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ReepiJeep has arrived in port in Papua New Guinea. While I won't actually see it for another week, money is already being spent for the build.
ReepiJeep is a black 1999 XJ Country 4.0-litre right-hand drive 4x4. He will be used to transport me and my family between a small town setting and a more remote PNG village. This will entail 8-hour trips on pothole-filled "highways" and poorly groomed, dirt mountain roads with the occasional small river crossing.
The local auto shop is already fabricating a cargo rack.
An ARB Safari snorkel will come up from Australia the next time someone in our organization goes down for a medevac.
Most of the parts are coming from the States in a sea freight container that just closed to get ready for shipping. I'm this container are:
- Rough Country winch bumper with d-ring mounting brackets
- Smittybilt XRC12 winch
- Tree savers
- D-ring shackles
- ****** blocks
- 60" Hi-Lift Xtreme Jack
- Off-road base
- Hi-Lift Keeper
- 4XRAC Hi-Lift mounting system to mount it on the bumper
- Hubcentric.1.5" wheel spacers
- Optima D34/78 battery (hard to get good batteries in country)
- JVC KD-X330BTS digital media receiver (to connect the iPod and phone for those long drives)
- Q Industries MV50 air compressor (thinking of mounting this in the engine bay)
Once I bring ReepiJeep up to the Highlands, the auto ship and I will evaluate 31" tires and a potential lift (possibly 3 inches).
Pictures will start slowly coming in the next week and a half or so.
After some delays, I have finally received delivery of ReepiJeep. Too late in the day to make a lot of progress on the formalities of getting it licensed, but the safety indirection is done. Tomorrow is insurance, registration and plates which could be an all-day process.
A few minor issues to take care of once I could do my own visual inspection. 1) windshield wipers needed replaced (parts store here actually had them in stock). 2) has struts need replaced. Ordered from Amazon and should be here in a few weeks. 3) A little bit of Rudy on the wiper arms could do with a touch of black spray paint. 4) Japanese nav system was annoying and has been removed (the wiring will be removed when I install a new stereo receiver) 5) Front license plate mount has one of the rivets broken. I'll zip tie the plate on as a temp fix until my Rough Country bumper arrives in November or December.
All in all, in very good condition considering the price and only having had a few small pictures to go on.
Saturday I'll take him on the 4-5 hour drive up to the Highlands of PNG.
It took longer than expected, but I now have ReepiJeep. The cargo ship was four days late arriving. Then customs was slow processing the arrival. Then the logistics company was slow getting it released and locker up.
I was able to get the safety inspection taken care of yesterday. Today will be the insurance, registration and plates. Will probably take all morning and possibly into the afternoon.
ReepiJeep is in great condition for what we paid. I relaxed the windshield wipers. The license plate mount is broken (one of rivets broke so it must hangs there on the other one). I will be creative with zip ties until my Rough Country winch bumper arrives toward year end. The gas struts are shot, so I ordered some from Amazon which should arrive in about 2-3 weeks. The auto parts store here didn't have any.
It came with a navigation/dvd system. I removed the display off the dash. I'll remove the wiring once my new media receiver gets here in 3 weeks.
Saturday I'll drive it one the pothole-riddled "highway" up to the Highlands. It's a 4-5 hour, 220 mile drive.
Last week my wife and I went to Lae to pickup ReepiJeep. There were some delays since he shipped from Japan. 1) The ship arrived for days later than scheduled. 2) The water pump went out in the XJ if the person who was going to take us down on Monday. We found another ride but it was Wednesday. 3) The Jeep want waiting for us at the Guesthouse we were going to be staying in like the clearing agent promised. Wednesday afternoon he did "first thing Thursday morning". Thursday morning he said "by 10 o' clock." Then we learned it was still at the port. It was delivered at 1:50 Thursday afternoon. Only enough time that day to get the safety inspection done.
Friday morning was hectic getting the insurance, registration and plates. A cashier was late at one place, the person giving out plates was late due to malaria. We managed to get it all done by 11:54. That left the afternoon for shopping.
ReepiJeep did the return trip in four hours exactly. That was impressive for the condition of the highway between Lae and the Highlands.
We are thrilled with our purchase. When we bought it, we had only seen some really low quality pictures on line. There is a little bit of paint fading on the hood and roof. I plan to paint the roof and raised sections of the hood white anyway. A rivet on the front license plate bracket is broken, so I used some zip ties to secure it until my winch bumper and plate mount come in December. The gas struts for the rear door are shot and the auto parts store didn't have then so I've got some coming DHL in a few weeks.
I've removed to radio (will put in a JVC media receiver in a few weeks), the Japanese nav system, and a Japanese toll payment device.
Other than the paint and plate bracket issues above, the XJ if in amazingly excellent condition. The engine bay looks immaculate. The interior is virtually factory fresh except for a little wear on the floor mats.
I hope to get my roof cargo carrier installed this week. In three weeks my ARB Safari Snorkel should arrive.
It looks like I have the Dana 35C rear axle. While I'd prefer the 8.25, I'll survive. I'll order an Aussie locker in a few weeks (but it won't get here until March or April).
The silver lining to the delay is that it saved me a bunch of money. ReepiJeep was initially assessed a duty rate of 120%. But actually week later got reassessed at just 80%. That is the rate that smaller engines 2.7 liters and under) are supposed to be assessed. That some saved me about $2,000. And they classified it as a station wagon which saves $50 each year on insurance.
Painted the roof white this morning. Might do another coat. But I'll need to do it tomorrow as ReepiJeep goes into the shop Thursday morning for final during and installing of the custom cargo rack for the roof.
After having done some research, I'm not going to be putting in a locker. I was going to order an Aussie locker, but if can't be installed with an LSD. I've got Selec-Trac. I'll just use the 4wd part time when the going gets slippery on the muddy, mountain roads here.
I think I've decided to get a Zone 3" lift. The next surface container coming here doesn't cost until November 11, so I'll just wait until October to put in the order.
Meanwhile, I decided to finish up the paint job on the roof yesterday. I was going to wait until this morning. It's rainy today, so I made the right choice. I might paint the hood white this weekend after I get ReepiJeep back with his new roof rack.
Just ordered a net from trailtuffnets to keep the cargo from falling on my kids' heads when traveling here. Order was processed and had a tracking number within ten minutes.
We were quite impressed. The interior is in just as great of condition.
I was going to post the picture once my post count was big enough. I've hit 10 so here is a picture after the roof was painted yesterday.
Roof painted white to help cool down the interior when in the hot lowlands of PNG.
After two weeks since final fitting began, our local auto shop finally finished the roof rack. We are quite pleased with the final product.
Yesterday I ordered new shocks (Bilstein for the front and rear), leaf springs from SD Truck Springs, JKS quick disconnects and RE steering stabilizer. I will also get a 2" budget lift. All of this will ship from the US in November, so I won't see it until January or February of 2018.
The roof rack has been installed. The spare tire is mounted using the same mount that was inside the Jeep and secured using a chain that has been inserted in a bicycle inner tube.
That looks amazing! I would have loved to see it lowered an inch, but besides that, I am in love with this build so far. White looks great with the black by the way!
08-10-2017, 06:15 PM
ReepiJeep
