Wanting a CJ or should I keep the TJ?

jeepguy03 said:
The YJ is better on road than the CJ, and even that rides like an old school bus in comparison to the TJ. The TJ is really the best of all worlds. 4.0L engine, good looks, simple and reliable, coil spring suspension for good ride.

I think as the JKs age the 3.6L versions will be desired by enthusiasts. The 3.8L will be like the 4 cylinder TJs and always sell for much less. The JK is simpler than the JL, and I'm sure whatever model that comes out after the JL will be even more complex. As TJs become harder to find (which is already the case in the rust belt where I live) the 3.6L JK will become the model to look for.
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When I was looking for my TJ, everyone was like "look how many jeeps are for sale, get one of those!!! "(JKs). I personally don't appreciate the JKs that much, they look and feel cheap to me. So much plastic. The interior is pretty mundane as well (not to say the TJs have a luxury interior).

I would say 70% of the other rigs I wheel with are JKs, but they are just not for me.

I went down t0 my local offroading garage to get some work done on my gears, and they were telling me how they have had so many new JLs come in because of axle leaks!! They said ones with only 4500 miles are being affected! I'll stay with my 20 year old metal brick.
 
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Ok, as a guy who has gone down this road and is still going down this road, let me put in my two cents. I have a cj7 which I've been working on for over 20 years. I love my jeep but envy almost everything about tj wranglers. So I started thinking about switching to a tj but just couldn't get see myself selling my old cj. Instead I went on a mission to update my cj, everything that I liked about tjs I incorporated into my cj. Fuel injection, got it with a sbc with tbi system. dana 44s, also with lockers, better seats out of a Honda CRV, custom dash to mimic a jk, and lastly tj coil springs with three link suspension to get rid of that "beat you to death" leaf spring suspension. A smart person would just have gone out and bought a TJ but not me, I had to do it the hard way, and I am glad I did but I would never do it again. I have created a vehicle that's great off-road and I enjoy driving but destroyed the resale value of my 81 Laredo and no one looks at my cj and thinks there goes a good looking old cj7, they of course think it's a tj so I don't get any props for what created.
So what do I think you should do? I don't think you'd every be happy with a CJ compared to your TJ they are just too crude, you can jump in your jeep and drive cross country with no problem in a CJ it's more like going through the "Iron Man challenge". Take it down a trail and enjoy that fantastic coil factory coil suspension, if it's hot flip on the A/C if it's cold turn on a heater that actually works. Sure they look fun , kind of like that hot young model, she looks like a lot lot of fun, but in day to day real life she is going to be a real

pain in the butt.
 
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vito2772 said:
When I was looking for my TJ, everyone was like "look how many jeeps are for sale, get one of those!!! "(JKs). I personally don't appreciate the JKs that much, they look and feel cheap to me. So much plastic. The interior is pretty mundane as well (not to say the TJs have a luxury interior).

I would say 70% of the other rigs I wheel with are JKs, but they are just not for me.

I went down t0 my local offroading garage to get some work done on my gears, and they were telling me how they have had so many new JLs come in because of axle leaks!! They said ones with only 4500 miles are being affected! I'll stay with my 20 year old metal brick.
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Oh I'm going to hold onto my TJ as long as I can, but finding it was a challenge that I assume will become even more difficult as time goes on (hence my comments about the JK being the next model to search for). Around my area, I get compliments on my TJ at gas stations and waves from JK owners. Most of them talked about how they had a TJ, but it rusted away and they couldn't find another one so they bought a JK.

This is likely different in the South or rust-free states, but seeing an older Jeep is super rare here. If you do see one, it's usually rotted out and falling apart. I rarely see any TJs, and hardly any YJs.
 
jeepguy03 said:
Oh I'm going to hold onto my TJ as long as I can, but finding it was a challenge that I assume will become even more difficult as time goes on (hence my comments about the JK being the next model to search for). Around my area, I get compliments on my TJ at gas stations and waves from JK owners. Most of them talked about how they had a TJ, but it rusted away and they couldn't find another one so they bought a JK.

This is likely different in the South or rust-free states, but seeing an older Jeep is super rare here. If you do see one, it's usually rotted out and falling apart. I rarely see any TJs, and hardly any YJs.
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Yes, I'm up in NY and all the Jeeps I saw before mine I could put my hand through the frame!! It definitely isn't getting any easier to find these babies. The very first Jeep I looked at buying, they coved up bad rust on the frame with rubberized coating and I pushed right through it! Part of the frame fell OFF along with more rust and dust from underneath. The guy was pissed and demanded us to pay for it and said we sabotaged it... We went for a test drive(before I saw underneath, I wouldn't have stepped in that thing if I saw the frame first), the jeep was BOUNCING around every slight turn, he said all of them do that, its normal. Was asking $8k.... Ran for the hills quick.
 
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