Why not get a Jeep?

I love Cherokees, and have owned a few. However, I think me having a Cherokee and a Tacoma would be having two vehicles fill the same niche. I'm interested in the Wrangler for its short wheelbase, and to be able to take the top and doors off.

Oh well - we'll see what happens!

 

No problem. If you drove a 2012+ Wrangler, you'd see what I mean. They are pricey, though, compared to a used TJ...time will tell on the reliability of the 3.6...

 

Haha yeah. Well the jeep is at my dads house in Havasu and the Tacoma is mine. His DD is a Yukon so it's a bit different. If anything, I'll always have the tacoma and just get a small car as my DD. I'm not jeeps hugest fan.

 

yes the I6 4.2 and I6 4.0 Are very similar... one of the big mods on the 4.2 was to take the much better 4.0 Head and bolt it right up.

Loved the 4.2L i6 in my 79 cj5. thing ran like a top, had so much god damn torque from idle through the revs it was nuts (bound up the front end and snapped a driveshaft once and the motor didnt even slow down). But she didnt rev above 4k rpms.... that piston stroke on the 4.2L WAS HUGE!!!

 

Perhaps I will go and rent one. I had a 2007 Wrangler for a little while back in 2010, but that had the 3.8L.

Also, I'm sure jeepforum.com has some threads with some high-mileage 3.6s. I will have to look around and see.

Now just to talk the wife into getting a JK!

 

I would go with a Jeepster Commando and mod it out.

 

Had a 2005 wrangler loved it but at 67 thought I would try a little more comfort. LOVE MY TACO! Still can do the same trails but when it is 120 in the shade my Taco air is 200% better than my old wrangler.

 

Holy chit.
I don't know that many of us could add to what you already know.

I've had several jeeps.
86XJ
95ZJ
95YJ (This one I truly miss)
99TJ (this one too)
03TJ
09JK unlimited Rubicon.

That last one was my last jeep. My 95 was sweet. It was a Rubicon before there was such a thing. F/R ARBs, winch, custom bumpers, full PS cage welded in, custom rockers, custom skids, Tera 4:1 with SS kit, manual warn hubs, etc. But I didn't use it. And so my wife said I could have a "new jeep" if we got rid of it, but it had to be the 4 door.

Man, I hated that 4 door Wrangler from go. $0.02
The dealer will make a huge difference, but ours was ALWAYS in the shop. What good was the lifetime warranty if you never have it in your possession? I am not kidding, the last straw was when my wife dropped it off on a Friday, had to bring it back Saturday, and then had to bring it back again on Monday over programming and spark gaps and whatever else. The stock tires needed to be balanced about every 2 months. Transmission was crap. Obviously this one had the minivan engine. In contrast, my 2007 CTD was about the most problem free car I'd ever owned. Anyway, after that last straw I traded the JK, somewhat over my wife's objections, on an AWD station wagon (BMW E91). This car is superior to the jeep in every way including snow, other than deep snow, obviously. That doesn't answer the Tacoma thing, which I'm getting in anticipation we'll share depending on needs of the day and weather.


Edit: It was mentioned several times above, but the resale on the JK was top notch. Thankfully. Bought new for $34 and we got $29 for it 5.5 years later.

I'd love a nice TJ (std / hardtop) but I don't see it happening. I just don't "off road" much anymore beyond fire roads. I saved up all this money for JK lift / tires / etc....and then bought a mtn bike instead.

 

Thanks, brother! I'm not so much looking for new Jeep knowledge as I am just why some guys go with Tacos over Jeeps. Like I said, I have owned a lot of Jeeps, and I own a '15 Taco now, but am getting that itch again, so I need my fellow Taco brothers / sisters to remind me what I bought the Taco for.

In that sense, this thread has definitely reminded me the exact reasons I bought the Taco - it's the best all-around utility vehicle. There are things the Jeep does better - absolutely - but as a DD it's not the most desirable, and on road trips it's iffy, which I do a lot. This thread has actually helped me out a ton.

 

Just my own experience, YMMV. It just became so all-encompassing. I'm typing like some sort of recovering addict. If I had the money back out of that 95...you saw the mods, but that's a fraction. Then I bought the mentioned CTD just to tow it. And a tow dolly. And I loved my CTD and it was the DD, but it sucks parking a one ton (even SB) anywhere. Period. Awesome truck, but more than I needed.

And the Wrangler became this thing that I was always working on and then it became a garage ornament and a big trip with it would be for ice cream or something. I think in 5 years I put maybe 1,000 miles on it. It was my fathers' we had built it together and then he started on an 03 Rubicon, which is even better than my 95. And he has a CTD...and now his tends to sit more than it should, although in fairness he does more 4x4'ing than me by far.

It just felt like the fun of the jeep was inverse to the mods, paradoxically. I drove it less and it drove worse, but yeah, it was killer in Moab, Arizona, etc. One of my jeep buddies "broke free" and declared he'd never mod another vehicle, and my reaction was, "Say it ain't so" and here I am thinking identically. All these Taco builds are awesome, but I want to limit to factory options and a bike rack, myself.

But the [stock] TJ for fun would be cool.

 

Jeep wranglers are constantly on back order from time to time. There is a huge demand and that's why they are all over the car lots.

Jeep sold 240,000 wranglers last year. Tacomas were less than half that, and sold in one more country than wranglers.

 

Thats whats in my 88 YJ, the big difference is the compression the 4.2 had a longer stroke crank and rod, for low end torque. And the 4.0 had a short stroke, so they milled the head down for higher compression on the 4.0 on the short stroke. So when you put the 4.0 upper on a 4.2 lower you have boosted the compression big time, and made the 4.7 engine, it similar to what is done to make a hot rod, but you also need a higher octane fuel, like ethyl to keep from knocking. I Love mine.

 

Lots o guys just took the head on the 4.0 and bolted it to the 4.2L block / cylinder... no change in displacement (still 4.2 at that point) but much better flow characteristics and a bump in compression. Sounds like you did a stroker kit, with the crank out of the 4.2L and used the 4.0L block (which had a bigger bore than the 4.2) and boom insta 4.7L haha.

 

I've often wondered why I have both, though. I really don't do much off-roading anymore...I actually wish I had decided to make myself wait a year or two before considering another Jeep, just to see if the itch would go away, but didn't. Sold my 2003 TJ, went out and got the '12 JK the next day. I've made a couple of half-hearted efforts to sell the JK, but to no avail. My wife likes the JK, so I don't try too hard to get rid of it. Truth be told, the Tacoma is all I would ever need in a vehicle.

 

Almost every FJ40 around here, even in the desert southwest, is mostly a pile of rust held together with a bit of paint. I'd hate to see one from a colder climate...

 

Oh yes cramped and shity for us 6'4" 275 lbs guys!!

 

That's what she said!

 

Going back to your first comment, I had the option of buying a Jeep rather than blowing money on my Tacoma when I first started. I even test drove a used 2004 I6 TJ. Honestly after watching a few friends spend hours keeping there Jeep running, let alone getting it ready for the trail, I just didn't want that headache. Maybe one day when my kid is older and I have tons of time to change the power steering pump, idler pulley, and take apart the gear box (these are three things one guy has had to do on a forum I'm part of in one month on an 08 Unlimited) I might consider a Jeep but, until then, no thanks.

For craps sake one guy had his caliper fall off on the way to the trail from his 2014 Rubi and he spent the entire weekend in town trying to fix it while we wheeled. WTF?

 

Interested in what a gear box is?

 

Manual transmission.