traitor to my Frontera

[darkwolfe]

HI guys

Despite being pleased with the ability of my Frontera I'm often left with one front wheel in the air losing drive, damn IFS! So I thought i'd look at some other trucks with live front axles, suzuki (no power), green oval (natural aversion), nissan patrol, landcruiser (too expensive) so I settled on looking for a cheap jeep.

This came up on ebay as spares or repairs with immobiliser problems. I didn't bother to go and look as i'd set my limit at £300 and if i didn't get it for that it was going to be too much, as luck would have it I got it for £300 and I'd already found out the local scrappers would have given me nearly that for it, so for sure it was worth a punt.

Once on my drive, tried to charge the battery but it was having non of it, so pulled the one of the fronty and it fired right up, seems the main problem was a totally dead battery. There was also another slight problem with the gearbox starter inhibitor, which is supposed to prevent starting when in anything other than neutral or drive, cleaned the contacts on that and now it's a reliable starter. Even better, considering it had been off the road for nearly 2 years, I put it through an MOT 2 days later and it passed with no advisories!

Total total result.

The tyres were good on it but a little small, so I just had my old AT's put on today, I've cleaned and sprayed one wheel just need to do the rest.

I'm still going to keep the fronty and see how the jeep does in comparision off road, wonder which will win?
live front axle VS IFS
4.0 197bhp vs 2.0 113bhp
automatic VS manual

they're quite different, here's some pics taken today, sorry thought to do it just before it got dark.






thought i'd put a picture of my fronty too so it doesn't seem like i've totally gone off the rails


the tyres you see in this pic are now the ones on the jeep, the frontera now has some full on 31 muds

[BoxCleva]

As you say, complete bargain!
The fuel consumption between that and my 2.0 sport probably aren't much different

[darkwolfe]

my frontera, which is a 2.0 x20xe, is high 20s, maybe even 30. This little monster seems to do low 20s or high teens but as it's used only as a toy it's not going to be too much of an issue.

As a side note it came with a full tank of petrol, 2 years old mind but it seems to run well on it.

[BoxCleva]

You just need to find a £20 note down the back of one of the seats now and it's the best buy of the year!

Oh and leaf sprung sport does about 20mpg.

[darkwolfe]

unfortunately no £20 note, but there was a spare set of rims and tyres in the boot, might get £20 or so for them, does that count????

[gregster]

If they are alloys you will get more than £20 for them all as scrap alley mate...and if the tyres are legal, popular size with good tread they can make £15-20 each on ebay...

[Jonesie]

Must admit i quite like the cherokee, but the fronty wins in the looks department. At that price your laughing though! Bargain

[justdan]

BARGAIN .......... well done matey

[Drift]

What a bargain
This is my mate Geds old truck, get modding

[king of the kitchen]

result,,,i have had 2 jeeps in the past and the 4lt is a great smooth engine and with the auto its a joy to drive i like em,,,,,
well done you jammy git,,,,,,,,,

[darkwolfe]

Amazed it was so easy to get going especially as the guy i bought it off was an electrical maintenance engineer for aircraft. It took him nearly 2 years to get to the point where he decided it could not be got going, I have to think I woulld be very worried to fly on any plane this guy worked on if he couldn't determine the car had a flat battery.

My fronty was pretty cheap too, when i got that I paid £150 but that was about 18months ago now, however I have spent some serious money on it since with the winch n bumper, 31 muddies, about £700 combined.........£20 paint job and £20 snorkel though

[mega-fronty]

ere you go wolfie
now spend some pennies on it lol
http://aliensnorkels.co.uk./2.html

[4x4 bobby]

Got to say thats a realy nice looking Jeep, well done mate.

[darkwolfe]

I feel the pennies disapearing as I start to think about options

snorkel
bushwacker arches
4.5 lift kit
33 tyres with modulars
winch bumper...winch
re-gear'd diffs, bigger axles

[mid77]

Nice looking car mate, and a nice bargain to boot. I was looking at them myself, and very curious to hear your thoughts.

There are a lot of stories floating around (and a couple of photos online) of Jeeps bursting into flames which are usually blamed on a severely overheating auto gearbox. Not sure of the truth of it but a lot of guys here talk about beefing up the cooling on those boxes just in case.

[gregster]

Nice Jeep mate, and a bargain too!!!

Gutted I missed this one for the price!!!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Monster-Truck-Jeep-Offroader-/170615355330?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item27b977b7c2

[Smithy501]

i here u i sold mine and it goes saturday and i missing it even before it goes bugger

[furball]

I thought about getting one of those before I settled on the Fronty. One of the guys at my airsoft club has one but doesn't use it off-road as it aparently eats diffs

[mrdelmonti]

I know of a few people that offroad them but I've never heard of them having problems with eating diffs I do know that a lot of people don't like how they handle in boggy mud though, they just don't seem too nimble, but then what can you expect from a big old yank tank