That's awesome man. I drove my TJ exclusively for about 2 years and loved it. Very familiar with getting caught in the rain lol. Once I put 35's on it, it just felt like too much wear on all of it to drive daily so I got a GC for daily use.
Here for the Jeeps and their wave are gay.. Am I alone? Oh well. Two fingers thrown up for you homos.
I'd do a 97-06 TJ personally. Much more fun to drive than the JK (06-18) imo. The JK's are more SUV than Jeep. The TJ is a Jeep Jeep to me.
I've liked my 2 JKs better than my TJ. More room, the later models had a good engine. Both have tons of mods but of course the newer ones will cost more. If you do get a TJ get the 4.0 motor.
Yea its not a knock on the JK. If it were a daily driver, I'd say JK. More room, better ride. CJ and TJ just feel more basic and plain Jeep to me and are more fun to drive. And yea the 4.0 on the TJ is a must.
My 2.5 4 cylinder with the manual transmission TJ was fine around town and in the trails with 33s. Running down the interstate, now that sucked. 4th gear, running damn near 3k rpms.
Buddy of mine has the 2.5 4 speed TJ, and we did a Jeep day a few months back. On a two lane freeway into the wind he had it floored and was doing about 65mph. On the way back with the wind he could get it to about 70-75 mph. I have the 4.0, 6 speed TJ, and had plenty of power left at 65 mph into the wind. Now when I say plenty, I mean I wasn’t flooring it. Mine will get to 75 mph pretty easily. It just takes 10-15 mins to get there.
Yea really just depends on what you're doing. If you're using it to bounce around town on a Saturday, the 2.5 works fine. I prefer the 4.0 bc it has more pep but the 2.5 is driveable for sure. There isn't a massive price difference from what I remember and the 4.0 lasts for 8 million millions so I'd still recommend it.
Just got my '93 out of the shop. New axles, new lift kit, new rear brakes, and new exhaust manifold. Rides incredibly well but I hate how quiet it is now. Used to know that bitch was coming down the street.
The naming of the Gladiator disproportionally angers me. Why not give that a Scrambler name? Gladiator was not a Jeep Jeep.
Not sure how much room there is there but the JK was the same way and a few companies just sold inch high steel blocks you bolt on under the front legs and tilted it back.
Took the Rubicon to the dealer for an oil change the other day and was hoping to ogle the Gladiator. No luck, because they can’t keep them on the floor. Everyone that comes in is sold before it even reaches the parking lot.
Had a branch fall on the Grand a few months ago and dented the hood the quarter panel. Finally put it in the shop to get fixed this week so I've been driving the TJ daily this week. Forgot just how fun it is to drive.
It was a truck. Not a Jeep with a truck bed. It didn’t have any resemblance to a Jeep other than name. Did not have any compatibility to a CJ. You know, like the scrambler.
It’s 100% an irrational anger. It’s their Jeep truck, name it whatever the fuck you want. I just think it would have been more appropriately named Scrambler.
That's how I feel about all 4 door Wranglers. Need 35 at minimum. Too long to sit low with stock tires. 2 door are fine with 33s.
Agreed. Can't think of the company but one of the suspension companies built one that is incredible. It only had about thirty grand in parts as well and they did a hell of a lot more than a normal person would need to
So at my office I noticed someone bought a gladiator and hasn’t done any modifications. They are not great looking stock. It doesn’t look bad but it could definitely benefit from at least a small lift and some bigger tires.
I don’t sweat it, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I know more than a few guys that fit into this exact category that are either working their ass off to afford it or have very different priorities than me.
Jorts and I were just discussing what I want to do with one. 57k for the Jeep and then another 15 for the way I want it. “That would be stupid IMO”. And he ain’t wrong. But so pretty.
You can do lift and tires for 5-7k. Beyond that it's just small stuff you do over time. I've been thinking hard about it but the bronco unveiling is so close I'm going to wait a bit. I don't have any plans to rock crawl so I don't care about solid axles. Land Rover unfortunately did a horrible job with the new defender. Looks like a Kia
Jeeps are worth it to splurge on. They always have one of the highest residual values and will never go out of style if you want to keep it a long time
You can do 35s pretty cheap on a new Wrangler. Cheaper than I realized. I called the shop thats done all of my work to ask about it yesterday bc a friend is looking at one. He said a 2" spacer lift for like $800 is all you need on the new ones if you're just doing it for looks and you're not wheeling it hard. $800 for lift, $1500 for 5 tires, and maybe another $750 for wheels. So for under $3500 you can slap 35's on them and be fine for daily use.
The new ones are actually made to be able to run 35's with no lift if it's a Rubicon. There's a big thread on 35's no lift on jlforums
Yea its possible but the 2" lift makes a lot of difference imo. Just evens out the dimensions. And it's less than $1k installed so no reason not to.
Agreed. It does look a lot better with a little lift. A few guys on there daily with 37's without lift but that makes it almost look lowered with the low fender clearance. Mopar lift isn't expensive and is covered under warranty if they install it. That'd be the route I'd probably go
Currently negotiating with regional dealers on a 2-door Rubicon. All they have is the 2.0 available, the closest v6 is 2+ hours away & only have some of the options I want. I might end up building.