ChuckQue
Well-Known Member
Can’t be that bad. Try bombing around in a lifted XJ for ten years.Wrangler for a road-trip vehicle = recipe for disappointment.
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Can’t be that bad. Try bombing around in a lifted XJ for ten years.Wrangler for a road-trip vehicle = recipe for disappointment.
Exactly. Go with a quality adjustable lift with appropriate shocks, and just as important: beef up the suspension and get the geometry as close to perfect as you can. Tires matter, so if one chooses a heavy stuff MT, what do they expect? All depends on what you intend with the Jeep. If you’re doing hardcore rock crawling, it’s the trade off. Short of that there’s no reason you can’t have a Jeep that rides/steers well. I put a lot of time into researching doing my mods on my ‘01 XJ and it paid off. Ironman4x4fab fully adjustable short arm system, relocated the rear shackles back about 4”, redid the steering with a 1 ton setup with OME stabilizer and made sure there wasn’t any slop or play. Even with 5100’s it rode really nicely and steering was tight. The previous owner had put on a Rubicon Express lift with stock steering, just a pitman drop. That lift rode like crap and it wandered all over no matter what I did.I’ve done dozens of long trips on Wranglers. They are one of the best vehicles in extreme winter weather. But they won’t be much fun to drive if it has monster tires and cheap mods.
X2Grand Cherokee is built on a unibody so it handles like a car; further, Trailhawk rides on air springs, so it is going to feel super smooth.
You can get a smooth riding Wrangler, but you have to very deliberate in your choices.
Some general rules of thumb:
Good luck!
- High quality lifts, like Teraflex, AEV or Mopar, can actually result in a smooth riding Jeep
- AT tires tend to ride and handle better than MTs
- The wider the tire, the more bumps and imperfections are going to transmit up the suspension. In my experience, 255 - 285 wide tires is the sweet spot for these Jeeps. By the time you get into 295 - 315 wide tires, the ride starts to deteriorate
- Keeping the wheels light (under 30 lbs) helps maintain the factory ride and handling. OE wheels weigh 25-27 lbs; most AEV and Quadratec wheels weigh 27-30 lbs. Popular aftermarket wheels (e.g., Fuel, Method, etc.) weigh 30-35 lbs. There are a few high-end aftermarket manufacturers that make lightweight wheels for Jeeps, but they tend to be pricey.
Well not a very long one but I just did a 8+ hours to Canada and it was awesome. Comfortable. Freedom tops off. No worries about any kind of weather to stop my beast. Quite happy with its road trip manners.Wrangler for a road-trip vehicle = recipe for disappointment.