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Life expectancy vs Investment - help me out please

F

fishinpolejoe

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Virginia - southwest tip
Hello again.

I've been giving a lot of thought lately as to how long I can make my XJ last. I've been thinking about it so much because I'm on the fence about how much time and money I want to invest in it. At times I want to go all out and really fix the thing up but then I consider the mileage I have and wonder if I can keep it going and what it will cost me to do so.

I can't let you guys test drive my XJ of course, but I'd like some advice on the matter. I'll try to give a good idea of the current condition.

96 XJ 4 door sport - all stock
4.0 LITRE (LITRE as spelled on the vehicle. I assume this means a Euro model?) HO (what is the difference in a HO motor anyway?), Auto with the part time 4wd (what is the corresponding number?), transmission cooling system, right at 280,000 miles, power windows/locks, rear speaker bar, luggage racks, class 3 tow package I believe.

So far I have replaced:
Front Brakes - calipers, rotors, and pads
All four shocks
Fan Clutch
Water Pump - had cooling system flushed as well
Engine temp sensor
Temp sending unit
Blower Motor
Blower Motor Resistor
Fuel Filter - I believe it was stock, no kidding.
Alternator
Wheel Cylinder and spring/cable thing for the self adjusting brakes on passenger side rear brake (it was leaking profusely)
IAC
TPS
I bought this XJ from my mechanic. He told me that the previous owner had taken it to Wal Mart for an oil change :dunce:. They broke the oil sending
unit off and told her it would be okay to drive it :dunce:. The engine locked up not long after she left the lot. This happened at around 200,000 miles. My mechanic did a top end rebuild on the engine and also put "another transmission" in it, which I assumed to mean a used one.

It's running/driving/shifting great now that I have most of the kinks worked out. The 4wd also works well. It apparently has fantastic oil pressure according to what I have read here. Not too high but never as low as the 15 - 20 that some wish for. The interior is all to crap. The headliner needs to be re-covered, door handles are coming off the back doors, two of the seat belts have been chewed in half by rats, various other things have been destroyed by rats like the padding on the door handles, the rubber cover on the shifter etc, the front seats are kind of gross, the back seat is nice, and so on. The paint has some issues. I bought a can of Stonegaurd for the rocker panels. I have a touch of rust and a leak at the corners above the windshield. The leak is minor to moderate depending on how hard it rains. The frame has a little rust as well in the back. The entire floor pan is in fairly rough shape with holes and rust. I didn't attempt to remove all the rust because there wouldn't have been a whole lot left to work with, but I did seal the holes and riveted in sheet metal over them. The passenger front tire skips and barks on tight turns in parking lots which makes me think I could use some ball joints. I need plugs and wires as well.

Which direction should I go? Nurse it along until it dies or pour money into it until I basically have a new Jeep? Is it still worth it?

Also, I read where lots of people say they have owned multiple XJ's. What happened that finally made you get rid of them? What catastrophic failures do I need to be aware of that could send mine on to it's next life?
 
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For me, owning an XJ has always been a labor of "severe like".
They are reasonably easy to work on, so I have never sold one because I couldn't repair it.

It's always been a matter of "I'm tired of this one". That usually happens after 50~70k and many many modifications. Then I go looking for another project.

I've had my current one for almost 4 years now, and I bought it modified.
A tweak here, a tweak there has kept me interested... But someday, I'll get bored with all it's quirks and go looking for another Jeep to play with.
 
Sounds like she's seen her fair share of road. But the amount of work that you've stated seems to be about the average for an older xj.

XJs are pretty cheap to pick up, even for a later model. I got my current one (99) basically stock with 126,000 for 4,000. Clean and running. But I've seen plenty of good xj's on the classifieds going for less than 2,000.

It comes to a point of your comfortability. Are the "negatives" you mentioned, tolerable, do you have the skills/money to fix them? Or is it easier or more cost effective to buy another one with less "Negatives"? One problem with any age or conditon of vehicles is the unknown. If your rig suits your needs and runs when you need it, and you're happy with it, keep it. If she craps the bed, you can always pick up another one ;)

My personal opinion is I like a clean rig that is worth washing and comfortable to ride in (heat,a/c radio ect). But that's me.
 
As asked, do you have the skills/money to fix ? Do you think any another vehicle of similar age/cost/mileage will need any less maintenance ?

The XJ Cherokee is simple to work on, common as dirt in the junkyards, and when properly maintained is long-lasting and reliable vehicle. I saw a webpage about a guy that has +600,000 mile on his 1987 Cherokee.
 
In my case every time rust has been the main enemy. I could keep the thing running forever, but when the roof rusts through and there's nothing left to attach rocker panels to, it's time to find another. I've had three. An 87 which, at about 215 thousand miles I gave to my daughter, who took it to about 235 and then sold it to a mailman! It was pretty rusty and leaked oil. Lots of sheet metal in the floors, and on its second rear bumper and second trailer hitch. Then a 95, bought at 110, run to 264, retired from excessive rust, including roof leaks and floor and windshield leaks that overpowered the heater in winter and required a tarp over the driver's seat when parked on rainy days. It stayed around and eventually gave its transmission to a 99, bought at 144, driven until 275, retired when a broken intake manifold was not worth fixing owing to excessive rust, including, once again, windshield, roof and floor leaks that made winter driving very cold. As before, there was little left to attach rocker panel repairs to, and floor rust was working its way up the side of the transmission hump. Floors always wet, etc., and an unsettling amount of rust around the margins of the rear deck, making it impossible to carry anything there that could not get wet.

My stepson also had a 93, which went from about 140 to 240. He drove it all through college, then sold it to my daughter, who had a small accident, which rust made uneconomical to repair. It had long before had huge and extensive floor rust, repaired with large screwed in panels. A two door, it also had very bad door rust and the rear bumper had fallen off.

And my son had a 96, not sure how many miles all told, which did not look too bad but turned out to have hidden rust, including unfortunately the attachments for the rear leaf springs, which got quite scary. He sold it for parts.

By the way, I'm willing to be that the skipping and jumping on tight turns will be an axle u-joint.

Alas, I live in Vermont where rust free XJ's are hard to find, and have been without any for a couple of years now. I sneak onto the forum from time to time anyway. I've been driving a Liberty, which I am ashamed to say has been embarrassingly reliable.
 
Price out a car that has lower miles, similar abilities & won't need much (or any) maintenance.
What would your payment be?
Higher, I bet, than your average maintenance on the XJ.

You can keep the thing running for a long, long time if you care to - just decide if you like the XJ enough to stay with her. When my son was born I swapped to a WJ but still miss my X sometimes.
 
They are hard to beat for a cheap and flexible 4wd station wagon that is easy to work on yourself. They are great for knocking around rural roads, fishing and hunting, winter skiing, camping trips, heavy trails, some here are setup for go-fast racing, put a snow plow on it, strap it to your RV. Whatever you want to do with it, and you can get under it and do it yourself.

I already have a 2wd luxury car that can't do anything else and has to go on a garage lift for everything.
 
I would say Matthew Currie is spot on with rust being your limiting factor.

A location of "North America" doesn't offer much help in suggesting how good or bad your odds are. You will have to evaluate local conditions and their impact on the vehicle for yourself.

If you can put up a good fight against the rust you can add many years to the life of the vehicle. If you are at the mercy of it, well, take a look at how far it has progressed already and figure it will progress at a more rapid rate the further it goes.
 
Rust is the biggest issue here too, my Dad's '90 and sister's '92 both rotted out and my '98 is starting down that same path now too. Were I to play and then actually somehow win the lotto, some of the first things I'd do is to pay off my 200, buy a newer winter beater (probably going to beat Matt on this one, I'd look at a latemodel Cherokee Trailhawk), then get to work fixing the rust and other old age stuff on my '98.
 
All good replies. Exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

Auto repair skills and money are two things I don't have much of. I understand the basics of how a vehicle works and I can do the easier things like brakes, replacing spark plugs etc. When it comes to the internals of anything or anything complicated, it's like walking through a strange house in the dark for me. I have a huge fear that I will try to fix something but make things worse because I don't know what I'm doing. Then you wind up with a tow bill plus extra repairs to fix what you broke.

Don't get me wrong, I really like my XJ and I intend to keep it as long as possible. I would hate to do a major repair like a new tranny just to have the frame break beyond repair a month later though. I put $600 into the fuel system of a Ford Exploder last year just to have the oil pump go out and ruin the engine weeks later. That's a risk you take with any vehicle though. You never know when you'll have a bad wreck or hit a deer either. There's no sense worrying about what might happen.

I don't mind my XJ's flaws. I'm past the age of trying to impress the ladies or anyone else for that matter. As long as it takes me where I need to go and keeps me dry and warm I'm satisfied.

I haven't done any serious off roading and I don't plan to. I try to take it easy on it. I've had it in some milder places and through some good sized chug holes, enough to put some torque on the frame. No squeaks, pops, or cracks, so I figure the frame and everything bust be in decent shape. I live in the Appalachian mountains in Virginia. It's pretty humid and damp here most of the time and things do like to rust so I will be keep a close eye on things.

I believe I'm just going to continue to fix things as they break. If it winds up beyond repair someday, I hope to buy another one and use this one for parts. I know a guy a mile up the road from me who has a 96 or 97 with 80,000 miles on it that belonged to his late mother in law and rarely gets used. I deliver food to him and I'm always dropping hints about buying it.
 
I think you might be looking at this wrong. Here's my perspective. (Anybody chime in if you think I'm wrong.)

You can buy a newer car and have loan payments, or a used car and have maintenance costs. However, nothing you spend on a car is an investment. A car (daily driver, wheeler, anything you actually drive) is a depreciating asset. Money you put into it may improve it's usefulness or comfort, but you won't get a monetary return or anything like a capital gain from it. I joke with my friends: Want to know the value of a modified Jeep? Take the blue-book value for the condition it is actually in. Add the cost of all upgrades and modifications. Subtract the cost of all modifications and upgrades. The result is the approximate sale value of a Jeep.

None of the money you spent for parts is an investment. Everything you listed is either a repair item(sensors, etc) or a wear item(brake shoes, shocks, etc) All this is expected on an older vehicle. My general rule is, once a vehicle is paid off, set aside $150.00/month for repairs and maintenance. This is the cost of not making a payment on a newer car.

The "life expectancy" of a well maintained XJ is pretty much unlimited. There are a lot of forum members with 300K Jeeps still running on the original engine - no rebuild. Regular fluid changes(all of them - oil, trans, axle, coolant, brake fluid, etc) and replacing wear items at regular intervals, and the thing that will kill an XJ is rust.(as mentioned above)
'Thing is, add it up and you're still spending on average probably a grand or more a year on parts and maintenance. Go buy a two year old JK and you won't have to do near as much to keep it on the road, but you'll spend 3 - 4 grand on car payments a year.

My advice, unless you're prepared to dump it right now, is spend the money for a tune-up. That will pay for itself in improved mileage.
If the interior is really thrashed out, might be worth looking for a body with less rust and overall better condition to build.
If you're handy with wrenches, find a 98/99 in good overall condition with a blown engine or jacked up trans, and swap the needed parts across from yours.

Whatever you decide, don't think of it as "investing". You're not getting your money back if you keep the car for any length of time. The value you get from the vehicle is in the enjoyment and utility.
 
tbburg said:
I think you might be looking at this wrong. Here's my perspective. (Anybody chime in if you think I'm wrong.)

You can buy a newer car and have loan payments, or a used car and have maintenance costs. However, nothing you spend on a car is an investment. A car (daily driver, wheeler, anything you actually drive) is a depreciating asset. Money you put into it may improve it's usefulness or comfort, but you won't get a monetary return or anything like a capital gain from it. I joke with my friends: Want to know the value of a modified Jeep? Take the blue-book value for the condition it is actually in. Add the cost of all upgrades and modifications. Subtract the cost of all modifications and upgrades. The result is the approximate sale value of a Jeep.

None of the money you spent for parts is an investment. Everything you listed is either a repair item(sensors, etc) or a wear item(brake shoes, shocked, etc) All this is expected on an older vehicle. My general rule is, once a vehicle is paid off, set aside $150.00/month for repairs and maintenance. This is the cost of not making a payment on a newer car.

The "life expectancy" of a well maintained XJ is pretty much unlimited. There are a lot of forum members with 300K Jeeps still running on the original engine - no rebuild. Regular fluid changes(all of them - oil, trans, axle, coolant, brake fluid, etc) and replacing wear items at regular intervals, and the thing that will kill an XJ is rust.(as mentioned above)
'Thing is, add it up and you're still spending on average probably a grand or more a year on parts and maintenance. Go buy a two year old JK and you won't have to do near as much to keep it on the road, but you'll spend 3 - 4 grand on car payments a year.

My advice, unless you're prepared to dump it right now, is spend the money for a tune-up. That will pay for itself in improved mileage.
If the interior is really thrashed out, might be worth looking for a body with less rust and overall better condition to build.
If you're handy with wrenches, find a 98/99 in good overall condition with a blown engine or jacked up trans, and swap the needed parts across from yours.

Whatever you decide, don't think of it as "investing". You're not getting your money back if you keep the car for any length of time. The value you get from the vehicle is in the enjoyment and utility.
Click to expand...

I understand all that and I agree. Except that I do see the money I spend on it as an investment, the return of which being the utility and enjoyment you speak of. I chose the XJ so I wouldn't have a loan payment and a huge insurance bill. I understood that there would be plenty of repair costs. There's no way I'd buy a new vehicle to deliver pizza with. I also prefer older vehicles. New ones are over complicated, fragile, and expensive to own and repair.

My main point was that I wouldn't get a $1200 paint job, a $1000 set of tires, or $2000 for a new tranny if I didn't think the vehicle would make it past next month. For what my ride is worth I can patch the paint to stop rust, buy quality tires but normal tires that aren't so expensive. I got two Goodyear's installed for $175. I can also hope the tranny holds out instead of replacing it on a hope that the vehicle will last long enough to make that purchase worth it.
What sort of tune up do I need? I should probably change the differential oils, plugs and wires. The belt is in good shape. I need to replace some vacuum lines. The tires are wearing evenly and it doesn't pull so I don't need an alignment. No vibrations. I have a steady power steering fluid leak so that has been changed a few times over. Tranny has been in for 80,000 miles and had a couple fresh quarts added to it. Brakes have leaked and been worked on and bled on two different occasions so they have mostly fresh fluid.. Top end rebuild was 80,000 miles ago. My mileage is a little low. It's been right at 16 mpg since all the recent work and I strictly use non ethanol gas. I figure that will improve with the plugs and wires and when the computer fineshes relearning.
 
Matthew Currie said:
In my case every time rust has been the main enemy. I could keep the thing running forever, but when the roof rusts through and there's nothing left to attach rocker panels to, it's time to find another. I've had three. An 87 which, at about 215 thousand miles I gave to my daughter, who took it to about 235 and then sold it to a mailman! It was pretty rusty and leaked oil. Lots of sheet metal in the floors, and on its second rear bumper and second trailer hitch. Then a 95, bought at 110, run to 264, retired from excessive rust, including roof leaks and floor and windshield leaks that overpowered the heater in winter and required a tarp over the driver's seat when parked on rainy days. It stayed around and eventually gave its transmission to a 99, bought at 144, driven until 275, retired when a broken intake manifold was not worth fixing owing to excessive rust, including, once again, windshield, roof and floor leaks that made winter driving very cold. As before, there was little left to attach rocker panel repairs to, and floor rust was working its way up the side of the transmission hump. Floors always wet, etc., and an unsettling amount of rust around the margins of the rear deck, making it impossible to carry anything there that could not get wet.

My stepson also had a 93, which went from about 140 to 240. He drove it all through college, then sold it to my daughter, who had a small accident, which rust made uneconomical to repair. It had long before had huge and extensive floor rust, repaired with large screwed in panels. A two door, it also had very bad door rust and the rear bumper had fallen off.

And my son had a 96, not sure how many miles all told, which did not look too bad but turned out to have hidden rust, including unfortunately the attachments for the rear leaf springs, which got quite scary. He sold it for parts.

By the way, I'm willing to be that the skipping and jumping on tight turns will be an axle u-joint.

Alas, I live in Vermont where rust free XJ's are hard to find, and have been without any for a couple of years now. I sneak onto the forum from time to time anyway. I've been driving a Liberty, which I am ashamed to say has been embarrassingly reliable.
Click to expand...

A very informative response, thanks! Thanks for the heads up on the axle u-joint as well.

I don't mind my air conditioned floor pan, I just dress accordingly. I have a good heater though, and I'm sure it gets much colder in VT than it does in VA. I have no carpet to get wet either. Mine had the horrible stench of rat urine to it so it came out, which was a good thing because I then discovered all the rust holes. I have a vinyl/rubber type flooring now and I riveted cut out pieces of a car hood over the holes and filled them with Great Stuff foam sealant. I'd like to get under it and clean it up, and put some of that rubber sealant spray over the holes from the bottom. Everything is so crusty though. I'm not sure if that would do any good.
 
The best way to handle rust, is to cut out the weak metal, clean up the OK metal, and to weld or glue/screw in new metal. I use unibody panel adhesive, but JB Weld looks exactly the same. Apply autobody seam sealer to the repair seams. Expanding foam holds water and accelerates the rusting.

The XJ Cherokee is simple to fix, and routine preventative maintenance will be the best way to avoid major engine/transmission repairs. XJ's are still common as dirt in the junkyard if you need any parts.
 
Tim_MN said:
The best way to handle rust, is to cut out the weak metal, clean up the OK metal, and to weld or glue/screw in new metal. I use unibody panel adhesive, but JB Weld looks exactly the same. Apply autobody seam sealer to the repair seams. Expanding foam holds water and accelerates the rusting.

The XJ Cherokee is simple to fix, and routine preventative maintenance will be the best way to avoid major engine/transmission repairs. XJ's are still common as dirt in the junkyard if you need any parts.
Click to expand...


Wish I had known that about the expanding foam. The floor pan needs to be completely replaced though. You can push on it with your thumb and feel it collapse in so many spots it isn't funny. I just did the best I could to cover the holes and block the water. I drove around with one seat for a long time just trying to get that much done. I work evenings and I usually sleep till 2:00 p.m. which doesn't give me a very big window of opportunity for projects like that.
 
Great stuff and most expanding foams are an open cell foam that holds water. We use a heavy duty black expanding foam adhesive in water feature construction. It is closed cell like a pool noodle, it will not hold water. It would be terribly nasty to burn though so I won't use it on my rig until I am done with all the major welding for my build. ie 2x6 rockers, full frame stiffeners, tube fenders, and hybrid cage. We are actually through with that list excluding the front stiffy and cage. I will use it to fill holes and secure in the noodles that replaced my inner fender liner better.

If I were you and could find a rust free-ish one or one with minor rust you can fix, and doesn't leak. I would try and snag it and keep the old one for parts if possible. Saving money and running it until it actually dies is a good way to do that. Maybe I shouldn't mention mods since you don't need them and we are in oem tech but it would apply to my opinion on General XJ longevity and value for the money.

As far as is your XJ going to be worth it for you, I can't tell you that. I can tell you I started with a pretty much rust free stock XJ and have put a lot of time, money and effort into it. I didn't know much but had basic tools and basic mechanical knowledge when I found NAXJA . I was prepared to search so I could figure it out or at least understand the answers before I posted asking for help. Through that and this website I have come a long way in the years I have been here. I had to buy some tools along the way but paying shop prices all the time wasn't an option money wise. I have a shop I trust for the fine tuning and things I can't quite get, or are too far over my head for now, like Gear/Locker installs.

Along the way my little family made some great friends. We are at Winterfest yearly and have been to Moab and Harlan,Ky for Naxja events. We will be going this summer to do Black bear pass in Co with friends we met here. I know you were asking is it a smart investment to dump too much into an Xj. No, not if your going to sell it but these are some of the things that make it worth it to me.

To give you an idea of what we have into it, over the years we have replaced almost the entire car I started with. I think literally the only original removable parts are; the trans, doors, hood, interior excluding suede headliner and glass excluding entire back hatch and drivers window. Almost everything was replaced with better, stronger parts. We got a great deal from members here on our built t-case and built axles, but we still have considerably more into ours than it would sell for. Is it worth it for me? Hell yes!

How long will it last me? I think almost indefinitely as long as I value what it brings me enough to spend the time money and effort on it. If there was a catastrophic accident or someday it rusted out beyond repair. I would find as rust free as possible replacement to swap my parts over to. I would even cut out most of my welded stuff to transfer except things not worth the time and effort like the stiffeners. This is one of the reasons I want to get rid of my "Spare-okee" beater trail rig and get a clean stock D.D. the same year and color as my nice build.

We also decided what we were realistically going to use it for and stuck with that so we did not overbuild and lose the streetability we wanted. And slightly overbuilt for what we use it for, so it wouldn't break often. Between that, frame stiffeners, cowl intake, trans cooler/filter, extending all the breathers, and packing electronics in dielectric grease we have done what we can to protect vital components and help with longevity.

As long as I don't beat on it and use it for what we built it for our expedition rig can handle anything we wanted it for. Which was to have a rig that was reliable and well balanced. That could handle driving across country to an event, wheeling the easy to medium scenic trails and rock gardens before driving home. We have done all of that a few times now, with and without the offroad trailer. We have trailered it to one event though and that was nice too.

I guess this had to do more with with why it's worth it to me. You will have to make your own decision based on your actual needs, the shape it is in rust wise and how much you love or hate your XJ. Idk if that helped at all but it helped me organize my thoughts on why my undervalued money pit is very much worth it for me.
 
OutkastBoss said:
Great stuff and most expanding foams are an open cell foam that holds water. We use a heavy duty black expanding foam adhesive in water feature construction. It is closed cell like a pool noodle, it will not hold water. It would be terribly nasty to burn though so I won't use it on my rig until I am done with all the major welding for my build. ie 2x6 rockers, full frame stiffeners, tube fenders, and hybrid cage. We are actually through with that list excluding the front stiffy and cage. I will use it to fill holes and secure in the noodles that replaced my inner fender liner better.

If I were you and could find a rust free-ish one or one with minor rust you can fix, and doesn't leak. I would try and snag it and keep the old one for parts if possible. Saving money and running it until it actually dies is a good way to do that. Maybe I shouldn't mention mods since you don't need them and we are in oem tech but it would apply to my opinion on General XJ longevity and value for the money.

As far as is your XJ going to be worth it for you, I can't tell you that. I can tell you I started with a pretty much rust free stock XJ and have put a lot of time, money and effort into it. I didn't know much but had basic tools and basic mechanical knowledge when I found NAXJA . I was prepared to search so I could figure it out or at least understand the answers before I posted asking for help. Through that and this website I have come a long way in the years I have been here. I had to buy some tools along the way but paying shop prices all the time wasn't an option money wise. I have a shop I trust for the fine tuning and things I can't quite get, or are too far over my head for now, like Gear/Locker installs.

Along the way my little family made some great friends. We are at Winterfest yearly and have been to Moab and Harlan,Ky for Naxja events. We will be going this summer to do Black bear pass in Co with friends we met here. I know you were asking is it a smart investment to dump too much into an Xj. No, not if your going to sell it but these are some of the things that make it worth it to me.

To give you an idea of what we have into it, over the years we have replaced almost the entire car I started with. I think literally the only original removable parts are; the trans, doors, hood, interior excluding suede headliner and glass excluding entire back hatch and drivers window. Almost everything was replaced with better, stronger parts. We got a great deal from members here on our built t-case and built axles, but we still have considerably more into ours than it would sell for. Is it worth it for me? Hell yes!

How long will it last me? I think almost indefinitely as long as I value what it brings me enough to spend the time money and effort on it. If there was a catastrophic accident or someday it rusted out beyond repair. I would find as rust free as possible replacement to swap my parts over to. I would even cut out most of my welded stuff to transfer except things not worth the time and effort like the stiffeners. This is one of the reasons I want to get rid of my "Spare-okee" beater trail rig and get a clean stock D.D. the same year and color as my nice build.

We also decided what we were realistically going to use it for and stuck with that so we did not overbuild and lose the streetability we wanted. And slightly overbuilt for what we use it for, so it wouldn't break often. Between that, frame stiffeners, cowl intake, trans cooler/filter, extending all the breathers, and packing electronics in dielectric grease we have done what we can to protect vital components and help with longevity.

As long as I don't beat on it and use it for what we built it for our expedition rig can handle anything we wanted it for. Which was to have a rig that was reliable and well balanced. That could handle driving across country to an event, wheeling the easy to medium scenic trails and rock gardens before driving home. We have done all of that a few times now, with and without the offroad trailer. We have trailered it to one event though and that was nice too.

I guess this had to do more with with why it's worth it to me. You will have to make your own decision based on your actual needs, the shape it is in rust wise and how much you love or hate your XJ. Idk if that helped at all but it helped me organize my thoughts on why my undervalued money pit is very much worth it for me.
Click to expand...

This definitely gives me some perspective, thanks!

When it warms up some I'll get under it and pull out all the foam I can if it hasn't fallen out already. I trimmed the foam off even with the floor using fishing line before I put the sheet metal down so most of the foam is just hanging from the bottom. It was a crappy, temporary fix anyway.

Could you post a link to any info on the Harlan, KY events? I live just across the mountain in the next county over in VA. I'd enjoy hitting some of the easier trails. I have friends who go to Evarts to ride ATVs but I had never heard about any Jeep specific events.
 
fishinpolejoe said:
This definitely gives me some perspective, thanks!
Could you post a link to any info on the Harlan, KY events? I live just across the mountain in the next county over in VA. I'd enjoy hitting some of the easier trails. I have friends who go to Evarts to ride ATVs but I had never heard about any Jeep specific events.
Click to expand...

Check out the Naxja events section here;
http://naxja.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14

Scroll down to the Cherokee Crawl, it looks like since it is a ways out still there is only the first thread and not much info outside of dates. But there are people posting in it, exited to go already. It was a really good time last year and if I didn't already have other trips planned, I would be there. Maybe next year for me. You can also go to past events and check out the event thread from last years Crawl. There will be itineraries that can give you an idea of what goes on. and picture threads to see the awesome fun we had out there.

Iirc it is held by the SEC chapter, If you haven't before check out your chapters area on here and maybe post up.

We go to the MWC event, WinterFest every year so I will be doing that one for sure. I would like to make it to each chapters event at least once. Seems like a good way to get out and see different places and faces. I know I would like to do the Crawl again so maybe we will see you on the trail one day!
 
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