Who doesn’t need another Jeep

13_gecko_rubi

New member
So I haven’t been on here in quite awhile. Things have just been so crazy busy I don’t even know where all the time has gone. But anyway it’s pretty much winter time back east which equals Jeep build season lol.

A little over a year ago I decided it would be an awesome idea to stick a 6.4 Hemi in my Gecko JKU which is no big deal. But then I decided to also try and run the 8 speed with it and make sure everything was fully integrated. After getting my JLU I just couldn’t even stand the 5 speed any more, even if it was mainly my trail toy.

Well flash forward a year of my extremely built and extremely expensive Jeep sitting around not running and I finally had enough. Everyone involved in trying to get it working tried their best but it just wouldn’t work. After all that I was left with the choice of trying to buy a 3.6 to put back in it (mine was long gone), drop an LS/LT in it, go back to 5 speed, or some other weird combo. No matter how I did the math I couldn’t justify doing anything to it that wasn’t just throwing away more money. The JK market has tanked so badly. That and after driving the JL for a year, even sitting in my JK I just didn’t love it any more like I once did :-(. So I made the decision to part it out. Have sold all of it to folks all over the country. Figured I would just build the JL up and with what I’ve learned over the years skip the 5 steps I went through on the JK.

The issue with this is living I Michigan I really like the way the JL on 37s drives, its built about perfect for this area, and I really like how it is set up. But I also do many trips a year to KY, TN, UT, etc and in those cases I miss my 40s. So I have gone back and forth for awhile now on what to do.

Well last week I just happened to be bored at work and jumped on Copart which I do all too often. And I see this thing...

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So first red flag, the price. Second red flag, flood vehicle. I look at all the pictures and just don’t get it. With all the JK money just burning a hole in my pocket (lol) I figure what the hell, why not take a gamble.

So late last week this shows up....
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I start by looking under it while on the transport truck. It isn’t even dirty. The thing looks way too clean. Before buying I did some research and determined it was from the Mississippi River floods this summer in MO. So I knew it was fresh water.

Anyway step one was to clean the junk out of it. The windows were all taped up but comically it was because the doors weren’t plugged in. They also yanked the rear driveshaft because apparently couldn’t find the park release. I gave it a really good once, twice.... elevence look over and am dumbfounded why it would ever be totalled. Decided step one was to charge up the batteries...

So once charging both batteries and plugging in the doors I powered it on to run with engine off. I tested every electrical device in it and I’ll be damned, everything works fine. None of the modules ever saw water from what I can tell.

Ok next step, does it run? I inspected the intake and the air cleaner. This thing doesn’t look like it ever got wet. Pulled intake tube and inspected it. Clean as a whistle and non of the low hanging tubes had any water. Didn’t see any type of residue either. Next step, drain the oil. Hell wasnt even dirty, no water in it. Cracked the trans cooler lines to drain some of it too. Again nothing.

This is too good to be true right. That’s what I’m thinking. Literally crossed my fingers, pressed the brake, and hit the start button. Cranks right up and purrs like a kitten.

So that was a long winded blah blah blah.... this is now going to be my new trail toy/wheeler. This is going to be the most fun I’ve had in awhile. Basically a brand new Jeep. But at next to nothing cost. So I have no hesitation going a little crazy building it and cutting whatever needs cut.

More to come....


Sent from my iPad using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

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JTCO

Meme King
Congrats on the new Jeep. Cant wait to see what you do with it. I totally get the eternal project thing; had a few of my own that never came to fruition.Glad you were able to at least get some money out of it.
 

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