I thought this might make a great addition to the forum. A place for the offroaders to share idea's. I love my jeep

Hey Dan, Welcome to the forum!! We just purchased a 2006 Wrangler Unlimited last weekend. We have lots to learn so start posting!! LOL Ours came with the hard top as well as the soft top. We are enjoying it but haven't started fulltiming yet so the real fun hasn't begun. There are many folks on this forum with Jeeps designed for off road. There should be opportunity for some great sharing of ideas.

Hi Dan:

   Long time Jeep guy here from 46 CJ to 03 Wrangler Sahara. Welcome look forward to hearing and sharing Jeep stories. Gummy  handshake

Hey Gummy,
    Thanks for the interest. I've only been jeeping for a couple of years in my 2000 Sport. But its been a blast so far. It's taken me into lakes on top of Grand Mesa, Co that I could only hike into before. I followed a trail near Pueblo until the path got so nerrow that I could go no further. I play in the mud somtimes here in SWK and if nobody's looking I climb the ocassional bridge abutment. I've got my heart set on an adventure around Moab, Ut. and driving in the deserts of Arizona.  The best is yet to come.
P. S. I also hand built my own camp gear trailer that will clear any obsticle my jeep will clear. I hope to post some pic's in the near future.

Hello Happy trails,
   I think hardtop versus soft top would be a good discussion to start with. So far I've enjoyed my hardtop only situation, but I find that if I want to go topless I have to have a helper to remove the top. Never having owned a soft top I'm wandering about wind noise. And about how quick can the soft top be put up and taken down. All comments welcome.

My first camping trip was in surplused flat fender. I was 3 months old and my parents put me in an ice chest with blankets between the seats while they went offroad or Jeepin'. I've been around offroad vehicles my entire life, from jeeps, dune buggys, motorcycles, atvs, to full fledged offroad race vehicles. My favorite has always been jeeps, preferably 45's to 55's. My favorite was the stock 53 military jeep I had in high school. 24 volt fully waterproof electrical system. The spark plugs cost $3 each in 1973.

Dan, We are going back to the dealer tomorrow and have them remove the hardtop and put on the soft top. We have never put a soft top on before and need a quick lesson. Our neighbor next door has a Jeep Unlimited also and she said she was able to put the soft top on herself but it is a job. Much easier with two people. She is about 19 and a small frame young lady. We have heard that the wind noise would be louder. We will let you know tomorrow evening. We do look forward to putting back the top, at least halfway, to enjoy around town. We have been told that the hard top would be nice during the colder months. Storage is going to be a problem when we are on the road. We may have to decide which we prefer and go with that and store the other. I was thinking we might store the hardtop where our son lives and put it on in Nov. when we plan to be near him for holidays and leave it on until around March. Oh well, we'll see. Plans do change.

Here's a little info for you on Hard Tops Verse Soft tops. I sold my hard top because I didn't want the extra weight and I wanted to be able to put the top up and down for the wind in my face effect. Noise, Yep, you bet, it's going to be there. For me the hassle of putting the factory Jeep soft top up and down is just that a Hassle, not user friendly. I replaced my factory top with a Best Top, Sun Rider. The front half of this top folds back like a sun roof & can be opened & closed in a matter of two minutes. Now for me if I was going to be buying a new Jeep I would go with the new style hard top where the front panels lift out like a T Top. In the two years that we have been full timing we haven't put the soft top down all that much. When you factor in the noise and the hassle, the hard top with lift out panels is the answer for me. Gummy

That's a good salution Gummy. After reading your reply I went to a jeep parts website I had bookmarked in my browser and it brought me rite to the last thing I'd been looking at there. Out here in SW Kansas we get a good deal of wind. And when I'm driving with the wind and meet a semi comming the other way, the wind try's to tear the hood clean off. I've bought 4 sets of rubber hood latches since I bought my jeep. They will only take so much for so long then they break. I was looking at a set of hood lock's and I'am wondering if that would be a good salution. Got any idea's?

Dan, if your talking about the old style hood latches that mount on the fenders they work good. Put two on each side, front and back sides of the hood. I put these on my last Willys wagon that I ran a 350 Chevy engine in to help hold the hood down on it. Gummy

Yes I'am. Satanta

Paying the piper. Did not clean the mud out of my stock jeep wheels well enough and through my front tires out of balance. They cupped pretty fast. Will be buying new tires sooner than I intended. And better wheels too.

Ok I'm running 12.5 x 33's now on 15 x 10.5 rims. I've got a 4" lift kit picked out along with a set of dana 44 axle's and 4.11 gears. That's should take me back to stock hoarse power and slow my crawl rate considerably. Any suggestions here?

Greetings Dan - My hubby and I have always been Jeep & Dodge people. I just recently sold my '71 Commando to get the money to buy a trailer to pull behind our MH. I cried the day it left. But a young man (late 20's?) bought it, he had two more of them and mine was in better shape and his wife couldn't drive stick and mine was an automatic so he was putting it on the road for her. Love those Jeeps! :) Ann

Nothing like a Hack with your Dog to go off roading!



Wonder if anyone else?

Be well, Ara & Spirit

-- Edited by Beemerchef on Saturday 17th of October 2009 06:16:50 AM