Off Road Reliability

I wheel quite a bit, and my 2 last off road buddys have had Jeeps. Now, I love Jeeps, nothing beats them off road. My nephew has had to replace his rear diff and gears along with brakes. Been in and out of the dealership several times for little stuff. Friends Jeep is constantly in the dealership for all kinds of stuff, leaks in the interior, fluid leaks, lights and electric problems . All kinds of things.
Now I've had some problems on my truck also. Power steering pump replaced under warranty, I wear out brakes fast because of mud running. Drivers side front flare keeps getting ripped off. Always dirty.
I would buy an old Jeep, but these newer ones don't seem to be very well put together. Haven't had any experience with the newer Cherokee or Grand Cherokees off road,but I can't see them being a whole lot better. They can go places off road, but there seems to be a price to pay.
Again, I love Jeeps. Not bashing their brand. But such a touted off road marquee should be able to off road with out coming apart at the seams.
Rant over,feeling for my friends.

 

I have had to use my AAA three times to tow my grams jeep to the shop. That vehicle is as reliable as a thief getting away with robbing a bank next door to a donut shop. Never used AAA for myself. I told my gram lets trade the jeep in and look for a used Tacoma. I wanted her to have something reliable and that I dont have to tow every year. she still has the damn thing. Wonder how long it'll be until it dies again. My moms old jeep (no longer has one) was the only vehicle ever to leave me stranded and walking. I'm also not bashing the brand, but this is my experience with them. If they work for you, then more power to you! I personally wouldnt spend a dime on one after what I've seen.

 

I've had three Jeeps. Two TJs(96'-? Wrangler) and one XJ(Cherokee). The TJs were both built for rock crawling the XJ remained stock. Not too many problems. Minor stuff really. All three were reliable, especially off road.

 

My friends wife bought a 2015 Rubicon Hard Rock 4 door. I believe it is the most loaded Rubicon you can buy. Pretty impressive to look at.

She drive it to work, no off roading, and I have no idea why she bought a 47k jeep for this.

Problems I have heard of within 10k miles.

1) Top leaked so bad at the seam between the two front top pieces when she was driving to work she had to go home and change clothes. The water got down into the dash and the radio quit working, and all the gauges.
2) Started making a screech from the rear end. Had to have the rear end replaced
3) It is a 6 speed, and when taking off from a stop it squeals like the TOB is bad
4) Odd vibration at 65 mph from the center of the jeep.

They are very unhappy with this purchase. Maybe they got a bad one, but it spends more time at the shop than she does driving it. It's currently in the shop for the issues 3 and 4 right now, dealer has had it for 2 weeks.

 

There are those who own/drive Jeep vehicles and are problem free.And there are those(friends of mine)who own/drive Jeep vehicles who are so upset in the pos it turned out to be.

 

X2. You love em or not. Most people I've known with Jeeps in the last decade or so have had spendy issues with them.

 

In their defense,
My mom owned a 2002 Wrangler Sahara that she bought new and drove to 120k. Nothing major ever broke. Scheduled 30k maintenance was done at the dealer and DAMN it was pricey. When we sold it she got a few hundred over "Excellent" KBB because everyone wanted a Wrangler with the hard top that had never seen off road use. I wish every day that we had kept that Jeep and turned it into a toy

 

Had a 1989 Cherokee 4 cylinder. Mildly built for trails and my daily driver. Sold it when I bought Tacoma, didn't want to maintain 2 rigs and extra insurance. Only problem I had that I didn't cause was the timing chain snapped at 140k mikes, it gave me plenty of warning before it snapped that I ignored. I still miss it for trail use 6 years later...not so much as a dd. That was before all the electronics and luxuries so different ballgame.

 

I owned a 1999 Jeep Cherokee. Biggest POS I ever drove. Everything broke.

My step dad owned an identical 1996 Cherokee, and it never broke down once. Had it over 150k before he sold it. Part of the reason I pursued a Cherokee.

There are two kinds of Jeeps: a Monday Jeep, or a Friday Jeep. Hope you get a Monday.

 

This is what I want to hear from Jeep. The brand itself is a selling point.

 

Jeeps = 2nd Gen Tacoma discussion????

"Able to off road" is pretty subjective. I think some people have unrealistic expectations of what a vehicle can do, just because it has 4x4. Some people are also realistic enough to realize if you wheel it, things will break. Just because it says "Jeep" on the hood doesn't mean much. Could you imagine taking a Jeep Compass through a rock garden?

 

Snap, crackle and pop.

 

So what exactly are you ranting about? The jeep or tacoma?

I've had 3 Jeeps - 2 YJ's which were built for the rocks and were never daily drivers. One Grand Cherokee that was my husbands daily driver for 3 years, sold it to my mother-in-law and it pissed away sooooo much money in repairs it was PATHETIC.

Personally, I'd never buy a Jeep for daily driving again. I'd never buy a Grand Cherokee or one of those fancy Cherokees for offroading - I hate Unibody vehicles and that AWD system (Viscous couplings) are prone to failure. Not only that, but you wanna yank all that shit out anyway and regear with ARB's - so what's the point?
Besides that...I think the newer ones are going IFS anyway.

I never had any problems with both of my YJ's - but then again..... We removed the Dana 30 & 35 and put Dana 44's in it with 4.56 and ARB's. The engine and transmission were flawless. There wasn't much else that could go wrong - we owned a 92 & 94 YJ's - No electronic gizmo's...no abs...no airbags... I don't even think they had an OBD port. LOL

Any issues we had, were from offroading carnage....lol Broke a Dana 44 rear axle shaft. LOl

 

My wife has a 98 Cherokee with 248k miles on it with nothing but regular oil changes and changed spark plugs and wires. And it was her daily driver then I drove it for my daily driver until I got my Tacoma, I still have it and drive it often now it's just a toy to play with off road. I've had multiple jeeps I currently have the xj and a 1980 cj7. In the past I've had a 2012 wrangler (4 door version) loved it but gas mileage sucked. But all in all jeeps are very good vehicles in my opinion just cause I've had good luck with them.