Jeeps and your Health

I know, it sounds like a line to feed your wife about why you need to go wheel'n this weekend, but I do believe it is true. Getting out into the back country with your Jeep is one of the most important things you can do for your health.

I find my brain starts to shut down from the busy week, blood pressure lowers and my entire attitude is better within an hour of heading up into the hills.

The line, "it's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand", really is true. this is our emotional and for me, even spiritual connection back to what makes me who I am.

Perhaps it's because my childhood was spent in the hills checking up on cows, but I have met many Jeep'ers who I see have the same expression on their faces as these two guys have. We are where we belong. Exploring, on our own, only dependent upon ourselves to get through.

There is just something about a Jeep. A Pickup really doesn't feel the same. Even a modern fancy four door Jeep all "prettified" to be a SUV doesn't do it.

That unique Jeep sound of the exhaust, the grumble of the gears, it feels like the Wrangler is in it's element determined to move forward no matter what is in the way. I believe that Jeep feeling is what made the Vet's buy them after the War and why the Wrangler is still a vehicle that just puts a smile on your face.

Are Jeeps poorly made?

Are Jeeps really made of poor quality and craftsmanship?

The question was asked by a friend who had bought a YJ that constantly broke down on him. We covered the YJ a bit in an earlier blog post. However as I just had my heater core replaced on my TJ (very expensive because the dash, seats, steering yoke had to be pulled), at 112k miles, it does seem Jeeps are not built that well.

A couple things to consider is that Jeeps are built in a modular way to easily strip down and convert to no doors, no roof or strip out the carpet quickly to remove water. So they are not built like normal cars.

The second and most important element to consider is they spend a lot of time on rough back roads that would destroy a normal car. Often the mileage will be low but the actual hours the motor ran is double what a car doing 60mph have on the motor. Gas mileage can't be measured in miles when the road is so rough it took you an hour to go two miles. Naturally the motor was running that entire hour though not much distance was covered.

If we are honest, as Jeep owners, we do admit that Jeeps are not really built well. Certainly they have improved over the years. But if you expect a Jeep to be like your car you are going to be very disappointed. You need to look at the Jeep as a specialized vehicle that takes amazing abuse, crawls in and out of impossible situations. But the plastic will break, the engine and transmission will not last long on the open highway (in comparison with cars) and break downs will happen.

Are Jeep Wranglers Safe?

 

This is what we imagine when we dream of our Jeep build. Climbing and crawling anything and everything.

But are Jeeps really safe?

Tough question but one that a lot of newbys do not take into consideration. They see someone fly up a hill and figure the Jeep can do it...but can they?

I started with a lot of respect toward Jeeps because I was raise on a ranch where four wheeling wasn't a sport but a necessity. Our neighbor and friend on a ranch nearby had a Wrangler, rolled it and killed himself. So that never left my mind. We should never forget every time we go out that we may be dragging the Jeep back like this.

Take a few moments to take a look at a couple of videos and learn what to look out for.

Jeep Video

Two things to really realize from these videos is that most often the rolls happened on pretty tame surfaces and number two, the more lift and spring in the tires and suspension the more it works against you.

It really is worth going through Youtube videos and analyzing what went wrong. So often it is trying to overpower the situation instead of using the elements that make the original Willys so good in the war and that is lightness, slowly crawling through and letting the Jeep find the way instead of forcing it. Mark Smith's book is really a lesson in that he took what we would call stock CJ's now and went from Tierra Del Fuego to Alaska in some of the roughest terrain on earth and didn't loose a single Jeep or kill a single person whereas the U.S. Marines tried the same path and killed eight and lost several vehicles. Wranglers are slow and steady, not hot rods, when you really want to get back in one piece.

Seat belts, arms and hands inside and good roll bar systems usually are enough to protect us because Jeeps usually are not moving at a high rate of speed. But the damage to the Jeep and to your families faith in Jeeps being fun can be the biggest loss to not respecting the sport.

Which Jeep to buy.

The most often asked question is, "which Jeep should I buy?"

Military Vintage Willys, CJ (Civilian Jeep), YJ (square headlight version), TJ (started in 97) and of course up to the modern JK's.

Everyone will have their own idea but here are some thoughts I have after ten years of being in the Jeep world...

The Willy's is cute and fun but notoriously they ride like a buckboard wagon with a very similar suspension system. The MASH jokes of kidney ruptures is really no joke. I worked for a man that restored these Jeeps for a summer right after highschool and had no love for them after a few months. Very underpowered for what we are used to and not very friendly on the rider to steer, brake or try not to flip over.
However they can be tricked up and made to look great. (Click for more details)
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When I was doing my research on which Jeep to buy I drove a lot of the CJ's they are squirrelly, I think you could flip one in the middle of the street, most overpowered with a V8, so small you can't get boots through the door well, but man I have to admit...I love them and would have bought one but for two advisers that pointed out. ONE; they are fifty years old which means the wiring, drive train, everything should probably be replaced or repaired. TWO; they still have the leaf springs that ride like a bucking horse. THREE; if you want your wife to ride with you...these are just too hard riding, no AC and very uncomfortable. Again though...I want one, and think they are one of the most undervalued Wranglers.

Especially the Laredo's and customs.

Another issue with these older Jeeps is they are carbonator engines which can give you issues on side hills, elevation changes, cold starting. Again, CJ's are not luxury SUV's by any means so if you can deal with all of these issues...they are a choice.
Click here for details.

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Now comes the square headlight YJ's

Looking through craigslist and the papers I saw these all day long looking like this for $3,800 or less and thought, "why not" it's a Wrangler isn't it.

The friends that bought Wranglers then hated me all bought YJ's. Everything went wrong, rear axle bearings and seals, overheating, carburetor problems mentioned above, one friend put in two engines and three transmissions before he gave up and sold his built up YJ -- it looked nice, but never ran the way he wanted it to.

 

Not to insult YJ owners out there but this era of Wrangler almost sunk the model. It had such a bad reputation that Wrangler's were actually not in production in 96 as they re-invented the Wrangler and created the TJ. So it is a cheap way to get into a Jeep...but be ready to have repairs.
Click for details

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TJ era of Jeep

I so remember a true Jeep expert who had a dealership in Boise solely for Jeep builds who made the comment, "his wife really started going with him to MOAB when he started using a TJ.

The reason why is when Wrangler was redesigned in 96 they really took their time to do it right. Larger windshield, AC, wider stance and wider interior with very good seats, and most importantly coil springs for a smoother ride.

 

However this era of Jeep still holds it's value in the $7k range for a decent one so it will cost you nearly double the other options of used Jeeps discussed. The 4 cylinder engine models are a lot cheaper for a reason...that engine is notoriously under powered and not a good power plant. The 6 cylinder is not over powered but will do okay on the highway (still a brick going down the road for arrow dynamics and fuel mileage), I'm very prejudice to this model so I'll not go into the JK's.

 

The TJ Jeep Link

 

There are thousands of other opinions on what is the best Jeep and we'll point at some web sites to view.

 

One of the best Wrangler Forums

 

 

 

Realistic Jeep Build Up

 

My TJ has been a lot of fun with probably the least amount of fluff added as possible.

First was the honest answer of what the Jeep was really expected to do.

1. It was not to be a daily driver (dd).
2. I wasn't out to do nasty hill climbs or rock
    climbing but rather to explore the back
    country around my home in Idaho.
3. The most problematic it would have to tackle
    was deep snow on those back trails.


Budget with a Jeep is pretty tough however what is wise is to put a monthly dollar amount away in an account just for the Jeep. If you're starting from a stock Jeep you will probably have to raise another $4,000 before it's all done. At a hundred dollars a month you can be complete in three years...not that long really.

Building your own Jeep Wrangler

A lot of things have changed since the World War Two vets came home and purchased a surplus Jeep to go play in the hills with after falling in love with them in the field of combat.

There are a lot of web sites and catalogues telling us how to build our Jeep big and bad which goes along with the adage "J ust   E mpty    E very   P ocket". But is the biggest baddest Jeep on the planet really going to suit our needs?

Six inch lift kits, snorkels, 42 inch tires, thousand pound body armor kits; all can be just ego trips that make the Jeep so un-usable for everyday use that it get's sold a few years later at a major loss.

The first question you need to ask is what you really are going to use your Jeep Wrangler for?

Will you be in the hills or up on Moab every week? What do you expect the Jeep to do and who will be driving it daily? These questions will really help you save some dollars and maybe save a marriage.

I love my TJ wrangler and drive it every weekend, but fortunately I did a lot of research before I bought it and talked to a lot of Jeep owners. It really helped me see what I needed. On the flip side my enthusiasm for my Jeep encouraged several of my friends to buy Wranglers and within a year their wives had me on their hate list and they had lost a great deal of money.

So out of guilt I am starting this blog, to point Wrangler enthusiast to look at the various options and where they can get better information to make better decisions.