Calling Jeepers: Need Help with first Purchase

[rockhound]

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


best bang for the buck is a cherokee, 1996 and newer are safer, that is when they went to a structural roof, anything older you will want a roll cage if you do ay serious wheeling at all. i know this first hand.

[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.

[condoor]

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


best bang for the buck is a cherokee, 1996 and newer are safer, that is when they went to a structural roof, anything older you will want a roll cage if you do ay serious wheeling at all. i know this first hand.

+1 the Cherokee. I think it's one of the best values in a 4x4. If you bump to a 97 or newer model with the 8.25" rear axle you get 29 splines instead of 27 and strength approaching a Dana 44. (Late 96s had 29 spline as well). A cherokee on 31s with a drop in locker like a Spartan will take you lots of places and get your feet wet wheeling until you find out what you really want.

[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.

[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.