What was your first 4x4?

[dodgerammit]

Woohoo! A necrothread!


Several years ago when I first was driving, I wanted an AMC Eagle 4 dr sedan really badly.
My dad thought 4x4s were of the devil. More specifically, they were just a waste of money and expensive to maintain, constantly breaking down, etc.

We ended up having a cool neighbor move in and he was into early Broncos. After spending some time helping him and wheeling with him, I was hooked.

Fast forward a few years and my first truck purchase was an 85 Dodge W350 srw long bed. Purchased from a different neighbor. Mopar 360 with rochester Quadrajunk, np435, np208, D44/D60 4.10 gears.

I installed a 4" rough country lift (I was on a budget and this rig was my classroom I would cut my teeth on). I did everything to this truck. No shop did any of the wrenching. My neighbor with the Broncos was a machinist and would assist with any welding activities I required.

The front axle wasn't engaging. That is where I cut my teeth on the CAD systems. I ended up locking it in for the moment, later swapping to a non-CAD axle when I regeared to 4.56s and added a detroit truetrac to the front and Powrlok rear differentials.

It got new body mounts, a rattle can repaint (though I did take the body to the metal when I did it along with actually buying a gallon of matte clear and spraying with a compressor), a honking huge front bumper, a Warn industrial 12000 hydraulic winch, engine mounted pump actuated via an electric clutch (like an A/C compressor) all operated via in cab controls.

I later would swap the very tired original motor with one from a 91 D250 found in a boneyard. This netted me throttle body efi.

This beast was unstoppable except in the fight against rust.
Ended up selling it after 11 years to a former coworker. I had just bought the Jeep and welcomed the change to something less extreme.

The coworker had inherited his late grandfather's D150 that they had built together and installed a Mopar performance crate engine into. He always said his only wish is that his pa's truck was a 4wd.

He swapped bodies between my old truck and his grandfather's rig and got the truck he always wanted, so win-win.






Rebodied with coworker's Pa's pickup




Oh, and the car that started my thirst. Wife and I finally found one. An 84 Eagle wagon from SC. She loves her first 4x4.

[backroader]

Woohoo! A necrothread!


Several years ago when I first was driving, I wanted an AMC Eagle 4 dr sedan really badly.
My dad thought 4x4s were of the devil. More specifically, they were just a waste of money and expensive to maintain, constantly breaking down, etc.

Yeah, looks like the thread was started (and finished) in 2012, and picked up again in 2022 after a 10 year pause... Must be some sort of record for old thread revivals...

My dad was a logger for about 40 or 50 years, and didn't own a 4wd vehicle until after he was done working in the woods some time in the 1990s. His views were similar to your dad's on 4wd in his earlier days, but he sure liked his first one, which was a 1993 S10 Blazer with a 4.3 V6.

My first 4x4 was a 1967 Chevy K10 with a 283 and 4 speed manual tranny that I bought in 1976 while working with my dad in the woods. I wasn't particularly fond of that truck because it was a bare bones model with single leaf front springs that rode worse than a lumber wagon, but it was functional and dependable. It only left me stranded once in the middle of the night in -30 degree weather in January in northern Minnesota while snowplowing a logging road 40 miles from nowhere and 5 miles from camp. I did have a flashlight along, and was dressed for the hike back to camp, however, so worse things could have happened...

I've owned numerous 4x4s since. My present stable includes a 1951 Willys pickup with a Ford 289 V8, a 1986 Chevy K20 Suburban (my plow truck), and a 1981 Jeep J10 (my daily driver). Also, a 2021 Jeep Compass Trailhawk, which is my wife's daily driver and the car we use on longer trips.

I would sell the Willys if anyone is interested. I used it to snowplow my driveway for about 15 years, and it has been retired for about 5.