always very present and very real.
Poking a hole in my radiator, ripping a brake line or transmission cooler line off on a snag, or just plain getting stuck... are just not worth the risks to doing major damage to our ONLY daily go-getter bread winner vehicle. Yep, to go where I need to go to enjoy this hobby to its fullest will require a dedicated vehicle that will not sink our family ship should I tear it up on a hunt. Not that tearing it up is on the agenda, but, there's always that one oddball chance!
Case in Point: A good friend of mine bought himself a Dodge Ram 1500 4X4 pickup truck several years ago, but he refrained from taking it off road for several years. Over the years, he had made a number of "improvements" to the truck, like Fiberglass fender flares and running boards and a few other cosmetic changes. Well the day came when the 4X4 feature of the truck was needed to get him and a couple of friends off road to a secret "honey hole" for an afternoon of fishing. So with fender flares, running boards AND street tires, off they go! Yeah, never made it to the honey hole, but they did manage to break all of the fender flares and running boards, rip all of the wiring, a couple of brake lines out from under the vehicle. I think the total repair costs for this wonderful afternoon of fishing was about $4500.00.
I've been into the 4X4 Off Road scene since the 1970's. Started out with VW rail buggies and Baja Bugs as a teenager, had a 1943 Jeep CJ2A, 1967 Toyota Land Cruiser with a 327ci Chevy engine and a 10K pound PTO winch that was an absolute blast to drive! When it comes to actual JEEPS, I've lost count! All three of our kids, the first vehicles they actually bought with their own money, were all Jeep 4X4's. Wes, our oldest, started out in my 1991 GMC Sonoma Truck, but when he bought his first vehicle, it was a 1998 Jeep Wrangler TJ with 33" tires and both body and suspension lifts (and he still has it today!). Matt, our "middle child", started out in my Mother's old 1987 Nissan Maxima, and it served him well, until some Ass parked a Buick in it! The first vehicle he bought with his own money was a 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ, rolling on 35" meats! Caitlin, our "baby girl", she drove our 2002 Jeep Liberty 2WD for a short period of time, until she bought herself a "Trail Rated" 2004 Jeep Liberty 4X4! So yeah, we're a Jeep Family! We embrace the Jeep lifestyle, love the Jeep events and other off road adventures. Heck at one point when the kids were younger, we had 5 Jeeps in the Family! Some of you know this, some of you don't, but I spent my late teens and early 20's turning a wrench for a living. I am a Factory Certified Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Nissan, Honda, Subaru Master Mechanic, as well as a Certified Motorcycle Master Mechanic thru AMI in Daytona Beach, FL. I also held a NASCAR Mechanics License at the tender age of 16 and worked for Car # 00, Eddie Bonds out of Bedford, IN anytime he ran at Talladega. SO... Not only do I know and appreciate everything Jeep, I can mod, fab and repair them as well.
With all that having been said, WHICH vehicle do you choose for a dedicated detecting vehicle? And that's where it gets difficult because there are a ton of good used 4X4 vehicles out there. I've always been fond of the Mitsubishi Montero and the Isuzu Troopers. I had a 1989 2 door Montero that was a great little car, I even mounted up some of Wes' old 33" tires on it to see how it would handle the big meats. It looked like an Arnold Schwarzenegger Bullfrog, short, wide with bulging muscles everywhere you looked! But for this particular project, since I swing nothing but American Made detectors, I think it only fitting if I build an American 4X4 as my dedicated detecting vehicle. And to me, the best all around 4X4 for detecting would be... Jeep Cherokee XJ!
The hunt has begun! Looking for a 2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ 4X4 to get this project rolling. And since I plan on rebuilding practically all the major components (engine, transmission, transfer case, front/rear differentials, etc), just about any shape or condition will do for this project. A lot of folks think the term JEEP is really an abbreviation for Just Empty Every Pocket, and that can indeed be true. It's damn easy to spend money on a Jeep! But if you know what you want, AND can do a lot of the work yourself, there are savings to be had. My goal here when completed, is to have a practically new, rebuilt, special purpose vehicle that I can point in any direction and not have a care in the world about hitting the road with, for UNDER $10,000.00! And I know it can be done too! The key to this little magic act is to find the "right" vehicle for the "right" price to begin with.
This Project will consist of several different stages, with the first being to rebuild all of the major components, and get the vehicle road ready so that it can be put into service immediately. Once I have a completely operational "stock" vehicle, I can assess it's capabilities and then see what else I need to do to get it where I want it to be. The 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo I wheeled off road for quite a few years was a VERY capable 4WD with nothing more than a set of 31" Goodyear Wrangler tires. No lockers, no gear swaps, nothing. And I could put it just about anywhere some of the more highly modified Jeeps we rolled with could go. So Step 1, is to find a good base vehicle! And the search begins in the morning!
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