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What is your 4wd pedigree? Prior vehicles and experience thread.

Hawkspring

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Thought it would be interesting to see how folks ended up in a JL wrangler. I think the new JL, building on the JK’s improvements in civility has brought in a lot of new Jeepers and encouraged a lot of old Jeepers to upgrade.

I grew up in AZ and my Dad took us out offroading quite a bit, we had a ‘59 Jeep for awhile that I learned to drive on in the desert washes.
In colleges I was building a Mustang and racing it, when I met a die hard Toyota Offroader and went out in his old 4 runner. I realized we were both doing a lot of garage time, but his hobby didn’t risk as much jail time as my supercharged Mustang. I ended up buying the first year new Tacoma in 2005 with a rear locker and six speed manual. Sports cars still kind of came and went, but we kept the Tacoma 7 yrs and put 70k on it. At the end it had a lift, armor, and 33’s. We conquered the North Rim Grand Canyon, pyeatt draw in Payson Az, and lots of local trails around Phx and Sedona.

In 2012 we bought our first Jeep, a beautiful deep red JKUR. More trails, and even a yesr getting flat towed behind a diesel pusher while we full time RVd across the U.S. we shipped it to Hawaii for a 3yr ship tour in Pearl Harbor. I also bought a single owner 84 Toyota FJ60 Land Cruiser at that time and drove it in HI for 3 years. Sold that one for profit and by the end in 2017 the JK was showing some island age. Traded it off for a CX-9.

That lasted until now, back in a JLUR and ready to keep exploring. I officially quit sports cars when I traded my Shelby GT350 on this new Rubicon.

Please share your old rigs and stories with us all.

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Bryce

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My fist 4x4 was a 97 Ranger with 4" lift on 33s. No pictures of it on my phone. I bought it new and traded it for my 01 F250 CCSB 4x4 PSD.
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I still have it.
It was my tow vehicle for this.
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My 84 Brobco II on 33s and 4" lift. I still have it. It's a bit of a mess motorwise right now. Runs, but not well.

Got into ATVs fir a few years then into Dual Sport and Adventure Motorcycles for the past 11 years.
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2014 Yamaha Super Tenere
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08 Kasaki KLR 650

And just recently, I got the 19 JLUR
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robaw

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First time 4WD owner here :rock:
My dad had an old beat up Bronco II when I was a kid that he used as a hunting/fishing truck, everything else in my immediate family was 2WD. He did always talk about wanting a Jeep, but it really wasn't feasible (we were definitely not an affluent family). I think that's where my intrigue with them came from. Now I have a JL and my older brother has a TJ.
 

cavguy

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My only previous 4WD experience was in a Bronco II as well as the Military M998 (and related) Humvee's. I'll put it like this, I can't ever recall driving a Humvee in anything other than high range... My Bronco also saw limited off-road use as well. So yea, 4x4 experience wise I am a relative newbie.

Saw plenty a Humvee stuck or sunk in mud/water though! Usually there was always a support unit on hand with a HEMTT wrecker, etc. to pull you out.
 

Tritonman

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2014 Nissan Rogue AWD (does that count?) lol
2013 Oscar Mike JKU
2011 Mojave Edition JK
2007 Sport JKU
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
1995 Sahara YJ
1993 Cherokee Sport

I like Jeeps. Not going to go in to my long and boring experience but I've had a few 4x4's in my days. I have pictures of some of them floating around, ill have to dig them up.
 

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TxJeep69

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Cool thread. Here’s a brief list of the more interesting ones I have wheeled over the years.

Past:
1979 IH Scout II, SOA, 33s
1990 Isuzu Trooper, stock, 31s
1999 Jeep TJ, 2” lift, 32s
2000 Jeep TJ, 6” lift, lockers, 33 Boggers

Present:
1980 IH Scout II diesel, 2” lift, 31s
2019 JLUR stock

A few other 4x4 trucks/SUVs

Pics are of my JLUR, 1980 Scout (russet), and a pic of the only pic I can find of my 79 Scout (yellow) before lifting it. I’ll post more pics later if I can find them.
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DanW

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Here's mine:

1993 YJ, 4 cylinder. I wheeled the heck out of this thing for 10 years and about 130k miles. I'm still kicking myself for selling it because it was still in great shape. The only mods were 29" Mud Terrains and front sway bar disconnects. It was amazing what we did with that little 4 cylinder 5 speed Jeep. In fact, this is where I really learned the most. I'm convinced its limitations honed the skills because you had to work harder and smarter to get through/over obstacles. We had many, many adventures in that thing. Man, I miss that Jeep!

For 5 years, I ran Arctic Cat 400 and 650 ATV's, as well as a Polaris 325 Magnum and ultimately an 800EFI. The AC 650 and Polaris 800 were absolute beasts. I'm amazed I didn't die on one of them or get seriously injured.

In 2007 I bought my O8 Rubicon Unlimited and still have it. It has about 133k miles on it now and looks, runs and drives like new. It has a 2" AEV lift and is running my JLUR's original 33" BFG's on new Quadratec rims. I still love that old Jeep and it wheels as well as ever. It's been wheeled in Moab, Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, and all over Indiana. I've surprisingly never gotten it stuck, although it has been close and has dragged the skid plates a million times.

Finally, I now have a 2016 Polaris Rzr 570 and my JLUR. The Rzr doesn't have any mods escept a winch, plow, and sunshade. It has low clearance, but a flat, smooth plastic skid plate that lets it slither over things quite well. The JLUR has about 21k miles on it and has been off road around Indiana and Kentucky. It has also been to Colorado and Moab. It has a Mopar lift and 35's, a winch and some lighting and just blows me away with how good it is both off and on the road. I couldn't be happier.

Anyway, I've got a few miles and some varied off-road experience. I know how to get where I want and need to without breaking things and getting my machines (and me) home in one piece.

My daughter now has a 2017 Renegade that will see some mild trails, and my son bought his first Jeep. It is a 2004 WJ Grand Cherokee. It is in good shape, and we've been fixing it up and updating all the maintenance items and some components so that it is reliable and dependable. It has only 104k miles on it and has a very strong 4.7 V8 that runs like new. He won't ever do any hard off-roading, but certainly will do some overlanding with it and will accompany me on some exploration trips that include mild to moderate trails, but nothing that taxes its capabilities.

Next on the JLUR's radar: Windrock in Tennessee, Drummond Island, MI, and Turkey Bay ORV area at Land Between the Lakes. Those should be some fun trips!
 

multicam

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@DanW random question but did your YJ have the Peugot transmission or the AX-5? I want to say the Peugot was phased out by ‘93 and the AX-5 took its place for the 4-cylinder...

Anyway, good thread OP. I don’t have a long history but basically it boils down to two previous Jeeps:

2006 Wrangler SE 6-speed with the 2.4L 4-cylinder
1994 YJ 5-speed with the 4.0L.

That TJ is what I learned to wheel on. And like DanW above, having a base, non-lifted jeep with small tires really forced me to learn how to pick my line and know my limits. It still amazed me what that thing could do though.
 

cb4017

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Bought my first 4x4 in 1975 when I was 22 years old. I've pretty much had one ever since.
1973 IH Scout II
1977 F-150 4x4
1958 Willys Station Wagon
1982 Dodge D-50 4x4
1984 Chevy S-10 Blazer (a POS I couldn't wait to get rid of)
1985 F-150 4x4
1987 Bronco
1993 F-150 4x4
1993 Ford Explorer
1998 Jeep TJ Wrangler, loved it but too small.
1998 Jeep Cherokee
2006 Jeep Liberty
2008 Jeep JKU Wrangler. I had this 10 years. It was lightly modded to my taste. A couple years ago I had a LS 5.3L conversion done. Sold it last year and still regret it.
2018 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X, Nice little truck but it's no Jeep. Still missed my JK so I bought the following JLU to replace it.
2019 Jeep JLU Wrangler, Only had it 2 1/2 weeks but I really like it so far.

An old friend taught me many years ago when I was a youngster and first started 4-wheeling to take care of my gear and get where I'm going. Most of these rigs have spent time exploring Nevada.

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BXFXJeep

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My father had various Land Rover Defenders as company vehicles during the 80s, then also Daihatsu and Suzuki, Jeep and other American made were not that common where I'm from.

When I started driving in Canada I had a YJ for a while, then a few Fiero GT(1986, 1988 & 1988) from 93-99, then in 1999 back to TJ, JK, JKU and now a JLU
 

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DanW

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@DanW random question but did your YJ have the Peugot transmission or the AX-5? I want to say the Peugot was phased out by ‘93 and the AX-5 took its place for the 4-cylinder...

Anyway, good thread OP. I don’t have a long history but basically it boils down to two previous Jeeps:

2006 Wrangler SE 6-speed with the 2.4L 4-cylinder
1994 YJ 5-speed with the 4.0L.

That TJ is what I learned to wheel on. And like DanW above, having a base, non-lifted jeep with small tires really forced me to learn how to pick my line and know my limits. It still amazed me what that thing could do though.
I had the AX-5 and it was great.
 

GibbonsMonkey

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Miss that damn Scout. That thing was beast-mode.
 

Mikeoso

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My first 4x4 and first Jeep was a 1949 Willys Wagon, which I ran all over the desert around Tucson when I was an undergrad in the early 70s. It looked kinda like this one.
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For my second Jeep I found a 1969 C101 Jeepster Commando...very cool.
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Whn I had kids to haul and less off-roading, I went to a 1974 Grand Wagoneer.
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Following that, I had a long stretch of Ram 4x4 pickups, but my wife was using a 1996 Cherokee Sport
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This summer she decided my 1997 Ram was too horrible to look at, and ordered me to get a new car. Since I'm keeping the truck, hidden behind the barn, I can have something less utilitarian.
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So, there you have it...50 years of Jeeping history
 

Sean L

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My Jeep is the first 4x4 I've personally owned. My prior experience with off road vehicles was all HMMWVs. Of course we weren't allowed to really do what we wanted with them but I got some good experience driving them on and off road, mostly in sandy environments (29 Palms, Iraq)

Having the Jeep is now a fun experience, as I don't have to do any paperwork when I drive it. :giggle:
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