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If you could start over with Jeeps ......

MrSimon

MrSimon

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Downingtown, PA
Most of us have owned lots of Jeeps in all different configurations .... some of them even ran.

If you were going to start all over, knowing everything you know now, what kind of Jeep would you build/buy?
 
I'm partial to the ZJ's that I've had, I'd go with a 5.9, full frame stiffeners, 4-5" of lift or so, long arms, 35's. JK44's front and rear would be cool. Still drivable on the street around here too.
 
Comanche, 4 cylinder, stock 5 speed drive train, 21 slot grille, worn out sun faded paint and sport truck graphics. I'd still bob the bed and shorten the wheelbase. Always wanted a DD chodemanche.
 
I'd do two things:

1) Never wheel without a good trailer and a dependable tow rig!!!!! At least for me, the stress of having to drive the rig a few hours home after wheeling was nothing but a big fun sponge. Being forced to fix crap on the trail/parking lot just to get home sucked. I know others feel differently, but for me a trailer is now a non-negotiable.

2) I'd stay low and on 33s and kind of over-build the rig. Long arms, bead locks, stiffeners, lots of armor, selectable lockers, allow shafts, super joints, 1ton steering, etc.
 
i see it as a catch 22, you have a trailer queen you don't have to worry about how to get home or to work on Monday just load it on the trailer and deal with it later. With a DD you have to worry about late sat/sun getting it fixed so you can get home or to work mon morning. but you can also drive it anytime you want to on the street and not seal with the BS of a towrig and trailer. im pretty happy with how my rig has turned out for a XJ based rig, although tubework wise I wouldn't mind cutting it all off and starting from scratch. and if I was to have a choice would of started TJ based over XJ
 
I'd start all over with a pile of tube, my bender, some graph paper and a good pencil.
 
Repost, but whatever.

I'm at a very happy spot so far with this thing. It goes fast, crawls like an animal, and drives down the road at highway speeds without any drama at all. Maybe someday I'll put a windshield on it but honestly that doesn't really bother me. I'll still tow it to the majority of places I go, but at NACfest for instance, I'll drive it from Twin Grove up to the park, no question.

12898169_10100846282849429_8853924893188528852_o.jpg


What I've learned...I ran trail 16, Otters, Rock Creek, Death Trap, Crawl Daddy, quarry, Shoot the Moon, and its exit, before lunchtime last I had it at Rausch. 35's are big enough if you build the rest of the truck properly. Which also means *light*, and I don't know if it's really possible to build a light-weight XJ on 35's. I do know that I'm totally over wheeling anything with fullwidths or a full body. I did it for a long time and it did nothing except subtract from my wheeling experience in the long run.

I still have my 5.9ZJ as a daily driver, and aside from the 242 swap (and maybe an 8.8 if I ever find one), I have zero intentions of ever wheeling it or doing any lift/tire mods. That thing does its job really well for me every day and I'll just let it keep on doin what it does.
 
I consider what I am doing with my 5.9 zj starting fresh. I have had a few XJ's, a TJ and some other lifted trucks in the past and they were always put together with odds and ends. Reused parts, rebuilt parts, basically whatever I could find and make work went on them. Although I'd love a clean XJ to do this too, the 5.9 was too hard to pass up as a nice long term project.

With my zj, I've taken my time, researched and spent the money on things I never would have 10 years ago. My ideal jeep is something that is streetable but still very capable. Overbuilt for the wheeling I do so that I rarely have a break and deal with more maintenance than anything. After I lifted my 5.9, I actually enjoyed driving it even more than when it was stock. There are some weeks when the zj gets driven more often than my DD.

End result is/will be F+R long arms, 35's, overbuilt d44's and tasteful body armor/accessories. The jeep has done a 1500 mile week trip and I have another one coming up in June. This is what it's built for.
 
I like my current 5.9 ZJ but I miss my XJ on 44/9 and 36" IROKs. I should have just patched the frame and kept wheeling it. The XJ was much simpler than building the ZJ
 
If I had the patience I would build something old, like a 3B, Foreward Control, or Jeepster Commando. Instead of blowing all that money on something with a unibody.
 
Another 97 to a 01 tj wrangler doubt I ever own another xj nothing like the feeling of driving down the road with the doors off and the top down.
 
I'd start with a bone stock, unmolested XJ, and build it with everything I've learned.

Of course, two years after that, I'd realize I still built it all wrong.

I love my stroker, I love the Black box and 241OR. I'd probably give up the manual, and go with auto. If money were no object, I'd look at a 4 speed Atlas. I might go 35s, rather than 33s, but I'd keep it low.

I might end up doing this. If our hopes come true in 5 years, we want to move to Hawaii. We will need something to wheel to the good beaches. So, I'd like to build a stock '99, 3" lift, 33s (cut to fit), simple, but skid plated to death, and built to simply. not. break.

David Bricker / SYR
 
An LJ would be a consideration, but the multiple times I've driven a TJ, they seem extremely squirrely. Perhaps the LJ would be better, but I do like coil front and leaf rear.

David Bricker / SYR
 
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