Another thing to make the diesel lovers upset

If you're referring to the Jeep in your sig, that's not a yuppy Wrangler at all, that belongs to the "built not bought" club so you are okay.

This is what I'm talking about when I say yuppy Jeeps, the kind running around on donut sized tires with middle aged moms running the kiddos to school and soccer practice, or dudes. They are pretty symbolic in a sense that they usually have a spare tire cover that says "It's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand" with the little Walmart smiley face guy and a bandana on his head, you know the type I'm referring to.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/TJ-Jeep-Wrangler-X.jpg

 

Yes, I am.
I bought that YJ bone stock when I was a teenager. It was a yuppy Jeep for a long time while it was being paid off. Never had any of the goofy "Jeep Thing" stickers or "Life is good" crap though. Never had any stickers really.

 

Yeah, that shit is so annoying. But hey, if it floats their boat, so be it.

This is the CJ5 I had, it was my high school ride. Had lots of good fun in that thing, and also learned how to wrench at the same time. Simple things to work on though, it had the AMC 258 straight six, T176 4 speed trans. (only reason I remember that is I had to replace the shift forks in it at one point because they wore down so bad it got stuck in 3rd gear and wouldn't come out)

There are many more pictures of it in my PB gallery if you want to check it out.

 

I was big into Jeeps back then, but as with everything, interests change. I still like Jeeps, but am not really as crazy about them as I was. I got into 4 wheelers real big the past few years, and with the recent aqusition of my '79 Toyota Pickup 4WD, I am going to be getting back into four wheel drives for wheeling again too.

If I have any Jeeps in the future I want to find an old Kaiser Gladiator or AMC J-Series pickup, Scrambler, or CJ7. Doubt I will ever get back into a CJ5 again, too damn tall for those little Jeeps. Although I'd love to find an old Willys flat fender, preferably a real WWII Army MB or GPW.

 

Nice 5, I remember seeing that picture awhile back, the Sierra club sticker set it off for me.

I know how you feel, mine has been sitting all winter so far, I've not even cranked it. I got into dirt bikes and that pretty much takes up all of my weekend free time. I worked at a shop about 11 or 12 years ago restoring some Kaisers, MB's GPW's and the like as well as building wheelin' rigs. Fun times. All this Jeep talk is making me feel guilty. Maybe I should get to the shop and work on it instead of riding.

 

6 or 8 for me. Otherwise I have no interest.

 

Know what the pisser is on that sticker though? They used to sell them at my local Honda Powersports shop and I went in about a month ago to buy one for my Tacoma and they no longer carried them. I asked why and was told that the company that they ordered them from stopped making them because of how "offensive" it was. I couldn't believe it, ah well, going to have a custom one made for the Taco I think.

That's really cool dude! Bet restoring those old Jeeps was fun. It makes me feel good inside when I see a nice restored one running around, or modified. Glad there are people out there saving them and putting them back on the road again.

 

Maybe if every one goes diesel Toyota will decide it would be worth it.

 

Oh yes! I start drooling whenever I see one. It's a damn shame they weren't more popular. I think there was some less than 20,000 of them made in the two years they were in production. Everything about them just screamed cool to me. Finding one in decent shape is tough though, and when you do, you pay premium price on it. They are either in really mint cherry condition, modified into crawlers, or worn out rust buckets that need lots of work to get back on the road again.

 

I like the "competition" that stated... wouldnt buy that diesel jeep at all.

I did love my 1979 CJ5 with its 4.2L I6 and wide ratio 4 speed trans.... first gear was something like 6.3:1 ...and with max torque found at like 1200rpms... the thing was a beast... and god it was so simple to work on!

 

Used to sell "the kiss my axle" version at the shop I worked at. Should have ordered them in bulk as they no longer sell them. Wonder if it is because of the same "offensive" reason.
Fun as hell. We'd have some customers that were dead set on having their, or Dads, or Grandpa's Jeep brought back to roadworthy condition. It was fun, but I don't miss all those tack welds on sheetmetal.

 

Yeah, I'm in the same boat with my Grandpa's 1978 Ford Bronco. But I am going to do the work to it myself. The running gear in it is in wonderful shape, so is the body. What it mainly needs is some body work, a paint job and reupholstered seats and new carpet. Door panels also. I yanked the engine out of it about 4 years ago because it was leaking oil so bad and went through and replaced every single gasket and seal in it. I was adding a quart of oil every other day at one point and that was getting old.

Even when he was a young man, my Grandfather drove like an old guy. I don't think that Bronco ever went above 50mph the whole time he had it from new until the day he passed away. I drove it a little hard in high school, but it still runs great and starts every single time. I love old Fords too, they were tanks.

Here it is when I pulled the motor:


Greasy old 400M engine.

Stripped it down, cleaned it up and painted it after the new seals were installed.

Everything I could see inside looked new. I figured it could go approximately 80,000 more miles before needing a rebuild. I don't drive it that much now so it will take years to get there. Now that I got a decent job I don't have to daily drive old rigs around like that, although they are fun, it drinks gas and has a 32 gallon tank to fill.


Yeah, I love how this thread has gone so far off topic, but oh well! Hehe

 

So far off topic haha

 

Say what you want, but the Wrangler is more cost effective to be an Offroad worthy vehicle than any other truck/suvs.

 

Yes but only offroad, the Tacoma is way more practical as an offroad and dd vehicle IMO. And that's kind if hard to find something that can do both fairly well.

 

Yep, and I can attest to this from personal experience. I daily drove that CJ5 for 4 years, and it was an even more spartan utilitarian version of a Wrangler. I'm spoiled by my Tacoma now, I'd never go back to driving a CJ or Wrangler type Jeep as a DD again. Noisy tops, drafty in the winter, having to scrape the windows from the inside in the winter, squirrly as hell on snow and ice, etc.

Those Jeeps are made for crawling around in the sticks, not pavement. The hardcore Jeep guys daily drive the hell out of them and I feel bad for them looking back, I used to be like that. Oh and there's nothing like being caught in a hailstorm or heavy downpour and trying to get the top up as fast as you can. Been there, done all that, haha!

 

Bahaha at least when it starts to pour it's not like it's going to do much damage to the interior. Pretty rugged and durable

 

Another fond memory is sometimes when it got really cold at night, the shitty ethanol gas we have here would partially freeze in the carburetor of my Jeep and on bitter cold mornings I would have to go out there and thaw out the carb with a hairdryer before it would start. It gives me a whole new appreciation for fuel injection I'll tell you that!

 

Yup, could hose it out with a garden hose which was handy I'll admit. Can't do that with my Taco.

 

Negative. 30 days in the shop as of Tuesday since middle of January. F the Ecodiesel and Chrysler.