Jeep Wrangler - anyone have experience with one?

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Dustdevl340

Dustdevl340

Westie Dad & All Around Mopar Fanatic
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So my wife Claudia surprises me a couple of months ago declaring she want a Jeep for our next vehicle. Her cousin in Colombia had one when she was a little girl and she loved going for rides in it. I'm perfectly happy to get a Jeep but I'm doing my due diligence researching them. Basically chatting with people I encounter who own one and reading up on them wherever I can. So far everyone I've spoken to has had nothing but praise for their Wranglers. Do any of you have experience with one? Please let me know, good, bad or indifferent. If we pull the trigger it'll likely be next spring. Could be sooner, who knows?

Thanks,

Steve
 
What do you want to know about them ? I'd personally prefer an '06 or older because of the 4.0L. The 3.8's were junk, the newer 3.6's make good power but the early ones had cylinder head issues. Anything newer than '15 are good to go but they aren't cheap ! Hell, none of them are cheap ! I'm an XJ (Cherokee) guy, like the longer wheelbase. But id own a TJ( pre '07) wrangler in a heartbeat.
 
I had an 08 unlimited with the 3.8. It started knocking at 18K miles. The 3.6 is much better. And of course the older 4.0 is bulletproof.
 
Fun to drive around with the top down. Most useless vehicle in my fleet.
 
4.0 please...The early 80's 258 carbed models, are awful... The 2.5 four banger, late 80's- early 90's , are another one, to avoid.. IIRC: somewhere between 88 and 90.. Some 4.0 models, have fuel injector issues..
 
A Hemi will fit in the TJ.
I have a XJ as a DD. No problems.

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Bodyperson said:
Fun to drive around with the top down. Most useless vehicle in my fleet.
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This pretty much sums my experience up. No off-roading anywhere near me so the capability never really came in handy, other than climbing snow piles. I had a '14 Wrangler Unlimited, I ended up trading it in 2 years later on a Toyota Tacoma. Needed a truck bed, and they don't make a wrangle with one, otherwise I would have bought one of those.
 
The 3.6's are known to drop valves around 40-50K and engine replacement is the cure. My neighbors wife was driving down the road at 55, dropped a valve. 47K miles on it .$5500.00 she was back on the road. 4.0 is the only one I would own.
 
I had a '92 wrangler, better known as a YJ. Ended up putting some 31" tall tires on it with a 4" lift. Had a blast with it and beat on it pretty hard off road regularly. I work for a utility construction company and we have huge dirt piles out back to climb and wheel around on. So the 4WD got used daily for that and used at the river on weekends. The 2.5 engine was a turd on the highway and was worse after the lift and bigger tires. But it got around great offroad in 4 low.

I plan on getting a TJ someday with the 4.0. The coil spring suspension on a TJ seems way better than the leafspring suspension on my old YJ. My wife wants to replace our expedition with a 4 door JK.
 
whay year are you looking at.. the YJ and TJ you have to look very close for frame rot. very common on those.. i also would prefer the 4.0. they run forever. the 4 cyl ones can be had cheap but they are pigs.. watch for the 2000-late 2002 though. the 031 head is known to crack. my 2000 cherokee at over 200,000 miles is still running the stock head but i made sure the cooling system was top notch and keep an eye on things..

the most complaints i hear from people going all the way back to the YJ jeeps is the horrible gas mileage..

jamie mentioned again the other day that she would like another jeep. i'm gonna start looking for a TJ with a 4.0. if i could find a cheap one with a rusty frame it would be great. have a good friend that repairs them for a real nice price.
 
My wife is on her 3rd wrangler unlimited. The 09, was totalled by some Fktard pulling in front of me ( boy did he regret that, as the upgraded mopar steel bumper slammed his whole passenger side out. He was taken away in a ambulance, and me and the wife and kids were unharmed, and not even a scratch. Hell the airbags didn't even deploy as it went through the passenger door. I hit him with the frame rail so the whole frame twisted ) we barely felt the impact,so the replacement was a 2012 Sahara unlimited, in white, with a white painted hardtop ( boy I liked the looks of that one ) . Well evidently someone else liked it too, and bought the exact same one, and she even had a starfish hanging from the rear view mirror also. ( it's a thing for the women in town to do that, as we are a beachfront community ). Wife says time for another one, and found a 2014 AMPED orange ( one year only color )Sahara unlimited ( kind of like a orangish root beer. ) there is a member on here that painted his dart that color. Anyways, I say at least we won't see another on like that ! So a month later the wife passes the same color in town "DOH" !!!!, so I added a blackout hood decal to make it different . The way I explain it is, it's a hardtop 4x4 in the winter and a convertible in the summer, yes they are pricey, but take a look at the trade in value, as they really hold their value. The wife and kids love driving around with no top and doors on.

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4.0 for the win. Don't know about the newest ones but they drive like ****. Tires are everything. They hold value insanely. Soft tops are prone to leaking.

Exhaust leaks are common. Overheating isn't rare.

JEEP = Just empty every pocket.
 
I've had several Jeeps my 93 I owned for seven years. I definitely would by a 2015 or newer to get the 3.6L.
 
I love my 2016 JK Wrangler 3.6L.... It gets up and goes pretty good... I get between 16.5 to 18 mpg...
Great here in the Arizona desert !!!
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Local, monthly mall crawler convention (Jeeps and Java) by Quadratec in West Chester, PA.
A lot of interesting Jeeps and owners. Great place to see a wide range of Jeeps and ask a lot of questions.

Gorgeous '016 Cliff

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anything newer than 97 is a Chrysler
 
Yes 87, Chrysler changer the basic design in 97 to more of a throw together of both Jeep and Chrysler. 97 is the 1st year for coils on all 4 corners among other things

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My wife had a 1997 XJ for years. She absolutely loved it and the 4.0 never missed a beat up to 170,000 miles when we sold it. Will say though that we had several issues with AX15 5 speed transmission though. Got stuck in gear a few times and when we sold it overdrive was out.
 
We bought a 98 Wrangler new for my wife as a 50th birthday present, we still have it, she loves it. It only has about 102K on it. It's been pretty good, rides nice, handles great, it's incredible how well it corners for something so tall. It makes a lot of wind and tire noise though, especially at highway speed. It's not good for trips because of that. The front fenders have a design issue that causes them to rust bad on the top flat area, we put new ones on 5 years ago. The exhaust headers are known for cracking and are not really repairable. The gas tank is mounted with a big metal enclosure that looks like a skid plate, it's not, it's thin sheet metal. That rusted out too and was a ***** to replace, even on a lift. But it sure is fun with the top down on warm sunny days. We also like to go for a fall color drive before putting the hardtop on for the winter.
 
I currently have a 03 TJ it has 85K miles on 4.0 5-speed, reliable as a hammer, just replace the brakes, shock and tires, especially tires alot.
It is actually my go to vehicle, nimble, easy to park, my wife calls it a mountain goat in snowy weather.

The wife and I have 4 jeeps, 2 cj's, wrangler, and she has a new compass which she really likes.

I would avoid any jeep wrangler with a 4 cylinder, they get worse gas mileage than the 6 and have no power.
I had a 89 yj years ago, great little jeep, but the 4 cyl was done at about 120k, using oil, etc.
 
Walker434 said:
My wife had a 1997 XJ for years. She absolutely loved it and the 4.0 never missed a beat up to 170,000 miles when we sold it. Will say though that we had several issues with AX15 5 speed transmission though. Got stuck in gear a few times and when we sold it overdrive was out.
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I have a 1993 XJ (Cherokee for the OP) with the 4.0 and AX-15 5-speed, it's pushing 235,000 miles on the original engine and trans and I have thrashed that thing hard (off road and occasional fast shifting, engine has some mods), which I bought with 180k on the odo (felt like a new car when I drove it). I've heard those transmissions are picky about fluid, I fill mine with RedLine MT-90... First time I did that it made it shift like butter. Still runs great, maybe a bit sticky to go into 2nd when it's cold outside but it's a trooper.

To the OP I live in Colorado where Jeeps are every 3rd or 4th car you see on the road. I'm pretty familiar with the TJ Wranglers which is '97-03?? I really see them as single-purpose vehicles. The newer ones are a little better on-road but still garbage compared to even a pickup truck in terms of ride, space, mpg etc. Seems like people either drive them as an image thing or because they actually want a really hard-core off road vehicle that is ready to modify. I prefer my old Cherokee but those are getting just that, old, the last ones were made in 2001. They're significant because they were a unibody hatchback SUV with usable interior space but essentially the same suspension and driveline as the Wrangler; way more practical and 90% as capable but looks like a box on wheels in comparison. And it has a longer wheelbase, bit more rear overhang, not-too-rigid unibody blah blah blah. Around here they go for like 1/4 the price, probably less than the Wranglers.
 
MOPEkidD-3 said:
I have a 1993 XJ (Cherokee for the OP) with the 4.0 and AX-15 5-speed, it's pushing 235,000 miles on the original engine and trans and I have thrashed that thing hard (off road and occasional fast shifting, engine has some mods), which I bought with 180k on the odo (felt like a new car when I drove it). I've heard those transmissions are picky about fluid, I fill mine with RedLine MT-90... First time I did that it made it shift like butter. Still runs great, maybe a bit sticky to go into 2nd when it's cold outside but it's a trooper.

To the OP I live in Colorado where Jeeps are every 3rd or 4th car you see on the road. I'm pretty familiar with the TJ Wranglers which is '97-03?? I really see them as single-purpose vehicles. The newer ones are a little better on-road but still garbage compared to even a pickup truck in terms of ride, space, mpg etc. Seems like people either drive them as an image thing or because they actually want a really hard-core off road vehicle that is ready to modify. I prefer my old Cherokee but those are getting just that, old, the last ones were made in 2001. They're significant because they were a unibody hatchback SUV with usable interior space but essentially the same suspension and driveline as the Wrangler; way more practical and 90% as capable but looks like a box on wheels in comparison. And it has a longer wheelbase, bit more rear overhang, not-too-rigid unibody blah blah blah. Around here they go for like 1/4 the price, probably less than the Wranglers.
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I prefer the longer wheelbase of my XJ over the TJ. Now, I'd take an LJ but they are not as common and prices are crazy !
 
My DD is a 2005 LJ Rubicon. Has about 180K miles now and has been pretty trouble free. Had to replace the original clutch at 170K due to throwout bearing failure (the disk would have gone another 100K easily), otherwise basic maintenance. At about 120K I went through the lower drivetrain and replaced ujoints, front axle bearings and ball joints, and did a complete brake job with new pads/rotors on all 4 at 160K. And although the Jeep does see a fair bit of highway use, it also spends a lot of time off pavement.

Modifications are pretty simple, 2" lift coils, 1.25" body lift+ motor mount lift, all suspension control arms are Johnny jointed at both ends, high pressure monotube shocks and 255/85-16 (narrow 33") tires. Works extremely well and rides pretty nice.

If you are looking for a TJ or LJ, 03-04 were possibly a little better than 05-06. The last two years use the 6-speed NSG370 instead of the NV3550, and some of the early ones had issues although mine has been fine. Both will get noisy with miles but that's considered normal and is no cause for alarm. Late 4.0L engines had some issues with the OPDA/CPS (oil pump drive assembly/ cam position sensor). Due to poor design the upper bushing could seize causing rapid wear on the drive gear and cam gear. When the gear fails, the oil pump stops. I am still running a modified original unit, and there are aftermarket units that supposedly last longer. Most 4.0L engines that were going to have problems with this would have by now unless its a really low mile rig.
 
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