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Let's say your a 17 year old kid, your getting ready for your first summer with your Jeep, and you've got $1200 bucks saved up to get it ready.
You drive a 98 TJ with a 4.0 and an automatic transmission. Its bone stock and rides on 30x9.50 BFG KO's. You want to do some wheeling right up to the ragged edge of what a stock TJ can handle. And sometimes you might be doing it alone or with someone who is completely incapable of helping. Say for example your friend came along for the ride, and parked his outback a few miles into the trail when the going got too rough.
And sometime you might be wheeling with your other two idiot friends, one in a 90's Chevy pickup on bald old Michelin's. And one in a surprisingly heavy old Jeep that has a habit of getting himself burried to the frame before he finally stops.
Or maybe your friend in his stock 4 runner on street tires tried to follow you up to a remote camp site and halfway there he's high centered himself on the only rock in the trail.
Anyway, my point is that having capable recovery gear would be my priority right off the bat. Wheeling alone or with your idiot friends you are going to use it.
What I would do:
Quadratec winch plate: $100
Smittybilt x20 10k winch: $400
Winch accessory kit: $100
AGM Battery and new terminals: $180
Mirror relocation brackets: $20
Full length Bimini top: $60
Cab cover: $100
Windshield Channel: $30
Rocker panel gaurds: 1/8" thick for $115 or 1/4" for $230
What else would you add? Is there an area the factory skidplates don't adequately protect?
If you wheel alone you want a winch. It doesn't have to be a fancy high speed winch, it just has to work. Also recovery gear and three snatch blocks so you can pull yourself backwards.
The winch will help with your friends as well. A snatch strap is nice but if they are really stuck you will beat the heck out of your rig trying to get them out. With a winch you just block the wheels, hook them up and pull them out. Again the three snatch blocks will really help if they are really stuck.
Recover points are a must.
If you do go out a lot by yourself a spare battery in good condition isn't a bad idea. You don't need a fancy dual battery setup, just a spare you keep trickle charged and toss in (and secure) when you head out.
To update this, found a Tabor 9k winch for $150 with a mounting plate locally. $150 in parts later he has a rebuilt warn which with wireless remote and practicaly new cable.
Found a set of rocker guards for $220
Used BFG AT's mounted for $80
Now he needs a highlift, mounts, recovery points, a couple of straps and a snatch block.
$35 for a HAM radio and taking the classes would be my #1 priority if I were in his shoes! Seems like wheeling is going there anyways and such a small investment would go a really long way if there was ever an emergency.
I would avoid lockers in the stock axles forever! You will never get the return on that money. If you really wanted lockers, I would call around to the 4x4 lift shops and see if someone upgraded to some real axles and forfeited their stock axles that they put lockers into. Same would go with searching CL or even posting a wanted ad. You should be able to pick them up REALLY CHEAP and avoid a ton of parts and labor costs at the same time. This would be a project "on this side" that you could be ready to pounce on if/when it pops up. Colorado4x4.org would also be a potential source if you look up the build threads.
Recovery points would be #2 as you will need them whether you are with friends or not (if you have a winch). They are also necessary if you are going to snatch block your winch. A 9K winch is plenty for a little TJ. I bet they weigh less than 4K when they are fully loaded. I have read that 2X rig weight is a good place to have your winch capacity for max line pull. Doesn't the stock bumper on a TJ have a winch plate incorporated? IOW do you even need a winch plate? I have never dealt with one but I have never heard of anyone having to buy one either.
I think the winch accessory kit would be the next necessity after the winch. I have seen them on CL a few times for a small discount over new with very little usage. My problem is that the snatch blocks that come with the kitted sets are not rated for my max line pull so I am sourcing the snatch blocks individually and buying a tree saver strap. I already carry gloves and d-rings in my toolkit and figure I am starting out halfway to a kit anyways since I don't want/need the bag!
I would avoid the hi lift. I have never used mine on the trail and would be hesitant to do so if the need came up. I use mine around the house (lifting trailers and pulling fence posts) more than anything. I be you could take a poll and my guess would be 20% or lower of Jeepers use their high-lift on the trail. Especially with small tires... the stock jack that came from the factory should be plenty to do a tire change on the trail. Worst case, I would invest in a 20ton bottle jack from HF if he goes with intermediate sized tires.
It is a little late to be compiling this stuff if his wheeling trip is tomorrow.
Michael's hi lift got me out when his 9k winch could not. That really impressed me. We lifted the Jeep and shifted it sideways off of the stump I had found under the snow. I think I'm going to find a way to mount mine In the Jeep. Better than the stock POS.
I'm trying to get my buddy's into radio but they haven't learned the whole "uh oh my phone's dead/no service and all of my contacts are utterly incapable of providing aid" thing yet.
Nothing to serious on the schedule for tomorrow. Two vehicles and a few good tow rope should be plenty.
I don't know how serious he's going to get with this whole offroad business. For now he's at least added some body armor set he won't trash it the first time he finds a rock.
As far as lockers go, I think he'd be well served by a lunch box based on his driving so far. And that's not much of an investment especially used. I don't think he's even going to lift this Jeep, can he really kill a 35 with 31's?
It went well. His exhaust manifold cracked, which may or may not have been incidental. Only real oops of the day occurred when he drove the front axle up onto a boulder instead of putting his tire on it. We were able to push him off without damage.
Here he is parked where I was stuck up to the doors in snow 3 days earlier.