Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
Options
Comments
I began to wish I had gone today, though, after being up for a while this AM. Should have gone ahead down there.
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Something like that on eBay is like getting a mystery meat sandwich...............I guess it might be good! :sick:
I didn't realize the frame is hollow, I think I will pull it, replace the frame and might as well pull hinges and retainers an replace with stainless, 4wdrive hardware shows replacement frame for $150 and the gaskets and sealers at around another $100, seems cheaper than doing this twice by refinishing then finding internal leakage. (is that a normal steel frame price or am I hallucinating as Jeep online wants $900+!?)
Thanks again, I'll put up some shots as soon as I make 'er presentable (not to mention getting rid of those real ugly stock steps)
Have fun!
I am so excited ... I arrived home last night at 10pm after a 10 day trip to Athens to go and pick up my wrangler this morning at 11am ... I have had the top off and on and boy is it fun to figure out all the stuff on it.
Well I am so excited that it is here I will post pictures soon
Laura
BUT ANY INFO YOU CAN PROVIDE, THANKS A MILLION - not really a million
KD---- DENMASTER AND I'VE HUGGED MY JEEP TODAY- HOW ABOUT YOU?????
CONGRATULATIONS!
Yeeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwww!!!!!!!!
Pics, pics, pics!!!!
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Anyhow, just wondering if anyone has any experience degreasing a jeep engine? Anything I should look out for or expect? I already gave her a tune-up all by myself (so proud!
I'll start, though it is corny, "Keats" is one of my favorite poets. This was my chatting handle way back in the dawn of "chatting" around 1995. I was an English major so it's kind of natural...
As long as you don't aim the water stream right at your intake or at the distributor, the water hose shouldn't hurt anything.
Mac, how would you go about it? You can go to places and have engines steam cleaned, can't you? Is that usually a good idea?
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Finally, don't try to degrease any engine while it's running. As well as the safety aspect (spinning fan blades, belts, pulleys etc.), cold water on a hot exhaust manifold has been known to cause problems, especially on '97 - '99 Jeeps.
I get a vision of people trying to remove an engine from a vehicle while the engine is actually running, and I have to laugh.
Your comment about not attempting to degrease a running engine made me think of that, Mac.
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
As for my name, I wore a purple shirt to a hockey game many years ago (i was about 13, so ten/eleven years ago) and my twin brother thought it would be hilarious to call me 'barny' after the lovely purple children's dinosaur...well, the name has (sadly) stuck over the years, however evolved into the more masculine (lol) version of 'barnzy'! As for the 69, well...again, young, immature...lol...
Terry
At least you didn't get stuck with an underscore. :shades:
Lol at wheelsdown.
Steve, Host
I picked up my '05 Wrangler Unlimited on Friday...What a great way to start the long weekend! Called my dealer practically every day last week with Wed. being the stated deilvery day. Dealer said plus/minus 2 days and it came on the plus second day! It had arrived only minutes before I called him. He said it was alone on the carrier truck so I speculated maybe they brought it up from Toledo 50 minutes south of us by itself so as not to keep me waiting beyond their promised delivery window. My Jeep looked so beautiful sitting in front of the sales office, I couldn't wait to get in and drive away in it. My son rode in back while we followed my wife home only a few miles away. My wrangler had 4 miles on the odometer and today I've got 55 miles.
I spent all day Sat. rigging up the hard top hoist in my garage, taking off the hard top, and installing the softtop. My son and I kept running inside the house to watch a section of the video at a time and then running out to the garage to perform each step. We let a lot of bugs in the house that night.
Believe it or not, I had so many house tasks scheduled on Sunday that I didn't even take a drive in it but it sure felt peaceful to see her sitting in my garage and her new car smell just filled the garage. I kept getting up in the night just to peek out in the garage to make sure I wasn't dreaming that I actually owned a Wrangler!
This morning, I loaded up both kids and the wife into the Wrangler and headed to Lowes for some supplies to assemble a shed in the back yard. Had the softtop on without any windows and we all just smiled and commented how great it was to have a Jeep. It made a simple routine ride to Lowes we've made a hundred times feel like we were on another planet! On the way home, we gave our first Jeep wave to a passing Wrangler and were thrilled to have it returned. The kids yelled joyfully in the back seat and my wife just giggled to see her grown husband just beaming from ear to ear and acting like a kid with his first car.
Built my shed all day and then took the family out for dinner after not having enough time to grill as promised. The Jeep cooled me down after working in the hot sun all day and it was a picture perfect Michigan late Spring evening. My wife commented that she couldn't believe we had a Jeep when we approached our Wrangler sitting so high above the other cars in the parking lot completely open except for her roof top.
The 4-speakers are perfectly fine and produce great radio music with all the windows off.. I love the added peace of mind of the security package which includes the auto-dimming rearview mirror and temp/compass. That mirror with the temp and compass I thought was unnecessary when I ordered the security package but now I'm glad I've got that temp and compass...very cool! I'm also glad I did the dual tops. This Wrangler is awesome!! The big engine sound, the way she turns, the way she just eats up railroad tracks and potholes...amazing! I also just love how sitting in her just fits me like a glove. Everything about it is perfect!!!
I just put the windows on for the first time tonight so I'm ready to commute to work tomorrow AM. I'm so thrilled I can't even sleep tonight so figured I'd get caught up on the forum I missed this past weekend.
Tom...I know you're always asking for photos so I set up a webpage right away this past weekend just to show off my Jeep. You can check out some photos of my new Jeep at the webpage below. Also, Tom...thanks for your fabulous website and advice. I will definitely contact you when I'm ready to head down your way to explore Turkey Bay...looks wonderful and I like your respect for that land and its previous owners - very nice!
My son came up with the name "Avalanche" for our new Wrangler...not sure how he came up with it except its color reminds him of snow and combined with power...well, I guess that's it! I rather thought we'd have a proper person-type name but I think his name choice is going to stick. A neighbor suggested Blanch as in French Blanc for the color "white" but my son and I just rolled our eyes after she left and said "we don't think so." Might be why my son wanted something a little more manly-sounding.
My Jeep
Well, I better get some sleep. Good night and I can't tell you how happy I am. I honestly have never felt so happy about any purchase I've ever made and I thank all of you for helping lead me into this! Happy Trails!!
Jim
:confuse:
-Mike
(I still gave him the wave.)
-Mike
P.S. CONGRATS to all the newbie Jeep owners!!!
Thank you so much for that nice long, enthusiastic post! I enjoyed reading it so much. You are definitely pumped, ain't ya???
I checked out that website you linked us to, and all I can say is that Jeep is AWESOME. You know I am partial to white, so I just loved the looks of your Jeep.
Jimbo, you'd better be careful about all that enthusiasm. They'll be calling you Tom Jr. around here.
Seriously, it sounds like you are a natural born Jeeper. From what you wrote, it is obvious that you and Jeeps were made for each other.
The great thing is that your whole family is excited about that Jeep. That Jeep is going to be the centerpiece for hours and hours of family fun for you guys.
I saw from the pics that you got the tow hooks. That's great. Now, get yourself a cheap CB, and you will be ready for the trails. Oh, you really ought to get a tow strap, too. Get the type with loops on each end, NOT the kind with metal hooks. The tow strap should be rated for about 20,000 lbs (to handle shock loads) and should be 20' to 30' long.
Please try your best to get down here this summer. I can promise you and your family a great time. We'll hit those trails at Turkey Bay, and you will be simply blown away by the types of obstacles that your Jeep will crawl right over like they were nothing.
Jim, I am sure happy for ya, Dude, and for your family. That Jeep has certainly been brought to a good home.
Keep us posted to tell us all about these early days with the Jeep. I enjoyed your post so very much!
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
I may have asked you about this before, but I'm old, so humor me.
While those GSA's are still brand new, you should be able to find a tire store that will give you a good trade-in allowance on them toward some mud tires.
A stock Jeep will handle 31 x 10.50 tires, and those bigger tires will really make that good looking Jeep of yours look even better.
I guess I should recommend BFG All Terrains to you instead of mud tires, since you most likely will not be off roading on a regular basis up there. You have to put up with some noise to run mud tires, and the tread life is going to be somewhat less than for All Terrains.
I recommend the BFG All Terrains because they live up to the name "All Terrain." A lot of the so called All Terrain tires have a tread pattern that is not nearly as aggressive as you would expect an all terrain tire to have. The BFG has a good, aggressive tread pattern for an all terrain type tire, and they wear extremely well. I had a set of the BFG All Terrains, and they were great tires. I only switched to BFG Muds because I wheel so much and encounter mud.
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
My nick is a version of my name... how original.
My Jeep's name is Kermit, because it is green and you can hop all over the place in it. But also because my dog of 15 years died last year and I wanted to honor him as he was with me through some really tough times, but he was always there, ready to put his head on my leg to say, "It's okay, I'll always be here." Just like my Jeep.
-Paul
Again, thanks for any and all advice...I'm listening. Already got my eyes on a decent tow strap at a Meijer store that has the ratings and loops-only you're stating. I also have a hand-held CB. It's a very large walkie-talkie looking thing with a fixed channel 14 setting from when I was a teenager. I was going to sell it on eBay until I saw your comment on your website about basic gear. I'm hoping that'll do the trick...it's got quite a long extending telescoping antenna but I figure it could be me by for starters in "wheelin" (I love that term!).
Regarding tires, I've read about the forum comments about the GSA (Get Stuck Anywhere) tires that come stock. I guess I hate giving up brand new tires only to spend more money right after already spending a good chunk on the Jeep to start with. Though, I realize this is the time to turn them in for top dollar now rather than later when I come to understand what you're saying. My wife is happy I'm happy but I also know she knows we "stretched" to make the jump from our cheaper Civic to get this Jeep between insurance, gas, and added vehicle value. I don't want to press my luck with her just yet. She may eventually understand if she sees me out "wheelin" regularly and me stating how I need better tires to do it right. Yes, I do wear the pants in my house but I often have to ask permission from my wife to help me find them. I may stop over at Discount Tire and see what sort of trade-in I'd get and how much for the BFG A/Ts you described.
Do you recommend a radiator grill screen? I've already got big 'ol bees smashed into the radiator and I'm wondering how a stone might damage it at highway speeds. Just wondered if a screen would interefere with engine cooling. Do you recommend a favorite on-line or brick 'n mortar retailer for such a thing?
Made it back here to Edmunds.
What fun are AT's when MT's sound soooo much better on the road.
I like my tires to talk to me. It tells me I'm jeepin!
Thanks for the great time this past Saturday at Turkey Bay.
David
Laura
http://www.geocities.com/letdolphin/jeep.html
Laura
Glad you are back here with us! (See, Peeps, I told you guys I was gonna try to bring home a wayward son.)
I posted about your absence, Dave, a few posts back. I told the gang that I was gonna try to get you to come back and rejoin us.
As far as Saturday's wheelin', you are most welcome.
I'm working on Jim, a new member who just picked up his Unlimited, to come down from MI to wheel with me. You can tell him if you think it would be worth his long drive or not. For the rest of you, Dave lives in a suburb of Chicago, so he had about an 8 hour drive to get to Turkey Bay.
Good to have you back with us, Dave.
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
It's up to you on the radiator screen. I have managed to get by just fine without one down here in "big time" bug country.
When you off road, you are at idle speed and just crawling along at a snails pace a lot of the time, so you don't get good airflow through the radiator, like you would if you were moving along down the road. I would be afraid that the screen would reduce the airflow even more and make your engine run hotter than it would otherwise.
Good deal on the tow strap, and I suppose you could get by with that radio, but it would be better if you got an el cheapo CB from Walmart, so that you would have more than one channel. You can easily be in bidness for less than $100 for the radio, the coax, and the antenna. Truck stops are good sources for antennas, but Wally World would be the cheapest price on the radio itself, most likely.
Bring that Jeep down here before the summer is over and wheel with me!
I understand that you can't get everything at once. It was, and still is, that way for me.
I still say radio and tow strap are the two priority items, since you already had the tow hooks.
You should at least look into a tire deal while those tires are still new. It might surprise you how much trade-in you could get on them. It really varies with the area you live in. Some folks have told me that no one wanted to give them diddly squat on their GSA's, while others have gotten pretty good deals.
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
I wish the pics were bigger. That Jeep deserves the best!
Do you have any larger pics?
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Thanks ... I do have larger pictures but the server I am using limits me
Here are some bigger ones but still about 33% of the original ...
http://www.geocities.com/letdolphin/Jeep001.edited.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/letdolphin/Jeep002.edited.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/letdolphin/Jeep003.edited.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/letdolphin/Jeep004.edited.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/letdolphin/Jeep005.edited.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/letdolphin/Jeep006.edited.jpg
When it is sunny out ... in about 6 days I will take some better pics and get them hosted on another server
Laura
I've got a winch, in front of a grille screen, in front of a large transmission cooler, in front of the a/c condenser, all of which are in front of the radiator, and in spite of the fact that I often tow a three thousand pound trailer I've yet to have an overheating problem (touch wood).
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Those pics make it easier to see how gorgeous that Jeep really is.
Congratulations, Gal! Enjoy that Jeep!!!
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Well, I've been called idle before now, but I don't ever remember being called a creep.......................oooh, you mean in the Jeep!
Actually, that's generally my style off road (except for mud and soft sand). The only time the gauge went over center was after last years hurricanes, when I spent several hours with the jeep mostly stationary while I continuously winched trees and logs. Even when I sat idling with the a/c on for three and a half hours on a freeway close to Mississippi in the middle of the summer, the temp gauge didn't move.
Welcome to all the new Wrangler owners - there is nothing more exciting as getting a new Wrangler, taking off the top, putting others on and so on. They are such FUN vehicles, no matter what age you are!
This was posted several days ago, but I didn't see anyone address it. Scott - did you call your dealer? You are in fact missing something - there are sort of small box-like things that hold the top's latch on the door rails. Did your dealer swap out the rails for you?
As far as handles go - I love the mountains. I was spending so much time in our local mountains that someone asked me why I didn't just move there. So one day we were exploring 4x4 trails and turned left instead of right toward the freeway. A year later we found ourselves living 75 miles away and about 6,000 feet higher than work. So now I'm a full time mountain girl.
The Sport is my Noble Black Steed - he's one tough vehicle and still completely reliable after 7 years and 130,000 miles. The Unlimited is the Green Giant, or G.G. (GiGi). She's certainly larger than the Sport, and she's very green (Electric Lime Green). She's our commuter vehicle - she's 8 months old and has almost 40,000 miles on her. She's still fun to drive and I can certainly understand why many are opting for the Unlimited.
Welcome, and thanks for the warning. I hope your Jeep is squared away now and will be reliable for ages to come.
Please keep us posted on how your Jeep performs since the repair.
I suppose DC knows which production dates are bad?
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
It's a known problem and the recall came out in March/April. We discussed it here if I recall. Sounds like DC did the right thing by you by fixing it by recall, rather than waiting for something to break. Apart from going back in time there's little else that could be done.
It's a shame it happened, and I wouldn't be happy if it happened to me. However, every manufacturer has problems, but it's how they take care of them that really matters.
Question: If I get the Unlimited with the "H" package (i.e. chrome grille), would it be easy to find a color matched grille later? I would think it'd be easier to buy the chrome "aftermarket", but I like the "H" package deal & unfortunately the chrome grille is part of it.
Thanks,
Scott Y
Hopefully, someone else will confirm this, but I have heard that it is very easy to remove the chrome from the grill. It's just an insert, and beneath it is a painted surface, like any other grill.
Can someone verify this for Scott?
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
Wranglers can handle abuse and are VERY easy to work on if a problem (or an upgrade/mod) is needed! I have a used 1997 SE and I LOVE it like no other car I have had. It has NEVER seen the dealership since I owned it except to pick up a few parts that I bought there (hood bump stops and a throttle spring for a homemade hand throttle).
I'm sure Tom will fill ya in!
-Paul
Welcome to this forum.
So, you are looking for a "fun" vehicle??? Well, you are definitely on the right track in thinking "Jeep." A Jeep is the ULTIMATE fun vehicle.
I strongly suggest that you read a good sampling of the past posts in here. Some things should become very clear to you. We Jeep owners LOVE our Jeeps. We are passionate about them. Also, you will notice how few posts there are about problems with our Jeeps. They really are very reliable. I venture to say that there is a smaller percentage of posts in here regarding problems than you would find in the forums for almost any other vehicle that you might consider buying.
Also, you should be wondering why people would put up with the poor gas mileage, rougher ride compared to most vehicles, noisier ride compared to most vehicles, and the lack of room compared to most other vehicles. There is but one reason that we do, and it is just what you said you and the Mrs. are looking for...
FUN!
Yeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?