neoprufrok
Active member
Hi all,
I wanted to share in some detail my build. I haven't even picked up the Jeep yet, but I wanted to share the reasoning behind some of my decisions. As someone who has been on forums for decades, I hope to provide information, share my humbling moments/decisions, and why I do the OCD things I do. I suspect the length of my posts will lose people's interests quickly. But for those who are curious and particularly those who are new to Jeeps, my successes and failures may provide some measure of education and wisdom.
Anyways, as a background - I've never actually owned a Jeep before. So why am I getting one? It actually started out... as getting a truck. Specifically one of these:
I have a side business with a partner where we need to tow cars around, including my own cars. So I started looking into trucks. Then I went down a rabbit hole. I started watching TFL Trucks and then ran into videos of AEVs Prospectors. What started out as... "just get something to haul stuff around" led me down the path of off road half tons, then HD Rams.
Then I started watching some of these overlanding videos, and it reminded me of my youth in Minnesota camping with my father and then with friends in the Boundary Waters region. It reminded me of simpler times. It reminded me of those days where what mattered was discovery and having time to absorb the beauty of our country... and having time to think. With my day job, I don't have much time to think about anything but my job... and that's perfectly fine. I love my job. I'm a cardiac surgeon. That gives me joy. But it's not stress free and overlanding and off-road adventuring piqued an interest in me.
My friends know that when I do something, I go to 11. I have a Skip Barber racing license. I tracked my Spec Miata. In fact, I track all my cars. It's fun, but at my age, going to the track is still great, but not what I would define as discovery and adventure. So I started talking to my friends who do overland, and they took me along for a few trips. And it was eye opening. I knew I wanted to get on the trails. But I wanted a truck. And I particularly got stuck on Rams for the interior, for the look, etc. Specifically AEV's Prospector XL. I was moving that way... I mean look at this:
Then my friends said, "bro, you might want to learn how to wheel in a smaller vehicle first before you try taking a full size on trails." And they were right. They said... get a Jeep. Take some courses. Get on the trail. Do some 1-2 night trips. Get experience recovering etc. Go with people.
So I started going down the Jeep route. Then during a visit to Socal to see my aging father, I stopped by Glendale Jeep and was able to look at and test drive this beast:
Not pictured was a 392 AEV JL370 as well. When that thing started up... I knew it. I tried to fight it... but as a person who loves performance cars, that old school muscle car V8 sound from an AEV Jeep? Incredible.
But, I had to at least rationalize the 392. So why did I choose it other than the V8? Well... even though I'm a relative Newbie, I wanted to have the ability to progress. So a Rubicon was a must - for the front/rear lockers, sway bar disconnect, and all the things that make a Rubicon more capable than the non Rubicons. Yes, I'm not experienced off road. But I wanted something that gave me room to grow. And... I needed the V8. Sorry I had to give into my heart. And sometimes the heart wants what it wants.
The problem? I started looking in December 2024. And by this time, most 392s were Final Editions. The value proposition of the FE over non-FE is frankly, questionable. However, one thing really kept me looking at the FE - the seat color and dash color. For awhile I was going to get a non-FE 392, but the red I couldn't warm up to. Some of my other vehicles are a little shouty, so I'm not worried about that. I just didn't like it as much. The other thing about the FE was the rock slider/steps. The added width is important to me. Because I'm not tall. My wife is even shorter. My dog is small. Having that already on was great. The tool bag, the other stuff.... nice to have, but not a deal maker. Given that my local dealers didn't have normal 392s (and I like supporting local dealers who treat me well), and had FEs only, that made my decision easier.
But I also wanted an AEV. Why? Well through mutual car friends I got to talking to the CEO Dave Harriton. It was quickly evident to me that Dave is an engineer at heart and really cares about high quality and durability in his products. He also is a car guy, with an incredible Viper ACR. He told me he wanted to make highly capable vehicles that can overland long distances and drive on road well - better than stock. Being able to rock crawl is important and a bonus. He told me how they test Prospectors and how much time they rent out at test tracks (same ones OEMs use) making sure their products work well and with the safety systems of the OEM car. Add to the mix the warranty and dealer support, I said... why not.
So I decided to buy a dealer stock 392 FE and then send it to AEV to build out an AEV JL370. This way, it gets its own door plate that shows it's built from the AEV factory new - which means something to some people (me included). Reality is that it doesn't matter all that much.
At this point, I had talked at lot to Jackson Ellis at his Jeep dealership in Glendale, CA. they had a few JL370 392s... but there were options I didn't want. Luckily they had a 392 FE and we made a deal.. and shook hands (virtually). AT this point the car was on its way.
I'm going to break up this post... because it's already getting long...
I wanted to share in some detail my build. I haven't even picked up the Jeep yet, but I wanted to share the reasoning behind some of my decisions. As someone who has been on forums for decades, I hope to provide information, share my humbling moments/decisions, and why I do the OCD things I do. I suspect the length of my posts will lose people's interests quickly. But for those who are curious and particularly those who are new to Jeeps, my successes and failures may provide some measure of education and wisdom.
Anyways, as a background - I've never actually owned a Jeep before. So why am I getting one? It actually started out... as getting a truck. Specifically one of these:
I have a side business with a partner where we need to tow cars around, including my own cars. So I started looking into trucks. Then I went down a rabbit hole. I started watching TFL Trucks and then ran into videos of AEVs Prospectors. What started out as... "just get something to haul stuff around" led me down the path of off road half tons, then HD Rams.
Then I started watching some of these overlanding videos, and it reminded me of my youth in Minnesota camping with my father and then with friends in the Boundary Waters region. It reminded me of simpler times. It reminded me of those days where what mattered was discovery and having time to absorb the beauty of our country... and having time to think. With my day job, I don't have much time to think about anything but my job... and that's perfectly fine. I love my job. I'm a cardiac surgeon. That gives me joy. But it's not stress free and overlanding and off-road adventuring piqued an interest in me.
My friends know that when I do something, I go to 11. I have a Skip Barber racing license. I tracked my Spec Miata. In fact, I track all my cars. It's fun, but at my age, going to the track is still great, but not what I would define as discovery and adventure. So I started talking to my friends who do overland, and they took me along for a few trips. And it was eye opening. I knew I wanted to get on the trails. But I wanted a truck. And I particularly got stuck on Rams for the interior, for the look, etc. Specifically AEV's Prospector XL. I was moving that way... I mean look at this:
Then my friends said, "bro, you might want to learn how to wheel in a smaller vehicle first before you try taking a full size on trails." And they were right. They said... get a Jeep. Take some courses. Get on the trail. Do some 1-2 night trips. Get experience recovering etc. Go with people.
So I started going down the Jeep route. Then during a visit to Socal to see my aging father, I stopped by Glendale Jeep and was able to look at and test drive this beast:
Not pictured was a 392 AEV JL370 as well. When that thing started up... I knew it. I tried to fight it... but as a person who loves performance cars, that old school muscle car V8 sound from an AEV Jeep? Incredible.
But, I had to at least rationalize the 392. So why did I choose it other than the V8? Well... even though I'm a relative Newbie, I wanted to have the ability to progress. So a Rubicon was a must - for the front/rear lockers, sway bar disconnect, and all the things that make a Rubicon more capable than the non Rubicons. Yes, I'm not experienced off road. But I wanted something that gave me room to grow. And... I needed the V8. Sorry I had to give into my heart. And sometimes the heart wants what it wants.
The problem? I started looking in December 2024. And by this time, most 392s were Final Editions. The value proposition of the FE over non-FE is frankly, questionable. However, one thing really kept me looking at the FE - the seat color and dash color. For awhile I was going to get a non-FE 392, but the red I couldn't warm up to. Some of my other vehicles are a little shouty, so I'm not worried about that. I just didn't like it as much. The other thing about the FE was the rock slider/steps. The added width is important to me. Because I'm not tall. My wife is even shorter. My dog is small. Having that already on was great. The tool bag, the other stuff.... nice to have, but not a deal maker. Given that my local dealers didn't have normal 392s (and I like supporting local dealers who treat me well), and had FEs only, that made my decision easier.
But I also wanted an AEV. Why? Well through mutual car friends I got to talking to the CEO Dave Harriton. It was quickly evident to me that Dave is an engineer at heart and really cares about high quality and durability in his products. He also is a car guy, with an incredible Viper ACR. He told me he wanted to make highly capable vehicles that can overland long distances and drive on road well - better than stock. Being able to rock crawl is important and a bonus. He told me how they test Prospectors and how much time they rent out at test tracks (same ones OEMs use) making sure their products work well and with the safety systems of the OEM car. Add to the mix the warranty and dealer support, I said... why not.
So I decided to buy a dealer stock 392 FE and then send it to AEV to build out an AEV JL370. This way, it gets its own door plate that shows it's built from the AEV factory new - which means something to some people (me included). Reality is that it doesn't matter all that much.
At this point, I had talked at lot to Jackson Ellis at his Jeep dealership in Glendale, CA. they had a few JL370 392s... but there were options I didn't want. Luckily they had a 392 FE and we made a deal.. and shook hands (virtually). AT this point the car was on its way.
I'm going to break up this post... because it's already getting long...
