Truck or Jeep?

[Truckerbizz]

I'm looking for opinions to help me decide if I want to keep my truck or sell and buy a Jeep. Right now I have an 08 Ram 1500 with 90k miles on the clock that has almost been paid off I have redone the suspension, put 35s on and put skid plates on. The truck is in great shape and I have already done a lot to it. If I kept it, my future plans would include a bed rack with a RTT, a front end hitch with a winch mount and some custom sliders. However, I'm not sure I trust the IFS after having both my UCA ball joints getting blown out twice. I am like 95% sure I fixed the problem but I am still really apprehensive and would love the solid front axle the Jeep provides.

So do you think I would be worth me selling the truck I have now with all the mods and buy a Jeep JK with a lot less miles and basically start all over again with an overland build? Pros/cons would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Scott]

Its completely up to you. I have a family of 4 with myself included and my ram is pretty much perfect for us.. I have a Leitner Designs rack with accesories and an rtt and it's absolutely awesome....

 

[Truckerbizz]

Ah I love your set up, I wish I had a Cummins!

 

[Raul B]

Keep the truck....

 

[Scott]

Ah I love your set up, I wish I had a Cummins!

Thanks. Its only money.. Haha.. I love the Cummins, by it has its downfalls.. Regular maintenance is big $$$ but I absolutely love the truck. I've owned it since new, and even after 12 years of ownership, I still smile everything I drive it.

 

[Truckerbizz]

Also have another question you guys can hopefully answer, if i do keep the truck, what kind of crossbars do you have to support the tent? I don't want a full on rack, I wanna mount it so its either just under the roof line or flush with it. All the racks I've seen (thule, yakima, rhino) all are only rated at like 165lbs and I know that between me and the tent it will easily double that.

 

[boehml]

Keep the truck....

Raul is biased.. Honestly though, Jeeps are great, but the solid front axle isn't really necessary for an overland rig. The 4Runner is a capable vehicle and has IFS, in fact it would probably go anywhere a Jeep would go and ride better on the road! If I was you, I'd keep the truck. You've already done so much work and you'll miss the space and utility the truck bed provides you.

 

[Scott]

Also have another question you guys can hopefully answer, if i do keep the truck, what kind of crossbars do you have to support the tent? I don't want a full on rack, I wanna mount it so its either just under the roof line or flush with it. All the racks I've seen (thule, yakima, rhino) all are only rated at like 165lbs and I know that between me and the tent it will easily double that.

If you take a look at the cvt tents website they sell a myriad of racks to go With their tents.. From racks for above the cab tents to racks that allow you to mount the tent at cab height or below...

 

[Truckerbizz]

Yea I saw those but at $425+ i have a feeling I could make something that's half the price. I was thinking of using 1 1/2 inch square tubing and then clamping it with one of these on each end of the bar ( http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Dual-Panhard-Mount-1-1-2-Inch-Square-Tube,7550.html ) and then attach those to the bed rails

 

[coffeeshark]

Jeeps inevitably hit against a wall in terms of cargo (and very quickly, as I've found out), and a lot of people on other forums that I've seen take to removing the back seats to make up for it. This isn't something I'll do, because I intend to haul people as well as gear in the event of an emergency--I don't want a big tough go-anywhere rig and have to say "sorry, no room". If you're like me, or if you already have people to transport, this will be an issue. @boehml is right, you'll miss the capacity.

Can't speak to the RTT piece--I'm one of the weirdos that sleeps on the ground.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

I've got an '05 Ram, 1500 4x4 Quad Cab, along with the wife's Patriot and couldn't imagine life without a truck. While I admit I HAVE considered getting a Tacoma next time, I doubt that happens either.

A full sized, 4 door, 4x4 V8 truck is hard to live without once you've owned one for a while.......

 

[The other Sean]

Can you explain the "blown out" aspect of the upper ball joints? Did they fail or did they just become loose? Anytime you add more tire to a truck, the ball joints are (in theory) going to take a little more abuse.

If they were just loose, were they being inspected properly? I know every time I took my old Ford Ranger to a repair shop, I would get quoted for lower ball joints due to being loose, but most shops were checking them incorrectly. I can't remember which way it was but if you checked them with the suspension hanging (or was is loaded) the ball joints would show loose. Checked incorrectly, even new ball joints would appear loose.

If you have an already modified truck that is mostly paid for, I would not go for the Jeep.

 

[Truckerbizz]

It was a catastrophic blow out. The first time happened when I was blasting through mud puddles on the side of the road and the second time happened when I was just driving down the road. Basically when I bought the truck the previous owner had put Bilsteins set at 2.5 inches and then a 1.5 inch spacer on top of that without a dif drop so a 4 inch lift up front so the ball joints were already maxed out and after a few thousand miles the ball joint tore out of the control arm. It happened on both passenger and driver side (both times cost $2k to fix). I took that out and put Fox coil-overs on set at about 1 inch of lift and Zone upper control arms which are meant for lifted applications. I know it wont happen again because its all within normal geometry now but I have this irrational fear that it'll happen on a trail and I'll be screwed.

 

[TheMcCalls]

Jeeps inevitably hit against a wall in terms of cargo (and very quickly, as I've found out), and a lot of people on other forums that I've seen take to removing the back seats to make up for it. This isn't something I'll do, because I intend to haul people as well as gear in the event of an emergency--I don't want a big tough go-anywhere rig and have to say "sorry, no room". If you're like me, or if you already have people to transport, this will be an issue. @boehml is right, you'll miss the capacity.

Can't speak to the RTT piece--I'm one of the weirdos that sleeps on the ground.

I second this on both the save-the-capacity-keep-the-truck AND the we-sleep-on-the-ground notes!

 

[TheMcCalls]

It was a catastrophic blow out. The first time happened when I was blasting through mud puddles on the side of the road and the second time happened when I was just driving down the road. Basically when I bought the truck the previous owner had put Bilsteins set at 2.5 inches and then a 1.5 inch spacer on top of that without a dif drop so a 4 inch lift up front so the ball joints were already maxed out and after a few thousand miles the ball joint tore out of the control arm. It happened on both passenger and driver side (both times cost $2k to fix). I took that out and put Fox coil-overs on set at about 1 inch of lift and Zone upper control arms which are meant for lifted applications. I know it wont happen again because its all within normal geometry now but I have this irrational fear that it'll happen on a trail and I'll be screwed.

View attachment 10918 View attachment 10919

Woah....

 

[Truckerbizz]

Woah....

yea.... Thats why I have vehicular hypochondria haha I would hate for that to happen on the trail because I have no idea how I could trail fix that haha

 

[TheMcCalls]

yea.... Thats why I have vehicular hypochondria haha I would hate for that to happen on the trail because I have no idea how I could trail fix that haha

Yeah... no joke. On the real though, keep the truck ;) ...but I'm not biased or anything LOL

 

[stoney126]

Cough solid axle swap cough

Really the pros for a jeep are the solid axle
And smaller size to get in a and around tighter spots. if size of the vehicle hasn't been an issue and the weak link is the modified ifs I'd say modify the front end. be cheaper then a newer jeep. what year jeep are we talking anyway?

 

[Truckerbizz]

Cough solid axle swap cough

Really the pros for a jeep are the solid axle
And smaller size to get in a and around tighter spots. if size of the vehicle hasn't been an issue and the weak link is the modified ifs I'd say modify the front end. be cheaper then a newer jeep. what year jeep are we talking anyway?

Haha I would LOVE a SAS. The size hasnt been an issue and I have already modified the suspension to have hopefully fixed the problem. I would get a JK if I were to get one

 

[blackntan]

My preference for a double cab truck is its a good mix seats for bodies and. Hounds in the tub , had LR COMMERCIAL DISCOS BUT WET DOGS STINK Trucks you can carry all your gear in the tub seats up in the back if you want but its the flexabilty i like