Switching from pickup to jeep wrangler

[LoggerDan]

I’m pretty doggone fond of my yj jeep. Light, easy to work on motor, very capable, fun and small. I rig a hammock in mine diagonal wise and lay the seats down for sleep sometimes. Hardtop is where it’s at. I welded two small mufflers on it, so it’s fairly quiet.

 

[Duh]

Alright so I went all in on the jeep this year. I sold off my 2013 FX4 F150 and bought a 2003 Jeep TJ that had 82k miles and some slight off road mods. After a couple hunting trips and some abuse, I’m all in on the jeeps.

just got back from a 2,100 mile hunting trip in the high desert. In recent years I hated taking the F150 on the boulder roads and scratching the living hell out of the pickup. I wasn’t impressed by the side by sides ground clearance and how freakin loud it was. Even with a skid plate, we seriously beat the side by side up in previous years. Plus, I only used it for this one trip and the machine sat the remainder of the year.

In comes the jeep this year. I was a little hesitant driving over a thousand miles in jeep but I made the trip in one day, with all my gear. I’ll admit there’s not as much power or room as the f150 but I definitely wasn’t roughing it.

Once at the hunting destination, I met up with my dad and we got to rock crawling. This
Jeep freakin rocked up what could arguably be considered a rough cow trail for a road. 15 miles back and we set up camp. Got into elk right away and killed two bulls. We loaded this little jeep down with bulls, strapped the antlers to the back, and got off the mountain. My only complaint is I should have taken the rear fenders off or got air shocks (maybe next year). Either way, we crawled our way off the mountain completely fine.

A couple days later, I filled my antelope tag and it was great to just throw it in the back and not worry about the meat getting dusty and baking in the sun.

Couple days later, loaded up my animals and made the long ass drive home with three coolers in the back and everything else stuffed or staples down. I cruised 75 mph and blasted the A/C most of the way home and never had an issue. Meat stayed cool in the coolers and I’m super impressed with the Jeeps versatility.

I get that most people love their trucks and I’ll definitely be buying another one to tow this jeep around, but for now I’ll only be hunting in the jeep.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Loving my Jeep as a hunting rig. With the 3” lift and 35s it is truly amazing the crap this thing will climb right over with ease.

We just got back from a camping/scouting/backpacking and son learning to be patient in the woods trip. He loved the gnarly 4x4 trails we did going down to red rock country for a day. We saw over 200 elk in the 3 day trip and tons of mule and coues deer as well.

Looking forward to taking the top and doors off for my desert Muley hunt down at the border in November.

 

[Duh]

Loving my Jeep as a hunting rig. With the 3” lift and 35s it is truly amazing the crap this thing will climb right over with ease.

We just got back from a camping/scouting/backpacking and son learning to be patient in the woods trip. He loved the gnarly 4x4 trails we did going down to red rock country for a day. We saw over 200 elk in the 3 day trip and tons of mule and coues deer as well.

Looking forward to taking the top and doors off for my desert Muley hunt down at the border in November.

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Dude that’s cool! Where did you get the elk and deer rated decals?

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Dude that’s cool! Where did you get the elk and deer rated decals?

My wife got them for me I’ll ask her.

 

[sodaksooner]

Frankly, I have had the opposite experience, at least this year. That said, I do love the off road capability, but the drive to and from just wears on me (12 hours each way) Lack of power (pushing 37's) and honestly the pickup gets us into most places the jeep does anyway. I like my jeep, but starting to think it's not the best option for me any more.

I had a bit of bad luck and the rear diff in my jeep went out on the way to CO. Took up most of 3 days of my pre season scouting so no harm done, but I did end up renting a pickup for two of those days and running up and set up camp and did some scouting while the Jeep was being repaired. So much more comfortable and didn't feel like I had to be on the wheel all the time. 4 wheel drive system in the pickup worked well enough and didn't really ever feel like I was at a loss. Plus, the quad cab pickup hauls so much stuff. I always feel like I have to compromise a bit with the jeep on what I take (for base camp anyway).

Shoot I just bought a Subaru Crosstrek, and if not for the space available, would consider taking that thing next year. One of the trails we take into a hunting area is handled by the jeep very easily, a bit slower in my brother's f150, but crap we got back in there and there were no less than 2 Subaru Outbacks. Makes you wonder.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Frankly, I have had the opposite experience, at least this year. That said, I do love the off road capability, but the drive to and from just wears on me (12 hours each way) Lack of power (pushing 37's) and honestly the pickup gets us into most places the jeep does anyway. I like my jeep, but starting to think it's not the best option for me any more.

I had a bit of bad luck and the rear diff in my jeep went out on the way to CO. Took up most of 3 days of my pre season scouting so no harm done, but I did end up renting a pickup for two of those days and running up and set up camp and did some scouting while the Jeep was being repaired. So much more comfortable and didn't feel like I had to be on the wheel all the time. 4 wheel drive system in the pickup worked well enough and didn't really ever feel like I was at a loss. Plus, the quad cab pickup hauls so much stuff. I always feel like I have to compromise a bit with the jeep on what I take (for base camp anyway).

Shoot I just bought a Subaru Crosstrek, and if not for the space available, would consider taking that thing next year. One of the trails we take into a hunting area is handled by the jeep very easily, a bit slower in my brother's f150, but crap we got back in there and there were no less than 2 Subaru Outbacks. Makes you wonder.

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You better have put 4.88 gears in it while the rear end was being worked on. It’s a night and day difference pulling grades, especially with that big of tires. Factory gear ratio is absolutely not enough for 37s.

 

[sodaksooner]

You better have put 4.88 gears in it while the rear end was being worked on. It’s a night and day difference pulling grades, especially with that big of tires. Factory gear ratio is absolutely not enough for 37s.

Havent had factory gears for 7+ years. Already at 4.56. Never had any intention of going 37's but got a great deal on the tires. 4.88's or 5.12's would be ideal, but the pinion starts getting a bit small....

 

[rtkbowhunter]

"...but crap we got back in there and there were no less than 2 Subaru Outbacks. Makes you wonder."

Well, the chicks driving them are usually good at chewing up the bush, so there's that.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

"...but crap we got back in there and there were no less than 2 Subaru Outbacks. Makes you wonder."

Well, the chicks driving them are usually good at chewing up the bush, so there's that.

Most of those lesbians don’t realize how close they are to a catastrophic failure on those low clearance Subarus.

 

[rodney482]

keeping my f150 bit really want a Rubicon as a 2nd veh

 

[bigunit]

I recently thought I needed to upgrade my 2013 ram 1500 to a new pickup. After pricing out new trucks, I realized I'd only get maybe 25k for my old truck with 174000km which is still in good shape and does everything I need it to do, and a new truck outfitted similar to my old one would be $75000+. I decided to take that 50000 and buy a subaru outback wilderness. This will check a lot of boxes for me as both a daily driver and a fairly capable vehicle for shorter hunting trips or basically any time I don't need a truck.

I can sleep in the outback or truck with topper comfortably so that's a draw. The obw uses about half of the fuel the 1500 does.

For now I'm super happy with the decision and the outback is really nice to drive around the city especially in the winter while chauffeuring the kids and family around to sports etc.

Fwiw most of my hunting spots are quite easy to get to and I hardly even used 4x4 in my truck for access. It's usually a flat 2 track to the edge of the bush and boot leather from there. No rocks and very few mud holes to deal with around here.

 

[Weldor]

I'm not sure about Subaru's down here in AZ. Lots of rock, ravines, mud you name it. I use my Hummer H3 and jeep for some bad stuff after that it is the Can am and boot leather. Tore up alot vehicles in the mountains and desert. Starts getting really expensive these days.