Fun with Relics "Everywhere" // FJ40 & CJ2a at Elbe, WA

One of the best parts of owning a mostly stock 4x4 is that you find challenges around every corner (i.e., trips to Moab not required). Jamie and I spent several minutes trying to out climb each other on what amounts to little more than a mole hill, but felt like a mountain.

[@robertfleagle4250]

I agree. I love watching the old jeeps especially the Willys go thru rough stuff. Cool video and what's really important is that u guys had a blast

[@FJAdventurer]

Fun is the goal, and we are always successful 😂 That old Willys is quite the rig, and a blast to watch!

[@roadmasterz]

I agree with everything you have said! My dream is an old flatty that I can leave out in the rain and go off road where ever I can. Great video!

[@FJAdventurer]

Heck yeah! I’m looking to add a rust bucket flatty to my collection as well. They are beautifully simple, and will dang near fit on a quad trail 😂

[@DullBoyJack]

Subscribed, I love this! For street cars, the saying goes- it's more fun to drive a "slow car" fast than it is to drive a "fast car" slow. This is like the off-road version of it. I'm building up my Subaru Forester for similar kind of fun. It's so gratifying to be the underdog and work your way through an obstacle. I hope to hit up Elbe later this year!

[@FJAdventurer]

Thanks! And great saying 😂 I agree with the underdog reference - overcoming an obstacle with skill, ingenuity, stubbornness, etc provides a sense of accomplishment otherwise unachievable if a challenge had not existed. Good luck with your Subaru! I’d be interested in hearing about your plans for it.

[@UpperLeftRC]

I apply this same philosophy to my RC crawlers! The top heavy, mostly stock, underpowered trucks are the ones that I find myself playing with the most. The joy and challenge of making an incapable vehicle climb, crawl or crash its way through seemingly simple terrain is more fun than hunting for an insane obstacle that can challenge a purpose built rig. I'd rather spend 15 minutes and 30 attempts trying to find a way to get over a small hill rather than 45 seconds easily slow crawling a "difficult" trail in an expensive purpose built rig. "The best off-roader is the one that gets the most smiles per gallon out on the trail" 😄👍🏻

[@FJAdventurer]

Great comment, and thanks for sharing it!

[@lmalesci]

Hello, greetings from Pontassieve, province of Florence, Italy. I have a Suzuki Jimmy 4x4 with a 1.3 litre M13A petrol engine, manufactured in 2001, all original, which I often use on dirt roads on rural farms and on dirt forest roads used by loggers to get wood from the forest. With forestry tractors, with skidders and forwarders, and with forestry trucks used to transport wood! And this is even though a 4x4 off-roader with original configuration behaves very well on this type of forest and rural dirt and gravel roads!

[@mikeleonard2510]

My off road rig is a '47 cj2 with a dauntless v6 and 31 inch tires. I completely agree with you. Fun is always nearby! No long distance trips required.

[@FJAdventurer]

Right on! I bet that V6 makes your rig pretty capable though. Seems like the only restriction my buddy has with his, is power. That said, he just added an overdrive, and that's been a world changer so far. Basically, he now has a gearing option between first and second - First low, First High, then Second Low, and so on...

[@mikeleonard2510]

Overdrive is a nice feature. Can't do that with my dana 20 but I do have terralow gears which takes the dana 20 to a 3.15:1 ratio. Combined with a 4 speed tranny and spartan lockers both ends it makes for a fun trail rig. Hope to run into you guys on the trails one of these days.

[@FJAdventurer]

@@mikeleonard2510 - I hope so to. Where are you typical wheeling grounds?

[@mikeleonard2510]

I usually head over to the naches trail system over by cliffdell. Lots of dispersed camping and several fun trails. I'm in the tri cities so it's only a hundred or so miles - not bad for flat towing the willys.

[@4xhoser]

Agree 100%! nothing wrong with a crazy capable rock crawler but a basic n simple 4wd is always gonna be fun! I’ve got a rav4 and going to have tons of fun with it! 🤘🇨🇦

[@FJAdventurer]

Heck yeah! And in the RAV4, it will take a licking, but keep on ticking. Those are great little rigs!

[@raulbustamante8337]

You're right. It's not about kitting a vehicle for the apocalypse, it's about enjoying outdoors

[@FJAdventurer]

Amen to that!

[@rags2rigsrevivingtheoldcru156]

😂😅 well put!

[@MrBillsfishin]

I agree. Finally getting to build a 73 K20 that I had in storage for roughly 20 years now that my sons are grown. Picked up forever ago trying to avoid California's Smog Laws. Going with a mild build. A 4" lift with 35's and Yukon locker in the rear and Yukon limited slip in the front. I watch these amazing cut ones with 40's on coil overs with supercharged LS conversions but I dont have 75k to build it or the neck and back to offroad at that level anyway.

[@FJAdventurer]

Yep - just get it on the road (or off), and enjoy it for what it is! 👍 That said, one thing I have to upgrade on my rig tho are the tires. I made a mistake on the KO2’s. Mud terrains in my neck of the woods are a must. But, they aren’t getting any bigger. Bigger tires means more stress. More stress means you have to beef things up. It snowballs fast.

[@MrBillsfishin]

@@FJAdventurer I agree on the tires. All my previous trucks came with AT's and I always swapped for MT's as soon as the tread was even even remotely close to being gone. Very worth the little bit of extra road noise. I am trying Cooper STT Pro's for my first go around as they got decent reviews without the Big Brand name mark ups. If they don't do well I will consider other options next go around. Hopefully will have the truck done this year and have fingers crossed with the softer Offroad Design (Alcan) custom spring lift it will be comfortable enough for my back and neck to do a fair amount of lighter to medium offroading. Hopefully I made decent build decisions. Time will tell if all the changes were well thought out over stock or not. Lol

[@FJAdventurer]

@@MrBillsfishin - I'll be interested in hearing about your experience with the Alcan Springs. When I had to replace my springs and ran with procomp. They turned out to be harsher than this 50-year-old back would like. I considered Alcans originally but was deterred some by the cost.

[@MrBillsfishin]

@@FJAdventurer I wasn't thrilled by the cost either but I figured if I didn't get the better ride offered in theory due to the thinner more flexible leaf design the entire truck was a waste given my significant neck and back issues. Hopefully a few months from now I will finally know. The shop has been over promising and under delivering somewhat so if it is done by the end of year I will be thrilled. Lol

[@MrBillsfishin]

@@FJAdventurer I think I paid around $800 per set of springs but that was almost 4 years ago now.

[@cruiserkev1976]

Mud tires are a must at Elbe no matter what you drive. 👍

[@FJAdventurer]

You my friend are spitting facts! I have a couple more Elbe videos in the works that demonstrate how true this really is 😅

[@andykirkendall8285]

Bigger Newer is always better,tires do make an difference,as long as your having fun is worth more than $80,000 dollar rig,just have fun I agree with you

[@FJAdventurer]

Fun is the goal, right? I guess what ever gets us there. For some, it’s the build, for others it’s the adventure, and so on.

[@FJAdventurer]

That said, I actually do need to upgrade my tires. The all terrains are great everywhere but the mud, and , we have a lot of mud in WA state. My KO2’s can’t get the job done.

[@bannister556]

I'd emphasize the point you made about reliability being a key characteristic. Breaking parts and being stranded isn't fun.

[@FJAdventurer]

Absolutely. I've found keeping (at least these two rigs) as stock as possible has contributed to that.