Any Former Jeep Owners Out There

Nice bumper on that Cherokee. Mines a homemade fab.

 

thanks, yeah that thing is pretty well built. Air lockers front and rear, long arms as well as a Rubicon t-case. But it needs a new engine, because even though the one that's in it runs well, it has over 200k miles and sounds like a diesel. So jeep for short, more hardcore trips and taco for long camp/overland trips.

 

And Toyota should warrant that crap AND come up with a fix. New trucks touted as 'off road' capable shouldn't have BS failures. Another nail in my coffin for owning a third gen was the ONE time I needed 4-lo it would not f*cking engage. Not a warm fuzzy feeling when i'm in eastern Montana 40 miles in a BLM tract with nothing around but sage brush and mudpots.

 

I've got 220K on mine and thankfully still going strong.

Crate motors aren't too pricey.

I'm thinking about buying a Dana 44 built with an ARB locker. Guy north of me has one for sale but his price is tad too ridiculous. If he deals, well we'll see.

 

Go 8.8 and never look back! ECGS builds them for decent prices.

 

Actually I have the craptastic D35 with the infamous c-clips and I run 31" Cooper AT3's for general purpose and now have a spare wheel tire set up with BFG Mud Terrains in 32 x 11.5.. The D35 is okay for most stuff. Start getting into 35" wheels and rock crawling- yeah no. That D35 will come unglued.
I can buy 29 splice Chrysler 8.25's all day for under $200 around here.

But this guy has a tasty D44 with the ARB locker, fully trussed but the gear set is 4.88.. He wants..... $1,400 for it and claims he never installed it..

 

it you do go for it, open the diff and check the backlash on the ring and pinion with some marker paste... and of course verify the locker and gearing. I run the chryco 8.25 and never had any issues with locked 33's. I am also happy with 33's. I was cured of inch-itis.

 

My son took the Jeep ice skating on the freeway this winter.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...4-1EAF-4FD2-B40E-511246E8E032_zpswocze2t8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...C-CF8B-47A4-AC38-3EAA243392A8_zpsf5pm9wgn.jpg
(f$cking hate Photobucket)

Even with the anemic AT3's I was able to back it out of that drift 20ft. I finally lost traction on that last uphill slope to the left lane shoulder. I had to yank the last 15 ft with my truck and chain.

If I had better meats on that puppy I could have walked it out because FOUR LO MATTERS!!

 

I wouldn't run 4.88's. Not necessary IMO.

 

Had a mild lifted grand cherokee limited hemi when I used to live in nj.

 

Looks like my old one


3rd Jeep in a row (99 Cherokee, 04GC, 05GC) that went to crap once they topped 100,000 miles. Loved them when they ran well, hated that they were worth pennies on the dollar above 100,000

Glad to be back to Toyota trucks

 

I do seriously miss my Jeeps...

 

I have personally fixed three D35c rears on the trail - and none were mine. I did eventually swap an 8.8 myself, but all three failures were guys who were bouncing. Get stuck, give it gas, more gas, and then bounce, bounce, break. All were driver side, and all three sheared off just outboard of the splines. I had this special telescoping magnet I even owned for "scooping" out the axle shards.

But, f/r locked and with a 4 cylinder and NEVER bouncing, and I did a lot of trails on my D35c without issue. It is a totally crappy axle design, but it can be nursed indefinitely too.

 

Sold my Rubi for my Pro

 

This one was not even mine and I miss it

 

I traded my JK Sahara in for my Taco, BAD MOVE, I like the truck but miss the Jeep. So this was my plan, I had a nice Jeep and an old truck and was using the truck more so let's get a new truck and take the money from the old truck and buy an old Jeep. Since I started looking back in Nov. prices have gone out of reach. I could have sold my Jeep for 4k more than the trade in and went back to buy it back but it was gone. In just 5 months I put 7k on the truck and getting a TJ Wrangler for less than 6k does not look good. So, never trade in a Wrangler, sell it for more, better yet keep it and buy an old Taco. Dan

 

* 55 Jeep with Flathead 6 old man in NM put in it, 1992 Jeep Wrangler, couple of Wagoneer/Cherokee (don't remember the years) all gone now... Miss the 55

 

Jeeps, terrible for towing, terrible at carrying a payload. Even the expanded space of a TJ Unlimited or JK Unlimited, is too small to be really useful.

You can't beat the feeling of doors down and a top off though. A Jeep will out handle these trucks any day off road.

I've owned both, I actually own both right now. The truck was not cutting it off road and my Jeep is just too much fun to get rid of. If I had to, I'd get rid of the Taco and get a beater mid-2000s chevy regular cab. I want something anyway with a little more bed capacity, a little more towing capability and overall I just want a truck to compliment the Jeep and these Tacomas are actually pretty terrible trucks for actual work.

 

So here are both of my boys. The Jeep being built for some serious off road use.

And below it, the truck, trying very hard to carry the parts for the Jeep. It's almost on the bump stops, tailgate down, bed full, and there's a box in the back with the seats folded down. Loaded to the gills.

 

Toyota seems to be getting close to a completely new FJ. They are supposed to show off the concept at the NY Auto Show April 12th. If it will be a true wrangler competitor remains to be seen.