I used up all my curse words yesterday

[jimmbo]

I have to pull the intake on my truck to do 1 bank of plugs.

Same goes for my XT5, the Intake has to come to get at any of them. The Auto Steelerships leaned on GM to make Cars/Truck that not DIY friendly, forcing you to take it to a Shop, hoping you will take it to the Stealership. Nothing like a $1500 dollar bill to change the Plugs, $1200 to replace a Thermostat(in my STS, the engine-transmission pretty much had to be dropped as the Stat Housing was jammed in between the Engine and the Firewall. Didn't replace it as in 8 yrs It only leaked about 7 liters of 50/50)

 

[Pmt133]

Same goes for my XT5, the Intake has to come to get at any of them. The Auto Steelerships leaned on GM to make Cars/Truck that not DIY friendly, forcing you to take it to a Shop, hoping you will take it to the Stealership. Nothing like a $1500 dollar bill to change the Plugs, $1200 to replace a Thermostat(in my STS, the engine-transmission pretty much had to be dropped as the Stat Housing was jammed in between the Engine and the Firewall. Didn't replace it as in 8 yrs It only leaked about 7 liters of 50/50)View attachment 408184

Same 3.6 more or less. Job only takes an hour, not too bad. I've had... well much much worse. Obviously different in a rwd vehicle. There's good access

 

[racerone]

All part of people good with computer aided design.----They are good with a computer , but are not experienced automotive mechanics.-----The job is to make / design parts that are assembled by ROBOTS at a parts supplier.-----Then assembled / snapped together at an assembly line.----There is no thought / button on the computer with the " caution someone might need to repair this " function.-----My 1940 Plymouth and 1938 Plymouth coupe had real / working bumpers.----Fenders that where replaced by removing 10 bolts.------Even a minor collision these days results in an insurance write off / RIPOFF.

 

[aspeck]

When we owned our car dealership we would say that the engineers and designers stayed up all night smoking dope and coming up with ideas to frustrate the mechanics that would have to work on said vehicles.

 

[Lou C]

This is one reason I kept my old ‘98 Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 straight six. One of the easiest to work on engines ever built. Also changing shocks on the Jeep live axle suspension is far easier than modern 4x4 designs with coil over shock IFS designs….

 

[jimmbo]

Same 3.6 more or less. Job only takes an hour, not too bad. I've had... well much much worse. Obviously different in a rwd vehicle. There's good access

The 3.6 in the XT5 is a completely different engine than the 3.6 in the STS, even the displacement is considerably different

 

[Pmt133]

The 3.6 in the XT5 is a completely different engine than the 3.6 in the STS, even the displacement is considerably different

No I meant the XT5 engine is the same more or less as my truck lol. Those high feature 3.6 (the one in the sts) were the ones known for timing chain issues if memory serves. Completely different architecture.

 

[Lou C]

AMC/Chrysler/Jeep inline 6, simple like nothing else...

New Venture Gear NV 242, shift it yourself 4x4 that gives you 2wd, 4x4 part time, 4x4 full time and 4x4 low, with no modules, no actuators, etc. all it requires is an educated driver lol


Jeep solid axle suspension, easy shock changes, no King Kong spring compressor needed, also has grease fittings!
If I could keep driving these for the rest of my driving days, I'll be a happy guy.
Devil take the modern vehicles!

 

[Pmt133]

View attachment 408198
AMC/Chrysler/Jeep inline 6, simple like nothing else...View attachment 408199

New Venture Gear NV 242, shift it yourself 4x4 that gives you 2wd, 4x4 part time, 4x4 full time and 4x4 low, with no modules, no actuators, etc. all it requires is an educated driver lol
View attachment 408200

Jeep solid axle suspension, easy shock changes, no King Kong spring compressor needed, also has grease fittings!
If I could keep driving these for the rest of my driving days, I'll be a happy guy.
Devil take the modern vehicles!

I'll trade your solid front axle with a torsion bar IFS. Otherwise yeah. Those I6s are damn near bullet proof.

 

[Lou C]

The advantage of solid front axle vs torsion bars is longer suspension travel. But yeah the torsion bar set up probably rides better and shocks are easy to change. I also love the shift it yourself transfer case on the Jeeps. Over the years o have seen a few 4x4s on the beach stuck because the actuator failed. Even on Toyotas!

 

[Pmt133]

Yeah. 90% of my time is on road so I'd prefer the ride. Service between the two is about the same otherwise. I've pulled a lot of guys out of the sand on the outer banks in 2wd even though they had 4wd. The driver mod is real and most people can't drive as luck would have it.

 

[Lou C]

And real beach drivers know how to air down….12-10 psi and never get stuck as long as not high centered…

 

[Pmt133]

Hard for the average mall crawler to air down a rubber band for a tire.

 

[Lou C]

I think 55/50 series tires on trucks are just silly!

 

[airshot]

Know we understand how "tune ups" went from $59.95 back in the 70-80's up to 249.95 plus another hundred or two for parts, in today's market...Had to replace a radiator in my Jeep.. ( yep plastic). Took 8 hours to remove damn near the whole front end to get the radiator out ! Radiator was under 300 bucks, but labor....ouch !!

 

[dingbat]

And real beach drivers know how to air down….12-10 psi and never get stuck as long as not high centered…

I air down to 20 psi and call it good. No need to go lower if you know what you’re doing.