I have a 4 seater chassis in my garage, and I am really having second thoughts. So much so that I have not been spending money on it like I should be doing to get it done. My spreadsheet says I have about 16.1k left to spend to finish, it almost makes me sick to think about that. My life priorities seem to have changed and I am having a hard time spending that much cash on a toy for me.
I am also worried about a few things, I will be the only one in my group with a buggy, I have to buy a tow rig, I can't use it more than once or possibly twice a month, I am worried about comfort for my wife and toddler, and I can't just jump in it to run errands just to get it out of the garage for a day. The only advantage I can see is I won't be wrecking body panels, and I will be able to wheel everything, although that could be boring.
I had a nice trail rig for almost 10 years but it needed to be retired. I retired it and bought my chassis, but when I look at it, something I have wanted for years, it does nothing for me. No excitement. I am strongly considering selling and going with a 4 door JK or 4 door Tacoma. Something I can wheel, and drive when I want to.
Can anyone tell me who has owned one, if I am missing something here?
just "finished" my buggy build
i had never even wheeled with a buggy before, but after my poor LCG cherokee on 35's pretty much fell apart on me, i knew that was the next logical step
nothing special, yj tub base tubed out stretched with 40's and tons
first time i took it out, the year of late shop nights, thousands and thousands of dollars were all worth it
there is nothing like pointing your nose at a retarded obstacle, with cameras all around, and knowing 100% that you are gonna make it, and nothing is gonna explode while you are doing it
i have a buggy thats quasi street legal and im pumped. my wife hates wheeling--with a passion, but my son loves it and my daughter is still in diapers. so its a two seater! he and i have a blast, one day when the girl is older i might add a third seat-but till then its he and i spending father son time together flinigng poo!
at least finish it and see for yourself, if you hate it you will at least know you fucking hate it, and if you love it then even better.
i think that every one hits THE WALL at some point. i was the guy that had a shit missle of a jeep and all of my friends had buggys so i wanted to build a buggy. stop looking at the money fact and do the ONE PIECE AT A TIME. i found it better that way.
If you have a buggy, you'll want the cab, if you have a full bodied truck you'll want the buggy, because the grass is always greener on the other side! I have the same problem. I have to stop at times and remind myself the grass is greener where you water it.
Here is my advice. About 6-8 years ago i started building a desert racing bronco. I was in the same boat as you. Lots of money (I'll have a decent amount of coin in it when im done! About 20-25k), lots of build time. It gets old having a non functioning vehicle in the garage, and I wanted to wheel. You will start to hate the project because you will only focus on the time and money you need to invest to finish. I ended up spending about 2,500 on a beat up old bronco to wheel. This let me get out with friends and family and have fun. I was also then able to take my time and enjoy building my race bronco. I could peruse craigslist and classifieds and look for deals, buy/sell/trade parts, and focus on fabwork when cash for parts was low. I'm not rich by any means, and this let me keep things realistic. Then when your within a few grand of being done, sell your "temperary wheeler" and buy the last slew of parts you need to finish your buggy. Hope this helps!
1010 brings up a valid point.Ive had buggys for a long time and gone to the Rubicon/jv every year and never towed it there. If you have a cool buggy someone will tow it.
I stayed up most of the night drawing up link brackets, we will see how this goes. I have enough parts to start, that is what I need to do, start. I bet when it is a roller my outlook changes dramatically.
I sincerely appreciate all of the advice guys. :beer:
Roller with engine/trans and tcase mocked up is maybe 40% done .... Its good to see it looking like something but the rest is where alot of time is spent.
Make lists of parts needed and tasks that need to be done ,it helps you to keep from walking around in the garage for two hours deciding what to do. It also allows you to have the parts ready when needed.
Last but not least ,dont forget to spend time with your wife and kid...divorce can ruin a build!:flipoff2:
A good friend of mine said “if you get two hours, that’s enough to accomplish something on the rig”.
Keeping that in mind helped me some, but I too took months off at a time a few times and it drug my build out to well over 2 years.
I was in your shoes 2+ years ago. Not with a chassis in my garage, but a huge pile of parts. I have had/have the spreadsheets.... :shaking:
My driveable 10 year+ wheeler got cut up and I was going to build a 4 seat family safe truggy. Life and 2 kids got in the way and it all got sold/scrapped/shelved.
Worst decision I have made in a long time. I haven't wheeled in almost 3 years and I am big fat loser.
Most days, it's like owning a boat... it sits and is ignored.
Some days, it's like a tractor. It works, makes noise, moves heavy stuff, etc.
Other days, it's like a race car. It gets poor fuel economy and you can't drive it on the street.
Any which way, it's mostly impractical, but when it does get used for what it's supposed to be, it's really fun. Plus it's a good excuse for me now to take a kid out in the woods/mountains, because my kids love it. I'm itching for some snow wheeling, but we don't really have any snow yet.
After two kids, the tractor aspect is probably what's keeping my wife from tweaking out on me for keeping it... it's too useful to get rid of. The kids loving it doesn't hurt either.
I'm the odd guy out here. I want a buggy mainly for the looks factor. I've been planning for about ten years now and I've realized that for the wheeling available to me I don't need a buggy but I WANT one so bad. My plans are nearly stock 1/2Ton driveline 35-37" tires and street legal. 4 seat would be nice even though I'm about to be divorced and my son is leaving for the Navy soon. The 4 seat is for fun weekends with friends
Do some research & make it street legal if your worried about it being impratical.
I dont own a buggy & probably wont but I love driving my SAS'd truck everywhere. Hell i take it on trips where it makes WAY more sense taking the car just bc I like the comments when I pull up & just the enjoyment that I did the work myself.
Counting pennies makes sense, if you want to make sense get out of this sport. Seriously we all know bigger tires & more horsepower break parts & yet what do we all want.......bigger tires & more power.
It's like screwing the hottest girl in town and your the only one that gets to ride that shit. Hillclimb, no big deal, big rock pile, no big deal, whoops, no big deal, 100mph, no big deal. It sucks not having a wheeler. Been there. It'll be worth it to finish it and get it on the trail.
After owning 20 plus off road vehicles, including 3 buggies, and having the privilege of building them for a living. IMHO There is no equal to a well built buggy. The way i think about is, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. You only live once, and why not have a toy that makes you giggle like a school girl when you mash on it and do amazing things . I will use a quote from My customer, and friend, Andy Finch. " Its an investment in Awesome" Whether its 20k or 100k you will still have a blast.
For looks? What?
1/2 ton driveline in a buggy? This isn't adding up... 35-37" tires?
It's a labor of love. You just do it because you ENJOY it. It's not supposed to be stressful or a task. It's a hobby, it's fun. Plus this hobby requires a very specific area of knowledge & skill set.
You have to be handy, practical, creative.. practically an self taught engineer. It's all part of the fun. Design, research, mixing & matching parts... I love it. Sounds like you just want a fancy rig.
If you don't enjoy sculpting a custom buggy with your own hands & $$$
sounds like you should stick with a bolt-on beauty.
I think I was kinda misunderstood, I've been building, operating, breaking, and repairing equipment ranging from mini-bikes to locomotives for over 28yrs. I intend on doing most of the work myself with guidance from people who have plenty of buggy experience.
1/2Ton gear and 35"-37" tires have suited me fine for years for what I do. I could care less about extreme-crawling or rock-bouncin. I really enjoy the outdoors and exploring. I just know what works for me like you know what works for you.
I promise that if I break it I will build a Pirate spec, Rockwell axle, Atlas cased, extra big block powered rig with 7brazillion HP and 96" MickeySwamperClawMudtires! :flipoff2:
Thanks for any and all input, I'll go back to lurking status so as not to clutter up the thread any more.
And for the looks part, yes I admit it I just want to be different and a "Bolt-on Beauty" just don't cut it for me. Sorry but it IS about what I want when I'm footing the bill. Thanks again!
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