I'm Covid bored...stop reading now if "thread drift" bothers you...the Ranger is technically Machelle's...the '06 Rubicon Unlimited (long wheel base 2 dr, 3 years of production) we traded it in for was her DD...it was a mild, but capable build (4.5" Rubicon Express lift, Kilby armor, metric 35's). That was totally random information that may or may not be pertinent to further ramblings.
Long story, shorter...the new owner of the Jeep tracked me down via some Dust Junkie Racing stickers that were never removed. He found the Jeep at a used car lot on the interweb...after talking to me about the Jeep, he flew out from Texas to the dealer that bought the Jeep at auction, Burbank, CA (if memory serves) and bought the Jeep. He and his buddy came through San Diego on their way home and I loaded him down with spare parts. I had a high clearance hitch mounted rack that I liked, had to sell it to him to load all of the assortment of random parts I had. Thinking about it, Tony (TD 64) gave me an in the box soft top (and I didn't make it easy for him to gift it to me
), it was passed forward to the new owner.
Sadly, the new owner had a catastrophic radiator failure on the drive home. I couldn't believe it, the whole top header (plastic) blew out...stop leak was NOT an option (thread drift x 2, black pepper works as a radiator stop leak, flakes stack up on each other, don't dissolve, but not in this case...visualize a shredded tire and the 12v air pump with a $50 can of fix-a-flat screwed on to it that comes in newer cars, instead of a proper spare tire). Anyway, they made it home.
Still with me?
Just to stay on topic (sort of), I keep finding reasons to walk over to where I can see the truck. Armor is forever, good looking armor is bonus points. My first Jeep (91 Wrangler YJ, do the math
) regardless of future modifications, it's one thing that will survive what I call "gradual growth" of a vehicle. Change suspension, add lights, change the suspension again, new tires, modify second suspension for new tires that were almost free from a bro deal that turned into $2000 in mods to make them work...the same armor you started with should have survived all of the growth.
Probably going to irritate some here (not the first time, trust me)...I don't get all of the lifted rigs I see running around with jungle gym tubing rocker protection and then an obstacle catcher step that hangs down 6". I'm going to be more gentle with this vehicle, less aggressive trail work
, but I still want functional modifications (in the spirit of doing things twice, seriously considering the Ford Performance/Fox Shock package...why...because I can!
) I'd love to think that I could have an adventure/ desert race chase truck like
@Zam15 bitching build. Even us old guys can dream!
The point of all of this...regardless of where I go with this build, the White Knuckle rocker protection is there to stay (I even have a valid reason to haul around a 50# Hi_Lift if I wanted to...nah...plenty of virgin Hi-Lifts on most any trail run...I'll stick with my Safe Jack system).