I had some fun today...

[Grant Lamontagne]

A friend of mine called me up today and said since it was such a beautiful day we should do something.  Well, that something turned out to be painting the Jeep brown, and we had a blast doing it! 

Here's a couple of "side of the trail" type photos, and one more from when I got home.







We both took some video too- me with my cell phone on the dash and Frank with his GoPro Hero2 in the passenger seat and occasionally from the side of the trail.  There was nothing too heavy, but there were a few sphincter shrinking moments and some bumper deep puddles that were nothing but slime at the bottom that I thought I may not come out of, but that's all part of the fun!

If any of the videos come out good and don't make me look like a wussy I'll see about posting them! 

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

One of the videos Frank posted from yesterday:





Def

[sawman]

Looks like fun times     Bet the washing won't be as thrilling though 

[Gareth]

So what you need now is one of these:

(note the colour coordination )

BTW that looks like an excellent way to spend the day.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I have a pressure washer- it's not yellow though!

And Mother Nature will be washing it soon enough so I won't have to worry about it.

Def

[J-sews]

Wow, that does look like fun Springtime offroading is the funnest, because the muckholes tend to be deeper

[David]

Great good fun indeed!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Wow, that does look like fun Springtime offroading is the funnest, because the muckholes tend to be deeper

Even more fun if someone else is there to pull you out when/if you find out the hard way that the muckhole is too deep!

Def

[dks]

Being an avid 4x4 user for many years let me say that it is good to see people actually using their 4x4 cars properly and having fun. 

It is a shame to see all these real, or pretend, off road vehicles being used for just shopping and parking on pavements.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I'd say that 98% of my Jeep's use is on road, and it doesn't see nearly as much mud as I'd like.  It does however see a fair bit of rough use at truck yards, shipyards, train yards etc while I'm at work.  I replaced the front end in my old car three times doing the kind of work I do, and the wife kept insisting that we couldn't afford a heavier duty vehicle- which we probably could have if I didn't have to keep repairing the car we had!

I love my Jeep- it has the same heavy duty running gear as a full sized pickup, but in a vehicle that weighs just over half of what a truck does.  The other guys in my company drive full size Dodge Rams because they are sick of replacing cars that can't survive the job.

So, while I may not use my 4x4 for playing in the mud as much as I'd like, it certainly does get a good old fashioned truck type workout on a regular basis.  Yes it's a pig on gas, but in the long run it's cheaper than rebuilding the suspension twice a year!

Def

[dks]

Big pickup trucks sound like a good idea until you try to park them or have to drive through a narrow road, especially narrow earth roads in mountains and forests. I have always had a pickup truck though I rarely use the one I have anymore since it is a pain to park; and I am talking normal European size pickup trucks, not the huge ones people have in Canada.
Off road they are never as good as dedicated 4x4s, mainly because they have very little weight on the back axle when unloaded.

I think Jeeps come with a nice, economical, diesel now too.   If you want to save some fuel.

Here everybody has diesel engines, in 4x4s. Of course now that diesel is the same price as petrol it does not matter so much.

[jzmtl]

Still better mileage though, I wish we had diesel jeeps here.

I've always liked small and fast/nimble cars, which is ironic because I don't fit into many of them well lol. I guess the jeep sort of counts as small, though the sad part is the gas mileage probably isn't any better than the full size pick ups.

[badwolf]

That's great fun we used to do loads of this sort of thing at near by clubs, we all had these, they were great fun, only pic I have left, mine was the one on the ramp

[Grant Lamontagne]

Its very possible that my boss is getting better fuel economy than I am- the new Hemis operate on four cylinders most of the time until more power is needed.  He says he's getting almost twice the mileage he was in his old truck.

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

[dks]

... the new Hemis operate on four cylinders most of the time until more power is needed.  He says he's getting almost twice the mileage he was in his old truck.

I had a car that run on only three out of its four cylinders untill I got it fixed.. 

The economy was not any better with three instead of four working..   


On a serious note, this comparison depends on what car he had before.

[Grant Lamontagne]

He had a Lincoln Mk LT:



He went to a Dodge Longhorn:



The only difference (major difference anyway) is the length of the bed.  The Lincoln had an 8 foot bed while the Dodge has (I think) a 6 foot bed.

His father has been buying Dodges for years for a direct comparison.  When he hits 100,000kms (60,000 miles) he trades them in on new ones.  His current truck gives him about a 50% savings over the previous one without this system, and the only difference (other than the engine) is the last one was blue and the current one is grey.

Def

[dks]

Dodge is unknown here... and in most of Europe really.

Most people have Isuzu/Chevrolet , Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Ford/Mazda pick up trucks (small single or double cab with a load of 750kg to 1000kg).

The Isuzu/Chervrolet give the best complete package, though they are not cheap. Nissan were quite fast last time I checked.
Most 4x4 pick up trucks have 2.5 to 3.2 L diesels, usually nowadays with a turbocharger giving 100 to 200HP.

Off road wise most people will have a soft-roader (European, Japanese, Korean very few Jeeps and Hummers(civilian soft roader versions)) that never really go off road (Soft road tyres give the game away)

For more serious 4x4 use then you see Mitsubishi Pajeros(Shogun), Land Rovers, some CJ Jeeps, Isuzu troopers, Suzuki SJ, Toyota, Nissan. Apart from  suzuki the rest will have 2.5 to 3.5 L diesels; the newest will be turbocharged.

The problem is that their road tax is pretty high, over 600 Euros for engines over 2.5L and the import tax is high too, so we need some decent 2L, or under, turbocharged diesels soon..

[Grant Lamontagne]

Wow, my car is a 2.5L.  My Jeep is a 4.0L.  I guess I'd be paying pretty high taxes over there!  There was a 4 cylinder Jeep made for a number of years but they weren't that popular.  I'd say there are more Chev 305/350 conversion Jeeps on the road here than 4 cylinder Jeeps.

There are a lot of European 4x4's that I like.  I'd love to get a Defender and there are some nice Daewoo and other trucks we see at work that are stopping off on their way to other countries but don't meet out standards here.  I really like the Dacia Duster:



BTW, I dropped my Jeep off at the garage this afternoon, and I probably won't get it back until next week.  You know how when you press the brake pedal and the vehicle slows and eventually stops?  My Jeep doesn't do that anymore... 

Def

[Gareth]

Wow, my car is a 2.5L.  My Jeep is a 4.0L.  I guess I'd be paying pretty high taxes over there!  There was a 4 cylinder Jeep made for a number of years but they weren't that popular.  I'd say there are more Chev 305/350 conversion Jeeps on the road here than 4 cylinder Jeeps.

There are a lot of European 4x4's that I like.  I'd love to get a Defender and there are some nice Daewoo and other trucks we see at work that are stopping off on their way to other countries but don't meet out standards here.  I really like the Dacia Duster:

(Image removed from quote.)

BTW, I dropped my Jeep off at the garage this afternoon, and I probably won't get it back until next week.  You know how when you press the brake pedal and the vehicle slows and eventually stops?  My Jeep doesn't do that anymore... 

Def

  that can certainly make driving interesting.

[jzmtl]

BTW, I dropped my Jeep off at the garage this afternoon, and I probably won't get it back until next week.  You know how when you press the brake pedal and the vehicle slows and eventually stops?  My Jeep doesn't do that anymore... 

Def

try it yourself, god knows you have enough tools. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

No good place to work on it, plus I don't like the idea of leaking brake fluid in a yard with 5 dogs running around. 

Def