Yes or no

[Medsker]

Ok I need some opinions here. I own a 2001 Jeep tj with the dana 35 in back. Detroits front and rear. Fenders cut so I run 35" tires without a lift. A few months back my sweet wife gave me permission to buy a new Jeep in a little while. I himmed and hawed about it and decided to wait and see what they were going to come out with in 2006 and 2007. I and my wife have done that thing where you get way far in debt, but we learned and have slowly been dragging ourselves out the past 3 years. So that is the situation, move forward to now. I am getting about $5000-$6000 soon that I am planning on putting in the Jeep. Obviously in the axle category.

When I started thinking about it with what I owe on my Jeep, the $5000 or $6000 I was going to put in to my current Jeep and a loan, if I went down with this friend and family thing and bought a new Unlimited Rubicon I would have the same payments, have plenty of axle for the type of wheeling I do, have a new Jeep with 7 year/ 70,000, have more room (most excited about this) and be about $8000 more in debt. So what do you guys think I should do, take the plunge or not?

Medsker

 

[wtrdog]

take the plung!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i am in the same situation. I have convinced my wife that my 98 tj needs to upgraded to a rubicon unlimited. She agreed with me and wants to sell her passat wagon so we only have one payment. Buy doing this we would save money and have a kick *** vehicle. The only drawback is the rubicon would be her daily driver and i would be stuck driving my company car. Cant wait!!!!

So take the plung they are sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DevinB]

If it were me, I'd keep what jeep you already have and put that money into a stronger rear axle that will handle 35's (F8.8 or D44) and put the rest toward the loan so I could be out of debt sooner. A D30 can handle 35's if you don't flog it. A rubicon D44 isn't that much of an improvement over the D30 you already have. Besides, the sooner you're out of debt, the more money you have to dump into the rig you already have! My two cents anyways...
Devin

 

[Houndoc]

For a daily driver, I would not be excited about putting alot of money into the older Jeep. But, I don't pretend to be a mechanic. I agree with the advantage of getting out of debt quicker- always wise.

All that said, I would be more inclined to buy the Unlimited- esp if you need the extra room.

 

[MattL]

Get out of debt. You will be happier overall.
Drop a 44 in the rear and be easy on the front for a bit. Besides, how long you thinking of keeping the current if you put 6 grand into it. To me it means you should keep it for a long time if your considering tco cause you probably wont recoup the investment.

my 2 cents.

 

[Hickey]

Keep your Jeep.

 

[mbryson]

NO


put the $5000 or $6000 against the loan on your Jeep.....(or eliminate any other debt)

Get out of debt.

 

[Caleb]

keep your current jeep. You could put a sweet axle in the rear, your front is just fine, and then have quite a bit left over to either put towards your loan or pay off other debt. Debt is the devil, getting rid of it as soon as possible is going to make you much happier, I promise. Besides, when you no longer have any debt think of how much you can save and how quickly you can save for it. Think of going in a buying a Rubi Unlimited with cash (would only take a few years to save enough to do this ). Also, fwiw I dont think the Chrysler Employee Pricing is that great (I may be wrong though). I could have sworn I have seen the exact same prices two weeks ago but now they throw on the line "Employee Pricing" and its all of a sudden a good deal.

 

[mbryson]

......... I could have sworn I have seen the exact same prices two weeks ago but now they throw on the line "Employee Pricing" and its all of a sudden a good deal.

Regarding pricing: CTD are the SAME as you could get a month or more ago. The only difference is you don't have to tell them that you know people are getting them for the low $30K. Now it's in the window and they don't seem interested in going down from there at all...............{whatever, I'm not really ready, just yet......and I know who I'll be buying from anyway}

 

[dunatic67]

Get out of debt first- then you will have the purchasing power to do whatever you choose- old or new Jeep.
On second thought- go get the book "The richest man in Babylon" today. Read it and apply principles as you pay off debt. I may have an extra copy if you are interested. Then build/buy whatever Jeep(s) you want.

 

[utahxjer]

Pay off your Jeep

 

[PierCed_3]

If I had it to do all over again I would have rather just got a new Rubicon Unlimited. I have put so much into my Jeep and it is starting to go down hill from all the shotty work I do . I could have bought a new Rubicon for what I have put into this Jeep and had the warranty and a really capable rig right off the show room floor. Add a lift, sliders, rollcage, better bigger tires on it and you have one helluva vehicle.

my .02

 

[Medsker]

So it sounds like if I mix all of the replys together I should:

- keep wheeling the Jeep I have with the Dana 35, heck it hasn't broke yet and I have spare shafts if it does.

- take the money and put it towards debt to get out of debt faster.

- Once I get out of debt, save my money and buy an Unlimited and put Pro-Rock 60's front and rear with Detroit lockers, sliders, lift, roll cage, Skid Plates, Klune-V, bigger better tires...etc.

- Wheel and be happy knowing I don't have a payment.

- Save more money and buy a Power Wagon to tow it with.

-Save more money and buy an Artic Cat M7, big bored to an 800.

I guess this list could go on for a while but you get my point. Thank you for all of the advice I will take it under advisement.

Medsker

 

[gijohn40]

From reading your first quote it shoulds like you really want the rubi unlimited BUT you really want to see what they are going to offer down the road (Can you say HEMI)... so my advise is to pay down the debt and when you see something you like down the road you will have a better option to do what you really want...

Thats my .02 worth...

 

[RockMonkey]

Getting out of debt is cool! We never did the whole credit card thing. The most we ever owed in credit card debt is 2k, and that was our honeymoon. We're $1800 away from paying off her 2001 WJ, and 17k away from paying off my 2003 CTD. As soon as it's paid off (1 year, max )we're moving out of the ghetto. Can't wait. Debt sucks. Not having any would RULE! Use the 35 for now. When a screaming deal on a 44 falls into your lap, jump on it. Until then use the money to pay off any high-interest debt, followed by your car loan (or hers). You'll thank yourself later.

 

[Medsker]

From reading your first quote it shoulds like you really want the rubi unlimited BUT you really want to see what they are going to offer down the road (Can you say HEMI)... so my advise is to pay down the debt and when you see something you like down the road you will have a better option to do what you really want...

Thats my .02 worth...

I do want to see what they offer but the rumors are getting more and more like they are going to offer something I don't want. The latest rumor in JP is it will resemble the H2 with the Gas tank under the rear seat and the muffler sideways where the gas tank is now. Other rumors include 6 inches wider and 10 inches longer than the unlimited (TK I think they called it), which is much bigger than I want for wheeling. I might as well get an H1 . But you do make a good point. The other thing my ten year old daughter brought up when she was surfing the Jeep site (she's my favorite daughter )was that if I do take the plunge I can do without the Rubicon and just add gears and lockers over the next few years as I get money and that would save me about $5000.

So I am still thinking but still leaning towards keeping what I have. Getting out of debt is important but my situation is such that my wife will probably (95% sure) be getting a job in the next month or so that will double her salary, she's an engineer, that will get us out of debt including our house in two and a half years with or without my salary and with or without this new Jeep. That being said I still know how hard it is to get out of debt and want to do my part.

We shall see...me and my wife both have Friday and Saturday off this week.

Medsker

 

[natius]

Ok I need some opinions here. I own a 2001 Jeep tj with the dana 35 in back. Detroits front and rear. Fenders cut so I run 35" tires without a lift. A few months back my sweet wife gave me permission to buy a new Jeep in a little while. I himmed and hawed about it and decided to wait and see what they were going to come out with in 2006 and 2007. I and my wife have done that thing where you get way far in debt, but we learned and have slowly been dragging ourselves out the past 3 years. So that is the situation, move forward to now. I am getting about $5000-$6000 soon that I am planning on putting in the Jeep. Obviously in the axle category.

When I started thinking about it with what I owe on my Jeep, the $5000 or $6000 I was going to put in to my current Jeep and a loan, if I went down with this friend and family thing and bought a new Unlimited Rubicon I would have the same payments, have plenty of axle for the type of wheeling I do, have a new Jeep with 7 year/ 70,000, have more room (most excited about this) and be about $8000 more in debt. So what do you guys think I should do, take the plunge or not?

Medsker

DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!

 

[gorillaxj]

keep what you have. why start all over and have the pit get deeper or flat line? i say wheel what you have and get out of debt. you dont always know whats right around the corner and you should try to be prepared for the worst. not that it will happen. but i always think you should finish one project(or debt) before jumping in to another. i think you should wait and get a rig to tow with and make what you have a trailer qween when the funds permit.
just my .02! if its even worth that!

 

[Bud]

So it sounds like if I mix all of the replys together I should:

- keep wheeling the Jeep I have with the Dana 35, heck it hasn't broke yet and I have spare shafts if it does.

- take the money and put it towards debt to get out of debt faster.

- Once I get out of debt, save my money and buy an Unlimited and put Pro-Rock 60's front and rear with Detroit lockers, sliders, lift, roll cage, Skid Plates, Klune-V, bigger better tires...etc.

- Wheel and be happy knowing I don't have a payment.

- Save more money and buy a Power Wagon to tow it with.

-Save more money and buy an Artic Cat M7, big bored to an 800.

I guess this list could go on for a while but you get my point. Thank you for all of the advice I will take it under advisement.

Medsker

Do what you want....but remeber you can beef up that 35 with some hardened shafts for cheap or switch out to a stock 44. and buy hardened shafts for the front. I went that route with one of my old 93's and never busted a shaft with 35's

 

[thenag]

not really a whole lot of help but here goes.

I don't know why anybody would want to wheel a nice new jeep, especially while still making payments.

I also see a lot of people suggesting the d44 rear. I just moved to salt lake from Abq NM. and a lot of the jeep guys down there were installing ford 8.8's out of explorers. the 8.8 is stronger than a d44, there are just as many gears/lockers for it and i think 93+ got factory disk brakes.

The best thing i ever did for my bronco was to get a daily driver, I still drive my bronco to the trail, I have craploads of spare parts, I know I can rewire the whole thing on top of Moab Rim if needed. and I sleep in the back of it, in some pretty remote locations too. but the $200+ per tire, the 10mpg and the fact that I don't need the bronco to get to work every day are great reasons for the second car. Last year I spent $1000 dollers to upgrade my tcase to a np203/np205 doubler but my bronco was not drivable for about 2 weeks, I was also able to do the work on weekends and after work so I didn't need to take any vacation to work on the truck (more vacation time for moab)

anyway i vote keep the jeep you have, take care of it mechanically, I do love the fact that you run 35's on stock suspension! that is awsome I run 37's on almost stock f350 suspension on a bronco (well all ford parts, no lift kit)

nathan
http://www.supermotors.org/vehicles/registry/detail.php?id=194