learn me wranglers

1300zuk wrote: No

I have a feeling that by the looks of your screen name we'd get along great!

Prickly sort, aren't we?

Swank Force One wrote: Prickly sort, aren't we?

Whom exactly?

Zuk here. Obviously climbing up a tree was a figure of speech.

Swank Force One wrote: Zuk here. Obviously climbing up a tree was a figure of speech.

I've done it to an extent in the past... With a 'far from stock 91 Samurai no less. (Samurais and I are very good friends!). Btw, I meant getting along earlier. No sarcasm intended.

ebonyandivory wrote:

1300zuk wrote: No

I have a feeling that by the looks of your screen name we'd get along great!

Lol

I only made that comment because there is all sorts of wrong going on here. 31's do not require a d44 so that would just be silly. Even though I have a strong hatred for Dana 35.

And a lift to fit 31's that's stock size. And you will not be unstoppable in a stock jeep.

Well anyway here is my 2 cents

Get a Tj with a 4.0l Short arms, lift and or trim body run 35's lock front and rear, if it has a d35 swap in 44 or 8.8, rear gear

Add a few others have fun, then sell for a samurai

But the Dana 44 swap is cheap, easy, bolt-in unlike the 8.8 and eliminates the C-clip in the Dana 35 that I've seen fail more times than I care to think about. Trust me, rocks, 31's, and 4low is enough to ruin a Dana 35. Not sure what's silly about any of that but whatever.

And 31's, 4.11's, 2.5" lift and a mini spool isn't "stock" but like I said: whatever

When you ladies are done, re-read the OP's goals:

Wanting something for occasional trail riding, camping, beach cruising, not much into.rock.crawling or mudding

Then discuss. Civilly.

Thanks for saving me the trouble.

Nathan JansenvanDoorn wrote: When you ladies are done, re-read the OP's goals: Wanting something for occasional trail riding, camping, beach cruising, not much into.rock.crawling or mudding Then discuss. Civilly.

My suggestions were very mild and I thought fit the OP's goals perfectly. By the way, me and Zuk share a love for Samurais and as far as I know we're not in a fight are we?

Well if you want to be lame and just drive on dirt get a tracker or sidekick and save a bunch of money

I've thought long and hard about Sammys but finding one not hacked to hell with a title is a royal pita round here. Heck I've looked at X90's, Amigos, samurais, troopers, jeep Cherokee, early 4 runners, and pathfinders, K-5 blazers, and Broncos, the Wrangler just seems to hold its value better. Especially if you can snag it at the bottom of the value curve, not mod it to hell and keep it in fair shape.

My wife and I love our miata, but packing a dog crate in the trunk means almost no room for anything else, where as the Wrangler should be able to do it and have room for a bag or two, AND somewhere besides a lap for the dog to sit.

I've looked at those that need just a little work. Expect to sink another $5,000 into one. You can get into a 4.0 TJ for that money. I would recommend an automatic, but with an AW4 swap out of a Cherokee to get you another gear. I see them all the time needing a top and seats for $3500. Unless you have a ton of Jeep stuff sitting, CJs get really expensive, and YJs just rust apart.

I think what you want is an XJ.

I'm with Tommy. It's XJ time. Way more Jeep for your money.

yeah but no top down........ Whole point of a convertible right?

Convertibles suck. I couldn't imagine having one in Florida. It's bad enough in the cooler midwest.

I like this talk of a Tracker. There's I spotted in the Denver area a few years ago that looks fairly serious at off-roading, which I hadn't seen before but it makes sense.

Also convertibles do not suck but that's another argument for another time.

Stay away from late 2000's 01s and 02s with 0331 head castings, they resized he exhaust ports quite a bit which resulted in the heads not responding to overheating very well, the like to crack.

Tom Suddard wrote: I think what you want is an XJ.

a guy i know's selling his 98 5sp 4dr XJ, 5" lifted, locked for $2000, it needs a little work but im not sure what.

i'd be interested in it myself but i'm beyond my quota for # of cars right now

Super tempting but it would have to be a 2 door for me. SWMBO has a thing against 4 door vehicles. "they're family cars, and we are not a "family" yet. So we don't need em!" don't ask me, I just deal with it. BTW she complained about me buying a SC400 as it was a Lexus, and therefore a "grandma" car that opinion didn't last long.

Well, my XJ only left me stuck once, and if I had either lockers or known how deep that mud was, I wouldn't have gotten stuck.

I know you've seen all the crap that fits in the back of a 2 door XJ, but I sold it half because it was a POS (I can deal with that), and half because the wife wanted something with a removable top. If your wife is as similar to mine as I think, she will veto the XJ, giving the nod to a CJ, YJ, or TJ.

Chicks dig convertibles.

Oh, Jeep hard tops are cheap in these parts. I wouldn't worry about that. You can rig a lift for when you want to go topless, or go with a bikini top for most summer FL days. Just make sure your interior is waterproof

Derick Freese wrote: Oh, Jeep hard tops are cheap in these parts. I wouldn't worry about that. You can rig a lift for when you want to go topless, or go with a bikini top for most summer FL days. Just make sure your interior is waterproof

How cheap. A hard top and doors around here is a grand. If they are beat up, maybe 800. Ouch.

'97 is the year that Wranglers got coil springs (and round headlights) - these are called TJs. If you have any plans of modifying suspension these provide the best base. If you're going to leave it stock the earlier models (YJs) '87-96 ride rougher, but otherwise will work fine. Early Wranglers '87-91 ish if I remember correctly will have carb'd 6cylinders (4.2 liter is carb'd while the 4.0 is injected) and fuel-injected 4-cylinders. If I remember correctly there were also a few different transmission/t-cases used in the YJs and while none are great for heavy duty I think they're all serviceable for normal use.

Unless you're going to spend a lot of time at high speeds (bad idea in a Wrangler) or with really big tires I'd recommend a 4 cylinder. They're basically unkillable, fine for trail duty and usually cheaper than comparable 6cyl versions. Nothing wrong with the 4.0 though - also unkillable.

Nice part about Jeeps is there is a lot of interchange parts from the Grand Cherokees and Cherokees. Bad part is you'll probably need lots of those parts.