Unreliable?

[humdingerslammer]

well, I am gonna add my 3 c worth.I just feel like it!!

My JKU Rubi is my first 4WD, brought in 2007. I can't wait to buy the new JK Pickup!!

The JKU has now done 195000km. It has towed a trailer or caravan to Cape York, across the top end gulf, the GRR, Anne Beadle, Gary Junction Hwy, Mt Isa, central NT/ Alice Springs, all over the west, South Aust etc etc. Very little of the kms have been city driving.

When on the road, the JKU is always loaded to the max (probably more); the trailer or van about 1000kg. It has nothing more than a 2" lift, rear airbags and HD rear springs. Occasionally I use a roof top tent fitted to a KargoMaster Congo Cage.

I have been amazed (in my ignorance) as to what this JKU can do.I have never had a failure issue with it other than normal maintenance, and wear and tear. Mind you I spend a heap of money on it to keep it in top and reliable order but then it works harder than any other vehicle I have owned.

I have been bogged only once in deep sand on the Anne Beadle and I am completely sure that L/Cruisers and Patrols would have been even more easily and more frequently bogged on that track alone.The JKU has pulled me up cliffs, embankments, rocks and who knows what etc and all sorts in the blink of an eye. I have complete confidence in it.

Ah yes, and when I go into caravan parks (which i try to avoid) I also receive the wisdom of the old and elderly (about everything really). It shits me off.

My response... well, these people seem to have done little more than conspicuously spend their retirement funds, to purchase a "waiting to die" chair that now has wheels for them to move their equally as awful mobile dying stations: that is, their mega caravans. I actually don't know why these people do this. They stay on the bitumen, usually completely so, and the first thing they do, drought or not, when they arrive at a caravan park, is wash their bloody 4WD AND their caravans. No dust and maximum shine are obsessions with these people. Even in Birdsville!!! I kid you not. Not only this, try to get into a wayside stop after 3PM. Filled up with every boring old fart you could meet and each and everyone of them parks their rig so that they take up maximum space so that the fewer vans as possible can set up in "their" public and free rest stop. Go figure!!

Love the JKU... I have had more fun in it than I could have imagined.

[bjm]

Also remember the ongoing saga of bent ute chassis when towing 3-3.5 ton palaces. I can not believe the number of overloaded utes towing large vans. A friend of mine has a near new Triton ,tows a 21 foot van. First trip to up Mount Surprise ( from Sydney) with trip out to Agate Creek the chassis bent around one inch.!! He was told no warranty claim, as maximum tow capacity advertised was for short periods only.!! There is no doubt that many owners underestimate the GVM of their rigs. Which only means huge stresses on components not designed for such loads. Of course then comes the legality with insurance if there is an accident.

[Banshee]

Max capacity is for short periods only!? Does it explicitly state that in the manual?

[WranglerVirgin]

Originally Posted by humdingerslammer

My response... well, these people seem to have done little more than conspicuously spend their retirement funds, to purchase a "waiting to die" chair that now has wheels for them to move their equally as awful mobile dying stations: that is, their mega caravans.

Uuuuuh, that's harsh.... but very funny 😂 😂 😂

[humdingerslammer]

The V chassis bend seems to be a real problem with Triton utes that have been overloaded. I have seen many of them. It remains to be seen if the same problem will emerge with the "new" Pajero Sport which is built on the same Pajero chassis. I actually haven't seen this problem occurring to the same extent with other utes altho I guess it can.

What happens is... when overloaded and you hit a "jump up" of even just 1-2 cms high, usually on a dirt road, the front wheels r bought to a much slower speed as they instantaneously r forced to slow to get over the jump up. The rear wheels and overall vehicle momentum continues and the weakest point on the chassis gives way... the continuing momentum of the rear wheels and vehicle makes a V in the chassis as it presses against the non-yielding front end of the vehicle. All this happens in nano seconds.The extra weight that the chassis was not designed to carry, contributes to the downward force acting on the chassis itself.

I have no idea how this problem can be repaired. One guy was stuck in Kannawarritji on the CSR for 14 days waiting for parts that would fix the problem and doing some suss welding. I would have abandoned the ute... fired it, maybe. I saw the same problem in a Nissan ute at the Hells Gate Roadhouse up in NT a few years ago. The ute was loaded to hell, too, and you could not tell the driver that he was overloaded... poor him.

Cheers.

[Nanook]

Originally Posted by humdingerslammer

My response... well, these people seem to have done little more than conspicuously spend their retirement funds, to purchase a "waiting to die" chair that now has wheels for them to move their equally as awful mobile dying stations: that is, their mega caravans.

Reading that just reminded me of a month ago when I was at a camp site up near seal rocks. Just happened to be the weekend ex cyclone Debbie hits the North coast . Old mate rocks up in his Landcruiser with one of the biggest vans I have seen, this thing would have been $100k easy.

After 4-5 goes of trying to reverse it into position, the missus gets out to direct. After another couple of try's, he gets out and looks at the site, jumps back in and has another couple of tries.

In the end he ends up parking it parallel to his site across two spots and sets it up and that's where he stayed.

[humdingerslammer]

In the end he ends up parking it parallel to his site across two spots and sets it up and that's where he stayed.

And this is partly why it is getting harder and harder to get a spot in a caravan park.... also because they r getting rid of caravan sites and turning them into cabin space, for better financial return