Our New (to us) Toad

Well my wife and I sold our 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee and bought a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon to use as my daily driver, our toad to flat tow behind the coach as well as our toy for exploring the off-road when on our trips.  We have become quite fond of exploring off the beaten path over the last 16+ years of RVing and I have wanted one of these new Wrangler Unlimiteds since their release in 2007, however, they have been well out of our price range.  We have been saving up for several years now and have been looking for the past three months.

We finally found one about three weeks ago.  It is a little newer unit than we were originally looking at but only had 3200 miles on it when we purchased it.  The wife fell in love with the interior which is actually a little nicer than our 1996 Grand Cherokee.  I swore I would never own another black vehicle due to being such a PITA to keep clean but when buying used I guess beggers can't be choosers when it comes to color.

I have attached a few pictures of when I did the first modifications to it.  I have a 4.5" BDS long-arm suspension system and 35x12.5x17 BF Goodrich KM2 tires wrapped around 17x9 ATV Crawl wheels.  I have also installed a Warn bumper and Warn Powerplant compressor/winch combination.  The winch/bumper combo actually dropped my front end down a little due to the weight so I am adding some spacers to compensate this weekend.  I also installed a AFE cold air intake and MBRP cat-back exhaust sytem.

Considering it only had 3200 miles on it there were quite a few scratches on it so I spend last weekend polishing the paint out and debadging the body.  Yesterday all of my components for the drivetrain showed up including RCV front axle shafts, Ten Factory 4340 chromoly rear axle shafts, Yukon gears and ARB differential covers for front and rear.  I will be installing new Tom Woods 1310 front and rear driveshafts as well.  This setup should be pretty stout for our off-roading adventures in the future yet still be very street friendly.

I am looking forward to our first trip to Moab in the new year and many more trips with this towed behind the coach.

Mike.

Your dream is coming true, I look forward to meeting you and seeing your Wrangler at the Moab Rally.

I had that same dream but the costs put it out of reach. However, I did find a '05 Nismo that spent its life with the PO in the four corners region and will provide a lot of back-country enjoyment. I plan on heading south and west from Belen tomorrow after packing up today. Our son Jeff in Tucson is waiting to show us his back-country in Cochise county including his surface silver mine that only a 4x4 can reach.

Bob, thanks.  I am looking forward to the Moab rally.  We were greeted with a warm welcome last year and we are looking forward to it again this year.

I am anxious to get the Jeep off-road but with winter settling in it may not see off-road until our Moab trip in March, then May for the rally.

Mike.

Whooo hooo Mike that is quite a  beefy rig! Good thing you can do work yourself.  I see Poison Spider in our future and Hells Revenge and of course Fins and things.  These have become our favorite runs in Moab!

What about Jared's height in back seat?
Merry Christmas!

Betty

Great Jeep.... Great for off road. You said you were going to use it as a daily vehicle. Commuting, grocery shopping etc. 

  My comment: With those beautiful tires be prepared to use a bunch more gasoline as compared with with standard highway running tires.

Just a thought.

Carson FL.

Mike

That's a beautiful Jeep.... Now time to get it dirty & pinstriped.

You would have fun with it on our last weeks Toy Run.

And you were worried about the cost of the Jeep? Why?

Ernie

Betty Brewer said:

Whooo hooo Mike that is quite a  beefy rig! Good thing you can do work yourself.  I see Poison Spider in our future and Hells Revenge and of course Fins and things.  These have become our favorite runs in Moab!

What about Jared's height in back seat?
Merry Christmas!

Betty

Click to expand...

We will just have to pop the top off when he wants to ride in it.

He's bummed because we can't fit his mountain bike in the back seat like we could in the Grand Cherokee.

Merry Christmas.

Mike.

Terry A. Brewer said:

Mike

That's a beautiful Jeep.... Now time to get it dirty & pinstriped.

You would have fun with it on our last weeks Toy Run.

Click to expand...

Terrry, your Jeep is looking pretty festive with it's red nose.

Mike.

Mike

It did have an antler at the start of the run but was removed by a Palo Verde tree.