The Wheeling trend / rollercoaster / process

[Riot]

No comment...

I may regret asking this, but what actually did happen to you wheeling?

I remember the -now infamous- almost back flip at oer I.

Then nothing, and the Freds never going to wheel again joke took off and now we're seven years later and I realize I have no idea what actually happened.

[Lycaon]

[Burton58]

I enjoy doing the harder trails and would have loved a fully built rig but mostly just like being out there. Every lifted rig I have had has progressively gotten smaller and my last plans were to put 31s on the xj. I have 3 big issues however. I get bored very easily, I hate fixing cars but I absolutely love cars. Those 3 things are what keeps me getting away from jeeps but keep coming back. I miss wheeling like you can't imagine and would love to have a slightly lifted daily driver as an exp/camping vehicle

[Customjob]

Shut up

Oh and

[DrThunder]

Definitely miss my first comanche on 33's. Drove that thing all over the place and had a lot of fun. Miss my second comanche too but if I were to build another it would be very similar to the first one.

[HitItWithSomeSpeed]

I may regret asking this, but what actually did happen to you wheeling?

I remember the -now infamous- almost back flip at oer I.

Then nothing, and the Freds never going to wheel again joke took off and now we're seven years later and I realize I have no idea what actually happened.

Oh boy... where to start... get ready for a novel:

When I first got my TJ (Second jeep, Senior year of high school) it was so clean it was incredible. No scratches or dings, the interior was flawless, the carpets were beautiful, it smelled like new car, ran like a champ and I loved it. It sat on 31" ATs and it went anywhere I pointed it. I already had plans of how awesome it could be, and I had been saving in order to lift it. By graduation I had a 5.5" Clayton kit with 35" procomps.

Life was good. I was a fucking rockstar (in my head of course). The Jeep was still in relatively great shape, despite the amount I had wheeled it. With the new lift, I started out easy to get used to its limits, but eventually I started getting more agressive, and with every scratch and dent I grew to care less and less about keeping it prestine and more and more about seeing where I could get it to go. As much as I beat on it for two years, it never flinched. I loved it.

...And then I joined and all hell broke loose. Day two of being associated with this club I was on a wheeling run. I met Phil, and the first words out of his mouth after our introduction was that I was cursed for running procomps. Until this trip I had never broken... anything.
That first run I bent my tie rod almost in half and snapped a D35 shaft. The next trip a month later I snapped 2 D35 shafts, grenaded a locker I had bought and installed that friday night at the campsite 12 hours prior, slashed a tire, and to add insult to injury I lost a lug nut. The lug nut I think pissed me off the most.

This was the kick in the ass I needed. I had to upgrade. 3 35 shafts in a months span proved that I was starting to enjoy the skinny pedal a little too much. (Actually, I had started to notice this just before I joined, hence the name.) Now 44s would have been the smart play, however I got it in my head that I wanted to top out on this jeep on 38"s. So when a set of narrowed 1-tons came along with ARBs, I jumped on them.

Since then, Ive tried to wheel it here and there, but nothing ever went well. When I installed the tons, I ran out of resources and cut corners. This came back to bite me in the ass on numerous occasions, and since I've installed the new axles it seems as though the Jeep has been rejecting the donor organs. I've noticed that everytime I pull it apart in order to fix one part and do it correctly (which involves money) the finished product inevitably causes another issue up the line somewhere. I just have too many parts fighting one another.

Now, I still wanted to drive it, but I had to stop wheeling so that I wouldnt kill the thing in its frail state. My plan was to put in just enough to keep it road worthy (barely) and save up/collect parts. I had grown sick and tired of installing new parts just to have them rip themselves apart because the rest of the system was flawed. The gameplan was, and still is, to get everything I need to rebuild it in a way that its solid and reliable and that I wont have to turn a wrench on it everytime I want to drive it, and strip it down to the frame and take my time and build it right.

I then crashed it in March 2013, got it home, and its been sitting ever since. That incident (which was caused by the Jeep itself) made me realize I cant keep throwing money at it even to make it roadworthy again, as it will just steal funds from a proper build.

I have been collecting parts over the years, but the last few I need are still a pretty penny. So money I guess would be the issue. But time is also a huge factor, and I get caught up in being busy all the time, so the Jeep gets put on the back burner.

Im hoping to get back into it soon, I just need to get a few things off my plate first. However, I cant tell you how much I truly miss my Jeep. It sounds weird but it pains me every day. I loved driving it. As corny as it is, after all the time, sweat and beers I've invested in it, I feel as though its my baby. An extension of my personality I guess. Something I created. This is why when someone tells me to part it out or sell it as is and start over with a fresh platform, I tell them no way. As even if I could get a fraction of the money that I dumped into it back (which I cant...by a long shot) the fact that this jeep was a learning tool for me leaves me with a sense of responsibility to it to finish it in the way it should be. Due to all the mistakes I made building this jeep, I now feel I have the formula figured out to make it into something great that will continue to give me years of enjoyment.

As for the OP... I miss wheeling, I miss exploring the woods and camping out of the Jeep, I miss wrenching. But life is just like that sometimes. Due to time, money or energy, we often tend to put things on the back burner, even if its something we enjoy. Would I still build my jeep up? Most likely. Would I enjoy it if it were how it was on 31"s? Im sure. I guess its not what you drive, but how you drive it... I figure I could have the same amount of fun no matter what Im in, so long as Im back on the trail.

And one of these days I will be.

But Chris, I guess if I had to answer the question of why I dont wheel anymore...

The answer is simple:

I joined .

[Hydra]

Y'all some Oompa-Loompas,

WONTONS and CRULLERS 4LyfeSUN.

[Zullock Holmes]

Some people have different desires when it comes to wheeling.

I personally don't want a "stocker" ie stock axles 33's etc. because I like to drive hard. I always picked lines not on the easiest way to the top but rather hardest.

I don't get the rush from putsing around in the woods, I never did. It was always a will to go bigger. Recreational wheeling doesn't really appeal to me that much either anymore, sure that's how everyone started out. But I would much rather being able to race 2 or 3 times a year than rec wheeling every weekend.

Not everyone is the same. Not everyone's tastes are the same.

I think the reason most 1ton/ buggy builds end are a direct result of money. Wheeling and 4 wheel drive is EXPENSIVE, not to mention upkeep and preventative maintenance which equates to a large time commitment. Look at my case: I worked for a really shitty company, that fucked me over to the point where I left, made huge changes in my life that didn't allow me the financial flexibility to support a racing hobby at this immediate moment. The result: car is left unfinished and shit gets sold.

[DizzDizz]

I'll say my peace. After wheeling this weekend, on 33's locked front and rear and have something left of my awful gearing job In my front axle. I did a lot of trails that one tom jeeps have the same or more issues with. What's the point? I have yet to see a one tone xj not break. I have gone hard and easy. I may not be building truggies in nc, but what do I know? I keep going harder and harder and just keep chugging along. But we have to wait for The ton xj's to fix thier shit

[Harry]

When did a one ton XJ break this weekend?

[Harry]

The Wheeling trend / rollercoaster / process

Just cleared this up with Dizzy just now. He admitted there actually was no instance where anyone had to wait for a one ton XJ to be fixed this weekend and he was very drunk when posting.

[DizzDizz]

When did a one ton XJ break this weekend?

My post was highly sponsored by yuengling

[Zullock Holmes]

I have gone hard and easy. I may not be building truggies in nc, but what do I know?

Personal dig, for what?

That's why I said to each their own. That works for you great, it's not good enough for other people.

I don't really care either way.

[Buffalo Phil]

Fred still indirectly blames me for the unfortunate passing of his wheeling career.

[HitItWithSomeSpeed]

Whats indirect about it? You fucked me Phil. You fucked me good and hard.





That sounded better in my head...