New Cars/Trucks

[WFM]

When i was young I owned several JC 7's.
All were pos. But I loved them all , straight six with headers and 34" tires.
And that monster 304 AMC engine.
Again all crap. But great memories.

 

[RCW]

When i was young I owned several JC 7's.
All were pos. But I loved them all , straight six with headers and 34" tires.
And that monster 304 AMC engine.
Again all crap. But great memories.

Loved mine too. This was 40 years ago, and my daily route home from college.....it also spent a lot of time on the interstate, which isn't good for a CJ.....

The wool boot sock for a right-side windshield wiper worked pretty good.

258 (?) I6 with automatic/Quadra-Trac full-time 4WD. Had the switch in the dash for posi-front and rear.

Got 10 mpg on a good day, 3 mpg on a bad day.

Thing would go anywhere as long as the skid plate didn't lock me up with real deep snow or mud.....

 

[WFM]

Yes I had the bigger of the straight six it might of been the 258 ci. My buddy had the smaller 232 ci. Possibly.
Watching the show motor trend they had a show on pickups. They tested ram chev ford honda and the jeep pickup. All kinds of equal tests , payload , 0- 60, off road, fuel consumption, pricing, ect ect. And of course the jeep pickup finished dead last.
If my money was endless even though jeeps are still jeeps. I'd own several models..lol.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Had 73,74,75 CJ-5s, 77 Cherokee, 57 Willys pickup.
Would love to get a Willys FC-150.

 

[chim]

Yeah, not to get into a brand debate, but Dodge/Jeep/RAM/Stellantis wouldn't be my first choice anymore either.

We had one, a Plymouth minivan with some transmission issues. Common to the 3.3L v6 at the time in cars and vans. Know of a lot of truck problems about the same era.

I had a 1979 Jeep CJ7 - - not even sure who owned Jeep in those days.

Just a coincidence, just got a call from my son. His 2017 Honda Civic is throwing a bunch of codes.

Thought warning light was brake system but sounds like it's the CVT or electronics for the CVT......

I had a 72 Power Wagon and a 78 Ramcharger. Both had electrical (yes, not electronic) problems and both rusted faster than other vehicles I've owned. It's common to see Ram trucks where the steel of the rear bumper corroded away leaving chrome foil behind.

Had an old Ford WWII jeep, a 67 CJ and a 95 Wrangler. About the only difference was the dependability was better the older they were. I once said if you could drive blindfolded it'd be hard to tell them apart.

For years, if there was a stinky vehicle ahead it was almost certain to be a Chrysler minivan.

 

[chim]

One of the gripes I have with new vehicles is the way they shut off when you stop. We're looking for a new pickup truck for our local sewer authority. Reviewing the spec sheets, there's an interesting note:

"Automatic Stop/Start (Not available with (5W4) Special Services Package, (9C1) Police Pursuit Package or
(FHS) E85 FlexFuel capability.)"

 

[The Evil Twin]

One of the gripes I have with new vehicles is the way they shut off when you stop. We're looking for a new pickup truck for our local sewer authority. Reviewing the spec sheets, there's an interesting note:

"Automatic Stop/Start (Not available with (5W4) Special Services Package, (9C1) Police Pursuit Package or
(FHS) E85 FlexFuel capability.)"

There are widgets to permanently turn off the stop/ start feature.

Autostop Eliminator - Disable The Auto Start Stop Feature

The Autostop Eliminator is an intelligent tech device for your car, truck or SUV that will safely disable auto start-stop feature and remember your preference

www.autostopeliminator.com

 

[Hoserman]

It was 1977 and I was working on a power transmission tear down project in Peoria Ill. These towers, you all know go across the land where there are no roads so you have to have vehicles that can reach those remote areas The crews were trucked out to these sites in old Dodge Power Wagons. Don't know where the company got them, but I fell in love with these beasts. I never got one, but I still have good memories of the time I spent riding in the back of one.

 

[McMXi]

Had an old Ford WWII jeep, a 67 CJ and a 95 Wrangler. About the only difference was the dependability was better the older they were. I once said if you could drive blindfolded it'd be hard to tell them apart.

I was bitten by the Jeep bug back in early 2001 when a friend suggested I rent a Jeep and join him and his extended family on a trip out to Peacock Flats on Oahu in the mountains above Yokohama Bay. Less than a month later I bought a '98 Jeep TJ Sport with the 4.0L inline 6-cylinder and a 5-speed manual transmission. Within a month or so of buying it I swapped out the factory 3.07 gears for 4.56 gears. I still have that Jeep and drive it almost daily.

I used to off-road a lot in Hawaii, and on some really challenging trails, and then head home on H1 at 70mph. In my experience, few vehicles can do that. My Jeep has been extremely reliable over the past 24 years and continues to be. It's never failed to get me home and I would take off on a cross-country road trip in the Jeep without any concerns at all.

Here's my second Rottweiler Lucy at Yokohama Bay after one of our excursions to Peacock Flats.

 

[chim]

Most fun Jeep was the WWII. Had a brass placard on the dash that said something like "made by the Ford Motor Company for Willys Overland Company ". Pretty much indestructible. Bought it for $300 in 1970. No top, vacuum wipers and engine screamed at 45-ish.

Owner/Boss at a 4-man electrical business helped me weld up a rigid conduit roll bar. Probably wouldn't have saved me in a rollover, but was strong enough for buds to hang onto while rocking it when it got high centered

 

[McMXi]

Owner/Boss at a 4-man electrical business helped me weld up a rigid conduit roll bar. Probably wouldn't have saved me in a rollover, but was strong enough for buds to hang onto while rocking it when it got high centered

I bought a Poison Spyder roll cage kit for my TJ about seven years ago. Two kits showed up on a pallet, and when I called the company to inform them of the error, they told me that it would be a pain to ship one kit back so I have a spare. It's all mandrel bent CrMo tubing and is about as good a kit as can be found. Here's a photo taken the day that I tacked it all together. I welded some tabs to the cross member behind the seats for the Hi-Lift jack to bolt to.

I don't remember if I bought the kit from Poison Spyder directly or Genright Off Road. I bought a 24.5 gallon aluminum fuel tank and skid plate for the TJ from Gen Right Off Road around the same time. The extra capacity gives me a range of around 320 miles which is decent.

 

[chim]

Mine was a bit (LOT) shall we say "less refined". It was a rollbar-ish hoop with a couple of kickers on the back side. It may have been just the conduit welded to the body Us kids didn't know so much back then.

 

[RCW]

My CJ had a rollbar around the windshield, tied back to the OEM rollbar.

Nothing behind the OEM.

Thankfully never needed either….always kept the rubber side down, but had some close calls…..

 

[chim]

Very nearly rolled my 67. Was on a back road approaching a sharp right corner with a single lane bridge just beyond the curve and less than ideal visibility. When I was almost at the curve a pickup made it to the bridge so I mashed the brakes. Right side grabbed better than the driver's side and threw me into a brief skid. Then driver's side caught and the Jeep came up on two wheels. Thought for sure it was going over.

 

[Botamon]

View attachment 156114

Sure wish Jeep still had tan interior panels like that. I DETEST the all-black interior in my 2006 TJ. Makes it feel claustrophobic, like I'm in a tomb. At my age I'll be in a tomb soon enough! And the black shows every bit of desert dust.

 

[dirtydeed]

There are widgets to permanently turn off the stop/ start feature.

Autostop Eliminator - Disable The Auto Start Stop Feature

The Autostop Eliminator is an intelligent tech device for your car, truck or SUV that will safely disable auto start-stop feature and remember your preference

www.autostopeliminator.com

That's the first thing I installed on my 18 F-150. I don't even think about it anymore. What a stupid idea to shut your engine off at every stop light.

 

[Lil Foot]

I have driven with that start/stop feature on loaner Lincolns, and I find it irritating at best.
It makes me wonder if they upsized the starter, solenoid, wiring, battery capacity, & related components, or improved accessibility to service these components.
They have got to wear out faster, especially if driven in stop & go traffic.
How much fuel is actually saved?

 

[McMXi]

Sure wish Jeep still had tan interior panels like that. I DETEST the all-black interior in my 2006 TJ. Makes it feel claustrophobic, like I'm in a tomb. At my age I'll be in a tomb soon enough! And the black shows every bit of desert dust.

Without any planning, and certainly not by design, all three of my vehicles have tan interiors. The '02 F-250 is bit monochromatic, but the F-450 interior is kind of awesome with the tan and black combination.

 

[lugbolt]

glad i don't live in the north anymore.

I keep vehicles forever. 2003 f250 I bought in 13, still have it. Just under 300,000 mi and still kicking.

repairs cost less than new vehicles for sure. I'm gonna need a transmission sooner or later, $4500 quoted locally. That's a whole lot cheaper than $64,000 for a new gas burner. Sure more stuff is going to go wrong at some point but the cost of new trucks also increases so the percentages of fix vs new doesn't change as much.

if i still lived in rust-ville my F250 would have been long gone by now (rotted out).

the complexities of newer vehicles are exactly why I don't enjoy working on cars like i used to. The sooner I can get out of the repair business the better. Wages haven't kept up with complexities and the manufacturers just design them but when it comes time to work on them, "uhh I don't know".

 

[mikester]

Not all start-stop technology is equal.

Toyota has been making hybrids for over 25 years and are on their 5th gen. Try driving a new Toyota hybrid like a Camry or Prius. You won't be able to detect the gas engine starting and stopping. I get better fuel mileage than my motorcycle and cheaper to insure than an EV.

I haven't tried the Toyota truck hybrids.