JoeFromPA
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Joe
- Joined
- May 7, 2019
- Threads
- 11
- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 52
- Location
- West Chester PA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2015 M3
- Thread starter
- #1
Hi all:
My wife and I bought our JLU Sahara 6mt a bit over a year ago. Firecracker red, black cloth, soft top, limited slip differential, 6mt, upgraded sahara wheels, a few other options.
We bought it to be a fun vehicle, a "drive on the beach" vehicle in DE, and an occasional winter vehicle. I pushed buying it, my wife wasn't FULLY on board, and by day 3 after we bought it was "Her Jeep" and since then it's really become hers. It's not the best driving, it's not the most practical, but damn if it's not fun to drive.
In one year we've put 9,000 miles on it almost all highway. It's had zero problems. The red is FANTASTIC - it always looks clean. It's my first "bright color" and absolutely in love with it. The soft top new design is also fantastic. Once broken in a bit, removal of the soft plastic side windows is literally maybe 45 seconds total? Amazing. We drive pretty much all summer with no rear windows and that's with 3 kids sitting in the back seat.
Complaints:
- I know how a clutch operates and I know how to avoid slipping it. This shifter is great but the clutch take up is sometimes....slow. There's a combination of throttle input lag + artificial throttle hang on sudden throttle liftoff and that combination in low gears with faster gear changes + immediate throttle input on clutch engagement seems to lead to unpredictable minor clutch slip. Now I wouldn't mind that except the damn clutch smells wayyyy too easily indicating it's definitely quickly overheating. What's also odd is that there are times where with the clutch pedal fully depressed I can "feel" a bit of friction still occurring through the clutch pedal as if the clutch is brushing the surface of the flywheel.
- Two design issues Jeep should've addressed by now - why does the rain gutter have to exit rain directly into the driver and passenger front door entrances INTO THE VEHICLE. I realize this is classic Jeep but....it's just not good design. Create an exit point between front and rear door or any other myriad solutions. Also, the soft top rear window inability to fold up makes the storage space accessibility not great. To load up the trunk I need to first load it from the rear and then throw stuff over the back seats from the side doors. Not great.
- My dealer affixed a temp tag registration sticker to the rear soft top window inside when I bought it until I received my registration in the mail. Standard practice in PA. Well one year later, the outline of that rectangular tag is STILL on the soft top rear window. It's imprinted. From paper + tape. Despite innumerable days in the 90+ degree sun softening it up.
- Ok so this one is an oddball one.....in 4H and with electronic stability control & traction control OFF, I can drive on deep sand in a steady state. But if I come to a stop and then try to crawl and the wheels spin, ABD kicks in and stalls the engine by braking when the wheels are spinning. I have to engage 4L in order to de-activate it. Further, sometimes when pulling forward in soft sand up a steep hill in 4H the LSD will start SLAMMING/chattering hard as it engages and disengages rapidly. It's noisy, it makes the vehicle shudder/stutter, and the only way to stop it is to let go the gas while ON A SOFT SANDY HILL. No thanks. It's not every time, but it's happened maybe 4 times now. I think it may actually be a combination of the LSD + ABD basically interfering with each other in that circumstance, but I'm not positive.
....
Tire question: We drove onto the beach a few days ago and parked next to a friends lifted jeep rolling on 35" tires and my wife said, "I wouldn't mind larger tires."....Ahem. Jeep Wife is the best Wife
The reality is she DDs this vehicle with lots of highway, we don't do rock crawling or mudding, but we do lots of deep soft sand where we air down to 15-20 PSI (stock tires) maybe ~30-40x a year. Further, we need good snow traction which the stock A/T tires are awful in even when brand new. I'm currently on 255/70/18 tires but am considering going up to 275/70/18 but in a more road friendly A/T tire or even a well built highway tire (I know, blasphemy to some in this community). My concern is:
- Increasing wandering
- Decreased engine power
- Increased braking distances
Any recommendations to balance out these needs? I'm flexible on tire size and tire choice - just trying to find the right balance of a bit larger, a bit wider, and possibly even better driving on the road. I don't think that'll be hard to accomplish compared to the stock A/T tires which are.....adequate in most conditions except snow.
Thanks all!
Joe
My wife and I bought our JLU Sahara 6mt a bit over a year ago. Firecracker red, black cloth, soft top, limited slip differential, 6mt, upgraded sahara wheels, a few other options.
We bought it to be a fun vehicle, a "drive on the beach" vehicle in DE, and an occasional winter vehicle. I pushed buying it, my wife wasn't FULLY on board, and by day 3 after we bought it was "Her Jeep" and since then it's really become hers. It's not the best driving, it's not the most practical, but damn if it's not fun to drive.
In one year we've put 9,000 miles on it almost all highway. It's had zero problems. The red is FANTASTIC - it always looks clean. It's my first "bright color" and absolutely in love with it. The soft top new design is also fantastic. Once broken in a bit, removal of the soft plastic side windows is literally maybe 45 seconds total? Amazing. We drive pretty much all summer with no rear windows and that's with 3 kids sitting in the back seat.
Complaints:
- I know how a clutch operates and I know how to avoid slipping it. This shifter is great but the clutch take up is sometimes....slow. There's a combination of throttle input lag + artificial throttle hang on sudden throttle liftoff and that combination in low gears with faster gear changes + immediate throttle input on clutch engagement seems to lead to unpredictable minor clutch slip. Now I wouldn't mind that except the damn clutch smells wayyyy too easily indicating it's definitely quickly overheating. What's also odd is that there are times where with the clutch pedal fully depressed I can "feel" a bit of friction still occurring through the clutch pedal as if the clutch is brushing the surface of the flywheel.
- Two design issues Jeep should've addressed by now - why does the rain gutter have to exit rain directly into the driver and passenger front door entrances INTO THE VEHICLE. I realize this is classic Jeep but....it's just not good design. Create an exit point between front and rear door or any other myriad solutions. Also, the soft top rear window inability to fold up makes the storage space accessibility not great. To load up the trunk I need to first load it from the rear and then throw stuff over the back seats from the side doors. Not great.
- My dealer affixed a temp tag registration sticker to the rear soft top window inside when I bought it until I received my registration in the mail. Standard practice in PA. Well one year later, the outline of that rectangular tag is STILL on the soft top rear window. It's imprinted. From paper + tape. Despite innumerable days in the 90+ degree sun softening it up.
- Ok so this one is an oddball one.....in 4H and with electronic stability control & traction control OFF, I can drive on deep sand in a steady state. But if I come to a stop and then try to crawl and the wheels spin, ABD kicks in and stalls the engine by braking when the wheels are spinning. I have to engage 4L in order to de-activate it. Further, sometimes when pulling forward in soft sand up a steep hill in 4H the LSD will start SLAMMING/chattering hard as it engages and disengages rapidly. It's noisy, it makes the vehicle shudder/stutter, and the only way to stop it is to let go the gas while ON A SOFT SANDY HILL. No thanks. It's not every time, but it's happened maybe 4 times now. I think it may actually be a combination of the LSD + ABD basically interfering with each other in that circumstance, but I'm not positive.
....
Tire question: We drove onto the beach a few days ago and parked next to a friends lifted jeep rolling on 35" tires and my wife said, "I wouldn't mind larger tires."....Ahem. Jeep Wife is the best Wife
The reality is she DDs this vehicle with lots of highway, we don't do rock crawling or mudding, but we do lots of deep soft sand where we air down to 15-20 PSI (stock tires) maybe ~30-40x a year. Further, we need good snow traction which the stock A/T tires are awful in even when brand new. I'm currently on 255/70/18 tires but am considering going up to 275/70/18 but in a more road friendly A/T tire or even a well built highway tire (I know, blasphemy to some in this community). My concern is:
- Increasing wandering
- Decreased engine power
- Increased braking distances
Any recommendations to balance out these needs? I'm flexible on tire size and tire choice - just trying to find the right balance of a bit larger, a bit wider, and possibly even better driving on the road. I don't think that'll be hard to accomplish compared to the stock A/T tires which are.....adequate in most conditions except snow.
Thanks all!
Joe
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