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DrunkMonkey

What kind of Jeep?

By DrunkMonkey, in The Bonfire

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DrunkMonkey    0

DrunkMonkey
Hey all:

Since I'm in my new kickass location (NM), I'm looking for an open-air car for a second vehicle. I'm open to anything from 1960-1994. I want to do off-roading and cruising. Anyone have a jeep type they really like/a type I ought to avoid?

This would be the first time I bought a jeep without family guidance...Help!

Thanks,

-El Mono Borracho

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JohnnyD    0

JohnnyD
i'm on my third one. i voted for the cj-8 scrambler. i would avoid the cj-5. the wheelbase is just too short for me. saharas didn't come out until i think 98 definitely not before 96. they will be more expensive than any of the other options. cj-8 may also be more expensive than the 5 or 7. they only made about 27,000 of those, so it should have a good resale value in the future.

that toyota is not a jeep at all.

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JohnnyD    0

JohnnyD
Quote

Everyone I know who has owned a Jeep has had some major transmission problems around 70K miles. I'd buy the Toyota just for the engine.


Never had a tranny problem. I have 96k on my current jeep and it is running as good as the day it was new. I'll also add that I've never had an automatic transmission so take it for what its worth.

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cloudseeker2001    0

cloudseeker2001
I can help you out. I am on my second Jeep Wrangler.

The older Jeeps are nice when they are in good shape and have been well taken care of. But, they are not fuel injection and the short wheel base makes them dangerous on the road. Off road the short wheel base kicks ass, but it is not worth the additional safety hazard. The CJ's do not have fuel injection and this is a "modern" must! The carb. engines are a lot more to maintain. Especially in New Mexico where you will have many different elevation changes and the fuel/air ratio will constantly be changing. And too, if you are 4 wheelin a steep climb, the carb. bowl runs out of fuel and the engine dies......ever try to restart an engine on a steep incline?;) Fuel injection is a must!

Do not buy a Sahra Jeep for any reason! They are junk, hard to repair due to odd parts and strange engineering changes Jeep made to these things. And too, for some reason after market products from 4wheel Drive and Quadratec do not fit them.....I have no idea why these is so.......:|

The Wranglers YJ are the best I think because they have a longer wheel base, after 91 fuel injection was from the factory, Jeep started using a Ford T-5 transmission and improved the brakes. Every 4x4 catalog is full of YJ parts and all kinds of other crap to spend money on. Going back to the fuel injection, 87-90 Jeep put in a Carter carb and it is junk, if you can find a pre-90 YJ, or for that matter a CJ that someone has installed a fuel injection kit on, then that would probably be a ok if you really liked the Jeep. The factory kit(or even the Howel aftermarket kit) is based on a 95 Wrangler. When I replaced the engine in my Wrangler, I spent the extra cash and installed the factory kit-so under the hood is 95 and the body an 87.:)
Also, research Jeeps. People make all kinds of modifications to these things and if you buy a used Jeep no telling what may actually be in it! AMC did not actually "produce" parts for Jeeps.....They bought parts from other car companies and pieced them together! Really! In my Jeep the transmission is French and the transfer case is form Japan! That will change next spring though!;) And really, the pre 91 Jeeps are not built very well and quality control sucks. Kitty wrote that after 70K most people have transmission problems, that is true because most people run the hell out of them and never change the transmission fluid or even check it! If you do need a transmission, and you cannot rebuild it yourself, it is probably cheaper to buy on out of the catalog than have a shop rebuild it.

Check some Jeep forums and learn as much as you can so you do not get stuck with a piece of junk. Jeeps are fun, easy to work on and the chicks dig them! The old Land Cruisers are nice, but the parts are too expenisve. Many people are buying them and installing Jeep engines! If you have any questions, let me know, I can help out.....hope this makes sense, I am in a hurry!:):)

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"

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hoym    0

hoym
Wow, you know a lot about jeeps.
I just picked up my 'project' a couple of months ago.
Haven't really started on it though. Hope it's done within the year. With help it might be possible.
It's a '73 CJ-5.
It came with both 304 and 360. The 304 is currently installed but I hope to go with the 360. It came with two T-5's and a Scout T-18 with the Scout Dana 300 TC. Again, I hope to go with the T-18 but I think I need to convert the long T-18 input shaft to the short style. I've heard this is possible. Any experience?
Like I said, (for me) it's a big project.

I had a '75 CJ-5 about 20 years ago. I remember it was a lot of fun and got me in all kinds of trouble.

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VectorBoy    0

VectorBoy
The CJ's do not have fuel injection and this is a "modern" must!
Quote



Mine does;). And I agree it is a must.

Seriously If you just want an open air vehicle for the road Then it does not matter ( stay away from the CJ5 for comfortable highway cruizing, although it makes a fine rock buggy ) If you care about ride on the road go buy a new jeep, TJ, rubicon or unlimited. If you are going to off road and I mean hard core wheeling buy the rubicon.

If you cant afford the new rubicon you can take any of those vehicles in your poll and Build them to the specs required for off road in true new mejico fashion. When I say build I mean just that re-build a vehicle almost from the ground up to do what you want it to. If you can't do the work yourself forget it . You will pay double what the rubicon costs, if not more. I have everything the rubicon has except the coil suspension. I did all of the work and almost have as much invested just in parts. All on a twenty year old machine.

When looking at older jeeps pre 80's had truck tuff transmissions, that were just that tuff. All of the newer ones until mid nineties got nice little lightweight econo box overdrive units that can't handle "real" off road abuse. You can and will change those out. Its actually cheaper to reengineer a new heavy duty drivetrain than to buy a replacement econo tranny from france.

Stay away from the toyota FJ40 unless its got the chevota upgrade. Thats right a chevy engine to replace the easy to destroy weak in line 6.

Even if you get the rubicon you will invest in tires and a lift from 2k to 4k depending on what you want. IF you know what you want.

Its just a question of money how slow and steep do you want to go?

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