What do you think??

Recently my 2006 Rubicon Unlimited was destroyed and I now need to replace it. My question to you is if you were going to spend 20 grand on a Jeep would you buy another Rubicon, or put together a custom YJ, or TJ. If I buy another 06 Rubicon I will be moving all my goodies from the old one over and will have a pretty tough out of the box Jeep. If I do a build on a TJ sport, or a YJ I again will move all my goodies over, but will have to deal with finding suitable axles, transmission, transfer case and all the other things that make a Rubicon a great Jeep. The other thing I look at is if I build a Rubicon up, it will hold Rubicon value. A 2003 Rubicon still goes for a pretty hefty price. If I build a sport, it will be a nice sport and a bad ride, but have no blue book.

Tell me what you think. If it was your choice, what would you do?  

How "destroyed" is your old Jeep?  Can you salvage the axles and transfer case from it?  

I think which Jeep you get depends on what sort of end product you want, and how much work you want to do on your Jeep.  If you want 40" tires and Dana 60s, it doesn't really make sense to start with a Rubicon.  If 35s will suffice, then the Dana 44s and lockers from the factory make a lot of sense.  
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Not sure that your use of blue book is the proper way to establish value when you're talking about a customized rig; Rubicon or otherwise. Value is established by what someone is willing to pay for what you have. Blue book is an average value for what dealers have been buying and selling vehicles for and is a poor representative for something that is not stock.

There are plenty of Rubicons that have been ruined with "mods" and plenty of non Rubicons that have a much higher value because of how they were customized. If you're worried about value, customizing a Jeep is a bad value.

But if you want to build something that you enjoy building and using, I think there is better value in a non Rubicon. Especially if you want to run larger than 35" tires. A Rubicon is great stock, but you might just be throwing away some of what makes a Rubicon more expensive in the first place.

I think you can generally build better axles than the Rubicon axles for often less money than the Rubicon premium over an X model.

The only other attribute that makes a Rubicon different is the t-case. But a 231 with an SYE makes a great t-case. The only problem areas with a 231 are in the main shaft and the tail housing. Both are replaced and upgraded with an SYE.

And then there are the 4:1 gears in a Rubicon t-case. Is 4:1 better than 2.7:1? Depends on how you use your Jeep. They both work well in different situations.

If there is any chance of bigger than 35" tires in your future, build an X, not a Rubicon.  

All great points. I do think you are right when it comes to value it is what people are willing to pay, but those people are a very few and far between. In this day and age, financing is the way most people obtain vehicles. So a $20,000 custom with 60's and all the bells and whistles will far outshine the Rubicon, but the only people who can buy it will be the ones with 20K in their pocket. Whereas a Built Rubicon will hold that high value. The blue book is what the banks use and what they will loan the average "Joe" who doesn't have 20k in their pocket.

As far as my last Rubicon goes, I sadly will not be able to get the salvage vehicle. I tried, but was shut out. What I do have off of it is all my nods. Tires, wheels, lift, winch, etc, etc. With that stuff I will be able to rebuild a very worthy rig for a minimal amount of cash. If I buy an "x" I am faced with the additional cash of axles and other stuff that makes a good drive train. 5.13s and moly axle shafts should handle 37's just fine on the Rubicon.

Let's just look at the axles. If I wanted to build it to handle 35's I would more than likely need to find something comparable to the D44s. There goes at least $1500 for a good set. I then still need to re gear them and then what about selectable lockers? Those are going to set me back another grand at least. All of the Rubicon goodies ad up to a considerable amount of cash to build something similar. Then again, you get stuck with no value except to yourself. If you wreck it, what will the insurance company give you? They use NADA, blue book and comparative shopping to come to your "ACV" I know from experience it doesn't amount to a hill of beans. They are going to give you what an "X" is worth, bone stock, plus a few dollars for your mods.I know from experience on my wrecked Rubicon I was going to get like 15 cents on the dollar for my extra stuff. It was fairly easy to strip my stuff off the Rubicon, but imasgine what a nightmare it would be to pull an entire drive train out of a jeep you built from the ground up.

Please keep this going. I love getting your different views on this. BTW, the Rubicon I am thinking of buying is in mint condition. It's an 06 with 16000 miles on it. There is not a nick, scratch or interior blemish. An 06 Rubicon Unlimited "books" for around 22K, I will be getting it for 18.5K.  

You've stated a lot of half truths. You're mixing two worlds, the custom world and the stock world. If you have a bunch of money into something and you want that value protected, then you have to insure it for that value. You can't expect an insurance company to pay you for a loss greater than the amount of value for which the premiums were based on.

It's a really simple game, it's not mysterious. Insurance companies are required by law to make you "whole". If you do not pay the premium for the full value, you can't expect to receive any money for uninsured value if there is a loss. Did you notify your insurance company of the increased value for your mods? And then did you pay the higher premiums?

If you can't stand the loss, then insure it. If you can stand the loss, then you are self insured. Simple.

With so much concern over book values and loans and insurance, you need to understand the risks that you are assuming for any losses that you are not covered for. There are insurance policies that address your concerns. But you'll complain about the premiums for sure.

Be honest with yourself. If you mod your vehicle, then you're probably going to be self insured against some of the loss. If that doesn't work for you, don't mod it or buy extra insurance.

In my opinion, you have no business spending a bunch of extra money on mods if you have a loan on the vehicle. Pay it off with the extra cash you have and then mod it. That's being smart financially, not worring about book values and loans! Please!