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.
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?
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
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.
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
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
