cant decide on a rig

[swynx]

So ive been lookin around town for a rig to lift and wheell. Not to be used as a dd.

This is a rbv forum and i can get the explorer i want for a grand.

I found a 1979 jeep wagoneer with a 360. Dana 44. Not lifted. Leaks some oil. 700$. Interested in this because ive read you can do a leaf over axle and run 35s plus its got the 44 and they look cool lifted.

A friend is willing to sell me his dodge ram charger for $500. I believe its a 1985 wuth a 318 yet again its got dana 44. Id really like to run 37s after the winter without doing sn sas on anything

Im leaning towards an explorer bcuz carbs suck and the few extra hundred bucks is the price of a new carb. And this site has tons of info if i ever ran into problems. More than anything im asking what would you do.

Supposedly the engine and trsnny were rebuilt 60k ago on the jeep

 

[brinker88]

Wagoneers have plenty of potential offroad. Plus lifted FSJ's are f-in sweet looking in general. I think you'd have fun in either one of your choices (FSJ or Explorer)

What year is the explorer? There's major potential in the 92-94 expo's with TTB front end. Plus they're easier to SAS over the IFS front explorers. Swap in a disc brake 8.8 out of a newer 96+ explorer if you did find one of the older TTB explorer

I wouldnt do the fullsize at all. I've been there, done that. You have to build them overkill to build them right due to them being a lot heavier.

 

[swynx]

The only explorer I'm willing to buy is a 4.0 4 door 4x4 ttb 5 speed. Did the ifs thing in aa yota it sucked. There's one at the carlot for 1200 with 170k and a manual tcase.

As far az I'm concerned I can get enough flex from the ttb for our trails. Just not to up to date on the other rrigs I mentioned. I went and looked at the jeep its got that quadrTec crap

 

[brinker88]

yea you dont want that. If anything, slap in a Dana 300 and twin stick it.

But personally, I'd grab up that Explorer. Sounds like a solid rig to start with. Check out my build thread if you want some ideas on what can be done with the TTB.

 

[swynx]

Only real reason I considerd thr older rigs is cuz family owns a junkyard. If I pull it its free. And there's lotsof old farm trucks. Just didn't want thehassle of an sas... low pinion high pinion. 78-79. Lft side diff right side diff. Gotta be so meticulous. See more chevys than anything. Have yet to see a 78-79 f150

 

[Andy D]

The only trouble with the old Wags is that the cones in the Quadratrac are unobtainium. The later Grand wags with NP 229s or 208s are better, mostly because you can get parts for them. Constant work to keep driveable. I gave up after 20 yrs of trying. My last one ran great, but was losing 2 foot chunks of frame from rust. Did you look at the Ramcharger?

 

[swynx]

The ram charger. Runs great. Just had a new ujoint installed thing that worries me is the guy fixes everything half way. Id rather not have someone elses headache