joeware - never stop exploring...

Not a whole lot…

I am on my second Jeep Wrangler, initially I bought a 2003 X. I slapped bigger wheels/tires on it and while I considered it a bit weak (poor gearing mostly) I drove it pretty heavily though admittedly no extremely heavy off road stuff. Along about 10k miles I ran into an issue with the clutch pedal getting sticky and squeaky and not properly disengaging the clutch when it was hot OR when I cranked up the heat… I took it in and sure enough, TSB on some portion of the hydraulic clutch. Got it replaced, but still didn’t feel quite right. I started thinking that since the blush was off the rose I might as well start modifying the beast and have more fun with it by fixing the weak axle ratio’s etc.

Then I thought, you know, maybe I should just trade it and get the Rubicon since it had a bunch of the stuff I wanted and I don’t have a vehicle with a clutch I no longer trust… So I bought my annoyingly green 2004 Rubicon. I love it, have a blast with it, the locking axles make an amazing difference in low traction situations. It still sucks ass in the snow, too short of a wheel base but that is when I spend the most time driving the Power Wagon anyway as it is a beast and I don’t worry about idiots in H2’s hitting me because they think having 4×4 means they are immune to ice and slipping and sliding. I don’t think I can count the number of H2’s I have seen flipped on local freeways… And after you see one of those that has been in an accident, you have no misunderstanding that they are like the true Hummer - the H1. The H2 is a GM truck with “pretty” as in “pretty thin” body panels.

Anyway, I even love the annoying green… People see me coming from a ways out which is great when I lose my way and shoot past wherever it I am supposed to be going to and they can call me and tell me “turn around dumb ass”. Since I took a new job in 2004 which involves me working from home and not 35 miles away like my last job, mileage is not something I get as much of anymore. Where before I could easily do 30,000 miles in a year, I now have less than 25k miles on both of my vehicles together in 3 years. Most of those miles are cruising around looking at acreage in the area or driving up to northern Michigan to see family though I don’t get to do that anywhere near as much as I would like. I have no hit just over 10,000 miles on the Rubicon and guess what I am starting to have a problem with… Now I KNOW this isn’t me and my driving style. I drive a manual transmission quite well, started driving a manual back in the late 80’s shortly after learning how to drive. I’ve had Mustang 5.0’s that I never burned clutches out of although I burned the tires off of, etc. So that means I get to take another Wrangler into the shop to get the hydraulic clutch system checked out again… Second Jeep Wrangler, same problem. I love my jeep but that just pisses me right off. The thing has heavy duty everything but I guess they forgot heavy duty hydraulic clutch. Anyway, hydraulics is for brakes, not clutches, what is Jeep thinking.

If after taking this in and I end up deciding to trade it instead of keeping it, well it won’t be another Wrangler I buy, at least not a new one. When I first saw the new Wrangler I thought it was way UGLY and I haven’t changed my opinion. Looks like a bunch of H2 wannabe running around and I don’t like the H2 obviously either. May be time for one of the new Mustang GTs, I really like the retro look on them and the Mustang is one of the nicest sounding rides on the road. I still have my Power Wagon for bouncing around in poor driving conditions and the back woods and I expect one of these days when I have garage space I will try to buy an old Bronco, CJ, SJ, or even an old Third/Fourth generation Toyota Land Cruiser and rebuild it into some extreme off road only beast with 37’s, 10 inch lift, and military grade axles.

  joe