TJ vs JL conversation.

[GabeBoyTheGreat]

Exactly...sure wish we could say the same about the JL.

So, now that you teased us with your TJ story, can we please see some photos?

Try to ignore the mess. I am in the process of giving it a little TLC.

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[DylanM]

So... who has some good pics of their TJ's?

2000 TJ SE, original owner

2005 LJR

 

[LukeDagny]

So... who has some good pics of their TJ's?

 

[flyer92]

Try to ignore the mess. I am in the process of giving it a little TLC.

Lookin' great. I always liked the yellow and black combo, and the rag top always looked so much better on the TJ than the hard top IMO. Well done and don't let her go!

 

[LukeDagny]

Lookin' great. I always liked the yellow and black combo, and the rag top always looked so much better on the TJ than the hard top IMO. Well done and don't let her go!

I too like the yellow and black. If I owned one, I would get "Tonka" stickers for the hood, instead or Rubicon of Willys

 

[Zandcwhite]

I too like the yellow and black. If I owned one, I would get "Tonka" stickers for the hood, instead or Rubicon of Willys

I went yellow and black with the mojave. No change to the decals though.

 

[LukeDagny]

I went yellow and black with the mojave. No change to the decals though.

Nice looking rig. I'm a boomer that grew up with Tonka toys, so I have a decades old bias.

 

[GinaC]

Try to ignore the mess. I am in the process of giving it a little TLC.

Solar Yellow? I thought about having my khaki one painted that color, but I chose Willys Michigan Yellow to blend better with the tan top and tan fenders. (Yes, they were ALWAYS tan.)

 

[62N149W]

I like the simplicity of my 2005 Rubicon LJ. 4.0 and 6 speed make it fun and capable. I was leaving it down in Wrangell for a while and only recently brought it home.

The JL is hands down nicer to drive all around. It hasn't been as reliable as the TJ though. Between the screen issues and the aux battery, it has been a little more work.

I still have them both and plan to keep them both. My '96 Cherokee is going to Wrangell next spring to replace the TJ.

 

[CenTX JPR]

So... who has some good pics of their TJ's?

My JL and my sons TJR. If we can keep the miles low on his, it'll be worth more than mine in a few years. Not a spec of rust on it, under 75k miles.

 

[deserteagle56]

Wild skies and two 2006 TJs...checking out some hot springs near Valmy, Nevada:

 

[62N149W]

So... who has some good pics of their TJ's?

 

[Zandcwhite]

My JL and my sons TJR. If we can keep the miles low on his, it'll be worth more than mine in a few years. Not a spec of rust on it, under 75k miles.

According to kbb, a mint LJ Rubicon with 10 miles on it is width the same as a JLUR... with 300k miles on it. I'll take the 300k miles of roadtrips and wheeling over parking it in the garage and waiting. Jeeps just aren't collector cars and you'd be better off investing the money just about anywhere else.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

There is nothing I miss about the TJ. Honestly. If I HAD to write one thing, it’d be the key. I’m old school and would rather have an actual key to start instead of a push button. But that’s it.
I don’t want the smaller size, the 4.0, etc etc.
I took an 8 hour road trip last summer. I was totally comfortable. Can’t say the same about the old TJ.

This. I daily drove TJ's for almost 15 years before buying my JLUR. They were good, I loved them; but not practical. And there is no way I could haul my family around or take it on Vacation for a week. We would be stuck hauling a trailer or in my wife's Forester.

My TJ’s were rugged and reliable no problems.

lol
So I'm going to try to leave out any sort of wear and tear, maintenance items or rust related. But I'm going to include a few that I feel should have lasted, as well as any design flaws (I can remember).
Regardless- Issues I had from 2003-2018 with my daily driven, road tripping, Weekend trail Warrior TJ's:

98 TJ: Bought with 72k mi, sold with over 172k mi (estimated)

• Dana 35 Rear was absolute garbage. glorified golf cart axles known for eating pinion bearings. I put Chromoly shafts in mine w/ a lunchbox locker on 31's while i was daily driving it and searching/ Prepping for the Ford 8.8. The splines tweaked on the Chrom-mo shafts.
• Exhaust manifold cracked in my 98' Multiple times
• Ate at least 3 fan clutches
• i had 2 wiper motors die on me
• The little metal thing that goes between the key cylinder and the ignition switch sheared in half
• Tie rod/ Drag link bends if you breathe on it wrong
• Door latches would constantly break inside the door/ jam
• NP231 came with a slip yoke style driveshaft- meaning if you flex too hard it falls out the back of the tcase. You fix this by going with a Slip Yoke Eliminator kit that converts it to a fixed yoke, and a new driveshaft
• 31" tires without lift.
• Heat would work intermittently due to the stupid sliders in the dash
• not mine, but early TJ's were apparently known to have electrical issues that caused fires.

04 Rubi: Bought with 63k mi, sold with 124k mi (estimated)

• Same issue with the tie rod
• Same issue with the door latches
• Same 31" tire capacity
• factory Fuel tank skid rusted due to no drain holes
• Finicky air lockers that functioned as a limited slip when open. As soon as that LS goes bad it can start to take the rest of the diff with it.
• Finicky air lockers that don't always want to lock up.
• BTW: Air lockers were proprietary and had no rebuild kits after a while. And if you wanted to go to ARB, or something else- the housings actually had to be modified to accept those and you needed a new compressor because one was a high pressure system, and the other was a low pressure system.
• Air fittings going in to the housing were some sort of metal that got cheap and rusted, then disintegrated. ARB did not use this design, they just used regular fittings and tube so they technology existed, Jeep just went with a brass elbow fitting with bars on it and pressed into the axle housing or something because hey, why the fuck not?
• Speaking of the air compressor for said lockers- it was plastic and located under the Jeep, behind the tcase. And you couldn't get those easy/ cheap either if it broke/ corroded. So the first thing my buddy and I did was relocate it up under the hood and mount it there with a bracket he welded up.

Worth noting: This is the 4.0L/ 5spd in the 98 and 4.0L/6spd in the 04. it doesn't address any of the issues with the 2.5L or the Auto transmissions, which there were some. This is also excluding any self inflicted wheeling related stuff unless it was part of the TJ design (like the dented oil pan)

Don't get me wrong, my JLUR has JL issues. And I loved my TJ's. I still have periods where I think about buying one for cheap(ish) and turning it into a trail rig. But they had plenty of their own gremlins, not counting the ones I probably added from being young and uh... "enthusiastic"

I think I've done a good job with making my JL a little more rugged and reliable and being less "enthusiastic" with the mods.

i've said it before, that my JLUR is probably my favorite Jeep. But man, I have some amazing memories/ adventures with those TJ's...

 

[flyer92]

Nice looking rig. I'm a boomer that grew up with Tonka toys, so I have a decades old bias.

Oh, you mean like these?

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