Who's is this?

[Badfair]

Does anybody here know who's WJ this is? I recently bought a 2000 WJ for 1000 bucks that i'd like to turn into this rig in the near coming future... I'm really hoping that the owner of this vehicle will yack with me on what he's done to turn his WJ into this beast.







again... this isn't mine... but i'd like to talk to the person that owns it... or built it. I'm new to the off roading scene and i'm tossing ideas around in my head. and i've been talking to my pals at work that wheel about what to do with my WJ. If anybody knows i'd be appreciative.

Thanks again in advance!!!

[SirFuego]

I'm new to the off roading scene

My advice then is to start small, learn your rig and work your way up in size (mild lift and 31s or 32s). Once you start getting into the modifications on rigs like the one you posted, you are getting into serious money doing it all at once. That's quite an investment (term used very, very loosely) into something you honestly may not even like. I've seen quite a few people get bitten by the offroad bug, put some serious money into their vehicle, only to lose interest in a year or two and sell everything off at a big loss.

Even if money isn't an issue for you, the capability of your rig will far exceed your driving ability for a while (not knocking you, that's just the way it will be for a while) -- which could be relatively overwhelming for you and also potentially pose a safety hazard if you don't show a lot of restraint in trying new obstacles. I've seen quite a few newbies nearly shit their pants on a relatively straightforward obstacle because they weren't familiar with the way the rig reacted in a certain situation (myself included). After they got more seat time, they knew exactly what to expect and how to react, but it's just one of those things that there is nothing better than seat time and sometimes having an overbuilt rig isn't helping anything because you can just glide through obstacles without a problem -- meaning that when there is REALLY stuff to be concerned about in the harder trails, you don't have the experience to know what to do.

In addition, doing "everything at once" without the experience can also lead to some "modification regret" in that things aren't setup exactly how you want them (because you didn't know any better), so you end up putting even more money into fixing them. A lot of these are "little things" that you just pick up with experience. Honestly, this will probably happen regardless, but may be more pronounced doing everything at once without the knowledge.

Now that said, you don't need to go through every single lift/tire combination possible en route to your "end goal" (using this term very loosely as well). After you get more seat time and get to watch more rigs on the trails, you'll get more comfortable with what you want to do and what you don't want to do. I started off with a 2" lift and 31s. After wheeling with that for a couple years, I knew that I'd be wasting my money on a bigger short arm lift, so I just stuck with that setup for a bit longer while I saved up for a more expensive long arm kit. I went from open/locked on 31s to locked/locked on 33s to locked/locked on 35s. The jump from 33s to 35s IMO was HUGE compared to 31s to 33s.

IMO, you are likely going to have more fun and become a better driver by starting small and "growing out of" your rig, than starting big and "growing into" your rig. I know it's hard to "start small" when everyone that's been involved in the sport has much more aggressive setups, but I wouldn't trade the few years I had on a 2" lift and 31s for anything.

I don't know the owner of the rig you posted. Of course it couldn't hurt to talk to him, but I'm just giving you my perspective on things. It's difficult to tell just by looking at pictures, but the exo does look to be very well done, however, that rig seems to be way too tall for crawling or even high speed desert stuff. One thing I can tell you is that it seems that the wants/needs of east coast rigs tend to differ a bit from the wants/needs of west coast rigs, so in regards to specific modifications, getting advice from someone familiar with the terrain near you may be better than some random internet picture you found.

[Badfair]

Fuego, thank you... what you just said there put everything into perspec tive for me... I've been talking to alot of my pals about what to do with my rig. I've been doing alot of research into "what I want, and where do I get it" without really spending alot of wheel time in it. I know it has some current issues in the front and rear axles, but ill just wheel it till it breaks, my rig only cost me a grand first off, so im not to worried about it right now.

Thanks again mate!