Need some good opinions on Project.

[leetz]

Alright, Well right now I have a 1998 Explorer Sport 2wd with a v6 4.0 SOHC. I have 3 inch body 2 inch TT 4 door leafs and autozone shackles. It is sitting on 15x8 rockcrawlers mounted on 33x12.50 Xterrains, With a Detroit TrueTrac and 4.56s. I really want 4x4 so I can go on trips with my buddy's to the outer banks of north carolina and such and go on the beach and wheel with them. Well right now with my 2 wheel drive, I have been told ya know you'll be fine and such , but I really dont think its quite the same as having the 4x4. Not to mention if anything goes wrong I am screwed cuz I use it to get to work and school. The only bad thing is this is my day to day truck. So I don't know what I can do to it and It still be as good as it is now to drive.


The catch is.......... I just inherited a 1968 Dodge Pickup from my stepdad who recently got a ranger. He told me it would be a fun project truck for me and the 318 in it would run forever. Well this is also a 2 wheel drive truck. It is a 3 speed truck with a solid front axle. It has 85,000 miles on it. Right now only thing it needs is some brake work. He put about 3,000 into getting everything running great again. I am not sure on the gearing or anything, but I was told it was a pretty low geared truck.


Well anyways when I graduate from high school my parents will be giving me some money like a few thousand( I said I would rather have money then go on a trip). If you guys were in my position what would you do? I want a truck that will be fun to wheel, but nothing too crazy like climbing rocks and stuff. The only reason I was thinkin about the dodge Is because I already have the project truck sitting there and it is not my day to day truck so I can work on it whenever. It just seems foolish to put more money into the ex right now when it is driven everyday including highway. Do you think the dodge could make a nice trail rig??? I really like my ex , but I'm afraid If were to do the sas it would ride like crap or drive horrible on the highway. I suppose If I did the sas I would get 35's. ON the other end the dodge is a classic and I was told by a few people no don't mess with it keep it original your crazy keep it stock and it will be worth more. I'm sure it would be worth more but I want to enjoy it, too That kinda seems boring to me but then again I'm only 18 years old and still a teenager If you were in my place would you convert the truck or the explorer to 4x4. Thanks alot guys I just hoping to get some suggestions from people that know alot more then I know about this stuff.

 

[jimbo74]

well being a 4x2 i would not mod it to a trail rig... however, if the dodge runs fine, i say turn the explorer into an sas /4x4 conversion and just keep the old dodge for daily driver...

 

[dman726749]

sell the dodge...return your truck to stock....buy a first gen explorer and turn that into your trail rig

 

[leetz]

I can't sell the dodge lol I would feel like total crap as he like handed it down to me. That would be a good idea though.

 

[leetz]

I don't know about driving that dodge everyday it is kind of a pain with that 3 speed it barely gets over 55 mph. To make it comfortable for everday I would need to get a 5 speed for sure and probably new shocks as it rides real rough... not that a truck shouldnt I'm just saying my explorer is like 20x more comfy then that thing.