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How much is too much?

How much is too much?

drmango

Jeeper
Posts
82
Thanks
0
Location
brooksville, fl
Vehicle(s)
1960 CJ5 Jeep Willys (all stock for now), Lexus LX470, Toyota Tacoma, 1974 Porsche 911 Targa
Well, I know this is a question everyone has asked themselves when restoring or just making an old jeep road worthy. I think I went wrong when I started totaling up what I have spent fixing up my jeep. I went into a panic! :eek: So now I need to vent. I thought I would find out how you guys have felt about your projects. How much is too much when fixing up an old jeep? When does the bleeding stop?

Mine is a 1960 CJ5 Willys and after replacing or fixing:

front wheel bearings
total brake job
tranny rebuild
Transfer Case rebuild
front steering linkage
new wheels
new mud tires
new parking brake
new clutch
new wheel cylinders
new master cylinder
rebuilt carburator

and $4600.00 later (not counting the purchase price) I am still left with a rusty old Jeep.:bang: I know others have spent a lot more then this but I'm freaking out! Any words of advice? I have tried to do a lot of these items myself but unfortunately I am not mechanically inclined. Should I throw in the towel and cut my losses? Some words of encouragement would be helpful?

I love these old jeeps and the image I have of it being finished with shiny new paint keeps me going. Thanks for listening and I appologize for venting. :(
 
I don't know what your purchase price was but I payed 3k for my jeep, and it sits in decent shape. When I prepared my spreadsheet(accountant) for my budget of what I wanted to accomplish I was at 10k with a little built in surplus. As I have worked on stuff I think it will in time run past my original figure. Just another point of view. Don't give up, classic anything always amounts to $$$$ money spent. You will always have more in it then you can cash out for.
 
Don't through in the towel.
An unfinish project never sells for what the seller has into it, but a well done restoration can bring in good money if you decide to sell.
 
If you look at it as an investment with returns, I would throw in the towel now. If you enjoy taking it out and running it and keeping it running then keep on going. I know I will never get my money back that I've put into it, but it's such a joy to take it through the rough country and down the road. That makes it more than worth it to me. I love tinkering on it and am always looking for ways to make it more trail ready. You have to either love it or leave it. Counting the money only makes you sad.

Tommy
 
I say keep up the work, yours might not look as nice as others yet but it sounds like the mechanical pieces will be running long after alot of other peoples decent looking ones fall to pieces, you're just fixing the mechanical aspect first then going for the part that gets noticed quicker. my .02 says a jeep is whats underneath and yours sounds damn good under the skin
 
I will be into my Scrambler for a total of about 20k after all said and done. It's a scray thought but I plan to build it and enjoy for at least ten years or more.
 
I don't even want to know how much I have in mine, but I could probaly have bought a new one by now.
But I plan to keep it and wheel it so I don't keep trak as I just keep breaking things and sinking more money in it.
Having fun is never cheap. :D
 
When I picked up my $600 beauty, I had in mind to get the parts I needed as cheap as possible and do most the work myself, and aside from paint, I've done just that so far and figure when it's all said and done that I'll have around $3500 into what I'm hoping to be a nice daily driver... however, as we were loading parts up on that day, in the stall next to mine was what I truly envision my Jeep to become some day, with all the goodies an enthusiast could possibly think of, an early 90s YJ that had upwards of 50K invested into it. So, my friend, if you truly love your Jeep and enjoy it like you say, then just think of it as one of your children, and come to terms with the fact that that child will nickel and dime you, with love of course, until the day you die...:chug:
 
I have a complete total of almost 7 grand or more.. bought the first jeep for a 1000.00 for the drivetrain and dash, purchased another CJ7 frame from Cranberry PA for 500.00,another full 86 CJ7 from Nashville TN for 1100.00, then found a barn find CJ7 with a custom lacquer paintjob that was stored on a barn for the past 15 years with 14,000 original miles, for 2,000.00 and plus the 400.00 lift and 1100.00 in tires, plus misc. stuff like new intake and carb for 200.00 a piece. as the saying goes, it costs money to look cool.:cool: but Jeeps are well worth the time and effort:chug:
 
Thanks guys! I needed that. I will get some pics posted soon. The investor side of me says stop, but the love of jeeps and encouraging words will keep me going. I will just pace myself and keep my wife on a need to know basis. Just kidding, she loves the jeep too. Thanks again.
 
My friend gave me my 78cj7 6 years ago. Since then I've spent about 14k and countless hours . It's about 95% done and I like what I see. Stick with it.
 
I stopped counting when I went through the 17K mark. :eek:
 
I stopped counting when I went through the 17K mark. :eek:
I never thought much about how much a guy could spend on one of these things, until I seen the one with 50K invested. That seems like a rediculous number to me, and quite honestly wonder how that could happen. Your number seems easily reached, and I can see myself getting into that range over several years just in upgrades to driveline stuff. Do you count everything like oil changes and broken ujoints? Myself, I see things like that as regular maintenance and wouldn't count it, unless that broken joint was upgraded to a premium joint, and like wise with similar items I suppose. Just thinking out loud. Even at my $3500 estimated investment into my Jeep, I know that really just leaves me with basically a stock Jeep, and that won't last for long as I've already been scanning CL for better axles, deeper gears, lockers, and ditching the QuadraTrac eventually. It's a hobby, and I'm finding out quickly that it's an addictive one! I'm building mine in the back yard of a rented house where I'm currently working, 1000 miles from home, and I have actually found, and called on another '59 Jeep not even 2hrs ago, that I will probably drive 2hrs tomorrow night to purchase and bring back to my rented house!! Am I crazy?? Is there a cure? My wife is going to kill me, but my only saving grace is that she told me to get a snow plow to bring back to Iowa this Nov., and , well, this '59 just happens to have a plow...:D
 
Oil changes are NOT tallied. :D
 
I'm like everybody else here, it's addictive. So you just keep going and don't look back. I,too could have bought a new rig for what I have invested in this Jeep. I'm in about 35k. But what's the fun in that! After this last weekend Jeeping, I now have engine issues, so more money to keep it going. You got to love it!!!
 
How do you spend 20k on a jeep? Is every one buying the top dollar and new parts? my project now will have no more then 5k tied up into it.

My next project I'm hoping to have less then 4k into it. I also do all my work myself. The next one will be stretched 10-12 inches, run a 360/727/300 combo and roll on locked 44's.
 
Guys, we are small potatoes at the spending money game. Look around! you don't know some guy with a bass boat that costs more than he makes in a year or a sailboat that Cost 5 or 6 grand just for a place to park it? How about the women that buy two or three hundred dollars worth of shoes a month not even looking at having hair and nails done? Do you know anybody with a $1500 to $2000 shotgun and a pack of dogs with no brains or personality that are capable of eating, dumping and going to the Vet so they can go to a place in the country that costs 2 or 3 grand a year just to walk around on for a weekend two or three times a year??
As a last question, I ask this. How many guys use the bass boat for a daily driver??
I think that as addictions go, Jeeps are about as sane and intelligent as it gets.
 
Guys, we are small potatoes at the spending money game. Look around! you don't know some guy with a bass boat that costs more than he makes in a year or a sailboat that Cost 5 or 6 grand just for a place to park it? How about the women that buy two or three hundred dollars worth of shoes a month not even looking at having hair and nails done? Do you know anybody with a $1500 to $2000 shotgun and a pack of dogs with no brains or personality that are capable of eating, dumping and going to the Vet so they can go to a place in the country that costs 2 or 3 grand a year just to walk around on for a weekend two or three times a year??
As a last question, I ask this. How many guys use the bass boat for a daily driver??
I think that as addictions go, Jeeps are about as sane and intelligent as it gets.

Amen to that, I have a big boat that I have used 3 times in two seasons and pretty much I am ready to get out of it. I also own a $1500 dollar shotgun that only gets a light dusting off until fall every year. So I'm not gonna complain no matter what my Jeep investment becomes. I don't plan on getting rid of it anyways.:booze:
 

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