You are going to off-road? With that?

New Jeeps=you better love (and trust) Fiat.

When I started looking for a 4x4 my private mechanic warned me over and over again to stay away from jeep if I wanted to continue to do business with him. I think that says a lot.
 
The whole "smokes jeep" comment had me Rolling, but I've had a different experience. Most of the guys at work think I've got a redneck truck that they'll go mudding in. There's not many modded 4runners down here but the Waffle House cook said "I've got a bad@$$ 4runner." So I guess the area dictates public opinion on the 4runner. You can always think of the 4runner as the off-road sleeper haha
 
After thinking about it maybe he meant "why would you offroad in something so nice?"

No we talked some more.. But a 4runner to him was a soccer moms car or mall crawler. He does like his Toyotas though he just slam them instead of lift. I told him I'll go out on of these weekend and he could bring his raider.
 
New Jeeps=you better love (and trust) Fiat.

When I started looking for a 4x4 my private mechanic warned me over and over again to stay away from jeep if I wanted to continue to do business with him. I think that says a lot.

The new jk 3.6l seems nice though. I drove my buddy's 5spd sport with the bld....But!! Looking at the frame and parts I already see surface rust on spots that my 4runner still fairly clean.
 
I roll with a Jeep crew who all drive Wranglers and XJs. They always scratch their heads wondering how a Yota can keep up with them on the trails. Then they get jealous because I ride with windows up and A/C blasting, while they have their tops/windows down and face masks on to prevent from inhaling dirt. They can't run their A/C because their engines overheat. It actually happens quite often in their Jeeps, strangely enough.

I must say though, the solid front axles rock off road. But, the short wheel base of the Wrangler...I dunno how many times I've almost seen my buddies roll over.
 
I roll with a Jeep crew who all drive Wranglers and XJs. They always scratch their heads wondering how a Yota can keep up with them on the trails. Then they get jealous because I ride with windows up and A/C blasting, while they have their tops/windows down and face masks on to prevent from inhaling dirt. They can't run their A/C because their engines overheat.

I don't know doors off and roof off makes me a little jealous when off-roading. Getting dirty is part of it all. I never heard of the jeep a/c issue. I run with keep guys always. Tj and jk mainly.
 
A while back I had a 2011 taco with the trd off-road package. My sister had a 2011 4 door wrangler. We went off roading. I was impressed/sad at how well her stock jeep did in comparison to my taco
 
A while back I had a 2011 taco with the trd off-road package. My sister had a 2011 4 door wrangler. We went off roading. I was impressed/sad at how well her stock jeep did in comparison to my taco
I had the opposite experience years ago in CO, my 98 taco walked over obstacles my friend's wrangler had to make a couple tries on. I was locked and he wasn't, but I found the longer wheel base to be the deciding factor. He had to get his whole jeep over at once, my taco had the front wheels past by the time the rear wheels had to contend with it.

He had at tires and I had bald street radials.
 
Couple months ago, going up, near the top of Pucker Pass in Moab. Brolifted Silverado coming down passes me and "warns" that "It's pretty steep up ahaid, you might not make it."

And my runner is.. well look below!

Thought about going off but just said "I'll be fine" and he parted with "Hope you don't break anything".

W. T. F.

It was telling that he thought so much of Pucker Pass that he even needed to say something when in reality it's nothing but a nice scenig trail. The "Pucker" part is maybe a 3/10. Probably the worst thing he's ever done :D

I was trying to figure out where this scary Pucker Pass is... you're talking Long Canyon? He was scared by Long Canyon? That's a fawking road. They blade it multiple times a year. I have seen grey hair grandmas driving that road in their Subarus.

Dude needs a bumpersticker on his Brodozer, "I smoke Subarus".
 
Which video?

To be totally honest, I am a real newbie when it comes to offroad driving. I've done it many times on tame terrain and a couple times on some tough stuff. I've always thought Jeeps were really good platforms, with the short wheel base, solid axle up front, relatively light weight, etc. With the same driver, are our 3rd gens really a match to, or superior to, many of the Jeep platforms? Of course, let's assume equal mods, or equal money spent on mods.

Stock for stock and the same driver, your base model Wrangler isn't any more capable than a 4Runner. It'll get up some stuff the 4Runner can't climb, and vice versa, depending on whether the specific obstacle favors a shorter or longer wheelbase. An elocked 4Runner will probably make it through more stuff than a base Wrangler. On the other hand, a Rubicon is super-capable with front and rear lockers and a low range tcase and will mop the floor with any stock 4Runner, elocker or not.

Start adding mods and it all becomes meaningless though. Lift, tires, lockers, etc, all game changers. It might be a little cheaper to mod the Jeep than a 3rd gen 4Runner? Dunno. I guarantee it's cheaper to mod my 1st gen than to mod a Jeep, that's all I care about (because #brokeassrustyYotaguy).

This does not factor in reliability. Jeeps break more parts and have more engine trouble, in my experience.
 
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Whenever I see a nice Jeep it's always so clean it makes me sick

Around here (SW Missouri) if you offroad at all you WILL have fine scratches down the side of the truck. Funny, most of the time I see a Jeep set up like this it is just as shiny as this one (well, maybe a little door ding from the mall.) Scratches are first thing I look for - a badge of honor (or the sign of a fool!).

DSC_1735_zpse4ba0a9e.jpg~original


A stock 3rd gen is pretty capable. A few weeks back I took a couple of guys through a pretty tough trail in the national forest. One was a stock 99 with street tires. He didn't have any problems except ground clearance in a few spots. I believe he did have a locker.

DSC_1887_zpsuomre4zs.jpg~original


DSC_1882_zpsfrf0ccrz.jpg~original
 
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I wheel with a bunch of jeep guys and I've yet to see them break something or have engine troubles even in triple digit heat. AC blowing and doors and tops off.
 
A stock 3rd gen is pretty capable. A few weeks back I took a couple of guys through a pretty tough trail in the national forest. One was a stock 99 with street tires. He didn't have any problems except ground clearance in a few spots. I believe he did have a locker.

I kind of want to get a stock 3rd gen with a rear locker, put some good 265/75/16 tires on it and see how far I can take it.
 
I kind of want to get a stock 3rd gen with a rear locker, put some good 265/75/16 tires on it and see how far I can take it.

A little farther than Sevenmile Rim in Moab. ;)

I came close to tearing up the rocker panels several times, but I made it through taking most (but not all) of the tougher lines, no scratches. I think if the trail had been wet it would have been a much different story!
 
Stock for stock and the same driver, your base model Wrangler isn't any more capable than a 4Runner. It'll get up some stuff the 4Runner can't climb, and vice versa, depending on whether the specific obstacle favors a shorter or longer wheelbase. An elocked 4Runner will probably make it through more stuff than a base Wrangler. On the other hand, a Rubicon is super-capable with front and rear lockers and a low range tcase and will mop the floor with any stock 4Runner, elocker or not.

Start adding mods and it all becomes meaningless though. Lift, tires, lockers, etc, all game changers. It might be a little cheaper to mod the Jeep than a 3rd gen 4Runner? Dunno. I guarantee it's cheaper to mod my 1st gen than to mod a Jeep, that's all I care about (because #brokeassrustyYotaguy).

This does not factor in reliability. Jeeps break more parts and have more engine trouble, in my experience.
When it comes to modding it is about the same, I have owned a Cherokee and my buddy is modding his jk while I am doing my 3rd gen. On occasion I would help him look through forum for group buys and online deals. They do have more parts but for quality it is the same price.
I will add our forums are easier to navigate the classified sections. :)
 
Over the winter here we had a lot of snow in Alabama, like 9" in one night. I went to go out and play in the snow that morning. I was sitting at the start of the trail trying to figure out why my shifter wouldn't move(it was jammed with snow at the linkage...). While I was sitting there these two obnoxious brodozers, one a dodge, and one an avalanche come baralling by. Literaly 20 feet into the trail the avalanche is stuck. The Dodge pulls them out and they keep going.

I was fine the whole way until I got to a part where a tree was down. I had passed them at some point and now they caught up to me. I didn't have anything to cut it with but they did so they cut it for us. You had to kinda drive off the trail and into some mud to get around still. The Avalanche went first and barley made it through. He went flying down the trail only to slide off again about 100 yards from the tree... He nearly slammed his truck into the trees. Now that he was stuck it was the dodge's job to rescue him. She went to drive around the tree through the mud and gets stuck. Her response is to just hammer it while the truck is sliding towards the tree until I start yelling at her to stop or she will hit the tree. We hooked her up to my 4Runner and pulled her away from the tree while the other two pushed the truck to get it through. She got out and thanked me and said I shouldn't go through that in my little Toyota. I hoped in, and drove right through, no issues... Then we had to go get their buddy in the Avalanche unstuck...

Moral of the story is 3rd gen 4Runners are awesome.
 

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