Wrangler JK's vs. others on the trail....
 

So, I wanted to post a fun thread on how our beloved JK's differ from other off-road capable vehicles. Now, for starters, I hope I am able to start/discuss such a topic with naming other makes (such as an FJ or Hummer or Range Rover).

I shall soon find out I guess. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I wanna hear it from the horses mouth. Whether it be the "by the book" answer/response or the "in my own words" answer/response. Lets hear how our JK will fair better over the said vehicle on the trail, from articulation, body length, different suspension set-ups(independent, semi-independent), axle/frame types, weight, options(electronic sway bar disco, auto lift/lower), horsepower, torque, so on and so forth.

Lets start off with the oh so expensive Range Rover. As some of you know, these are supposed to be very off-road capable, have a ton of options, etc. But, you can almost buy 3 JK's for the price of one of these. THIS IS WHAT I STARTED THIS THREAD FOR!! :thumbsup: I wanna hear how...say, our JK is better for the trails as supposed to a $90k+ Range Rover. Whether its good or bad, biased or not, the "legit" answer or "opinion".... Lets break-down all the categories and compare and see what we come up with! Then when we pretty much hit all the key points, we'll switch it up to another make/model.

What do you all think? Lets have some fun on this Friday! GETCHA PULL!

:munching:

A few of us ran into a heavily modded Toyota land cruiser a little while back and she got stuck on the first obstacle and we all drove over it like nothing was there. :yup:

Too funny... now, lets ask this - what do you think was the problem as to why she got stuck(other than being a female.......TOTALLY JK!:rotflmao2:) as supposed to you guys going right through? Frame length? Weight? Less articulation? Anything besides the obvious "tires" ya know, cause while that is beneficial on the trail, anyone can switch tires easier than say, a whole suspension swap.

Care to enlighten us on as to why you say they are, besides just "saying" they are? :hmm: :beer:

orrrrrrrrrrrrr maybe not..................hahaha

I'm pretty sure she was running km2s so the tires weren't the problem. I know she wasn't aired down which was a small problem and less articulation. We all had 4 wheels on the ground and she was going on three wheels. Oh yeah and she was a woman. :rotlfmao2:

It all depends on what trails you want to run and how good of a driver you are. We came across a Subaru Outback in the middle of White Rim Trail last year. Now, that's more of a Moderate trail than a Difficult one, but still. It's long, rocky in spots, and has a few points that'll definitely get your attention. The Outback was a little beat up -- yet they were doing WRT just fine. It's amazing what you can do with the right technique.

Here's a Crown Vic doing Hell's Revenge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFwPXEeJ3aI

Now don't we all feel like badasses with our Rubicons and modded-out JKs? :rotflmao2:

I have a hard time believing a Land Cruiser got stuck on anything (except an extreme trail) and it wasn't driver error.

WHAT THE :cursing: @ the Crown Vic!

I would have to agree it has to do with driver experience, u can have a rock buggy and get it stuck if u don't know what your doing. I grew up in a 87 4runner and that thing is still running and in the family and it still does trails, now it may not have the articulation that my jk does but it typically will go most places I have gone except the hard trails I have run.

So a story for you all. When I started wheeling I had a 91 limited Cherokee I ran an easy trail called mt baldy here in Colorado. I was still stock at this point and was taking my time up the what was a bumpy trail rated at a moderate before they plowed it. Well about half way up a club of land Rovers/range rovers came up behind me, I pulled off to let them pass as I was the slower going one. Finally we reach the top which is just below 13000 feet, after some time of enjoying the view and pictures my buddy and I get back in the xj and look around, three of the club that had passed me before had they hoods up, all of the club members were still there so I had to do a three point turn to get around them and head out, but not before seeing they couldn't get there rigs started my little 2000$ rig started just fine.....

I rolled out of my 2008 JKU Rubi into a 2010 Hummer H3T w/ Adv Package in August 2010. Needed the pickup bed aspect but wanted to keep the 4x4 capabilities.

I have to say my overall experience with the Hummer has been good. I believe that stock vs. stock in the 2 trims I had, I prefer the Hummer for every day use and light wheeling. I also like the all time 4wd. I have experienced the exact 16.5 (+/-) MPG (80/20 city vs hwy usage) on both rides.

The adventure package delivered some of the capability that a lot of Rubi owners find themselves upgrading to. Including gears, tires etc. The IFS would eventually limit the H3T though.

Overall, the hard core wheelers would max out the Hummer well before a lightly modded JKU Rubi.

To each their own, but both of these are quite capable. Here are the basic specs between the 2:


2010 H3T (Adv Pkg) vs. 2008 Rubicon Unl.
approach 38.7 / 44.4
departure 30.1 / 40.5
breakover 21.2 / 20.8
gr clearance 9.5 / 10.1
wh base 134.2 / 116
length 210.3 / 173.4
HP 242 / 202
Torque 242 / 237
Gears 4.56 / 4.1
T Case 4.03:1 / 4:1
Crawl 68.9:1 / 73.1
Tires/Rim 33 /16" / 32 / 17"
F/R eLockers Y / Y
Tranny 5sp / 6sp

RB