No prob. I've only had my LeBaron since February (2/20/47 is my birthday) and I'm still learning about it. It's got the Mitsubishi built 3.0 V-6, my first foreign powered vehicle and I have to admit I'm rather impressed. It performs on a close par to most of my V-8 powered cars in the past
95 was the last year for the LeBaron and all had only the 3.0 since 92, iirc. This one is a Florida car with 85K on it. The top is in great shape and we recovered the interior with pleated Naugahyde to preserve the cloth interior.
Yep, I think it's about that, too. So you could twist more than your wheelbase? Hmmm . . . why am I suddenly thinking about pretzels?
A Wrangler with any independent suspension???? Sacrilege!!!! Pure sacrilege.
Independent suspension won't really be efficient off-road until they can run the shafts to a gear reduction at the hub so the shafts can be placed higher at the wheel to protect them. I see a lot of Humvee's in this area in the summer and I'm still trying to figure out how they keep from bending and breaking half-shafts.
I was still in the military when the M-151-A1 and M-151-A2 series 4X4's were in use and they bent / broke shafts regularly. Btw, I still think the Humvee wasn't really needed by the Army.
Ok, moneybags, go for it. Just do the world a favor and keep the truck till it's only good for recycling, then no one else will be stuck with the results of your ego.
As for my life, yep, it's been busy and I've done things most wouldn't try to do. By nature, I'm an over-achiever but it also means I gain experience faster than most.
I figured it up once and I had a million miles behind me by the time I was
35, a figure many never achieve until later in life. Those miles have led me to me people like yourself and to people with out a chip on their shoulder called a "wallet". They've led me to meet and work with, at the time, a future U.S. V.P. that was ten times the person you think you are.
And they've led me to hold the hand of a man without a dime to spare as his wife died in the hospital where I worked as a janitor. And in his grief he was ten times the human being you are.
Now, go play with your money, Scrooge, and leave the trucks to real humans . . . all us poor, dumb ol' rednecks. We'uns ud be better off wid out ya, ye hare?
(grin) Of course, at reverse flex, when the front pumpkin side is low, my front driveshaft makes contact with the oil pan skid.
At this point I haven't had the need to explain getting stuck on the trail as due to too much articulation. :-)
It's coming, probably in the 2007 model year. The Liberty and the 2005 Grand Cherokee already have IFS.
My Dad was in the Army in the early 60's and hated the Mutts, they could flip just by looking at them funny.
Btw, I still think the Humvee
The Humvee was designed to perform best at relatively high speeds in a desert environment. It's probably coincidence that the two biggest military operations since the Humvee was deployed are/have been in desert environments. :-)
I once sat down with pencil and paper and designed an off-road vehicle with articulated steering and 90+ degrees rotational flex and decided it wouldn't be fair to the local rocks. Power train was an air-cooled Briggs Stratton Vanguard V-twin and hydrostatic transmission.
I hadn't kept up with Jeep much. I'm usually busy with a resident trouble maker in aadt or my old motorscooter. Many folks don't see the Cherokee and the Liberty as true"jeeps". That's reserved for the vehicles with design lineage back to WW-2. I guess I sorta agree. To me a Jeep is the open vehicle that goes places the others wish they could.
The A1 series used a swing arm rear suspension with a little too much rear shock length, so camber change could be extreme. The secret to them is to never drive drunk (one killed six drunk National Guardsmen from Illinois during a summer camp in Indiana back in the 70's) and to always pay attention to what the vehicle is doing.
The Army training film for the A1 series showed one with just the driver's side wheels going over a low ( about 36") ramp at 20 mph and it bounced twice and was on it's top. They did the same test again with the steering wheel lashed in the straight-ahead position and it bounced 10 or 12 times and remained upright. I drove them hard, myself, but never had any problem.
The A2 series had the rear suspension redesigned with semi-trailing arms for reduced camber change and that little jewel was effectively an off-road capable sports car. It didn't mind going from paved to dirt in a full boadslide at all or jumping culverts on high crowned dirt roads at 50 mph ( yep, I was crazy enough and young enough to try it )
I wouldn't mind having a A2 for use on my fishing excursions even today.
The Hummer darn near didn't make it at first. The original series had no traction controls and easily bogged down in sand or mud. My eldest rode in one while in ROTC and he sad it got stuck once on his ride and the driver said he'd have to find a way around the mud.
Besides, they're too wide and too expensive. Which is what the wife says I am . . .
Thank you! Very interesting reading. I'm going to link to the Ford report for the Dodge truck group.
But If I may point out a few things:
In the air flow tests, one needs to be realistic and calculate the flow requirements of your engine before deciding a K$N is required. Even then, a larger diameter filter will often do the trick while maintaining your engine investment. My last engine rebuild cost only $750 and now has around 100K miles on it (79 Dodge 318). It still doesn't use much oil.
The Corvette tests basically dump the dirt into the airstream until a nominal pressure drop is achieved. Unless the selected drop is consistent with, say, a 10K mile use of the filter, then the results are skewed. All filters filter "better" as the dust layers build up. If the K$N is allowed to be coated with more dust than would be normal between servicing, then it's average filtration will be a higher, but misleading, figure.
It's not too bad, I can just hear the yoke banging on the corner of the plate when really twisted. I can't weld worth a flip yet and I had my neighbor cut out and gusset the corner, I guess we need to cut out a little more.
The XJ Cherokees and older Grands (with solid axles) actually are extremely capable. I had a '93 XJ Cherokee that I built up a little, it would take me anywhere I could point it. Sold it last year, though, to a guy in my offroad club, so I still get visitation rights. :-)
Hmmm, I have the opposite problem . . .trained in mig, tig, wire, brazing, oxy/ acetylene, hard soldering and I've got a little 115V 50A buzz box to weld up my old scooter with . . .
Well, that's better than I got from a divorce decision on a year old Dodge Charger . . .
I enjoy mild off-roading, but I have never been interested in the rocks and mud side of the sport which is odd considering I used to ride observed trials a little. Guess time is just catching up with me. :^(
I like watching the rock crawling and mud games on tv, but that's about as wild as it gets these days.
Ok, let's see . . . . .base rate of $1500.04 / min. double, triple time for anything over 30 seconds, full insurance coverage, vehicles of choice, and a completely equipped shop in a warm, dry climate without huricaines of earthquakes.
Negotiations will begin there and go to the highest bidder.
OK, and you'll be flying first class to and from, and staying at the Detroit Westin. No hurricanes or earthquakes here, it's been rather pleasant, leaves are just starting to turn, although in three months we'll have two feet of snow, God willing!!
I forgot to mention . . . I need low humidity. My wife thinks I'll melt because I'm so sweet . . . . .
I really wish I could help you. I enjoy making things.
Welding is a matter of practicing as much as anything. If you can sign you name in a readable manner, you can weld. Get down to the library and check out a few books that give instructions then, if don't have one, get a welder, find some scrap metal ( some wrecking yards will "loan you metal to practice on . . it's worth asking about anyhow) and practice, practice, practice. My instructor gave me a "final exam" ... I had to write my name with a stick (straight arc) welder on 14 gauge metal.
and remember, the only one with any authority to stop you from learning to weld is you.
I was in Detroit once while working as a transfer driver for Jartran rental vehicles ( I think they're out of business now.) and I was born and raised in Indiana (Indy area). The states east of the Mississippi tend to have far more humidity than I can tolerate now.
Besides, I'd have to come out of medical retirement to go back to work . . .and that would just ruin my fishing.
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