Jeep Regrets

Just wondering if you guys had some regrets on mods you may have done or stupid things you did to your jeep that you look back on and regret doing. I thought it may be fun to do and also help out others as to what to look for when they go to do mods on there jeeps.


The biggest thing I regret is going with zj front coils, waste of time and money doesn't really give you any lift.

I also regret not carrying spare fuel injection line got stuck in a huge storm around Christmas last year I was on my way to NY to visit family for the Holidays and everything was closed due to the storm I blew a small portion of fuel injection line that runs from the fuel filter to the metal line and I lost a day of traveling because of it and the storm, plus almost a full tank of gas.

let's see.... i regret getting my old blue chief stuck on private property and having to sell it to make the wife stop wiggin out.
i regret dunking my last xj in 4 feet of water which caused a whole barrel full of problems.
i regret selling my mj to a guy with a 16 yr old kid, who 2 weeks later wrapped it around a tree and totalled it.
i regretted buying a cheapo superwinch instead of paying $100 less for a harbor freight one, or even $100 more for a good warn. that winch is about 70% of the reason i had to get rid of my last 2 xj's. if it had worked when i needed it to, i never would have been in the bad situations that i found myself in- it would have gotten me unstuck before i ended up on someone else's land, and kept me from having to go forward into the creek when i wanted to back up, or at least turn some.
i also regret trying to squeeze my waggy between 2 trees before looking for another route- now i have some body damage on what was an almost flawless body.
i regret trading my cj5 for a waggy that didn't run. at least with my cj i knew what i had.


so far, other than the winch my regrets haven't been bad purchases, but rather bad situations that got worse. it boils down to getting what you pay for, so buy good stuff to begin with.

I regret lifting mine. It was a lot of fun to drive stock. Smooth ride and great gas mileage.

Jamescad04 said:

Just wondering if you guys had some regrets on mods you may have done or stupid things you did to your jeep that you look back on and regret doing. I thought it may be fun to do and also help out others as to what to look for when they go to do mods on there jeeps.


The biggest thing I regret is going with zj front coils, waste of time and money doesn't really give you any lift.

I also regret not carrying spare fuel injection line got stuck in a huge storm around Christmas last year I was on my way to NY to visit family for the Holidays and everything was closed due to the storm I blew a small portion of fuel injection line that runs from the fuel filter to the metal line and I lost a day of traveling because of it and the storm, plus almost a full tank of gas.

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ZJ front coils are hit and miss, depends on if it's an I6 or a V8, UpCountry or not, etc.

PacificEd said:

I regret lifting mine. It was a lot of fun to drive stock. Smooth ride and great gas mileage.

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buy another one and leave it stock :eyes: I usually drive the stock MJ to work.

I regret buying a complete rot-box as my first XJ... though it did introduce me to welding, sheet metal work, brake line repair, body work, and got me to buy tools and stuff.

I regret not checking over it more carefully when I bought it. Had I done so I would have realized I needed to replace all the brake lines, the radiator, the tranny cooler lines, the tranny, and the front axle much sooner, all due to rust except for the tranny.

I regret not buying an MJ sooner.

Other than that, no regrets.

Parts and tools I carry at all times (too lazy to take it out of the jeep...) : CPS, TPS, full fuse kit, tire plug kit and OBA setup, 2' each of 3/8" oil cooler line, 3/8" and 5/16" fuel hose, fuel injection hose clamps, spare hub bolts, spare brake lines, spare d30 shafts and a unit bearing with a stub shaft in it, brake fluid, coolant, oil, tranny fluid, 5 gallons of gas, a jack, a driveshaft u-joint or two, a u-joint strap kit, tire valves, tire irons, fullsize spare, jumper cables, a set of milsurp gloves, recovery strap, shackles, a few spare d30 cover bolts, a tube of RTV, first aid kit, battery terminal cleaning tool, spare bulbs, some drinkable water, spare serpentine belt, krikit-II, DMM, hose clamp assortment box, brake line unions and block-off plugs, and the full tool bag (basically every hand tool you need to work on an XJ bar none, torque wrench, and a cordless sawzall and two batteries.)

I would be comfortable without many of those items but they're all in a couple boxes and my toolbag, so it's easier to just drop the whole pile into the jeep and take off.

passing on cash 4 clunkers

its a mixed bag.... i regret beating up the bodies on all of mine but it sure was fun doing it

I regret buying my XJ before I learned more about XJs and their problems and what to look for.

kastein said:

I regret not buying an MJ sooner.

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Are you channeling Eagle? :roflmao:

Re: ZJ coils... what model & equipment makes a bit difference. I have 6" of lift out of a set of ZJ V8 4.5" coils and that's after a Custom 4x4 bumper and a Warn xd9000i winch.

Nope, I just love to be able to toss a whole drivetrain (4.0/AW4/NP231/two driveshafts/all of a d35 minus the housing), engine hoist, and enough camping gear for a weekend in the back at a whim, and still get over 20mpg

I really need to meet that guy sometime though, he lives only about an hour or two from me and is rumored to have "several" MJs.

kastein said:

still get over 20mpg

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WTF?

Oh wait, my high idle probably kills mine.

yep... I got 23.13mpg on my way home from NACFest, it was all highway driving at 55-65 though. That's with 1500lbs in the back, all stock drivetrain, AW4, 220k on the motor and tranny with no rebuild as far as I know.

Oh, I forgot something. I definitely regret not lifting the carpet in fall 08 and fixing my rust issues, instead I pretended they were normal and weren't a problem until spring '10 by which time I had a basketball sized hole right through the floor, shackle box, and frame rail in the right rear corner. :wow:

My ZJ Coils were off a V8 ZJ.

ChiXJeff said:

Are you channeling Eagle? :roflmao:

Re: ZJ coils... what model & equipment makes a bit difference. I have 6" of lift out of a set of ZJ V8 4.5" coils and that's after a Custom 4x4 bumper and a Warn xd9000i winch.

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Wow, that is a blast form the past!

kastein said:

Nope, I just love to be able to toss a whole drivetrain (4.0/AW4/NP231/two driveshafts/all of a d35 minus the housing), engine hoist, and enough camping gear for a weekend in the back at a whim, and still get over 20mpg

I really need to meet that guy sometime though, he lives only about an hour or two from me and is rumored to have "several" MJs.

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Rumor hell. I think he was building a fleet last time I saw him on here.

muahahahaha i janked andys post! shhhh dont tell him. he will be back shortly... ~April~


lol I left it sitting.


The only think that I regret is not building it how I wanted to the first time.
3 suspension designs later... I want to go bigger.

If I had retorqued or even just checked my u-bolts after installing my lift, I never would have had to deal with this disaster:

I regret PURCHASING Interco TruXus MT's.
I regret DOING nothing about replacing my seats.

Thats about all I can think of right now, I made most of my mistakes on my first 4x4 vehicle, my old tacoma.

~ Stump

buying mine for as much as I did with what little was done to it, and how clean it was. I would have rather bought one with a beat up body but heavily modified. Instead I bought one slightly modded and without a scratch on it.

stumpXJ said:

I regret PURCHASING Interco TruXus MT's.
I regret DOING nothing about replacing my seats.

~ Stump

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That can easily be fixed I did the zj seat swap I love it the seats feel like im sitting in a lazy boy.

Cnickgo said:

If I had retorqued or even just checked my u-bolts after installing my lift, I never would have had to deal with this disaster:

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Thats the craziest thing I think i have ever seen without the whole xj being torn up.