I was a spy on a jeep run :)

[hvac man]

Well I thought I would go ahead and write about a trip I took to moab last weekend. I had the opportunity to ride along with my friend and owner of the local 4x4 shop. The run was for Grand Cherokee's only. I went along just to see what all the fuss is about with these suv's. We got a late start on sat. leaving for moab so we missed the run schedulled for that day so we went to the bar The next day bright and early we got up and met everyone at the City Market parking lot. After chosing to run the Fins and Things trail we headed out. The trial started out normal but at the first obsticle things got weird. I saw people by passing the obsticle. I didn't think too much of it, because it is pretty steep. The only thing was that all of the vehicles that were on the trail that day were pretty well modified. After the jeeps went around the next coupple of obsticles I started wondering why they were out on a 4X4 trail. At the end of the day I was glad I am not nor will ever be a Jeep Grand Cherokee owner. If you want to see the pics of the trail got to my other thread called "we went to moab where were you?" http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74453 I only took one pic of the GC's that day because they didn't do anything worth shooting. The pics in the other thread are from earlier this spring when some of us X owners went down.

 

[ton_e_montana]

I'm so sure

The real run was the one you slept through.

 

[hvac man]

True but half the people didn't run the "real run" on poison spider the day before. I still think that the GC owners on this run were nothing more that a bunch of yuppies with more money than balls and should stick to wheeling with the chevy tracker crowd.

 

[ton_e_montana]

you're probably right

 

[Texplorer]

I actually love the way a WJ looks when it is lifted. I have taken our WJ on the same obsticles that I have taken the X and it did fine if not better sometimes. But thats probably cause its a hell of a lot newer and everything works fine. I can honestly say that the WJ would be next in line, AFTER the Explorer of course.

 

[GaSouthern1]

I will also put my vote it for them looking bad ass lifted...too bad you didnt get to see them try anything.

 

[410Fortune]

my good friend at work has a built g. it is a VERY capable truck, even with open diffs it flexes like mad...


Its not the truck, its the driver

 

[mrboyle]

Here's why Grands avoid obsticles in Moab!
To read the whole story: http://www.roadrunner4wheelers.org/Jack & Sandy/moab_jeep_safari_2003.htm

 

[410Fortune]

A GC rolled in Moab,
that doesnt mean they cant be built into an off road monster

that vehicle doesnt look highly modified by any means....knowing the vehicles limitsis yourbest bet, there is nothing wrong with taking the bypass especially if it could leave you stranded in Moab with a huge repair bill...

 

[hvac man]

Well guys I didn't say that they were not capable, I just said the drivers were not into wheeling as much as just looking like they can. My buddies ride did pretty good even though he didn't have time to throw the off road tires on. He wheeled with 17 in. wheels and 50 series toyo tires. The arb's proly helped out a little.

 

[hvac man]

Here is my buddy's YJ Wrangler. It is pretty serious, about 40,000 worth.

 

[VBVA]

donkey boy has a really nice WJ, I think its a 2001. He wheeled with us back in November up at GWNF and he put it in some pretty thick mud and climbed a few hairy rocks. Needless to say, he doesn't hold back much. I think (but he may want to correct me) he has a 2 inch coil spacer lift and 31" all terrains with a custom built tire holder on his roof rack that functions and looks amazing...

 

[DarkMan]

My .02

There's no getting around the fact that J**ps are capable trucks. They really are built with wheeling in mind. But I side with hvac. It's the J**pERS that drive me insane. People that think that just because it's a J**p it's the only thing that can go off pavement. Even worse is when they think that just because it's a j**p it can do anything. That's how J**pers end up on their lids. Extreme over confidence. (It's a jeep thing, I don't understand. ) Makes me want to puke.

Anyway, I wouldn't own one because I buy a truck for 90% on road. I need something that's stable on the highway and not in the shop every two weeks.

 

[donkey boy]

Originally posted by VBVA
donkey boy has a really nice WJ, I think its a 2001. ...

Thanks Brian.

I'm sorry your experience with the Grand Cherokee guys was rather disppointing. The Grands are great and very capable vehicles. Specially when equipped with proper protection, skids and rockrails and the antiswaybars disconnected, you get pretty far, even with open diffs. Obviously they are no rock buggies (what Explorer drivers should understand) but still ...

Many times it comes down to the trail leaders of how much he/she encourages the drivers to try stuff and approach the limits of the vehicle. Specially if most of the drivers are newbees, they tend to stay in line like little ducklins But telling you the truth, I prefer drivers who are over carefull over the yuppies who beat the $hit out of their rigs without knowing what they are doing, drop it off at the dealer the next day and pick it up in like new conditions again at the end of the week. Specially at one Land Rover event, there were several participants with a "I-saw-them-do-this-in-the-TV-commercial" attitude and obviously way more $$$ than common sense. This makes me :frustrate

With more and more old and cheap Grands available, I think/hope we will see more often some extreme Grands on the trails.

 

[mrboyle]

Originally posted by 410Fortune
A GC rolled in Moab,
that doesnt mean they cant be built into an off road monster

that vehicle doesnt look highly modified by any means....knowing the vehicles limitsis yourbest bet, there is nothing wrong with taking the bypass especially if it could leave you stranded in Moab with a huge repair bill...

I know. I just posted the pick/ link just to show why some people shouldn't take their vehicle to the limit.

 

[hvac man]

Well the worst thing about grands or cherokees is they have no frame so if you get really bad damage or rip off a control arm mount you're basicly screwed. Uni-bodies go figure...

The real reason for this thread was to flush out all the actual jeep owners on this site I just love to give you guys hell Anything 4X4 is good by me. Too bad the majority of jeep owners don't think that way....can't we all just get along

 

[John_Rock]

Originally posted by mrboyle
Here's why Grands avoid obsticles in Moab!
To read the whole story: http://www.roadrunner4wheelers.org/Jack & Sandy/moab_jeep_safari_2003.htm

Geez Louise! Did you read that they estimated the rolled over Jeep's damage was over $10.5K, so they totalled it? It didn't look that bad from the pictures. Oh well, I guess it's a Jeep thing. Doh!

 

[donkey boy]

Originally posted by Johnstone
Geez Louise! Did you read that they estimated the rolled over Jeep's damage was over $10.5K, so they totalled it? It didn't look that bad from the pictures. Oh well, I guess it's a Jeep thing. Doh!

Let the insurance write it off, buy it back, chop the top off, put a roll bar and convert it to a killer trail rig! I think that's what I would have done.

 

[VBVA]

Originally posted by donkey boy
Let the insurance write it off, buy it back, chop the top off, put a roll bar and convert it to a killer trail rig! I think that's what I would have done.

I don't think I could see you doing that to your Grand, its just too nice, and your boys might get a little chilly in the back seat then!