Anyone ever driven across the country in their TJ?

I bought a y2k TJ while visiting my daughter in Phoenix, AZ. It was a 1 owner lady Sahara 150K 4.0 auto. I put new rubber on it then drove it around Phoenix for a week before heading back to Ohio. 2,050 mi in 2 1/2 days 70MPH no problems. Ive
done this trip in many vehicles and always try foe 800 mi per day.
Still have it and never had any trouble with it
 
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Hello! So I am moving across the country, from upstate NY, to Oregon, in July this year. I’m looking at roughly 2,400 miles of travel, that I’m planning on doing in about 7-9 days.

I should mention, I’m driving a 2001 wrangler tj with the 4.0 inline 6 5 speed manual with stock gears running 35’s(bought it like that have yet to do a regear). It’s got 109k miles on it and will have about 116k when I do the move. I’ve timed my oil changes so I’ll be doing that and a tire rotation before I leave, as well as doing the spark plugs. Are there other things I should do(maintenance wise) of the Jeep before making a 2,400 mile trip? I’ll be averaging 350ish miles a day because I don’t want to go crazy on my baby doing a shit ton of miles in a day.

I won’t be hauling a trailer, bringing only what I’m fitting in my Jeep so I won’t have to worry about that. The Jeep is in great condition, built by a mechanic, pretty much no rust at all(it’s a NJ Jeep and for a upstate ny’er this thing is as good as they come on the upper east coast). I’ll attach a pic if that helps anyone with giving advice.

Cheers!

View attachment 134371
I moved from NJ to California in 1991. Drove my CJ7 across the country with a small U-haul trailer. Took me six days. Could have made it in five but decided to screw off in Lake Tahoe for a day.Not the best long range vehicle, but it worked. Worse part was being stuck behind a pig truck on I80 in Iowa for miles due to road work. Scariest thing was descending Medicine Bow Pass in Wyoming from the top which is 10,847 with that trailer nudging me from behind. Almost had to change my shorts after that one.
 
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I moved from NJ to California in 1991. Drove my CJ7 across the country with a small U-haul trailer. Took me six days. Could have made it in five but decided to screw off in Lake Tahoe for a day.Not the best long range vehicle, but it worked. Worse part was being stuck behind a pig truck on I80 in Iowa for miles due to road work. Scariest thing was descending Medicine Bow Pass in Wyoming from the top which is 10,847 with that trailer nudging me from behind. Almost had to change my shorts after that one.

I ran that with my TJ and the 2.5 towing a MC, and I thought it was interesting that I did better then my son's XJ with the 4.0, think I was at about 35 mph when hitting the peak.
 
Looks like you are good to go!
On the long trips, driver is the weakest link, driving a Jeep is punishing. I do a few 20+ hours trips a year, and after 7th hour of straight driving im about ready to blow my brains out. Its just brutal. Earplugs were already suggested, so a check mark there :D

I agree with @bluescapegoat, long distance driving is not any worse than sitting in the traffic, if anything, it is less punishing on Jeep. Don't let that be your deciding factor. Outside of few lemons (just like with any manufacturer), TJs reliability is no worse than any other manufacturer, drivers stupidity and ignorance is its worst enemy.
Do a walk around every fill up, glance underneath, and keep on pushing.

Only thing i can suggest is to keep at 65mph, much less wind/air resistance to fight against. Faster than that, and it becomes a pita to keep it at the same speed.

Have a safe road trip, best of luck to you!
 
Do a walk around every fill up, glance underneath, and keep on pushing.

This is a good one too, I'll check the oil and coolant first couple fill ups if I'm going 500+ miles in one go. 3k rpm for that long just isn't something my Jeep sees very often, so it's peace of mind for me to ensure it's all doing it's job.

As for the gearing and that transmission... you'll feel that combo in the rockies. Somebody else said earplugs, that's a must, especially if you plan to crank up music or a podcast or whatever loud enough to hear it
 
TJ with 4L is a good highway rig. I've done many 2K mile trips with no issues. You might hate those tires by the time you hit Oregon tho.

No "need" to regear. My YJ had 3.07s and 33s it loved the highway and got better mileage than my TJR does. Just pick the gear for 3K plus rpm when you need power or pick the gear for 2K rpm when running flat and level. Nothing wrong with 2nd gear on the mountain passes.

You might want 4.88s running trails in Oregon but I'd stay stock till you get there.
 
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I love my TJ, but I've never been a big fan of long road trips in it. That's mostly because highways are my least favorite place to drive in a Jeep and road trips are generally just non-stop highway driving.

With all the right prep-work though, I'm sure it'll be fine, but if you don't have cruise control already installed on your TJ, it may be something to consider since it can always be added on afterwards (although it's likely more work for an '01 since it was later models that all came pre-wired for it).
 
I've done Oregon to SoCal to WI. Great trip. Over 3k miles. None of the highways that way are the high stress highways like you have out east and the roads have nice views (except around LA where we ended up with front row seats to a police chase...). I hated Chicago to Boston. Can you drive NY to MI through CAN and save some time?

Most of the highways out that way seem to have a speed limit of 80mph which is doable and comfortable as long as you have the gearing correct and your steering/brakes in good condition. In any mountains just do your best or buy a supercharger. ;).

My biggest advice is to fix anything now because a little something that bothers you now will bother you a lot more after 1500 miles!
 
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You'll see when you get to the mountains, you'll be rowing the shifter up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, you get my drift.
Ahhh gotcha, makes sense for sure. However, how would that change specifically if I regeared? Wouldn’t I still be rowing the shifter it’s the grades of the hills/mountains are always changing? Or will, by regearing, that be eliminated and I’d be able to stay in one gear for longer?
 
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TJ with 4L is a good highway rig. I've done many 2K mile trips with no issues. You might hate those tires by the time you hit Oregon tho.

No "need" to regear. My YJ had 3.07s and 33s it loved the highway and got better mileage than my TJR does. Just pick the gear for 3K plus rpm when you need power or pick the gear for 2K rpm when running flat and level. Nothing wrong with 2nd gear on the mountain passes.

You might want 4.88s running trails in Oregon but I'd stay stock till you get there.
Huh thanks for the input!! Yeah I’m really not wanting to regear before the trip, money wise it’s not really something I was budgeting for lol. Good to hear though! Yeah I like to keep my rpms around 2500 and that means usually 3rd on the highway if it’s below 65, above that and unless it’s hilly, 4th does good.
 
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Ahhh gotcha, makes sense for sure. However, how would that change specifically if I regeared? Wouldn’t I still be rowing the shifter it’s the grades of the hills/mountains are always changing? Or will, by regearing, that be eliminated and I’d be able to stay in one gear for longer?
Exactly, if you regear you'll be shifting more since the ratios become shorter with less speed change between shifts.
 
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I drove my 2002 TJ with a 4 banger and 31s from Atlanta,GA to Portland, OR and back 3 years in a row. The west bound trips we did 1800 mile straight shot only stopping for gas and food to Salt Lake City where we spent the night, and then the remaining 750 miles. The east bound trips we took a week to site see.

Just have your maintenance up and enough air in your tires and you'll be fine.
 
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