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Another consideration, long term….how big are you and your wife? As in, how big will your kids be?
I’m 6’5” if my kids end up being big like me a bigger cab down the line may be beneficial. I’d imagine the RC back seat is bigger then a JT?
I’m 6’5” if my kids end up being big like me a bigger cab down the line may be beneficial. I’d imagine the RC back seat is bigger then a JT?
Hooligan
Xtreme wheeler of the web
See if a TRX version is out there at a reasonable price (wrecked)? Gets you a 700 horse supercharger, the 8 speed that hopefully works going up hill, and 4 doors. The 1500 cab is the 5 th gen, so it is bigger than the 2500 series. Change the tcase out, swap axles and suspension.
Or just mortgage the future and call up Americas Most Wanted and get a built whatever with the Hellaphant engine.
Or just mortgage the future and call up Americas Most Wanted and get a built whatever with the Hellaphant engine.
Mad Max
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here's another alternative to a JT - grab a nice clean megacab Ram with a 6.4 Hemi or 5.9 or 6.7 Cummins, and do your own "AEV" conversion (grab a megacab before about 09 and it'll still be a "Dodge", grab one before 07 and it'll have the 5.9 and no emissions 👍 ) - nice quality lift kit, toss 42" Nitto radials under it, I think the AEVs use the 4500/5500 front fenders and maybe doors, minor bed mods - big beefy factory axles, any gears/lockers you want, any lift kit you want, tons of power and capability, easy to get parts, oh and it's a limo inside - the room inside a megacab is unreal - everything is already there and factory hard core - lots of options for beefing up the axles. There's a guy in FullSize Invasion running a big silver megacab and he wheels that thing anywhere...oh and it can be a tow pig for the RC without changing a thing. If I ever end up needing a "one truck to do it all" I'll do one of these -
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Hooligan
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YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Also have 3 kids, the 3rd kid complicates options for sure. Luckily ours are done with car seats, so that helps, but now the oldest is the size of a small adult, so soon we'll be hosed again.
Had this debate before. Unfortunately I built something odd, and doubt it's worth anything
I'd say no way on the 4th gen dodge cab, they are absolutely enormous, even compared to other fullsizes.
Like others said, can you just keep the rc for big trips and just have a JT on 37s? Guessing the can am is out once the 3rd is here, so maybe replace that with it?
Had this debate before. Unfortunately I built something odd, and doubt it's worth anything
I'd say no way on the 4th gen dodge cab, they are absolutely enormous, even compared to other fullsizes.
Like others said, can you just keep the rc for big trips and just have a JT on 37s? Guessing the can am is out once the 3rd is here, so maybe replace that with it?
75RamRunner
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Yes/no. I have an allocated play fund that I'm pretty strict with so i don't dip into family/security finances. Selling it would be a huge loss, but the ROI for me comes back to time on the trail with the family.
This was one of our first train of thoughts was get a nice JK as the wife's rig and split the kids. Its still not "off the table" but its just one more motor to babysit. She has a nice reliable daily that i wont be getting rid of anytime soon so we would be talking about a 2nd vehicle that sits for 3-5 times a year rides. In the JT plan, it could still get weekend use going to the lake/groceries/so on. Not that a JK couldn't but if the ramcharger is sitting next to it, im taking the 600hp one....
That is a continued issue we keep having. I'm 6'1 300lbs and she's 5'11 and 180-200. We do not have small offspring. They're both tracking 1-2 years ahead size wise to current age. The Jeep would be a 5ish year solution maybe 8 pending the size of the oldest.
Yes you are correct the way the seats are set up now there's leg room for a average sized adult, and i could easily move it back farther. The size is right, its the creature comfort deal for the family. I don't mind sweating and getting covered in dirt and dust in an open chassis rig, but that's not awesome for a growing young family. Moab was a ton of fun and having the car seat and the youth race seat in the back was a core memory. I'd like to keep the wife enjoying the trips instead of "going because he loves it" She's very about it be out there, i just want to keep it that way
Keeping the canned ham, it works too well for what we use it for. Currently looking at rzr 170 for the oldest, that gives us 4 seats for kids. Ill upgrade the size as the oldest grows. The sand/fast trail camping deals will likely stay exclusive golf carts. Its just easier.Also have 3 kids, the 3rd kid complicates options for sure. Luckily ours are done with car seats, so that helps, but now the oldest is the size of a small adult, so soon we'll be hosed again.
Had this debate before. Unfortunately I built something odd, and doubt it's worth anything
I'd say no way on the 4th gen dodge cab, they are absolutely enormous, even compared to other fullsizes.
Like others said, can you just keep the rc for big trips and just have a JT on 37s? Guessing the can am is out once the 3rd is here, so maybe replace that with it?
redneckK20s
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For the money I'd look at nicer go-karts over a RZR 170, that's basically all that they are for 2x the price.
Mad Max
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...for the cost of a rzr170 you could find a pretty decent TJ...even a decent enough early JKU...and that could be what the kidos use instead...plus it could be driven on the street, no trailer, etc - I'm looking for a very basic TJ to serve as a 'go kart' our kids...
350TacoZilla
Well-known member
At this point since we are suggesting other vehicles I'm going to suggest 3 suzuki samurais. They would all fit in the RV with some creative storage racks. You drive one, wife drives one and oldest kid takes the third. I also have no clue how old your kids are.
75RamRunner
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It is relevant they are 3, 1, and still cooking
We found a china 250 that we picked up yesterday for 3k and came with a "free" golf cart. The wife is stoked. Pretty sure the batteries are gone in the cart. The 250 rips though, kids loved ripping around the pastures with her in it. Going to fab some pedal extensions as he cant really reach them yet.
RunningProblem
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I am once again back asking for opinions from strangers who have done similar
Got back from Moab over the weekend and had fun, but might have had an epiphany/change of heart
Long and the short is went with a buddy with a 2 seat can am, took my 4 seat, the ramcharger, and my dad came with his 392 JL.
It was good weather but warm as always and then rained on us. My dad was enjoying the entire experience in his climate controlled interior with heated seats, me and the family got a little more of mother nature. I also flopped her in mickeys hot tub and managed to rip the rear axle truss completely off the axle on Prichett. Right before we got to the obstacle the group in front of us rolled a TJ from mid hill to the bottom, was not a day of winning for any of us out there lol. Ripped both brake lines off, driveshaft yoke exploded, etc. Fortunately someone had a trail welder and using 4 winches we were able to sorta reline up the body to the axle and stick the truss back on enough i was able to drive out in FWD with some pulls from dad on a few obstacles.
Myself and my family still love getting out on the trails, but i think my next 5-10 years will be more lined up with getting on the trail and not bouncing the limiter on a obstacle. We spent the last day in the canned ham cruising the canyons and did Fins and Things and it was super enjoyable, drama free, and comfortable.
I have 2 littles and a 3rd on the way, the clam charger is becoming less of a practical toy. They way the cage is built its hard to access the rear seats, storage is good but limited, and I see a few options of feasibility
1. Fix rear axle, sell entire rig for pennies on the dollar. Buy a done JT, bob it, beat it.
2. Gut the rig, keep the major parts and built a 60s-70s era crew cab dodge, lean more towards prerunner/overland but still capable of getting out on the rubicon/fordyce for camping.
3. Sell the sum of the parts, keep the engine for street car, buy a JT mostly done and built as needed.
4. This is more of a wild one. Keep the chassis down suspension and shocks, find a 2010-2018 ram 2500 and mate the assemblies. Frame up a stock ram 2500 frame down, current ramcharger. Obviously there would be some cutting of panels but those trucks are in the 20-25k range right now which is just as cheap as a stockish JT but i get beefier everything
I'm not in love with jeeps, but the JT checks all the boxes for storage, modularity, and amenities. JLs dont do it for me.
Photo dump of trip
If I had your experience and knowledge I'd go option 3. I've seen multiple guys with built rigs get rid of them and move to a newer Jeep to make crawling much more enjoyable for the family. Heck, I wheeled with one fully loaded with a family of 5 on Fordyce and they took all the same hard lines.
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
This came up in another thread when I was considering a newer jeep.
One guy did exactly that, got rid of older trail rig, buggy, whatever for a built newer jeep. His experience was that it ruined wheelin for the family because dad was stressing about damaging the nice ass jeep, then that made everyone else one edge, ect. Took the care free aspect away, and ruined for them.
Obviously that's one guy and one situation, but did make me think. Maybe the fancy jeep life isn't for me?
One guy did exactly that, got rid of older trail rig, buggy, whatever for a built newer jeep. His experience was that it ruined wheelin for the family because dad was stressing about damaging the nice ass jeep, then that made everyone else one edge, ect. Took the care free aspect away, and ruined for them.
Obviously that's one guy and one situation, but did make me think. Maybe the fancy jeep life isn't for me?
350TacoZilla
Well-known member
Ahhh yeah I thought they were bit further along there lol. I started driving at 11 so I was thinking if oldest is 10-13 then samurai would be a pretty easy little rig for them. Maybe 2 samurais lol. Actually would kinda fun to have a samurai as a first car too.It is relevant they are 3, 1, and still cooking
We found a china 250 that we picked up yesterday for 3k and came with a "free" golf cart. The wife is stoked. Pretty sure the batteries are gone in the cart. The 250 rips though, kids loved ripping around the pastures with her in it. Going to fab some pedal extensions as he cant really reach them yet.
I can see the damage thing. Maybe the right choice is newer but not brand new, something that already has it's first shopping cart ding here or there. Also intended use can change a ton of options. Easy camping or fire roads would be low risk of damage. I hate this word but "overlanding" if you will lol.
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
The newest thing I've wheeled hard is a 1990 and had very little regard for body damage as long as the doors closed and kept rain out.
Even the oldest jk with 100 cart dings in "new" to me
But I get your point, a $10k JK vs a $40k JT is a different stress level.
The one nice thing about jeeps in general is most of the body can either be armored or replaced easily (maybe not cheaply) so if you do **** something up, you can probably just swap it out. Not the case for like a Tacoma or most any suv
Mad Max
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not that it's an apples to apples comparison, but while my '14 JKU is 'newerish' it is totally decomputerized and such, and I'm painting it with a brush, but even so I still don't 'want' to damage the body, but I am much less stressed about it simply because I got it for $2k, so the damage factor is not nearly as dire as anything newer that is going to retain the 'factory' trimmings. But even so, with a good driver damage is not as likely...
And normally I'd recommend posting yer RC for sale on Ramchargercentral - and by all means feel free, but the honest truth is there are very few in there (if any) who are looking for a RC quite like that nor wheel something that hard core. I sold Bud via Craigslist / FB Marketplace etc...
And normally I'd recommend posting yer RC for sale on Ramchargercentral - and by all means feel free, but the honest truth is there are very few in there (if any) who are looking for a RC quite like that nor wheel something that hard core. I sold Bud via Craigslist / FB Marketplace etc...
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350TacoZilla
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Yeah between the wife and I the newest vehicle is her 2003 dodge and I still think of it as a newer truck but thinking about it I turned 16 in 1998 and bought my 1979 K10 when I was 15. If we do 1998-1979=19 so my truck was 19 years old and was sitting behind a guys house for maybe 5 of those years. That would be a 2007 jeep today....... 2026-19=2007 that seems like such an impossible number to wrap my head around. I see earlier JK's for 6-7k often or one that needs work 4-5k. Hell if he could sell the engine\transmission and maybe tires from RC and tarp the rest might be able to get into a decent JK. If the aftermarket would support them nearly as much I would love to see someone with the cash build a 3rd gen 1500 ram for actual trail use. AEV is cool but they skipped the 3rd gens after teasing products for them early on.The newest thing I've wheeled hard is a 1990 and had very little regard for body damage as long as the doors closed and kept rain out.
Even the oldest jk with 100 cart dings in "new" to me
But I get your point, a $10k JK vs a $40k JT is a different stress level.
The one nice thing about jeeps in general is most of the body can either be armored or replaced easily (maybe not cheaply) so if you do **** something up, you can probably just swap it out. Not the case for like a Tacoma or most any suv
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75RamRunner
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I would have zero remorse putting a basketball sized dent into a JT. The rig would be for wheeling, not for show. One thing i feel I've learned well through others experience is to not sweat the experience, if the purpose is to get out there and enjoy the trail than that's what i intend to do. I preach similar philosophy to my partners in business but it basically boils down to "Not driving your rig to keep resale value is the same as not ****ing your girlfriend so the next guy gets a fresh box." If its mine, I'm using it
i could probably bring myself to redo the rear sheet metal and fit 3 junior seats, it wouldn't be all that difficult at all. It's much less the physical dimensions of fitting, there's plenty for that. Its the creature comforts of doors, windows, conditioning/heat. And that's not out of reach either, it just really changes the direction of the rig.
Testing the waters, its a number i could live with if it goes, if it doesn't then the other options made for me. I really have been on board with a 1st gen dodge crew cab, bobbed bed, with all the running gear under the RC. Lean it more towards the fast dirt stuff but still fully capable to get through Fordyce/Rubicon
Its just a full build project, my irons are already overflowing my fire, i dont need a 3 year build right now. As cool as it would be.
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
I would have zero remorse putting a basketball sized dent into a JT. The rig would be for wheeling, not for show. One thing i feel I've learned well through others experience is to not sweat the experience, if the purpose is to get out there and enjoy the trail than that's what i intend to do. I preach similar philosophy to my partners in business but it basically boils down to "Not driving your rig to keep resale value is the same as not ****ing your girlfriend so the next guy gets a fresh box." If its mine, I'm using it
I agree, the only issue I'd have in my head is if I decided I didn't like it, it would probably suck to have it all beat up when trying to sell.
I guess it's all fixable though.
Fwiw, I've wheeled with my 3 kids in open rigs a lot. They're tough and I think it adds to the experience of going outside. I also feel it's more enjoyable for them when they can actually see. A modern rig is pretty hard to see out of compared to an open one, especially the back seat, stuck in a car seat.
75RamRunner
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I do actually agree with this a lot and its on of my hold backs, i want them to be on the trail not in the back of car. Might as well be on the highway. Its a great point to keep in mind.
You go ahead and stop that. There's one for 6500 bucks fairly rust free 3ish hours from me. My thought, oversimplified of course, would be cut the chassis behind the B pillar, cut the floor and firewall out of the crew cab, and then marry those. Then put the rear where i want it and put the tube in to marry it all back together. So only really fabbing 1/3ish of an entire rig. Cut, Weld, done. Simple
The JT would go right in, its significantly narrower and lighter. I did go to great lengths, and it fits the 4 seat golf cart and all the wheeled toys with easy. If i put the crawler in there its only good for some 4 wheelers/dirt bikes.
I also sold the 2 seat SxS pretty fast after we got it and got into a 4seater so it all went out the window. I do think i could fit a 4 seat and a 2 seat in there if i drove the 2 seat up on the front tires of the 4 seat, but thats a bench build for another day
Mad Max
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75RamRunner
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Well i don't like sitting idle and i have a trip planned in a few weeks so needed to get a couple things tidied back up
Redid the airline bulkhead on the axle, wasn't happy with my first fix. Their updated kit is a lot better than what i was using.
Also decided it was time to get the 6.0 trans cooler mounted and plumbed, move the power steering cooler to the front of the core support and she slid right in front of the radiator, got me a nice little cooling stack arrangement now. Drilled out the rivets on the top two mounts and just used the side wings. Im out of nutzerts so the power steering cooler is just self tapped on there until i get the inserts then ill proper mount it.
Had to order some caps and hose couplers so i can run the extended length to in front of the radiator now, hope to have that plumbed today.
Before:
After
Redid the airline bulkhead on the axle, wasn't happy with my first fix. Their updated kit is a lot better than what i was using.
Also decided it was time to get the 6.0 trans cooler mounted and plumbed, move the power steering cooler to the front of the core support and she slid right in front of the radiator, got me a nice little cooling stack arrangement now. Drilled out the rivets on the top two mounts and just used the side wings. Im out of nutzerts so the power steering cooler is just self tapped on there until i get the inserts then ill proper mount it.
Had to order some caps and hose couplers so i can run the extended length to in front of the radiator now, hope to have that plumbed today.
Before:
After
rattle_snake
****wits
glad the 6.0 TOC worked out for you. simple mounting.
75RamRunner
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got it out plumbed and mounted yesterday, looks like its going to be a solid unit trans stayed at 140ish just ripping around the property which i was normally able to get it to 180 pretty easy. I'll be happy with sustained <200.
The rear ARB line seems to not be right entirely, it pumps up and locks, i can't feel any leaks in the line or at the bulkhead but then after driving for 15-20 seconds it'll kick the compressor again, but then shuts off. I drive with the rear unlocked 90% of the time since the front is Detroit locked so I'm only ever locking it at a big obstacle for the obstacle and then kick it back out, not sure its a problem or just something im not used too. Previously it pump up and lock and never repump
The rear ARB line seems to not be right entirely, it pumps up and locks, i can't feel any leaks in the line or at the bulkhead but then after driving for 15-20 seconds it'll kick the compressor again, but then shuts off. I drive with the rear unlocked 90% of the time since the front is Detroit locked so I'm only ever locking it at a big obstacle for the obstacle and then kick it back out, not sure its a problem or just something im not used too. Previously it pump up and lock and never repump
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Mine started doing that also. Not sure if they just develop very slight leaks after the fittings age.
Did you try soapy water on everything?
Did you try soapy water on everything?
75RamRunner
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I was going to leak search it this weekend, wanted to get the cooling stack back together and get the grille back on
I also was thinking about pulling the banjo bolt out and tightening that Oring-spacer deal a little bit now that its gone through a heat cycle. Probably just once over all the connections and see if remains after that.
