1073781
Well I really had a bad time because my personal taste is the for the CJ5 I just gave my son. In my opinion this is the best looking jeep model they have produced. I'm even playing with the idea of putting a Cj grill and hood on the Rubicon. There in lies the problem. I think the older Jeeps look tougher by a long shot with more personallity(just my personal taste) than the newer ones. But I had just gotten this CJ5 a few months back and was about to embark on another of a long list of offroad projects that have taken me many hours away from Wife, Kids, and friends. I have a Dodge Power wagon with a 440,Hemi auto trans, 203, dana 60's, lockers with 38's that will crawl a wall if ask to, thats has been built and rebuilt more times than I care to think about. But wont go where a jeep will. Then I have a built from scatch XR600 Dual Sport I use for events when I really want to get nuts. What I do with that at ten times the speed, would break any fourby in 10 seconds or less. So there it is, Cj looks better rides like crap and by the time I was done and I finally would emerge from the garage a year from now, the only Jeep left would be the body(maybe if not fiberglass) and the frame. Everything like my truck would be replaced. And still it could never survive the abuse and perform like my XR can. And if I drove my Jeep like I do my Xr I wouldn't want the responsability of passangers,especially my family at risk,so I'd be driving alone anyway. At that level.
The Rubicon hooked me right when I got in. Yes for me it IS alot of money, but add up all the family and friend hours lost and the cost of a project it seemed a equal trade for me. And the Rubicon will always be a bench mark Jeep that rides great and should be kept as stock as possible to retain its uniqueness. So maybe there goes my CJ front end idea. I've seen people already start majorly changing thiers and even selling the rims to finance the everyday Weld rims and other nice but not special parts, and are going to regret it later. So for me it fits the nitch and I can enjoy it right away. Throw a rack on the back, a winch up front, mybe 35's with a 4 inch kit after the stock tires wear out, and I'm done. All will not take long. But again almost $30,000 ouch.[addsig]