Calling all the Jeep guys

Hey @jovibuilt , remember about 3 years ago I bought a SD60 from you and we loaded it up at a shop in Spruce pine into the back of a green Yukon XL? That was me.
Find a YJ. Take the rest of your budget and do a fullwidth swap with a v8. It's by far one of the best rides you'll ever get for a budget build. Ride down to SC one day and test drive mine. It's not for sale, but will give you some wild ideas. I'm not even kidding.;)
 
XJsavage said:
Hey @jovibuilt , remember about 3 years ago I bought a SD60 from you and we loaded it up at a shop in Spruce pine into the back of a green Yukon XL? That was me.
Find a YJ. Take the rest of your budget and do a fullwidth swap with a v8. It's by far one of the best rides you'll ever get for a budget build. Ride down to SC one day and test drive mine. It's not for sale, but will give you some wild ideas. I'm not even kidding.;)
Click to expand...
Yes I remember. I have 60 fronts dana 44 hd leaf spring fronts and 44 rears and 60 rears with disc brakes lol. Wanted to get her one then ease into full width swapping in a year or so. lol
 
If your girlfriend wants a "dependable" jeep,
(I started laughing while writing that),
Plan on spending well above your budget and buy a JK.
I cant imagine finding a "reliable " Cj or Tj, correctly modified to run 35s and be decent on the road for your budget.

@CasterTroy was 10000% correct,
Buy a Toyota and a sawzall...........

Edit: If it was me, I would look for an early (07-09) jk with high miles. Add a 2 inch lift, and there you go....
 
Last edited:
junkxj said:
Edit: If it was me, I would look for an early (07-09) jk with high miles. Add a 2 inch lift, and there you go....
Click to expand...

There you go to the store to get ball joints, hub bearings, steering linkages, gear swap, clutch or reman auto tranny...

I keep looking at the early JKs too for the same reason. But I think they are like the 4 cyl TJ vs the 4.0 TJ. Anemic regardless of what you do to improve upon the lack of power.
 
Last edited:
I'll be part of the TJ crowd on this one. Even with all of the new JK stuff, the early ones are not worth the fanboy premium over a TJ. Just my opinion. @Jody Treadway hit some of the main points in his post. Find a way to bump your budget to $10k. Getting the right $7-8k TJ will ease your GF into the downward spiral that is to come instead of kicking her square in the ass off the cliff. The cheaper ones I've been seeing are giant piles of shit that need a lot of work. More than spending a few grand more on a nicer one right off the bat.

Budget boost, high line fenders, 35's. Then save for gears and lockers at the same time. With a good set of shafts and the right gear/locker combo, a TJ will go a LOT of places and be relatively comfortable cruising around town with the top and doors off (there is your AC)
 
@trailhugger's Jeep cost about $6k, had about 140k on the clock. It's a 99 4.0 5speed with AC. No cruise. The AC has a little leak, so it gets topped up once in a while, and the heater box is full of willow oak leaves, but other than that, it's been fine for the ~4yrs we've had it. TJs ride nice, they're reasonably reliable, and they're pretty affordable. Stick to a 31-33" tire and it'll be a lot cheaper to buy and maintain.
 
ghost said:
Did any of yall notice the MOPAR FI on this? 1984 Jeep CJ7

As for the TJ watch out for 00 and 01 4.0's they have head cracking issues. Personally I want an 06 LJ... but that is about double what you want to spend.
Click to expand...

@RenegadeT installed the MOPAR EFI kit on his 77 CJ7 many years ago. I don't recall him ever having any trouble with it.
 
ghost said:
Did any of yall notice the MOPAR FI on this? 1984 Jeep CJ7

As for the TJ watch out for 00 and 01 4.0's they have head cracking issues. Personally I want an 06 LJ... but that is about double what you want to spend.
Click to expand...
A bit too tall, but seems like a great deal

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
sammi_davis said:
Why the 06 specifically , just curious?
Click to expand...

Can't answer for @ghost, but most seem to think the 06 with a 6 speed is the Holy Grail of TJ/LJ. The 6 speed manual is awesome and smooth, but the 06 4.0 had many issues with the oil pump drive seizing and taking out the camshaft at a minimum. Many times the OPD would seize, lose it's teeth and as a result, no oil pump but the engine would keep running until it seized.

Best thing to do is replace the OPD gear with a new one and run a mesh pattern (sound familiar?). You can shim them to get a better contact patch. Been there and done that back in my dealer days.
 
Not sure why there's all this negative talk about Jeep reliability. I've driven multiple 4.0 jeeps to well over 100,000 miles with minimal problems. Of course a CJ is a different story completely, and while they're no Toyota, every TJ I've owned has been a solid, reliable vehicle.
 
cj777 said:
Not sure why there's all this negative talk about Jeep reliability.
Click to expand...

OP said he wanted to go 35's

Not negativity as much as brutal honesty being given to someone who MAY simply slap a lift and tires on a stock TJ without consideration for ALL that goes into getting there properly. I.E. if you want a mall crawler TJ on 35's but just do the bare minimum to GET there, expect reliability issue. That's all. Not negativity....troof
 
CasterTroy said:
OP said he wanted to go 35's

Not negativity as much as brutal honesty being given to someone who MAY simply slap a lift and tires on a stock TJ without consideration for ALL that goes into getting there properly. I.E. if you want a mall crawler TJ on 35's but just do the bare minimum to GET there, expect reliability issue. That's all. Not negativity....troof
Click to expand...

I suppose. I was assuming properly built and maintained, but I guess that is not always a given. There's no reason a TJ on 35s can't be reliable.
 
cj777 said:
There's no reason a TJ on 35s can't be reliable.
Click to expand...

Absolutely

And like with everything, to do it RIGHT will cost more. With the budget that was presented....it just didn't seem that was likely to be the initial route chosen, so more discouragement was offered than encouragement. And you'll notice, most of the comments about Jeep were made by Jeep folks :cool:
 
sammi_davis said:
Why the 06 specifically , just curious?
Click to expand...
Last year of the 4.0? An 05 would do too.

Jody Treadway said:
Can't answer for @ghost, but most seem to think the 06 with a 6 speed is the Holy Grail of TJ/LJ. The 6 speed manual is awesome and smooth, but the 06 4.0 had many issues with the oil pump drive seizing and taking out the camshaft at a minimum. Many times the OPD would seize, lose it's teeth and as a result, no oil pump but the engine would keep running until it seized.

Best thing to do is replace the OPD gear with a new one and run a mesh pattern (sound familiar?). You can shim them to get a better contact patch. Been there and done that back in my dealer days.
Click to expand...
I did not know this but when I do start looking for a LJ you will get a call..... :flipoff2: :beer: :rockon:
 
ghost said:
Last year of the 4.0? An 05 would do too.

I did not know this but when I do start looking for a LJ you will get a call..... :flipoff2: :beer: :rockon:
Click to expand...
I would have bought an 05 or 06 if the deal was right, but I was mainly looking for an 04 to avoid those problems when I got mine. And TCM issues in the automatics.
 
Jody Treadway said:
Can't answer for @ghost, but most seem to think the 06 with a 6 speed is the Holy Grail of TJ/LJ. The 6 speed manual is awesome and smooth, but the 06 4.0 had many issues with the oil pump drive seizing and taking out the camshaft at a minimum. Many times the OPD would seize, lose it's teeth and as a result, no oil pump but the engine would keep running until it seized.

Best thing to do is replace the OPD gear with a new one and run a mesh pattern (sound familiar?). You can shim them to get a better contact patch. Been there and done that back in my dealer days.
Click to expand...
I have the unicorns and its been fully Treadway'd?!?
ghost said:
Last year of the 4.0? An 05 would do too.

I did not know this but when I do start looking for a LJ you will get a call..... :flipoff2: :beer: :rockon:
Click to expand...
Gotcha I was just curious as I like all of them pretty equally.

LBarr2002 said:
I would have bought an 05 or 06 if the deal was right, but I was mainly looking for an 04 to avoid those problems when I got mine. And TCM issues in the automatics.
Click to expand...
Smart on the TCM ...
 
Coming in late on this, but seems no one has looked at or answered your CJ question. I've had 3 CJs. Current CJ-7, for over 30 years. With the wider stance it now runs [think wide trak], it drives well, on the road! Lifted & on 35s. IF, the advertised CJ, is as good as it looks & as advertised, it's Under-priced. It's already lifted, which may hurt the ride & handling quality. It's on 35s. Has 4.56 gears, which is correct for the tires. Basically all you wanted, except the AC. I Do see 1 problem! Manual Brakes! Same as I "Had". Questionable with 33" tires. Once I threw on the 35s, I Could Not Stop it! Scary! I bought a Hydro-boost, to solve that problem. But you at Least need a vacuum boost brake! Just be Aware.

I Vote for the "Built TJ", I see listed by CJ777!
 
Last edited:
Back
Top