Hey guys!
Just a random thread.
Are JKs more capable than TJs in off road capabilities? What do you think?
Just a random thread.
Are JKs more capable than TJs in off road capabilities? What do you think?
Are JKs more capable than TJs?
- Thread starter TJim
- Start date
Generally yes. Stock to stock, no comparison. JK is better in every aspect except cost and size.
Stock for stock I think they’d pretty comparable. TJ is a little smaller obviously which can be an advantage when it comes to line choice.
Mobusaki
TJ Enthusiast
The biggest difference you will find between JK's and TJ's is between the JKU and the TJ. The long wheelbase makes the JKU better at certain things (hill climbs) and worse at other things due to breakover angle.
Between a JK and a TJ I think the difference will usually come down to how each is built and driver skill.
Between a JK and a TJ I think the difference will usually come down to how each is built and driver skill.
OP
Are properly built TJs with 35s, able to do trails that JKUs with 37-40s are doing? Mostly Rock crawling stuff
Stock vs stock, I don't think it's even close. JKs would be better in almost every regard. More power, larger tires, less hangy down bits. You give up a couple inches in width (2 Dr vs 2 Dr), but the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.
I’ve seen properly built TJs on 35s do some pretty impressive stuff, but sometimes there is no replacement for tire size. A JK built right on 40s is Extremely capable.
Qualifier here....2012+ JK. Prior to that, you got the gutless 3.8, often couped with a 42RLE!
You are very accurate. When we worked the short lead media launch on the Rubicon for the JK introduction, we got to drive them back to back down to Rubicon Springs from the ski resort the media drove them to. JK Rubicon 2 and 4 door against the TJ Rubicon. All bone stock. Hands down the JK was more comfortable and more capable.
If you were to step down and compare the non Rubi TJ to the non Rubi JK, the gap gets wider since the ABS on the JK will take it much further in low traction situations than the TJ ever thought about being able to do.
There is a fairly flat section between Tahoe and where you drop downhill to start going down the trail. It is long and just rough, lots of football size rocks, too small to crawl and too big to take at good speed. That section with the JK Rubi disconnecting swaybar was tolerable and in the TJ just brutal.
I was given to understand - rightly or wrongly - that ABS wasn't all that great offroad??
IDAHO_LJ
New Member
ABS done well stops tires from spinning when they shouldn't be. Guess what a locker does?
Unless you need more power, more room, more doors, more ground clearance, bigger tires, or more tow capacity.
I've had vehicles that implemented it that way but I know almost nothing about the JK and didn't know the JK did.
I thought that was *only* when using the brakes? Are you saying "ABS" or "Traction Control"?
alittleoff
TJ Addict
Participated in an outing in which all the TJs made it over a hill with no issues.
Several of us had to help rock a JKU up and down when it tried to drive over the same hill and all four wheels ended up in the air.
There are a couple of downsides to the TJ vs. JK/JKU. First is all the electronics. More shit to go wrong.
The brake system sucks IMO. I have replaced numerous frozen calipers, and collapsed hoses on JKL's with less than 50k
And out here in the salt/brine capital of the NE, I see undercarriages start to rust alot quicker then the TJ's. Maybe it's the cheap steel they use now-a-days.
The brake system sucks IMO. I have replaced numerous frozen calipers, and collapsed hoses on JKL's with less than 50k
And out here in the salt/brine capital of the NE, I see undercarriages start to rust alot quicker then the TJ's. Maybe it's the cheap steel they use now-a-days.
06 but we spent two weeks up there not during any of the organized runs for Jeep or Jeepers Jamborees running around taking care of the media reps they flew in.
They would fly in 20-25 media reps, feed them, little live entertainment, send them off to Jamboree supplied tents, sleeping bags, pillows after. Next morning they fed them breakfast, packed them a lunch, then about an hour presentation by Jeep staff. After that they toss them in JK and the media drove out to a Ski Resort near Truckee. We got flown to the Truckee airport in the chopper and bussed to the resort to bring them back after the Chrysler engineers went over them.
The ABS system on the JK is advanced enough to use it for traction control. There is no VSS on the t-case, all ground speed data is picked up by the ABS sensors at each corner. That is all tied into what is essentially full time traction control. It is common to get the steering wheel off slightly which throws a traction control MIL so the systems are integrated enough to not distinguish between straight ABS and traction control. They may have a different algorithm in 4 wheel drive.
All I really know is folks playing in the mud with non Rubi JK will smoke a TJ with how far they can go all other things being equal.