keithw1975

I am constantly hearing people with jeeps talk about how they are so fantastic off-road compared to all other vehicles. Many of them tend to have axle lockers which isn't anything related to it being a jeep but does help tremendously. My question is why are they so popular for off-road driving? The short wheelbase seems terrible since the the whole jeep can get stuck in a hole while a 22 ft long pickup will likely have one axle on solid ground. Also the longer wheelbase will help with stability and handling. I have driven a jeep in town in the snow and the thing fish tailed like crazy from the short wheelbase. Also they have a gas motor which doesn't seem so great for off-roading. I would think a Cummins would be so much better for torque and for simplicity if something went wrong. Finally I would think that since trucks have much heavier components, such as axles and suspension, they would be better for off-road.

What am I missing?

Onemoparnut

The jeep is light weight and the short wheel base makes it easier to manuver and it won't get stuck going over a hill as easy as a long wheel base truck.

74dart

The biggest problem I had with my truck was size. In the pasture the Dodge does fine but once I got into the woods the trouble began. The x-cab is too long to manuver easily between trees and the extra weight on the front axle caused the truck to constantly get stuck. The last time I went I got hung up on a root that was only sticking 4" out of the ground. I was running open diffs and maxis mudders. The only thing that the truck would do was spin one front and one rear tire and would not pull itself over this root. This was on a pretty steep incline and in good ole southern red mud, but it was not wet. I began to look at my options on modifing the truck and by the time I added lockers, bumpers and a good winch (18k) I was looking at a few thousand dollars in mods, and would still have the manuverability problem. I decided that the best course of action was to buy another vehicle that was designed to perform the task I was asking from it. After talking to the wife I decided to get a Jeep Wrangler. My jeep is mostly stock. I took out the carbed 6 cyl and replaced it with a fuel injected v8, added 2 inches of lift, 31x10.50 all terain tires, custom fabricated bumpers, and a 8k winch that we had lying around. I have made a lot of the things my self and in the end that has saved me some money. With the purchase price of the Jeep I have around 5-6k in it. The Jeep will get stuck, I have done it on more that one occasion, but because of the light weight, 38oo lbs, and short wheel base, it is easer to pull out than the truck was. I do not have lockers, but I can say that this little Jeep has suprised me on many occasions as to how capable it is off the road. I have driven it in the snow and have had no issues with driviability, and I have done things in the woods that after it was over I relize I shouldn't have tried. I have used it and abused it and it and am completly sastified with its performance. It gets 15 mpg with the v8 which is close to what the truck gets. It does have its issues, but what 20 year old vehicle dosent. I know that people like to brag about what thier Jeeps are capabale of and like you said they are usually heavaly modified. My little Jeep can't go everywhere, but it has went everywhere I have needed to go. Plus you cant beat driving it in the middle of the summer with the top off.

BarryG

Having had a wrangler for several years I can say that at least for the places I have gone wheeling a jeep is great. Its manuverability can get around many obstacles that the truck cant go around and hence has to go over or through. Its approach and departure angles are a lot better. It size and weight help tremendously. I have taken an s15 jimmy and a full size pickup through the needles district in the canyonlands and while I got them both through it was painful mentally (suffered no vehicle damage) took a long time with plenty of spotting and stopping figuring out how to fit through. Took the jeep through and it required no spotting as I could drive around or weave my way through many of the obstacles due to its short wheelbase. It was a breeze. Its smaller footprint helps a lot in the rocks and the trees. It is essentially a purpose built vehicle just like the truck is but built for different purposes. Dont expect to haul or tow much weight with the jeep and dont expect your ctd to make it through a week of trail riding in moab unscathed.

You are right that the jeeps handle like crap on the road one thing I hated about mine. The other was that it would beat you to death on along trip.

The short wheel base while it may fit in the hole the 22' long truck may have one axle on solid ground and it may not it does have a much higher chance of high centering.

The reason trucks have much beefier components is their weight and purpose requires them to be beefier to hold up. Hard core jeepers will replace some of the components on their vehicle to make them beefier as they are not impervious such as upgrading axles etc but usually they are relagated to off road status only and arent daily drivers depending on what all they have done. It takes X amount of component strength to deal with 7500lbs plus load and X amount of component strength for 3500lbs of metal with little additional load.

As far as diesel being better depends on the circumstances. I can say my truck sucks wheeling at 13k elevation as I cant get the turbo to light going 2 miles an hour up some steep rock strewn pass and as such have no power and have had to back down. The jeep on the other hand can scoot right up. Getting the CTD in the power band is whats needed and sometiems that means you need higher gearing than you have as they werent designed around off roading

Just some food for thought from my experience

Colo_River_Ram

Go to youtube and search for "Moab Jeep Safari" if you want to know why Jeeps rule in certain conditions..

keithw1975

Thanks for all the input. Makes sense. My off roading experiences have always been in and around fields where size didn't really matter. If I wanted to go into the woods I took my dozer and just push down the trees.

Looking at the Wranglers it always scared me how the front leaf springs where so exposed. I guess they are pretty tough though.

Many of the people I know who are just crazy over jeeps rarely ever take them off the road. Maybe in some grass but nothing like the hard core stuff you see on the net or tv.

74dart

I dropped mine on a rock so hard that it bent the factory shackles, but it didn't do any damage to the springs.

justinsdad

they havent had front leaves for about 14 years now, the coils are pretty well protected.

S.TX.MEGA

I have a '97 Wrangler. This was the first year of the coil spring suspension. Have a 2 1/2" lift with 33X12.5" tires. Still have the original 4.0L six and Aisin AX15 5 speed tranny. I have open diffs and still run the factory Dana 30 and 35. I have been all over Texas with it and have never gotten stuck, Maybe I'm not trying hard enough. It used to be my daily driver but now I only use it for recreation and hunting. Will never get rid of it!
1st year I had it (completely stock with 30" tires) I took it to the deer lease in Coleman. It had been raining for 3 days and I had to cross a freshly plowed field. Put it in 4 high, floored it and went across the 400 yard mud hole without a problem. LOVE THIS THING!!!!
Also I can take it in places my 2500 Mega can"t fit.

justcampin

check out this off road jeep
http://www.wimp.com/chainlinkextreme/

S.TX.MEGA

^^^^^Thats not a Jeep, Thats an engineering masterpiece!

cLAYH

For offroading weight and maneuverability is key. By your definition above quads should suck offroad but we all know different.

For straight line mud boggin trucks rule for everything else they suck compared to a Jeep.

That 22ft long hole? Jeeps would just go around it.

Busboy

Landrovers travel in convoys, the first Landrover drives into the hole and the rest drive over the top, the last one pulls out the stuck Landrover.

j-fox

20 + years ago I had some kids chalenge my 87 dakota to off roading in mud and ice. They got stuck twice, I drove around them and pulle dthem out. Then it went up a hill about 30-35 feet that they couldn't even get a start at!!
Of course I had great mud/snow tires and they had worn out michelin highway tire!!! I then it was a kill from the start!
Soft suspension, low power/torque and tires mad ethe difference.

solar1

That is a hard question to answer but a lot of us have vehicles for a specific purpose. Ex. I bought my 03 CTD to haul my Jeep to and from the trail. I get 11mpg in the Jeep and 16 towing it in comfort in the CTD. I am on my 4th purpose built Wrangler and put about 2,000 miles annually on it annually. Most of which are in 4 low under 10mph crawling over rocks and trail riding.

Now, I have gotten my CTD stuck in my yard several times pulling my trailer out and really can't imagine trying to wheel it on the east coast. Likewise, when I use to drive the Jeep I hated to tow my 600 pound trailer with ATV on it as I couldn't pull it well or more importantly stop it.

Back to....we buy the vehicles for an intended purpose.

However, I will agree with a post above that most Jeeps never see off of the road and most suck in snow. Especially if you are locked!




Sent from Sputnik. Please send more Tang.