built, save time and money- if all factors between the 2 vehicles are the same

 

Hello People....

Yet ANOTHER OLD POLL...

Check the dates when they pop up in your searches...

:pat:

 

Well I say buy built. My first Wheeler i bought Built (89 Bronco II 6" rancho lift 33x12.50) cost me $2500. The truck had maybe been hard wheelin once or twice. I drove it for 6 months (until i put Swampers on it and hated them so i sold the truck cause i couldn't afford to buy new tires) then sold the truck to a young kid for $3500 which was about what i had in it. Now I bought a Stock 1st gen Runner on 31x10.50, Man this is gonna cost me a fortune just to catch up with my broncoII

 

there is an 84 4runner in Portland with a Supra swap on Ebay...looks like a well built rig with fuction in mind. Check it out.

Brian

 

Just to re-iterate what Bamachem said, I posted this quite a while back. As an update, I ended up buying a semi-built fj40 with no real offroading mods yet. Its got a ways to go before I wheel it, but its been fun working on so far.

 

buy the stocker, you can't go wrong there

 

:pat:

 

Close the polls

(and the borders)

 

BUY A STOCKER AND BUILD! i get a certain feel when i built it myself. Satisfied really. I just love working on my truck. I have afe wbuddys that bought built jeeps, and even though they outwheel me, i enjoy it more. Only because i built it! Oh, and in a few months, they wont be outwheelin anyone

 

again..... :pat:

 

This is turning into the new "I'm just a girl" thread....

 

I built a 84 4runner nothing crazy but, after 2 years of dd rusted everything! I put it away for 6 months, the windsheild leaked and got mold EVERYwhere. my old plan was to part it use the front end for sas get a 90-95. Then I bumped into my current truck on ebay. Man what a mistake! I wish I started over again!

 

Buy built. It's cheaper. Even if you have to do a couple of things to make it "your own", if it has 80-90% of what you want, you'll save 40-50%.

I've built three rigs. I've sold three rigs that I've built. I can't even tell you how many 10s of K's I've lost. My last purchase was a built rig - needs a few hundred worth of work, but I've save over 8K buying pre-built.

 

My suggestion is to buy stock, and build using used parts. A stock vehicle may be in excellent condition, you do not have to worry about what was booty-fabbed, or if it was done correctly. You dont have to worry if they ran 36s on stock gears for the last 100k miles, etc.

So you start with a great platform, a stock vehicle. Then, instead of buying new wheels, new tires, brand new suspension lift, buy things off wrecked vehicles, or people upgrading, etc. I think this is the best of both worlds. You dont have to worry about the integrity of the stock vehicle, you save a ton of $$ by buying used parts, and you do the work yourself so you are very familiar with your vehicle.

 

My suggestion is to lock this thread...

 

I can't believe it still keeps popping up.....

 

its a good subject...

I dont have a problem with people that buy a built rig. I dont think it makes anyone less manly at all. Shows they probably have more money sometimes or maybe dont like doing the work themselves...

The reason I voted build it yourself is because you know whats going on. If your driving down the highway and you feel a vibration, you most likely know what it is. Your not saying, "ok is it the lift, tires, wheels etc etc etc?". Same goes with everything.

If something breaks you know where to take it. You know what might be the problem. You KNOW this stuff.

You also get alot of experience with stuff. You know how it feels on large tires with stock gears, you can see the MPG change. You know what that particular rig felt like on the trail without a locker, now you know what it feels like with one.

Also you grow when building your own rig. You tried this trail, lockerless, and you cant do it. You installed lockers front and rear and now its time to take on that trail again.

You also gain a real sense on accomplishment when you DIY. That is a great feeling when you spend a weekend under your rig installing something and now its all done and you can stand back and say, damn I'm good. Plus it gives you somthing to work for if your not supporting a family or if you can support a family but need to work OT for your rig.

Another thing you know someone else didnt have the rig on trails smashing it to bits, bouncing off the redline and fording 4' of water.

These are the reason I personally prefer building a rig up. But I dont have any less respect for people that bought a rig already "hooked up".

I dont offroad anymore so I dont plan on building mine up so my opinion is kinda bias. I used to have a Wrangler on 33's, I installed the locker, lift, tires, gears (i actually had a shop do that with my money), stereo, SYE, headers etc etc. Everytime I left someplace I would walk in a direction that I could admire my rig and all the hard work I put into it.

 

you build it yourself and you get to pick which parts to use and you will know any problems as you come across them instead of them being covered up and you driving it until something breaks. plus you get to be able to say "yah, i built it up from stock"

but if its already built up you have more money to keep modding it to make it more extreme.

 

My rigs built, bought it that way. You can save alot of money on mods if you shop around. Its beat to hell, and is gonna need some TLC to get running perfectly...but I also got an 85 22R with 5.29s, solid axles, 35" MTRs, a bobbed bed, badlands bumpers, and 6" lift, for free. I paid a bit below blue book.

All it needs is a locker in the rear and 'maybe' one in the front, and its good to go, fully built rig. Only downside was all the body damage...but who cares about that...its a wheeling rig, that might get driven to work every once in awhile.