So the deal I made with my 16yr old son was to pay for a road trip out west as long as he gets good grades and is accepted into a decent college. With his junior year nearly over and a 3.8 GPA it's looking like I'll have to pony up the funds next summer. But first, we need to get his LJ right and ready. It's an 04 with about 160k on it and an auto tranny, 4" lift and 33's. We regeared it to 4.56's and put in a high pinion front while we were at it. Brakes ball joints etc are new. Just replaced the u joints in the drive shaft but still need to do the front shaft. We had overheating issues last summer when parked hot and re started a few minutes later but just finished installing a poison spyder hood louver to hopefully solve that. I plan to replace the radiator and water pump soon and noticed the champion cooling all aluminum radiator, is it any good? I'll also be installing an auxiliary tranny cooler at the same time. With the exception of the engine or tranny itself giving up the ghost in the next 12 months, I feel its mechanically ok for an 18yr old and a friend to head out in.
We also plan to build a storage box/sleeping platform in the rear with the seat removed for storage. Any LJ owners who have done similar that can point us to ideas? Any other things to do to it? He's only somewhat mechanically knowledgeable but I'm trying to learn him as much as a 16yr old is willing to learn. I'd rather not have him break down in the middle of nowhere if at all possible...
We also plan to build a storage box/sleeping platform in the rear with the seat removed for storage. Any LJ owners who have done similar that can point us to ideas? Any other things to do to it? He's only somewhat mechanically knowledgeable but I'm trying to learn him as much as a 16yr old is willing to learn. I'd rather not have him break down in the middle of nowhere if at all possible...