Seabass pm'd me and I thought I'd bring it here for a main thread...
Yeah, old is relative.. both in my age and in how long I've been a member of the board. I remember the day it was created although I didn't sign up for a bit.
As for the Liberty, I still have it, but it never was officially mine, it was always the gf's (we're on 13 years of living together) but like any "marriage" (common-law) I have access to it most days. I haven't really done anything to it in the past few years, I changed the front corner markers to white instead of orange, and I built a utility box for the trunk area (matching carpet, drawers locks and the whole bit). After taking up most of the trunk area with the box, I was "banned" from mods to the Liberty so I gave up on it. But it's been through a lot, and has never let us down. Goes camping pulling a tent trailer, hauls rock and dirt in my utility trailer, pulls small tree stumps and was a blast when I used to take it off road however after bending the factory side step bar, it hasn't seen actual off road since 2007 (camping and grassy fields doesn't count as off road)
In regards to my vehicles, when we got the Liberty I was driving a Dodge neon which in 08 I stopped driving. Got a $500 beat up, trashy, old 95 tercel which 6 months later blew a ring at 100km/h on the highway, limped it to work and home, then wreckers. Drove the neon again for a few months, then got a 2001 Escape 4cyl 4WD (5spd) for 3k but had to replace the read end 4WD unit ($2k). Just last night (Aug 01, 2012), the timing belt in the Escape ripped (interference style engine) so the valves are gone, at $2k to replace that and being that I went to replace clutch last week, but the mechanic ran out of time and only did oil the change, that's another $800. at $2800+ (there's always extra charges) I'm taking the Escape to the scrapyard and looking for something else.
Now for the decision, what to buy next (used only, not new). I just bought a 22.5 acre piece of forested land in Northern Ontario (Canada). It has a stream, and a 3 stage waterfall, it's very stunning to see. The land has a wide snowmobile/ATV trail cutting across it, just a grassy/weedy path. Being brave when I was there by myself I went down the trail to the bottom of the waterfall in the Escape, and promptly got stuck as I didn't have enough power to climb the 15-20 degree hill. So I slipped the hell out of the clutch and managed to get it up to the top (that's why I needed a new clutch). Since I'll be spending a lot of time at the property, and will be clearing a lot of land to build I'm thinking Liberty Diesel. Reasons for this is the diesel is like having the power of a V6 (dragging trees) with the fuel economy of a 4cyl, keep in mind that the property is over 3 hours drive one way from my house and if I go every weekend it gets expensive on gas.
So toss ideas out there for what I should buy next (again, used only, not new), I'll be listening intently. For the time being I'll be borrowing my parents '04 dodge caravan, and will be looking to spend as little time in that as possible. Keep in mind that I drive around 1000miles (1600kms) a week in the summer and about 720miles (1150kms) a week in the winter. So primarily it needs to be reliable, comfortable, prefer a double din deck (my dvd deck keeps me entertained, don't want to replace it) and above all it'll HAVE to have 4WD for when I go check on my property in the winter and so I don't get stuck on that hill on the property in the summer.
It kinda feels good to be back here and posting again.
seabass1858 said:
Yeah, old is relative.. both in my age and in how long I've been a member of the board. I remember the day it was created although I didn't sign up for a bit.
As for the Liberty, I still have it, but it never was officially mine, it was always the gf's (we're on 13 years of living together) but like any "marriage" (common-law) I have access to it most days. I haven't really done anything to it in the past few years, I changed the front corner markers to white instead of orange, and I built a utility box for the trunk area (matching carpet, drawers locks and the whole bit). After taking up most of the trunk area with the box, I was "banned" from mods to the Liberty so I gave up on it. But it's been through a lot, and has never let us down. Goes camping pulling a tent trailer, hauls rock and dirt in my utility trailer, pulls small tree stumps and was a blast when I used to take it off road however after bending the factory side step bar, it hasn't seen actual off road since 2007 (camping and grassy fields doesn't count as off road)
In regards to my vehicles, when we got the Liberty I was driving a Dodge neon which in 08 I stopped driving. Got a $500 beat up, trashy, old 95 tercel which 6 months later blew a ring at 100km/h on the highway, limped it to work and home, then wreckers. Drove the neon again for a few months, then got a 2001 Escape 4cyl 4WD (5spd) for 3k but had to replace the read end 4WD unit ($2k). Just last night (Aug 01, 2012), the timing belt in the Escape ripped (interference style engine) so the valves are gone, at $2k to replace that and being that I went to replace clutch last week, but the mechanic ran out of time and only did oil the change, that's another $800. at $2800+ (there's always extra charges) I'm taking the Escape to the scrapyard and looking for something else.
Now for the decision, what to buy next (used only, not new). I just bought a 22.5 acre piece of forested land in Northern Ontario (Canada). It has a stream, and a 3 stage waterfall, it's very stunning to see. The land has a wide snowmobile/ATV trail cutting across it, just a grassy/weedy path. Being brave when I was there by myself I went down the trail to the bottom of the waterfall in the Escape, and promptly got stuck as I didn't have enough power to climb the 15-20 degree hill. So I slipped the hell out of the clutch and managed to get it up to the top (that's why I needed a new clutch). Since I'll be spending a lot of time at the property, and will be clearing a lot of land to build I'm thinking Liberty Diesel. Reasons for this is the diesel is like having the power of a V6 (dragging trees) with the fuel economy of a 4cyl, keep in mind that the property is over 3 hours drive one way from my house and if I go every weekend it gets expensive on gas.
So toss ideas out there for what I should buy next (again, used only, not new), I'll be listening intently. For the time being I'll be borrowing my parents '04 dodge caravan, and will be looking to spend as little time in that as possible. Keep in mind that I drive around 1000miles (1600kms) a week in the summer and about 720miles (1150kms) a week in the winter. So primarily it needs to be reliable, comfortable, prefer a double din deck (my dvd deck keeps me entertained, don't want to replace it) and above all it'll HAVE to have 4WD for when I go check on my property in the winter and so I don't get stuck on that hill on the property in the summer.
It kinda feels good to be back here and posting again.
![IMG 20120716 203256[1]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/5/5710-513dc30f513b0848283a5a37cc3bfdac.jpg?1623784626)
