How many IFS trucks do you see running 38"+ tires that make it all the way through a trail (and I mean a trail not a gravel road) without breaking something? Or NOT wearing out ball joints, tie-rod ends, and wheel bearings in 5,000 miles? NONE..
The axles under my TJ have more than 30,000 miles on them. EVERY mile with at least 35" tires on them. With a detroit locker in the back, an ARB in the front, and ball joints to boot. And it gets wheeled at least a couple times a year. Still goes down the highway at 70+, straight as an arrow, and does everything I have asked it to do. Find a 4 wheel IFS truck or car that can say that after 30,000 miles of big tires, wheeling, and road service.
And the JK is a full sized blazer with a v-6? Ummmmmm. Did you fall down and bump your head? :lmao:
You do realize blazers were on leaf springs all the way around or torsion front and leaf rears, and came with a V-8, right? And the JK has 4-link suspension with coil springs.. Right?
JKs have more in common with old Broncos than they do Blazers.
And I have a buddy that is building a full size blazer right now. It is a LOT bigger and a LOT heavier than even a 4-door JK ever thought about being..
I will agree, yes, a majority of the Wranglers made will never see hardcore off road trails.
The point to having a vehicle like a Wrangler is you can do anything you want.
If you want a bone stock Jeep, so you have 4wd for the snowy winter roads and a convertible for the summer, you can have it.
If you want to take the EXACT same Wrangler, put a 4" lift and some 35" tires on it and be a mall crawler, you can.
Take the same 4" lift and 35" tires, put some rock sliders and skid plates on it, put a lunchbox locker in the front, and hit the easy to moderate trails in MOAB or rock the trails in Canada, you can....
Or if you want to do like some of us, you can stuff a 60/80 or 60/14b or whatever axle combo, with some air shocks or coil overs, and 40's with the help of a sawzall, and some tube fenders, wheel it on just about any trail in north or south America, you can.
And the best part is you can do most of that hard core fab work / modifications IN YOUR DRIVEWAY OR 2-CAR GARAGE with a welder, a grinder, and a saw to cut metal. And while you are doing it, you LEARN something.
If you want to start with a stock Jeep, that you work in to a mall crawler with a budget lift, while using it as a daily driver, you can. Then if you buy a new vehicle and want to use your Jeep as a wheeler, you can buy the upgrade parts to lift it higher, and put bigger tires on it, without going broke and doing it all over again. And when you break that POS Dana 44 and decide I want to go big, you can sell the other parts and not break the bank when you decide it is time for those 60's or the 60/14b axles.
How many IFS vehicles can you say that about?
Moving the Jeep to IFS eliminates the simplicity and flexability of the vehicle. The rugged simplicity that helped us out all the way back to WWII will be gone.
And have you priced out a lift for a IFS truck, versus, a solid axle truck? Want to hear you wallet scream. Look it up. Even the cheap IFS lifts are expensive when compared to a Jeep lift.
Not to mention when you lift an IFS truck, most of them require modifications that can't be returned to stock. If I wanted to make my TJ stock, I could go to the junk yard, but the parts for about $100 and make it the same as it was the day it came off the assembly line. Find a lifted IFS truck that can say that, without a special of expensive lift or digging through junk yard after junk yard to find expensive parts to replace the modified ones with.
The Jeep has been an identifying brand within the Chrysler umbrella for 70+ years. I know times change, and things must change.. And I am for change. As long as you don't impact the core values of a product, those are the REASONS people are loyal to a brand.
And no matter what model you are talking about Willys Flat Fender, CJ, YJ, TJ, JK, MT, LT, WJ, XJ, any-J, they have all had an identity all their own. They didn't try to be a pickup truck, or a sedan, or a station wagon, or a SUV. They were a Jeep. They were non-comprimising. You don't own a Jeep and you don't drive a Jeep. You live a Jeep lifestyle.
The posers don't last long. They get sick of the wind noise, being cold in the winter or hot in the summer, or wet in the spring. They sell them and move on to their Volvos or Toyota Camrys. It's the dedicated people that LOVE the Jeeps for what they are, that keep the brand alive. Not the posers. If you don't listen to your loyal customers, that live the brand. The brand won't last long.
