What would you do?

[bullsnake]

As a few of you know, I recently purchased a '96 wagon, and am considering getting an '04-'06 Wagon or soft top. The '04 wagons have kinda dried up over the last few months and I'm still not sure about making the big-dog jump to the Alpha. My question is this, I can get by with what I have now, and the wife is still having a little bit of a time swallowing TWO H1's in the drive. I'm thinking about just cutting loose the idea of another H1 until the right one lands in my lap, and spending up to $20-30,000.00. to upgrade the '96 that I have to an awesome trail rig. If I was to do this, what would some of your suggestions be as far as improvements? I am definitely a "function" kinda guy so I'm not interested in 22's and a kickin' stereo. Reliability is first, followed by function. How 'bout half shafts? any engine mods? Transmission concerns? I'm leaning more this way every day-my wife is getting a little impatient with me and all of the time I've been spending on ebay, cars.com, adventure hummer, and all of the other classified sites

Thanks for everyone's opinions!!

[bullsnake]

Please consider when suggesting mods too, that this truck will be driven 10hrs from Iowa to Colorado with the wife and two kids, off roaded, then driven home. I can't stress enough that any mod can't be so extreme as to compromise it's day to day reliability.

Thanks!

[ssgharkness020147]

Wow. With 20-30K in mods, I could go on and on.

Half shafts: Yes they break, especially if you are not careful. The solution is 12K half shafts. Which will set you back a couple of grand. If you choose to do this center the front diff. As of right now you need to carry 3 shafts as spares, with centered diff you would only need one (I would bring to just to be safe)

Do you have a winch? If not throw it on the list. I have a MM hydro, its a sweet setup, but I do need to fix it right now.

Brushguards, nice brush guards are good to have. They can save you from wrecking a 1000.00 hood.

Rock tubes are a must, doors are over 1K a piece. Rock tubes prevent you from banging up your doors.

GPS is a must.

Communication is a must. I have a CB, others also have VHF.

If you dont have a roof rack thats another good one. It also gives you a place to mount a spare tire (you have one of those right?)

If your 96 is a TD get the "cool head" kit. That increases the cooling to your cylinder heads, (in the back of the heads), which prevents them from cracking. 6.5 heads are VERY prone to cracking, I would consider this is a must. You will also get faster heat in the morning when you first fire the rig up.

Extended under carriage protection is another very nice thing to have, it can save your T-case off road.

Having a better T-case (atlas II) or any other gear driven variant is something I would highly reccomend. The chains have been known to break off road leaving you completely stranded. Considering its not very easy to carry a spare case, and even less likely that you will want to undertake installing one on the trail, installing a bullet proof unit to begin with is a logical choice.

Spare parts. Ball joints, tie rod ends, tie rod sleeves, U-joints, etc.

Do you want to lift the truck and get bigger tires?

Lockers. Why the hell not, lockers are sweet.

I would (and did) upgrade the power steering system. The stock pumps are junk. I bought a 1045 pump and remote resivor from PSC. While I was in there I also installed an in-line tranny filter, in the return line to help keep crap out of the hydroboost, master, and pump. You could also do a full ram assist setup.

I will once again plug Travis for this stuff @ www.rubberduck4x4.com
You are also somewhat close to him, so if you dont spin a lot of wrenches, he will install them for you (in Ohio).

[lvs]

That is a great list above and hit it all. I would add M/TR's if you don't already have them. I think the UCP and rock tubes are the first things to get.

Where in Iowa are you from?

[bullsnake]

Wow! Thanks for the list Carey!
One of these days I'm gonna get a picture up of the rig-currently I have: Front wrap over the hood and connect to the air-tow hooks brush guard, CB, Pioneer AVIC N2 GPS/stereo/DVD, Predator Motorsports 1pc roof rack with ladder and two spares, and a winch. Out of the list you gave me I would love to do the cool-head kit, 12K half shafts, center the front diff., T-case, rock sliders, and the power steering system.
I will start to do some poking around on the site today to research all of these items, but does someone have links to all of them-especially the half shafts, T-case, cool head kit, and power steering? Also, I live in central Iowa (just west of Des Moines.)-does anyone know of a good mechanic anywhere remotely close that would be willing to tackle the project? I am a fairly decent wrench, but the T-case and cool-head kit may be a little over what I would like to tackle by myself.

Thanks so much again! I'm excited to get going on the list!

[bullsnake]

One more "cosmetic" upgrade I guess-is the center console behind the doghouse interchangeable with the one out of an '02-03? I like the shape and cup holders of this later style and it would be nice to have the cup holders for the kids on those long trips.

thanks!