His and Hers OLR?

[IronPercheron]

Soooo mama is big on that new 4Runner and I'm kind of wanting to build myself something as well in time when my truck paid off.

I love my F250 Super Duty but it's kind of a barge LOL and I kind of fell in love with theV8 Jeep Commanders...

Anyone else on here thinking about this or already doing this? Clearly when we go places together we can take one or both either way it's going to be a blast and I think the commander would be easier to get to and from work and such in versus a Crew Cab Super Duty with an extra 14 inches of bumper hanging off the front of it... not that the super duty is going anywhere ever. Ever.

 

[pseebald]

It's a pretty cool idea. Those commanders look cool with all the gear on them. Makes me wanna make a build for my wife as well but I would end up with two project vehicles and she would just drive it haha. Seems like a lot of work to be honest unless they are both nearly new vehicles. Otherwise I think one would get more love than the other!

 

[IronPercheron]

It's a pretty cool idea. Those commanders look cool with all the gear on them. Makes me wanna make a build for my wife as well but I would end up with two project vehicles and she would just drive it haha. Seems like a lot of work to be honest unless they are both nearly new vehicles. Otherwise I think one would get more love than the other!

I can see your point for sure

 

[IronPercheron]

I can do a few small things to my superduty and make it a great rig too, they are just so big lol the soft stuff and the tight stuff are problematic.. ( the fun stuff )

 

[stoney126]

Well what we run are these three. I have a 03 7.3 superduty. She is a big girl and will never go to another owner. But she is a big girl and most trails are just small for her and would just carve her up. But with a 4 inch lift and some soon to have 35s she will be capable of minor excursions. And she is paid off already.

Got a 14 jeep rubicon jku for the crawling around and smaller trails. Love it . Defiantly the toy .

And lastly the wife just got a 16 4runner trail. It will be getting mods but very minor as it will see lite off road use but will see more long mile trips as the street manners and cabin noise is better IMO Then the other 2 , also It's my wifes DD .

Cost of maintaining the vehicles for me personally is not bad because I do most of my own work as I was a tech. So it's not a big deal. But I can see owning anything older the 10 years needing a Lil more love but not much.

 

[IronPercheron]

is a commander a reliable rig? i have been looking into it a little bit but i dont see much. I have pretty much decided i want to get that :-)

my superduty also will never leave

 

[O.Dfj]

is a commander a reliable rig? i have been looking into it a little bit but i dont see much. I have pretty much decided i want to get that :-)

my superduty also will never leave

@jdunk has a commander thats awesome at otg i talked to him about his he would be the man to ask.

 

[stoney126]

My opinion of them Is not so great, but I only saw the problem ones when they came into the dealer. Several electrical gremlins that would show up . But thats what I see everyday so my opinion is a bit skewed.

Honestly seeing them all set up is pretty cool.

 

[jdunk]

Mine has 144k on it. The only real issue I've had with it is an issue that crops up in all HEMI motors of that generation. There are several ways around the problem (one of is to get an '08 or newer). I had a HEMI in my old GC as well. It was great.

The biggest problem your going to find is parts. There aren't a lot of off the shelf options, and even though it shares suspension and powertrain with the WK, it is a fair bit heavier (especially when you load all your stuff in that amazing vastness of interior space!)

I love my XK though. It's hard to imagine having anything else.

Feel free to shoot me any questions!

 

[erinw.rrc]

We have his and hers rigs. My husband opted for the older style RRC, while mine is my daily driver so.... I opted for comfort.

 

[gotricesmurf]

Mines the 2015 JKUR and the wife's 2015 Renegade TH. Planning on hitting the hill country this weekend near Garner State Park this weekend, along with the frio river.

 

[erinw.rrc]

A former colleague of mine has a white renegade, but he said his is only 2 wheel drive. Do they come in 4 wheel drive?

 

[IronPercheron]

Mines the 2015 JKUR and the wife's 2015 Renegade TH. Planning on hitting the hill country this weekend near Garner State Park this weekend, along with the frio river.

I looked into getting into an older jku

 

[jdunk]

A former colleague of mine has a white renegade, but he said his is only 2 wheel drive. Do they come in 4 wheel drive?

Yes, they come in 4wd, you can get them in a Trailhawk configuration as well.

 

[erinw.rrc]

Yes, they come in 4wd, you can get them in a Trailhawk configuration as well.

Nice! I asked him if he wanted to go off-road but he wasn't into it, hence why the 2wd vs 4wd didn't matter to him.

 

[TreXTerra]

I don't really see a problem with his and hers rigs, if you can manage the costs and two overland rigs fit your lifestyle. My wife and I have one overland rig and one full size sedan for those interstate road trips and shuttling in-laws around when they come to visit. It's what works for us, but it certainly isn't the stable the works for everyone.

One big advantage with two rigs is that you always have someone to help with a recovery and you have the redundancy of another vehicle if one goes down with a a mechanical problem. You can carry more food, equipment, etc with two rigs and only two people. A down side is that you are in two different vehicles, for my family, we like being next to each other and I rely a lot of my wife to be my co-driver. She handles coms, nav, and other things while I'm driving, I would miss that if she was in another vehicle.

As for the Jeep itself, I'm not sold on Chrysler reliability. I had a Jeep and it was a miserable shop queen, it was in at least 4-6 times a year trying to get things sorted out. I want to love Jeep, I really do. The JKU just screams "fun" more than any vehicle on the road - but I also want something reliable, if that means giving up the Jeep image and lifestyle then that's what I will do.

 

[IronPercheron]

i am a bit worried about the reliability thing. just not alot of info on the commander :-(

i have a line on a 1rst generation ford explorer (Jurassic park body style) they have the ford TTB set up that i favor (bronco person) and i also found a pretty sweet lookin 100 series cruiser.... the options fly through my mind.

 

[jdunk]

I take my XK out solo quite often. On my REALLY long trips, I always take another rig (usually my KL).

If you have any questions about the XK, please feel free to ask. I've had both a HEMI WK (QT-II) and my current HEMI XK (QD-II).

I would have to say that no question is to small or silly. Especially when it comes to making you feel comfortable with your overland rig.

 

[IronPercheron]

@jdunk I was looking for just general data. What are the usual gremlins. Every rig has em.

I saw where @stoney126 had seen a few. I just want to make sure when i buy or if i buy

i can have a check list of fires to put out before they ever start.

 

[jdunk]

@IronPercheron What year do you have? The motor on the pre '08 HEMI has a larger than nonexistent chance it will drop a valve. There is a gasket you can install that would mitigate the damage to the motor if it were to happen. It's very rare, but it's not unheard of.

There was a computer recall that tends to jack up the motor on the low-range transfer case (N23 maybe?)...

If the one you have has the Quadra-Drive (amazing system) you want to make sure that the diffs are services with the special ESLD additive.

Other then that, they have the pretty bullet proof chrysler 8.25 differentials, and a pretty bulletproof transmission (assuming proper maintenance).

The audio systems are pretty horrible, and annoying to upgrade, but that's chrysler's in general.

The door handles have a tendency to crack. Mine have, but they still work just fine. Some people say it affects the mechanism. I haven't seen that with mine.

I would have to say though, that more than all the little things above, the biggest annoyance has been aftermarket parts. It does share the powertrain and suspension with the WK Grand Cherokee, so there are lift kits and the like out there. But when it comes to most other mods you're pretty much on your own. There are only a couple established (see reliable) companies that have any mods for them. Though, that does pretty much ensure that your Commander will be like nobody else's.

There's a bunch of info in my build thread (in sig) if you care to see how i've started working on mine.

I will end it off by saying that I absolutely love my XK.