Jeep Wrangler Advice?

[bubbadavis]

A quick word about lift kits, since someone mentioned them: if you're going to drive on the road and want to lift your Jeep, go with Old Man Emu. They ain't cheap but you'll save the $$$ you'll spend on the cheap lift kit when you replace it later on. Ask me how I know...

[Guest db99wj]

A quick word about lift kits, since someone mentioned them: if you're going to drive on the road and want to lift your Jeep, go with Old Man Emu. They ain't cheap but you'll save the $$$ you'll spend on the cheap lift kit when you replace it later on. Ask me how I know...

They do make some good stuff. Another company is Teraflex. They have, from all reviews I've read, very good kits and great customer support, from a 1 3/4 leveling kit on up to full suspension kits.

Oh, I forgot an important thing to consider, they say JEEP stands for Just empty every pocket. This is true, there is so many things you can spend money on it is unbelievable, tires, wheels, bumpers, skids, gears, HEMI's, . I have a list, I just don't have funds! LOL

[Krull]

Not taking it personal, I just stand by my opinion. I do like to pick fun at friends though, like "Chrome won't get you home" No I didn't make that up myself. It was not a cut against your TJ. Personal preferences aside, I like your Jeep. I, as you, also work on my Jeep and have installed accessories on my others, including lift kits. I bought my first on in 1990.

Your words: "I remember laughing at Jk I saw at black mountain stuck we drove right by a few months ago." Therefore, I was not adding my opinion. As for the rest about gunning it and sloshing mud on him while shooting the bird, If I would have typed that, that would be an assumption.

Seriously, don't get butt hurt because I said no chrome, really, it's not that big of a deal, and as I mentioned, it is a personal preference. MY BIL has a Yellow TJ, big lift, loud as hell 33" Buckshot mudders, I make fun of his 28" spare all the time! It's all in good fun. He makes fun of mine because of the paint, the stock tires, electric windows. Then I make fun of him because I can fit 33's without any lift!

Any more take to PM's or drop it, don't want to hijack this thread anymore.

It's all good!!!! To the OP. Buy a jeep any jeep and you can participate in the mine is better than yours!!

[Guest db99wj]

It's all good!!!! To the OP. Buy a jeep any jeep and you can participate in the mine is better than your!!!

It's all good. Jeeps are kinda like the my Sig, is better than your H&K is better than your Glock is better than your XD is better than your M&P arguments. All in good fun.

[bubbadavis]

They do make some good stuff. Another company is Teraflex. They have, from all reviews I've read, very good kits and great customer support, from a 1 3/4 leveling kit on up to full suspension kits.

Oh, I forgot an important thing to consider, they say JEEP stands for Just empty every pocket. This is true, there is so many things you can spend money on it is unbelievable, tires, wheels, bumpers, skids, gears, HEMI's, . I have a list, I just don't have funds! LOL

Jeeps can be more expensive than guns!

[oldogy]

LW, from your OP I believe you're looking at the new series Jeeps so I will not offer anything but opinion on them. Jeep is one of the few remaining cult brand names in the US. Jeep, John Deere, and HD come to mind along with a few gun manufacturers. Jeep can be a lifestyle. You generally either love 'em or hate 'em. I kinda like them.

Many years ago the wife said she would like a Jeep. I figured it was a passing thing for a middle age woman but the conversations kept coming up. I stumbled onto a good buy in a bare bones used Jeep and bought it for her. She started driving it and her brand new Ford Explorer sat in the garage. After about a year of she driving the Jeep and the Explore languishing in the garage I bought her a new Jeep and sold the Explorer. All was well, the dear wife happy with her Jeep for several years. One day she came home, "I found a Jeep I want" Seems that someone close had an almost new LJ Rubicon Unlimited in the color she just could not do without. So now she is driving her third Jeep. We looked at the new series when they came out but she decided she likes her LJ.

A short WB Jeep does not have much room to haul stuff like firewood, a bunch of long guns and ammunition. We have run all three Jeeps with the back seats removed at times.

Jeeps have been known to hold their value very well. The older ones are bullet proof if maintained. Don't know about the new ones.

Don't think wheel size is going to make a bit of difference in the ride of one of the new Jeeps but it is possible that individual model suspension tune differences would make a difference. Yeah, get the hardtop. Good luck in your quest for a Jeep. And yes, we do get back in the woods once in a while. And yes, we've modded all three Jeeps.

oldogy

Edited November 18, 2010 by oldogy

[Guest TnRebel]

My Mall Crawler

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks to all for the great ideas. Dunno much about cars. I work at home and only drive a couple of times a week.

Reason for vehicle specs-- I'm blind in one eye and also an unskilled driver. Knock on wood have avoided any accidents by being cautious. Maybe the lack of depth perception contributes to being a poor driver. That is the reason I don't want a tiny glorified go cart car, but do not enjoy trying to keep a giant road barge between the lines. Limited vision makes rear and side visibility important.

Long ago had a Camaro with bad rear visibility, then for years drove a Chevy full-size no-windows van. Managed to avoid accidents, but never was comfortable with the limited visibility.

Big pickups are too much of a road barge. Small pickups are fun to drive, but for my purposes do not have good use of the vehicle space. Had an S-10 with a bed cap that was great for casual driving, but putting a lot of stuff in the bed was a hassle crawling around in the bed on hands and knees.

Sitting high helps see trouble up the road. If sitting low on the road in a sporty car, you don't know trouble until the brake lights go on with the vehicle directly ahead.

I've got old enough that it is easier to climb up into a vehicle than to climb down into a low sleek car. But ancient relatives have shown that if you get old enough, climbing up into a vehicle can also be a problem. So perhaps the ideal compromise is a ride that has the seat exactly the same height as yer butt, so you can most easily get in and out.

Old Dad and Stepmom got too old to climb up into their Sierra crewcab road barge, so we went shopping looking for cars with wide doors and seats exactly the height as their butts. I got em a Honda Element which seems a very practical well-made little car. Makes great use of the interior space and is available AWD.

I could almost tolerate driving an Element, but driving it doesn't seem quite natural for whatever reason, and side visibility is pretty bad. It has plenty of back side windows, but when you look back, the vehicle is slightly narrow and the interior window frames are a little deep. You can't hardly see out the big side windows from the driver seat.

Accompanied wife car-shopping this summer, keeping an eye out for what I might like while she was shopping for what she likes. Subaru Forester is a tight high-tech little car, but seems kinda yuppy. If I could get over the yuppy-ness of the Forester, it might be one of the more practical choices. Dunno if you can pull the back seats out of a Forester. Haven't had the back seats in the Astro van for many years, and would immediately pull the back seats out of a Wrangler if I get one.

FJ Cruiser is cute and Toyota makes great stuff. Wife eventually chose a Toyota after driving a bunch of cars. But FJ Cruiser visibility appears limited and the dang things are spensive. For the typical price of an FJ Cruiser you can buy the most loaded Wrangler that Jeep sells. If I wanted to dump a load of money on a yuppymobile, the sexiest yuppymobile I saw is the Toyota Venza.

I bet the FJ Cruiser or Venza run like a bat out of hell. The little Toyota which the wife bought, has a teeny 1.8 liter engine and runs like a bat out of hell. Toyota seems to know how to get surprising performance out of an engine. As far as that goes, the 2.5 L engine in a Forester will get up and go if you stomp the pedal.

Another nice-looking ride is the Nissan XTerra. Great body style. Wife test-drove a few Nissans and we got the impression that Nissans are not designed and built quite as high-tech quality as Toyota and Subaru. That may be wrong but is the impression we got from test driving and kicking tires. Nissan really likes their XTerra too. Like the FJ Cruiser, you can't hardly find an XTerra that costs less than the most loaded Wrangler you can drive off the lot.

A cute mini-truck is the Ford Transit Connect. Talked to some tradesmen driving Transit Connect, who liked em great compared to full size vans. But they sit a little low, and are pretty heavy for the tiny engine, and don't have an AWD option. Also the local dealers never stock anything except white panel van Transit Connect. Would have to blind special-order a full-window version, hoping I'd like it once delivered.

Other than the Transit, nothing caught my eye at Ford and Chevy, except yuppy stuff in the $35,000 price range.

Been paying attention to the cars in traffic lately. They all look the same. Excellent overall quality, but they all look the same. If Chevy sells a model with a certain look, then every other brand has a model with that same look. Sunday driving to visit relatives, the road looks like Crossover Hell. Nothing but a zillion brands of crossovers lined up on the road, which all look the same regardless of brand.

If I got a wrangler then the car would look like every other wrangler out there, but at least it wouldn't look identical to 10 other brands in the same niche. That is just shallow hal talking, but everybody has some shallow hal in there somewhere.

Apologies writing such a long rambling post.

[Guest db99wj]

Regarding space, the Jeep Unlimited's rear seat folds down, dang near flat, which gives you a ton of cargo space, I believe the 2-door does as well, but not sure, I do know they come out, I have seen several for sale. My 65 year old mother got into my Jeep without much problem night before last when we went to dinner. Her only complaint was trying to figure out what to grab onto to help pull her in. You can add handles to the roll bars to help with that, I haven't done that yet, but will.

Oh, don't call Jeeps cars, kittens are killed when you call a Jeep a car!

[TGO David]

Regarding space, the Jeep Unlimited's rear seat folds down, dang near flat, which gives you a ton of cargo space

One of my very few gripes about the FJ Cruiser. The seats don't fold flat enough.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I spent a long time looking for a replacement for the Astro. Something fairly small that can carry full sheets of plywood when necessary. They don't seem to make many like that nowadays except fullsize vans. And it seems counter-productive to spend $30,000 for a yuppie-mobile and then scratch up the insides with plywood and boards.

So am gonna keep the 93 Astro for hauling. Park it out back and try to remember to start it up once a week. Its only got 77,000 miles so it ought to last indefinitely as an occasional hauler.

That is why I'm not real concerned any more with getting cavernous hauling space in a replacement vehicle.

The current 2 door Wrangler rear seats-- the backs fold down, and then the entire seat will fold forward so it just takes up maybe 5 inches right behind the front seats. So unless that extra 5 inches was real important, maybe it would work just as good to leave the seats in the jeep but permanently folded forward.

[Shorty]

I didn't like the 4 door Wranglers when they first came out bc it just didn't seem right for a Jeep to have 4 doors. (I had a CJ7 for several years) But now I own a 2008 Unlimited Rubicon and have to say making a 4 door model was a great idea. They have sufficient space now without being too big and the longer wheel base makes them a little more stable (and capable). I took mine wheeling 3 weeks after I got it and watch other Unlimited drivers make it up/through things the 2 doors would struggle to complete. The ride is surprisingly comfortable even though it is a little loud on the highway (soft top) From what you've stated I would go with the Sport S or MAYBE Sahara. The 18s on the Sahara aren't really worth it to me to spend the extra money unless you want a few extra creature comforts as well.

[leroy]

Lester:________________

Noticed your comment RE: your old truck.

....So am gonna keep the 93 Astro for hauling. Park it out back and try to remember to start it up once a week. Its only got 77,000 miles so it ought to last indefinitely as an occasional hauler. ....

Got an old 99 suburban (....just 238K miles on it...) sitting in my backyard--same problem as you. Here is a pretty neat solution:

Go down to the nearest Advance Auto Parts and get one of these little jewels: Schumacher 1.5 amp battery charger/maintainer (...link here: Advance Auto Parts: 1.5-Amp Trickle Charger/Maintainer by Schumacher - Part SE-1-12S____ ...) and hook it up. I got mine (...its a Battery Tender Brand...) from these guys (...link here: Deltran Battery Tender Plus, battery tender plus, ...). They work like a charm. All ya need to remember is to UNPLUG everything when ya take off in the ole Astro.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your purchase of the new jeep; they are a great thing!!

Leroy

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks Leroy and Shorty.

Maybe a 4 door Wrangler would be a better buy for stability and storage. Was kinda fixated on the shorter wheelbase for parking and such. My driving sucks.

Was wondering about maybe putting a small solar trickle charger on the Astro when it is retired. Have read a little about em and they don't seem expensive, but would need to do more research. In theory a small solar trickle charger could be permanently attached to the roof or hood and permanently wired in. It would be most convenient to wire it in if it was attached to the hood I guess.

[JReedEsq]

I have a Pathfinder which is basically the big brother to the Xterra. My previous vehicle was a completely loaded H6 LL Bean Subaru Outback and I've had Toyotas and Hondas too. You're correct that the fit and finish of some Nissans isn't as good as some of the other Japanese makes. I don't think, however, that this is any reflection on the quality of the powertrains (engine, transmission etc...). I drove a Maxima to 180K trouble-free miles and both my cousin and another good friend put a ton of miles Xterras. In comparison, My Subie started having issues before 90K. My cousin and I bought new Pathfinders about the same time without discussing it with each other, neither of us have accumulated enough miles to say if they will be as good as previous Nissans. Anyway, I wouldn't count out Nissans unless you want a luxury car interior. They make lack refinement but they can be rugged and dependable. Personally, I like their styling, I think they have more cargo space than a lot of their competitors and a lot of them are made in Tennessee. They also use the same V6 in nearly all their cars (it's tried and true) and they do repectably off-road. If you're looking for a rock-crawler, I'd stick to the Jeeps, but I've actually taken my Pathfinder off-road and it does pretty well for a stock vehicle.

Edited November 21, 2010 by JReedEsq

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks JReedEsq

That is a good point that fit and finish may not necessarily equate to mechanical reliability. Years ago wife had a nissan sentra which was a very practical reliable little car. I don't drive many miles and I drive like granny and do not abuse vehicles, so as long as a vehicle isn't an absolute pile of junk, they last many years for me and I report good experiences with em.

Finally found a Jeep to buy. Wranglers have many options. It is apparently difficult to find exactly the desired set of options if you have strong preferences. Might find everything perfect except it is a horrid color. Or everything perfect except it has the wrong transmission. Was looking for a red or mango color, but finally when found a black one with everything else set up as desired at a decent price, decided that black is a tolerable color as well.

Got a black 2010 Wrangler S with 17" wheels, auto xmission, air, hardtop, power winders. Nothing too fancy. It seems put together very tight.

Being blind in one eye, no depth perception, it always takes me a long time to get a feel for where the vehicle is on the road. Make sure it is between the lines. Glancing frequently in the side mirrors at the stripes on the road to make sure it is centered until I learn what the road should look like "centered" against the windshield view. I guess it has to do with no depth perception, because usually people think I'm nuts when I describe this.

One interesting thing practicing driving the Wrangler. Guess every vehicle has its own steering characteristics. Being accustomed to the Astro Van which isn't huge but has a slightly longer wheelbase than a Wrangler, and much smaller tires-- Compared to the Astro, sometimes the Wrangler seems to slightly over-steer with small movements of the steering wheel. But sometimes making tight curves, it seems to slightly under-steer and I have to turn the steering wheel more than expected.

It is no big deal, just something to learn. But it is interesting that the steering wheel would seem to be simultaneously MORE sensitive to small movements and LESS sensitive to big movements. Guess it has to do with the short wheelbase and big tires, unless perhaps there are nonlinear elements in the steering mechanisms in autos. Would have assumed that the front wheels will usually linear-track the steering wheel, at whatever ratio is in effect. But maybe not. Dunno much about autos.

[Guest db99wj]

Congrats on the purchase, hope you have many trouble free miles ahead of you!

[leroy]

Lester:____________

...Got a black 2010 Wrangler S with 17" wheels, auto xmission, air, hardtop, power winders. Nothing too fancy. It seems put together very tight. ...

Congratulations!! You'll like it, im sure. Of course you know you have started another "hobby". There is as much stuff for jeeps as there is for guns!! Start here: Jeep Parts, Jeep Accessories & Jeep Soft Tops From The Jeep Parts Experts - Quadratec ; and here: 4X4 Wheels, Tires, Lift Kits, Winches, & Accessories for Chevy, Dodge, Ford, Jeep, Toyota & Nissan 4 Wheel Drive Vehicles @ NTW

Have fun!

Leroy

Edited November 29, 2010 by leroy
spelling!!!

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Lester:____________

Congratulations!! You'll like it, im sure. Of course you know you have started another "hobby". There is as much stuff for jeeps as there is for guns!! Start here: Jeep Parts, Jeep Accessories & Jeep Soft Tops From The Jeep Parts Experts - Quadratec ; and here: 4X4 Wheels, Tires, Lift Kits, Winches, & Accessories for Chevy, Dodge, Ford, Jeep, Toyota & Nissan 4 Wheel Drive Vehicles @ NTW

Have fun!

Leroy

Thanks Leroy and db99wj

Have about figured out how to keep the thing between the lines. Never had interest in vehicles except to go from point A to point B, but the Wrangler is fun to drive.

A rutted dirt road is about as off-road as it will probably ever go. Accessories such as lifts or big tires are not high priority.

Definitely will add an underseat lock box to store the pistol when I can't carry. That would be genuinely useful.

Regarding outside addon's which are actually useful, not just cosmetic--

I like the look of tubular steps. The wranglers without some kind of steps or rails appear somewhat "naked".

However, steps or running boards do not look practical to actually assist a feeble person entering the vehicle. And I don't need to transport any feeble folks in the jeep. Maybe the expensive retracting electric steps would be actually useful on a lifted Wrangler.

Tube steps sit right under the door. So if a person was too feeble to step up in the jeep, then the person would probably also be too feeble to reach the step. Locating a step any lower would ruin the ground clearance and wouldn't look good anyway.

Except for off-road protecting the side-panels, I can only think of one non-cosmetic utility-- A rocker guard could keep idiots from dinging the side panels if they slam their doors into the jeep at the walmart parking lot.

Maybe that would be sufficient justification for rocker guards even if the jeep never went off-road?

This style maybe looks good to protect the side panels-- What do you think? Is that dumb reasoning?

Smittybilt 76643 - Smittybilt SRC Rocker Guards in Textured Black for 07-11 Jeep® Wrangler & Wrangler Unlimited JK - Quadratec

Edited December 22, 2010 by Lester Weevils

[Guest db99wj]

Glad you are enjoying it, it is amazing how much fun they are. They do look "nekkid" without some type of rocker guard. Below are mine, they came on it. They are functional as a step and will provide only some protection if they hit something, like a rock. I have bounced them off dirt before but not on anything harder. The ones above appear to be more functional as rock rails and will protect against rocks. Mine will protect the body somewhat, but will be damaged if I put them on a rock.

[leroy]

Lester:_____________

I like the tubular rails. We have them on the 21 year old's wrangler and my prerunner. I like them as they both "dress up" the truck and protect against door openers.

I'm an old guy too; and i tend to step up on them to get into my prerunner. I have to step straight into the wrangler (...it's got a 3 inch lift and 35 inch tires; so its pretty high...).

Hope this helps a bit.

Leroy

[Guest db99wj]

Just to add, my mom, who is close to 70, uses my steps above to get in, she grabs the dash bar and pulls herself in. I'm going to buy some roll bar handles, that'll help to to pull yourself in.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks db99wj and leroy.

db99wj, your Wrangler looks great!

Was mostly thinking about the utility of the high step for very old feeble folk. Had not thought about how the high step might be useful for kids or short-stature non-feeble adults.

The vans I've owned had low first steps, but have sometimes posed a challenge getting old folks into the van. I wouldn't even try getting old 80-something dad in the Astro anymore.

A couple of months ago gave step mom a ride in the astro and it was iffy enough that I won't try again. She had trouble just getting a leg up on the first low step. It was a pushing and pulling fest getting her the rest of the way up in there. I got em a honda element that is neither too high or too low. Make it as easy as possible so they neither have to climb up into a high vehicle or climb up out of a low vehicle. Will just ride em around in the element when I need to drive em. Dad or step mom could never get a leg up on a Wrangler step, and even if they did it wouldn't do em much good getting the rest of the way in.

====

Some of the tube steps look too weakly attached to be much good as a rock rail, though they would be strong enough to protect against parking lot door slammers.

Also, some styles of the tube steps have open spaces on the front and back. Look like they could get snagged on brush and sometimes cause problems rather than solve them.

I keep changing my mind every time I look at the different products. This one may possibly actually strengthen the frame a little bit, and has step functionality, and is minimally 'gaudy'. It looks possibly stronger than some of the elaborately-welded round tube models.--

Garvin Industries 44302 - Garvin Industries Rock Rails for 07-11 Jeep® Wrangler JK 2 Door - Quadratec

[Stainless]

Great purchase! You will love it! I was going to suggest you buy only a 2003 or newer for sure depending on your budget.