About 2 years ago, I picked up a 99 XJ with 155k for $3500 (prices have gotten stupid since then!). It needed a bunch of little maintenance stuff, but overall was in really good shape. It's a 4 door with the 4.0 and the AW-4 tranny and no rust issues. It was a good start.
My son was 12 at the time, and I knew I had a couple of years to turn it into a nice daily driver for him when he got his permit.
Over the past 2 years, whenever I had spare time and a couple hundred bucks, I'd pick something and fix it. Tons of little stuff got fixed like an electrical gremlin in the gauge cluster (shorted wires behind the dash), numerous bad grounds, a vacuum leak, an A/C leak, sagging springs, front end needing rebuilt, worn-out tires, shitty steel wheels that had paint missing everywhere, fluids in bad need of changing... you get the idea. My son helped with a lot of the work along the way, and everything we fixed, we tried to do with quality parts or at least upgrades to OEM stuff. Like when we replace the rear leaf springs we went with "tow package" springs, which are supposed to be a little stiffer, and ended up netting an inch over stock height in the rear. Since I wanted to put 31's on it anyway, I went ahead an put 1" pucks over the front springs. When we changed the tranny fluid, I went ahead and added a cooler. You get the idea. Basically as we fixed things, we did minor upgrades along the way. We also added a small light bar to the front bumper, because my son thought it was cool.
Well, about 6 months ago, I got everything done to have it mechanically sound. It's been a fun little vehicle to rip around town in, but I realised that in April 2023, my son will be taking Driver's Ed... Time to get this ol' girl ready for my boy. He has been cruising it around on back roads on the weekends with me learning the basics of driving, and watching him drive it around reminded me of a time long ago when I was experiencing the thrill and freedom of having my first set of wheels (a 90 Ford Ranger, if you're wondering).
Since it is mechanically solid, I have been thinking about stuff that I thought was cool in a vehicle when I was a kid as well as safety upgrades that I want in there when he is driving.
First up was a stereo. What kid doesn't love a stereo? I picked up a JVC head unit that is Bluetooth capable and has a mic. Hands free is a must. Kids are knuckleheads so I figure if I made sure it had a hands free system, anlt least he wouldn't do some dumb crap like try to juggle talking on his phone while driving. I also picked up 4 6.5" JBL speakers to replace the door speakers and the back hatch speakers. I also got a low-profile JBL 8" sub with built in amp. On Christmas Eve, I taught my son how to wire a sound system. I remember my older brother teaching me how years ago, and after learning how that summer, I must have helped half a dozen buddies install stereos, speakers, and amps in their cars. Maybe my son will spend summer of '23 helping his buddies install sound systems! He loves music (and great shit like Queen, Linkin Park, Gorillaz and Springsteen, to boot!) So I got him a Spotify account as well.
I installed a phone mount on the dash so he can run maps if needed and ran a back-up camera as well.
All in all, it has been a great bonding experience with my son and he has a hell-for-stout, reliable, fun 4wd Jeep at the end of it all. Not only has it been a great time working on it with my boy, but all-in I'm under 7k in the ride, too!
My son was 12 at the time, and I knew I had a couple of years to turn it into a nice daily driver for him when he got his permit.
Over the past 2 years, whenever I had spare time and a couple hundred bucks, I'd pick something and fix it. Tons of little stuff got fixed like an electrical gremlin in the gauge cluster (shorted wires behind the dash), numerous bad grounds, a vacuum leak, an A/C leak, sagging springs, front end needing rebuilt, worn-out tires, shitty steel wheels that had paint missing everywhere, fluids in bad need of changing... you get the idea. My son helped with a lot of the work along the way, and everything we fixed, we tried to do with quality parts or at least upgrades to OEM stuff. Like when we replace the rear leaf springs we went with "tow package" springs, which are supposed to be a little stiffer, and ended up netting an inch over stock height in the rear. Since I wanted to put 31's on it anyway, I went ahead an put 1" pucks over the front springs. When we changed the tranny fluid, I went ahead and added a cooler. You get the idea. Basically as we fixed things, we did minor upgrades along the way. We also added a small light bar to the front bumper, because my son thought it was cool.
Well, about 6 months ago, I got everything done to have it mechanically sound. It's been a fun little vehicle to rip around town in, but I realised that in April 2023, my son will be taking Driver's Ed... Time to get this ol' girl ready for my boy. He has been cruising it around on back roads on the weekends with me learning the basics of driving, and watching him drive it around reminded me of a time long ago when I was experiencing the thrill and freedom of having my first set of wheels (a 90 Ford Ranger, if you're wondering).
Since it is mechanically solid, I have been thinking about stuff that I thought was cool in a vehicle when I was a kid as well as safety upgrades that I want in there when he is driving.
First up was a stereo. What kid doesn't love a stereo? I picked up a JVC head unit that is Bluetooth capable and has a mic. Hands free is a must. Kids are knuckleheads so I figure if I made sure it had a hands free system, anlt least he wouldn't do some dumb crap like try to juggle talking on his phone while driving. I also picked up 4 6.5" JBL speakers to replace the door speakers and the back hatch speakers. I also got a low-profile JBL 8" sub with built in amp. On Christmas Eve, I taught my son how to wire a sound system. I remember my older brother teaching me how years ago, and after learning how that summer, I must have helped half a dozen buddies install stereos, speakers, and amps in their cars. Maybe my son will spend summer of '23 helping his buddies install sound systems! He loves music (and great shit like Queen, Linkin Park, Gorillaz and Springsteen, to boot!) So I got him a Spotify account as well.
I installed a phone mount on the dash so he can run maps if needed and ran a back-up camera as well.
All in all, it has been a great bonding experience with my son and he has a hell-for-stout, reliable, fun 4wd Jeep at the end of it all. Not only has it been a great time working on it with my boy, but all-in I'm under 7k in the ride, too!
But it has been great building those memories!
