Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Gday,

i have been looking at GQ Patrols and would like the 4.2Diesel, but it was suggested to me to have a gander at the Jeeps, which are a little smaller but there is a diesel in them as well and at good prices.

i have just had a flick through the tradingpost and there does seem to be a few Jeep Cherokees Diesels for good prices with lowish kms.

What are they like compared with a GQ Patrol?
How are they Offroad, and Onroad?
Are they all Coil suspension?
Do they all come with an LSD?

anything else i need to know?
cheers,
Shem

If your looking at the XJ they have a turbo diesel.

They have coils up front and leaves in the rear with an LSD in the rear. With a kit from the states for $300 you can fit 31's easily and they go all right.

If you go for the diesel make sure you get a snorkel because parts are expensive for any jeep let alone a diesel engine!

There are pretty big ones around and i'm sure some of them will post.

CHEERS

im not really interested in fully modding it. it would be mainly used for camping, rutted tracks, stuff like fraser island etc, its gotta double as a family wagon for the misses as well

Sounds like it's what you want then!

Depending on what you want to spend you could get a diesel grand cherokee and just a small lift and bigger tyres with QUADRATRACK and it will amaze you how far it will go. The quadratrack system is exactly like having front and rear difflocks! They are also very good on road and alot more cumfy then the XJ!

i should have also mentioned, im looking to Spend about 15K

You can get a good XJ(not deisel) for $8,000 then whack it gas and youve got that much to mod it for what you want!

Don't know what the diesels are like price wise.

in my opinion - stay away from the XJ TDi (pre 2001). Ive heard of way too many incidences of them engines farking up and costing from 5-10g's to fix/rebuild. They have shitty heads. Apart from that, those that have managed to maintain a reliable one, swear by them. Great crawl ratios.

If you do want a TDi, make sure you get it checked out real good...ie. compression ratios, head gasket leaks etc.

XJs are great offroad performers (petrol or diesel).

smac wrote: What are they like compared with a GQ Patrol?
How are they Offroad, and Onroad?
Are they all Coil suspension?
Do they all come with an LSD?

Much better than a Patrol Of course that is all down to your personal opinion, I wouldn't trade my XJ for a Patrol but then there is something neat about the Jeep thing.

Very impressive offroad, mostly due to good articulation and clearance. A lift of 2" or more will make all the difference though. On road the petrol crusies and has a ton of grunt exagerrated by the light weight of the Cherokee (less than a Wrangler) about 1600kg

Coil front leaf rear

I think they all have the LSD except for the first few brought into the country.

The diesel is great if you get a good one and hell if you get a bad one. I bought my petrol XJ almost 4 years ago and dont regret it but I dont know if I'd be saying the same of the diesel.

Other things, diesel is manual only, petrol auto only. Rear seat is not for adults especially on long trips.

Cheers
Steve

thanks guys

smac, id go with the patrol.

Not being hypocritical or anything but from owning one of the bigger XJs in aus to going to an older patrol, look at cost and what you want to do with it.

Even though i spent thousands of dollars i was still worried about it breaking in the end cause i knew the prices of getting it fixed.

When you say Jeep they litterally add an extra another few hundred to the price, thats why the jeep owners joke about the "
Just Empty Every Pocket"

With my patrol, easy to mod , cheap for parts .


Dont get me wrong, i still think built up jeeps are one of the best performers you can get , i loved mine like a son BUT , i would never buy another one.

I've got a '96 ZG Grand 4ltr and a '97 Dicovery 300TDI auto and in the past have owned an XJ (for 2 months), 4.2TD GQ petrol man, 4ltr 80 series auto, '91 Triton 2.6 petrol man, and a Brumby.

The Disco is our modded 4wd that we do most of our trips in as we get great economy reasonable power (not a race car) and is unbeatable off road.
It has the normal bar with mile marker 8000lb winch, snorkle, dual batts and dozens of minor mods to make life easier and safer.
I have found that I haven't had the need for enormous tyres and body/susp lifts as we do more touring rather than inventing new tracks but I will be going up a size in tyres and a 40mm body lift so I don't hang it up on the guards shortly as Im wanting a bit more stability with our hannible on the roof, and getting tyres to fit a disco in Cooberpedy proved to be a bit of a hastle (had to order them but only took a day).

The grand is increadibly comfy and nice to drive around town, Im not a fan of the quady trac all though I don't think ours is working properly, but heavy on the juice really bad.

It is nothing like the landrover off road and not as capable as our XJ or patrol for that matter.

The XJ was stock as a rock low K's and was offered to me for a real good price even though I wasn't after one I took it because I couldn't fault it and the roady proved it as they only picked undersized rotors (who even measures rotors in a roady).

But it was to pretty for us so we sold it on to my mother in law.

The GQ was not my favourate for off road as it was long, wide and tall, unreliable, heavy on juice (for a diesel) and seemed to stop me from going 4wding as I was allways fixing it and even though the parts were less expensive they would break twice as often so it ended up quite expensive in the end.

The 80 series was nice but got totaled by a holden 1 tonner and I only had it off road twice and it seemed to be able to do everything the patrol would do ok.

The Triton wasn't my choice either but it would go just as many places in 2wd with its tight LSD as what it would in 4wd but you needed 40acres to do a U turn and it was guttless.

The Subi Brumby was a subi, go anywhere tow anything as long as the wheels were touching the ground it was moving.

I wouldn't buy a patrol unless your pretty good with a spanner and you need the room that you normaly get in a small school bus, the same with the yota minus the spanner.

Look at the landys and rangies for that money you can get a ball tearer rangie or a neat TDI disco that standard will do more than anything, or sink it all into an XJ and have the best on the block, either way then your sure to be happy.

there is no doubt that a pootrol has the strongest driveline, but if you are not going for anything larger than a 32" tyre, than an XJ is fine and reliable as hell! If you are after something that runs 35s, forget about it, unless you want to do full axle swaps to something that can handle it. For most general 4x4 and touring (not super hardcore), an XJ on 31s or 32s can pretty much take you there. IMO an XJ on 31s is like a patrol on 33s as far as capability and diff clearance goes. If you drive like your in comps or a madman, then expect to break shit in anything you drive.

wont be goin crazy off road, mainly just touring.

one thing i like about the patrol is the interior room though

smac wrote:wont be goin crazy off road, mainly just touring.

one thing i like about the patrol is the interior room though

a jeep wont accomodate you for space, but a good roof basket and rear tyre carrier will at least give you some more.

As far as space goes, unless you have 5 kids you don't need to be dragging the rest of the bus around when you go shopping, think of your wife parking it.
Buy an XJ and a shit hot camper trailer to put the rest of your luggage and crap in and your set.

I might just mention that im not having a go at your wife im more refering to mine...

suzuki boy wrote:The quadratrack system is exactly like having front and rear difflocks! They are also very good on road and alot more cumfy then the XJ!

Quadra-track only transfers power between the front AXLE and rear AXLE
Quadra-drive transfers it to whichever wheels have power. Quadr-drive is the one that's like lockers and i'd say maybe better, as you can get maximal use of your traction by keeping each individual wheel right on the verge of slipping

Sorry the name is to alike.oops

jeeps fall apart, go the nissan or better still a Sierra!

my 2c.

suzuki boy wrote:With a kit from the states for $300 you can fit 31's easily

why bother when a patrol will come standard with 31s?

Have beat the hell out of a xj and she still gos fine. Jeeps are money pits thats true but if you dont have the cash then go buy a push bike.

jeepmat wrote:

suzuki boy wrote:The quadratrack system is exactly like having front and rear difflocks! They are also very good on road and alot more cumfy then the XJ!

Quadra-track only transfers power between the front AXLE and rear AXLE
Quadra-drive transfers it to whichever wheels have power. Quadr-drive is the one that's like lockers and i'd say maybe better, as you can get maximal use of your traction by keeping each individual wheel right on the verge of slipping

Quadratrack is the name Jeep give the fulltime transfer case - ie does not provide differential traction aid.
Quadradive do give axle traction aid - but let me ASSURE you lockers ARE better

Also the XJ can be build to run 35"s - if that is in the plan then I;d suggest simply swapping in a TJ D44 or a Super 35 (stronger thicker shafts).

j-top paj wrote:

suzuki boy wrote:With a kit from the states for $300 you can fit 31's easily

why bother when a patrol will come standard with 31s?

Coz an XJ on 31's has as much diff clearance as a GQ/GU on between 33's and 35's!

sir_camel wrote:

j-top paj wrote:

suzuki boy wrote:With a kit from the states for $300 you can fit 31's easily

why bother when a patrol will come standard with 31s?

Coz an XJ on 31's has as much diff clearance as a GQ/GU on between 33's and 35's!

that sounds like something a suzuki driver would say

seriously but, you cant really compare a XJ to a GQ or GU,
if it were wrangler vs GQ an GU then it would be different.

Now thats just Silly, comparing a heavy ass patrol to a TJ,
LWB Vs SWB?
2dr rock hopper Vs 4 dr family wagon?
Lond distance tourer Vs Trail riding convertible.

My Daily driver is a 98 Xj and has probably the best of both the Tjs and the Grands. Im happy with mileage of 380-450km a tank, depending on the driving. Its no bigger than a falcon wagon, and stock is a reasonable offroad performer. After market parts are getting cheaper and used parts easy to find.

My tip, DONT BUY A DIESEL XJ

sir_camel wrote:

j-top paj wrote:

suzuki boy wrote:With a kit from the states for $300 you can fit 31's easily

why bother when a patrol will come standard with 31s?

Coz an XJ on 31's has as much diff clearance as a GQ/GU on between 33's and 35's!

an XJ on 31s has as much capability as a pootrol on 33s and has at least 3 inches more body clearance than a stock trol on 31s.

so what happens to a xj when its flexed up and someone opens the door?

j-top paj wrote:so what happens to a xj when its flexed up and someone opens the door?

Errrm, nothing, or at least not to mine. Why??

Cheers
Steve

YOu girls go on. Here is what Happens

My $2500 patrol can drive that 2 . And there is plenty of clearance under that front diff. and on 31's