An Offroad Vehicle

[MastuhWaffles]

I've seen people take the cherokee's and cut them to open up the roof and they add in roll bars, mostly rock crawlers.

 

[ZMan]

I had a 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, 4x4, 4.0L Straight 6, 4 speed auto tranny. Being full time 4WD, I was amazed where it went bone stock. The thing was covered in mud more than it was clean. 232,000+ miles on it and no major problems, other than normal services.

Loved my Jeep, wish I wouldn't have sold it. My only complaint later on after having this grand cherokee for a while was wishing I would have got one with the Selec-Trac 4WD system rather than full time 4WD. Selec-Trac 4WD if you don't know is both part time and full time 4WD with neutral and low range in one unit, the best 4WD transfer case ever used in a jeep. Where I live you can find jeep cherokee's and grand cherokees pretty reasonable. Jeep Wranglers on the other hand are easy to find but cost an arm and a leg.


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was that 232k miles on the original NP249? THAT is impressive. Mine had 198k on it when I bought it, that was one of the first things I had to fix, swapped it out for a NP231 selectable t-case with a slip yoke eliminator.

Also, sometimes the best deals aren't being advertised. If you see a vehicle that you might be interested in or one that looks like it has been sitting awhile, don't be afraid to go knock on a door and ask about it. The worse that could happen is they say no, and you aren't any worse off than you are now. Or... you might buy yourself a rig on the cheap that hopefully doesn't take too much to get running well.

Thats how I got my Jeep, my aunt was looking for a car for my cousin, on the cheap, and told me about a friend of hers who had two cars just sitting, told me what they were, I went to look at them with her for mechanical advise, ended up buying the Jeep myself for $150, in great shape body wise, just needed some work to get it running/emissions legal again. It had sat for 4 years in the guys driveway. The other car was a Mazda Millenia, same deal, sat for a year, needed a battery and some emissions stuff fixed, my Dad ended up buying that and has been using it as a beater for the last 2 years.

 

[4.0B2]

that full time 4wd t/case is known for causing issues...

 

[99RangerOffRoad]

Well if you are willing to bust your budget a little there is a guy selling a lifted ranger in San Antonio for not a bad price considering everything he has done to it.

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/3582292915.html

 

[wildbill23c]

was that 232k miles on the original NP249? THAT is impressive. Mine had 198k on it when I bought it, that was one of the first things I had to fix, swapped it out for a NP231 selectable t-case with a slip yoke eliminator.

Thats how I got my Jeep, my aunt was looking for a car for my cousin, on the cheap, and told me about a friend of hers who had two cars just sitting, told me what they were, I went to look at them with her for mechanical advise, ended up buying the Jeep myself for $150, in great shape body wise, just needed some work to get it running/emissions legal again. It had sat for 4 years in the guys driveway. The other car was a Mazda Millenia, same deal, sat for a year, needed a battery and some emissions stuff fixed, my Dad ended up buying that and has been using it as a beater for the last 2 years.

Yes, original T-Case. The onlything I replaced was a radiator and a starter around 190,000 miles. If you take care of stuff it will last you many good years. The T-Case was needing an overhaul when I sold it, but was still extremely reliable, it never let me down no matter where I took it.

that full time 4wd t/case is known for causing issues...

Full time 4WD causes issues when people neglect the systems. I was very religious about maintenance and every fluid was changed at least once a year, regardless of mileage which included the transfer case which many people often overlook. At 230k+ miles it was due for an overhaul but the current owner says he has no issues with driving it, just won't stay in 4Lo due to a linkage adjustment but who needs 4Lo anyhow LOL. I made a few trips to California and back in it, a trip to Washington, and all around Idaho in the mountains and trails with it and never had a problem with it. The majority of issues you hear of, the person having the problems doesn't exactly tell you what kind of abuse and lack of maintenance they've put it through. If you stick with the selec-trac 4WD systems in the jeeps you won't be sorry, the full time 4WD systems were great, except they would rob you of a little bit of overall power, but in snow/ice they would completely blow you away with what it could do. Wish I had a video camera of my test with an atv trailer and an ice covered hill. I stopped going up the hill about 1/2 way, with the loaded trailer and camping gear, and thought what the hell lets see what it can really do, even with mostly worn out tires it managed to make it up that hill from a dead stop, well kind of sliding backwards as it was that icy. Just because it doesn't say Ford on it, don't think its not extremely capable, reliable, and rugged. I wouldn't want to try driving the trails I took my jeep on in an explorer LOL.

 

[4.0B2]

I'm not saying don't get something not ford... I like the ZJ I posted pics of above.. I've rode in it at SMORR, SL, and HP... it's a nice setup.

 

[MastuhWaffles]

Well if you are willing to bust your budget a little there is a guy selling a lifted ranger in San Antonio for not a bad price considering everything he has done to it.

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/3582292915.html

That's cool, but yeah I have a set budget I'm sticking too.

 

[wildbill23c]

I'm not saying don't get something not ford... I like the ZJ I posted pics of above.. I've rode in it at SMORR, SL, and HP... it's a nice setup.

The ZJ was good, however harder to find offroad accessories for because the ZJ's were "luxury Jeeps" LOL.

 

[4.0B2]

The ZJ was good, however harder to find offroad accessories for because the ZJ's were "luxury Jeeps" LOL.

just have to do a little fab work to make stuff work!

 

[MastuhWaffles]

For only 3k I could get a M3 military rig. Thats quite practical.

 

[ZMan]

Yes, original T-Case. The onlything I replaced was a radiator and a starter around 190,000 miles. If you take care of stuff it will last you many good years. The T-Case was needing an overhaul when I sold it, but was still extremely reliable, it never let me down no matter where I took it.



Full time 4WD causes issues when people neglect the systems. I was very religious about maintenance and every fluid was changed at least once a year, regardless of mileage which included the transfer case which many people often overlook. At 230k+ miles it was due for an overhaul but the current owner says he has no issues with driving it, just won't stay in 4Lo due to a linkage adjustment but who needs 4Lo anyhow LOL. I made a few trips to California and back in it, a trip to Washington, and all around Idaho in the mountains and trails with it and never had a problem with it. The majority of issues you hear of, the person having the problems doesn't exactly tell you what kind of abuse and lack of maintenance they've put it through. If you stick with the selec-trac 4WD systems in the jeeps you won't be sorry, the full time 4WD systems were great, except they would rob you of a little bit of overall power, but in snow/ice they would completely blow you away with what it could do. Wish I had a video camera of my test with an atv trailer and an ice covered hill. I stopped going up the hill about 1/2 way, with the loaded trailer and camping gear, and thought what the hell lets see what it can really do, even with mostly worn out tires it managed to make it up that hill from a dead stop, well kind of sliding backwards as it was that icy. Just because it doesn't say Ford on it, don't think its not extremely capable, reliable, and rugged. I wouldn't want to try driving the trails I took my jeep on in an explorer LOL.

Ths problem with the np249 is you couldnt change all the fluid. You can change the fluid that the chain rides in, but theres a wet-clutch system inside that is sealed, and when it wears out it will start acting like a normal tcase when its hot, which can cause broken ujoints, driveshafts, or can even break the tcase itself. A lot of people will just take out the front driveshaft when they start acting up. Thats what mine was doing, which is why i swapped it out. Ill tell you what, that sonofabitch was HEAVY, the np231 i put in weighs at least 20lbs less. It is a good case though i will give it that.

 

[wildbill23c]

Ths problem with the np249 is you couldnt change all the fluid. You can change the fluid that the chain rides in, but theres a wet-clutch system inside that is sealed, and when it wears out it will start acting like a normal tcase when its hot, which can cause broken ujoints, driveshafts, or can even break the tcase itself. A lot of people will just take out the front driveshaft when they start acting up. Thats what mine was doing, which is why i swapped it out. Ill tell you what, that sonofabitch was HEAVY, the np231 i put in weighs at least 20lbs less. It is a good case though i will give it that.

Never had that problem, and its called a gerotor coupler LOL. They use torque differences in the front and rear drive shafts to transfer power between the front and rear ends to compensate for traction loss. Maybe because I beat the crap out of mine and maintained it well it didn't have issues, I think some of the problems arise because the majority of people that guy these 4WD/full time 4WD trucks use them as street queens, as a result you get tons of street wear which sometimes is harder on the system than actually running it on a trail once in a while for proper lubrication of the 4WD components. They are slightly heavy LOL. Taking out the front drive shaft on a full time 4WD vehicle doesn't fix anything, and will usually cause the transfer case to overheat and fail very quickly if the vehicle will even move after removing one of the drive-shafts, the transfer case will start sending all of the power to the front output and there's nothing there so the vehicle will just sit there and rev so people who claim to remove the front drive shaft on a full time 4WD rig are full of BS the vehicle will not move by doing that LOL unless the happen to have a selec-trac transfer case in which its is them possible, or they have a part time transfer case then it don't matter LOL.

I still would rather have manual hubs and a part time 4WD transfer case anyday though. Unless its a jeep then its selec-trac.

 

[MastuhWaffles]

Im going to call on this one.
http://www.brushycreekmotorfarm.com/id14.html

 

[MastuhWaffles]

I'm looking at this Bronco 2 atm, really thinking about this one.
http://www.carsforsale.com/used_cars_for_sale/1989_Ford_Bronco+II_174772099_16