Jeeps

63 Skier wrote: . I had so much fun in that Jeep, had a tin hard top that gave a loud clang every time you hit a big bump.

David your post reminds me of the story about my Grandfathers jeep.He had a early civilian one in the late '40's and he had it when he built the house we now live in,which is on a very steep hill.He used to go to town to play cards with his Legion buddies and pack down the snow on the drive.Everyone else in the family would get mad because they then had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up. He too had a metal top and our road was so bad my Dad said it was like sitting inside a drum. 50 years later I'm the one packing down the snow---

63 Skier wrote: For a while reading this thread I thought I had the crown for oldest Jeep (formerly) owned, but as usual my bubble was burst, Swatkinz with the cool '42! My dad had a Navy Jeep in the early '60's, I can picture it but don't know any details. Then he got a '57 CJ-5 and I ended up driving that right through high school, I think we sold it in '83 or so. I had so much fun in that Jeep, had a tin hard top that gave a loud clang every time you hit a big bump, 3 speed with max of maybe 50 mph. Unstoppable, rugged little vehicle. It was a rust bucket so we over the years put a lot of bondo and sheet metal into it to keep it on the road, we also plowed with it. I have a huge regret - our neighbor had a '56 CJ with 6 volt system, plow, mechanical winch. It was in perfect condition, no rust, and I could have bought it in the early '80's but passed. A 70's CJ would be a fun project (nice rig Salty!), and like Kevin said so would a Bronco, they were very capable vehicles and in those days a Bronco wasn't much bigger than a CJ. Landcruisers are nice but I can't get excited over a Toyota restoration, sorry!

David,
my 42's top speed was probably around 50mph as well. It was a neat vehicle, but as mentioned previously, was so impractical to drive it almost wasn't fun. Would've been really neat to have around a farm or other large off road property. Just not fun to drive on even secondary roads.

If I were in the market for a jeep to tinker with, I think I'd look for a V8 CJ7. I like the golden eagles and renegades myself, but to each his own

Now that you mention the seat heaters, I did have one fail at like 98k miles. I guess I assumed that using them 8 months out of the year, that was just a random useage failure. Guessing the fact that they did not automatically turn off was the culprit. Now they time out and turn themselves off.
I just bought out my lease on my 08 GCO today. I love that car... It has the lifetime drivetrain warranty, that in itself is worth it.
Oddly, for the first time in my life I am right side up at the end of a lease. Vehicle is worth $26-28k, and the residual is $15.1k.

WakeSlayer wrote: horkn wrote: WakeSlayer wrote: I am a Jeep lifer, and have had 5 Grand Cherokees of one model or another. Love them. Ever had a WJ LTD? I like to say those are limited as in what works today. LOL Having the experiences that my mom has had with her 99 wj 4.7 ltd, I can't knowingly recommend one of them to anyone that doesn't enjoy a project. Granted a laredo or SE, or overland were not immune to the problems of WJ's. Want to buy hers?   It's got only like 80k on it. Seriously, it is for sale after we have had so many things fixed under and out of warranty. I think Jeep re engineered the WJ as they built it, more so than any other vehicle I've seen. Actually, I have had three of the WJ GC Ltd's. 1999, and two 2002's.   All with the 4.7. One 02 was an Overland. No noticeable problems, and I drive the crap out of them. 28-30k a year. I hated my 2005 Ltd. I currently have an 08 Overland that i am buying the lease out. Only problem I have had in 73k is headlight leveling switch.

You are lucky then, very lucky.

I've been on the jeep forums for a long time, and the ltd or overland wj's are pretty problematic.

Common issues are the blend doors for the HVAC, clock springs on 99s especially, dana 44A (rear axle) failures, CD changer breakage, driveshaft problems, seat heater failiures, just to name a few.

My parents 99 4.7 wj ltd went through 2 sets of blend doors 9 the first at 30k, jeep replaced them with new and improved ones under warranty (1600 dollar fix had it not been in warranty) and then those new improved blend doors went again at like 60k. I replaced them with the heater treater blend door fix after that.   The driveshafts were all changed due to imbalance issues (under warranty luckily, tranny speed sensors went out at 60k or so (out of warranty), clock spring went at like 50k, giving an air bag fault (out of warranty), CD changer totally failed, but I took it apart and fixed it, cheap build quality, and it also had serious brake shimmy issues that the warranty finally solved after the 3rd repair.


Ours has had no issues with its d44a axle, but those are well documented as being sub par, so that is the only thing we got lucky on that jeep with.

Even after all those issues, and most had them, WJ grands are very well liked vehicles as they are the last solid axle front and back grand cherokees.

horkn wrote: WakeSlayer wrote: I am a Jeep lifer, and have had 5 Grand Cherokees of one model or another. Love them. Ever had a WJ LTD? I like to say those are limited as in what works today. LOL Having the experiences that my mom has had with her 99 wj 4.7 ltd, I can't knowingly recommend one of them to anyone that doesn't enjoy a project. Granted a laredo or SE, or overland were not immune to the problems of WJ's. Want to buy hers?   It's got only like 80k on it. Seriously, it is for sale after we have had so many things fixed under and out of warranty. I think Jeep re engineered the WJ as they built it, more so than any other vehicle I've seen.

Actually, I have had three of the WJ GC Ltd's. 1999, and two 2002's.   All with the 4.7. One 02 was an Overland. No noticeable problems, and I drive the crap out of them. 28-30k a year.
I hated my 2005 Ltd. I currently have an 08 Overland that i am buying the lease out. Only problem I have had in 73k is headlight leveling switch.

I'm going to have to agree with Nautique Fan...the BJ40 landcruiser has always been a favorite of mine. Look awesome and are tons of fun. Good luck, should be a fun bonding task for you and the boys.

WakeSlayer wrote: I am a Jeep lifer, and have had 5 Grand Cherokees of one model or another. Love them.

Ever had a WJ LTD?

I like to say those are limited as in what works today. LOL

Having the experiences that my mom has had with her 99 wj 4.7 ltd, I can't knowingly recommend one of them to anyone that doesn't enjoy a project. Granted a laredo or SE, or overland were not immune to the problems of WJ's.

Want to buy hers?   It's got only like 80k on it. Seriously, it is for sale after we have had so many things fixed under and out of warranty. I think Jeep re engineered the WJ as they built it, more so than any other vehicle I've seen.

If I were looking to restore, I think I would look into early (70-76) Broncos too. They can look sweet when done up right.

I'm kinda partial to Cherokee's.We have had 2 '95's and my current '01.We also have a '98 Grand. My wife wanted the 1st one,thought it was crazy to have 4wd for the couple of times a year you'd use it.Man was I wrong. I really miss the 1st one,it saved our lifes. Got hit in the rear passengers door by a driver who ran a red light.Whole family was in it,the most damage was right where our son was sitting. It launched us into the air and we landed on the hood of another car on our drivers side. There was not a straight panel on the car anywhere,the only door that would open was the drivers side passengers door.Police said she had to be doing the speed limit at least,which was 50.We walked away without a scratch,not so with the others in the accident.

Ya'll made me want to dig up some pics of my old 42. Enjoy!

P.S. After uploading, the resolution stinks. Don't know why

Thanks for the info so fa all. I'd definitely like to get something that will be a good daily driver for the boys when they're in the last couple years of high school and be something fun for the family. We'll probably do somoe minor off roading. I definitely like the idea of something in the 80's or 90's. I'm partial to the round headlights and I would definitely want a hard and soft top. I like the idea of the straight 6 engine the most. One suggestion from another forum was to get a mid 90's model and swap the front section with new style or old CJ style to get the round headlight look but get some of the benefits of something a little newer than the old CJ's. Ideally, I'd like my budget to be $10K or less. I'd also like it to be cool looking...probably a minor lift and some nice sized tires with a nice wheel combo.

75Tique - my first Jeep was a 78 CJ5 and looked exactly like yours.

Wish I could have found an New Old Stock Black vinyl top like the one on your Jeep.   No where to be found today ... So I went with the Best Top Tiger Top.   Not as good as their Super Top, but more closely resembles the look of my old "Original" top then made by Whitco!!!

67425ks wrote: BFNSport, your "jeep" looks to have a hint of samurai in it. looks like fun.

Yup just the hood
I started out with a Samurai, full bodied but like anything its never enough.
Everyone called it a jeep it was a on going joke in our 4X4 group we had 2, 67 Broncos 2, Samurais and my buggy and to outsiders they were always called Jeeps lol

BFNSport, your "jeep" looks to have a hint of samurai in it. looks like fun.

I had a 93 ZJ grand with the 4.0 and the unbreakable AW4 tranny.

It was literally one of the first ever grands to roll off the line in early 1992. The parents have their 99 4.7 wj grand, but they are selling it.

I did a frame on restomod of a 86 cj7 with the 4.2 and the 5 speed. Decent rig, but with most jeeps, you fix them more than you drive them. My 93 ZJ was an exception to that rule as it was very dependable.