Calling Jeepers: Need Help with first Purchase

[Holger Danske]

Before you buy a jeep remember it stands for Just Empty Every Pocket!

[stodg73]

Before you buy a jeep remember it stands for Just Empty Every Pocket!

Or Just Enjoy Every Project.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

A good TJ is gonna be your best bang for the buck. Find one as stock as possible and go from there. A 4 cylinder will do just fine off road, and handle some 33's when you are ready, it just won't win any races on I-25.

if you can drive the dana 35 is a fine axle. 33" or smaller tires.
seeing as the 35 is the stock axle for oh i dont know, about 2.5 million jeeps, staying away from it will be almost impossible
i know plenty of guys who have wheeled the crap out of a dana 35 with no issues, you can brake any axle, i have seen 60s snap going over a 12 inch shelf

I'll second both of these.

I'd try to get as clean and stock as possible early TJ Rubicon and call it good. $0.02.
I've had two TJs, a YJ, and now a 4-dr JK. I miss the TJs. (And I was dumb enough to have a lifted XJ and lifted ZJ at some point. God, I've wasted some money on jeeps….)

My YJ was super cheap and I bought it almost new. And then I probably tripled what I put into it.
Full custom cage.
F/R ARBs and changed gearing a few times.
Tera Low & SYE & belly up skid
Warn hubs on the front
Winch
Custom cutting and TJ flares
Tons of body armor
Lift, tires, etc. Custom storage all over.
8.8 and ARB. Again. Disc conversion.

And my wife hated it. Didn't even like to go for Ice Cream in it and didn't trust it at all. It was a 4 cyl and with the tires was horrible here in CO, but great in WI and SC.
AND, I ran that D35c all over. I finally got the 8.8 out of internets fear. It was a really sweet axle, and while I've personally changed multiple 35cs on the trail for buddies, never my own b/c I was light on the go pedal and liberal with the lockers. YMMV.
The 8.8 was pretty damn cool, though.


And then my wife said you could get a new jeep if you get rid of the YJ.
Fine, I wanted to replace my old TJ Sahara DD, and so I wanted black, hardtop, manual, 2 door, that's it. Rubicon.
And I got black rubicon and hard top.
She got 4 door. She got auto. She got nav. And I don't particularly care for the jeep. In fact, it is practically her DD if there is any kind of weather she doesn't want to take her car in.


Get teh TJ. $0.02 There are 11ty billion of them.

[sportbikeco]

TJ 4 banger with the 6 speed.

The i6 is great but you will pay for it.

[BPTactical]

If you go to the hills much the 4 banger is anemic at best. 258/4.0 inline is a torque monster.
I really miss my 77 CJ7. 258 CI, T18 4 speed. You could put it in 4 low, first gear and just let it idle. You could out walk it but nothing would stop it.
I picked up the CJ7 Mazin had here a while back. 79, 304, AT, Quadratrac with the correct Mile Marker part time conversion. It's gonna take some work but so what?

[tmleadr03]

This is what I am picking up next month.



Front and rear locking differentials. Center locking push button transfercase. Of course low range. Not many places it wont go.

[spqrzilla]

The OP should look at Chris' Binder ...

[Irving]

Best gas mileage ever those Land Cruisers.

[Danimal]

Honestly if you are looking to just hit the mountains and do some fire roads and back road trails there are tons of vehicles that will do just fine. I have a 89 YJ 4 cyl and it is perfect for my uses. I use it when it snows to get to work and I get out into the mountains anywhere I really have ever wanted to go. With that said I have no illusions of taking it on Rubicon or slick rock, it would die in a ball of fire. But I get 20 + MPG everywhere, and yes it will do 75 mph on the highway, just takes her a bit to build up steam.

I have three other vehicles so adding a fourth that I was only going to use occasionally meant that I was more concerned about long term cost than performance. But even with some pretty rough trails in allens park and some in the adobe desert on the western slope my little 4 banger has done everything I wanted and more. I did not want a trailer toy, I wanted something that I could drive to the trails, have fun, and get home reliably and my jeep does that wonderfully. I have 31 x 10.5 tires on it and very few "upgrades" meaning that I have around $3000 total into it. Also the insurance is cheap compared to my Tacoma that I used to have.

You can throw a bunch of money at anything to get a sweet rig. I saw the most bad ass early 80's subaru brat at the sand dunes, it had a supercharged 350 and 36" paddle tires on it. The most capable off road vehicle that I have ever seen was an old Suzuki Samurai, the wheel base is so short, they are so narrow and if the gearing is right, they are so light that they just crawl up anything. But if you are just looking for a moderately cheap way to get out into the mountains, a stock jeep will do just fine. Lifts, giant tires and engine upgrades are a waste on 99% of jeeps because their owners never take them anywhere that a stock jeep could not handle. Knowing how to drive off road safely is big too, and I have seen many people bust the hell out of their rigs taking them through relatively easy trails.

[Danimal]

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