Roaming the Eastern Sierra Nevada Caldera

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
Thanks for your feedback. I was thinking this hard side forum has become pretty dormant.
judge, I've owned three XJ's, mostly as winter cars or daily drives, but our 1999 looks very similar to yours and has a 2"/3" lift, 3.73's, front HP D-30 w/Detroit True Trac, AW-4, NP242 (with optional full time feature for snow), D-35 hardened axle rear with trashloc. With 121K miles, it's worth about what I paid for it 9 years ago.
It's still a great machine and with the Dunlop traction tires and L.S.'s, front and rear, THE best snow car I've ever owned, and I've owned 14, 4WD's. jefe
 

grogie

Like to Camp
Looks like you're out living the dream! Nice!

About XJs... still to this day I regret not buying a new one. I'd still own it!
 

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
Yeah, Grogie, we've owned 3 of them, not one was brand new. We always picked up one that was a few years old for a pittance. On one 'Greatest 20 vehicles of all time' list, the lowly Jeep XJ, not-so-grand Cherokee still appears. I rolled my '90 XJ (Renix injection) in Telluride CO about 1995, 125 feet off a cliff destroying the car. It took 2 tow trucks and lots of extra cable and a couple snatch blocks to get it back up to the road the next day. Of the 12 glass windows in the car, only the drivers door main glass and wind wing were not shattered. The unibody structure held up fine. It was like a piece of tin foil rolled into a ball. Not one square foot of sheet metal was unscathed. I was going down the dirt road @ about 25 mph between Ophir and Vance Jct. to meet some narrow gauge railroad fans about 10 p.m. I'd been down this road before, but this time there was some terrible, make that the worst, washboard just before a dog leg turn. Big 'ol whoops. As I went in the rear axle started to hop violently (it needed new rear shocks and I was set to replace them after this trip) and the rear end sliding ever so close to the cliff, so I feathered the brakes and turned into the slide to no avail. The first roll was an endo (the rear of the jeep came over your head) when the front end went over smashing and shattering the upside down fiberglass tailgate into an Aspen sapling. After a millisecond delay we started the first of 4 chaotic barrel rolls down the sheer incline. First roll was fairly slow and you knew with each subsequent roll when you were upside down as all your weight was hanging momentairly on the seatbelt. The tempo picked up and by the time I hit a small shelf (a 19th c. irrigation ditch) I was on the drivers side and picking moon roof glass from my scalp. That procedure lasted 6 months. I crawled, literally on hands and knees back to the road and saw a light on about a mile away which was a small cabin. I knocked on the door and pleaded my predicament and the lady called the infirmary in Telluride to see if any one was on duty. I finally made it to Telluride by 3 a.m. The doctor, who was there as a ski bum and bone break specialist asked me if I ever thought I was going to die at any time during the ordeal. No, says I. Good, says he. After a quick X-ray my 3rd vertebrae was cracked so he gave me a brace and told me to walk down to the hotel and get a room as he was going home.
 

grogie

Like to Camp
^First, about five years ago I was looking at used XJs here in the midwest and let me tell you that most of them were well worn out. The best one I found was a 4x2 from Florida that had been garaged kept. I was devastated when I looked underneath and saw no transfer case...

And wow! What a story about your roll! I've been on that road and I know where you're talking about. Yeah, a washboard dirt road and it's easy to lose control. Glad to hear you made it! I couldn't image how long you could have been down there if you hadn't been able to walk out? Scary...

And that was a nice doctor you had. :)
 

grogie

Like to Camp
P.S. I love this picture. I can feel it... :)

DSCN0758_zpsweuizrfo.jpg
 

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