Jeep: Wrangler on 2040-cars

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2018 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Alaska Cannonball | 14,000 miles to Deadhorse and back

I've never delayed big adventure long enough to fill a bucket. But I do have a bucket item that dates to 1992: drive from Deadhorse, Alaska, to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Twenty-six years later, it's time. But first, I needed a vehicle. And a Jeep Wrangler was not my first choice. Growing up as a kid in the Midwest, I loved Jeeps. But around 10 years ago I went on a camping trip to Death Valley with a colleague, testing the early JK Wrangler against the competition. By the end of it, I couldn't justify the ergonomic and physical punishment for the admittedly massive capability. So two years ago, I bought a 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser project truck to make the journey. I paid too much, and the Cruiser revealed itself to be not a garage project, but the Manhattan Project. I took this as a good omen. Adventure begins in the deep end, so why wait to get there? During a break from discovering enough gremlins to reboot the movie franchise, I had dinner with Jeep's West Coast PR guy. I mentioned my plans for a six-month overlanding trek to Alaska. He said, "You know, we've got a new Wrangler coming out — that might be a good test of the chassis." My outside voice said, "That would be interesting." My inside voice said, "Hmmm." Anything's possible after 10 years, right? I might like it. Might. Many plans have gone awry on the way to this moment. It's taken more than a year to lock in a start date, because Jeep couldn't spare a Wrangler Rubicon. Everyone else in America keeps buying them. A suitable Wrangler was found eventually, but now the deed had to be done in three months, not six. What was going to be a comfortably-paced, backwoods roll up to Alaska and back has turned into the Rubicon Overland Cannonball. I know 14 weeks is plenty of time to drive to the Arctic and back. (Tierra del Fuego is officially off the itinerary.) However, the point of this trip is to fit in as much dirt, as many bucket-list trails, and all the wild America possible. That means my route's about 14,000 convoluted miles of criss-crossing the country in all the cardinal directions. And that's assuming everything goes to plan. Until last week, I was doing this trip with a friend from college who lives in Marietta, Georgia. He was the photo/video guy. Then he had a medical emergency, so the only trip he's taking is to the OR and rehab. Now I'm going by myself, and I think it's important to point out that I have no idea what I'm doing. That isn't modesty, that's truth: zero clue.

Jeep readying 2018 and 2019 Wrangler recall for bad frame welds

According to documents posted to the JL Wrangler Forums, Jeep is readying a recall for an unknown number of 2018 and 2019 model-year Wrangler SUVs. The issue revolves around the track bar mount, which on some vehicles is shearing off where it is welded to the frame. Since some affected vehicles may be unsold on dealer lots, the automaker has issued a corresponding stop sale. A Jeep spokesperson confirmed to CNET that there have been no reported accidents related to the issue, and Jalopnik reports that Jeep will inspect roughly 18,000 vehicles for the defect, though it believes only around 720 will be affected. As of the time this story was published, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had not yet posted this recall to its website. There have been a total of five recalls for the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, including one for a steering shaft that could separate due to improper welding. One 2018 Jeep Wrangler owner in North Carolina posted a video to YouTube, seen above, showing track bar mounts that have completely sheared away from the vehicle's frame. These broken welds may cause severe steering degradation and "can cause a vehicle crash without prior warning," according to a dealer notice that was posted to the JL Wrangler Forum. That owner has said Jeep is replacing his Wrangler, but it's not clear if other vehicles are being replaced or repaired. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Build a Jeep Gladiator 392 next? The Hummer H3T Alpha blazed the trail

The 2021 Wrangler Rubicon 392 will combine the go-anywhere capability of a Jeep's iconic off-roader with the grunt of a V8 for the first time in decades. As cool as that is, we can't help but think Jeep is missing out on a huge opportunity to pair that 470-horsepower, 6.4-liter Hemi V8 with the Wrangler's pickup cousin, the Jeep Gladiator, in the form of a Mojave 392.  Autoblog took part in a media Q&A session with Jeep ahead of the Rubicon 392's announcement in which the company's product higher-ups said that there are currently no official plans to build a 392 variant of the Gladiator pickup. But whether or not Jeep has plans, it certainly has precedent, and from our perspective, a market.  Rewind to 2008, better known as one of the worst possible years to introduce a gas-guzzling, V8-powered pickup truck. Enter the 2009 Hummer H3T Alpha, the first variant of Hummer's midsize truck/SUV hybrid to be offered with a 5.3-liter V8. The 300-horsepower small-block was an upgrade to the sturdy but relatively uninspiring 3.7-liter inline-5 that the H3 lineup had inherited from its midsize pickup platform mates.  As our Jeremy Korzeniewski noted in the Rubicon 392's introductory piece, an open-top Jeep has not been offered with an optional V8 for as long as the "Wrangler" nameplate has existed. The last Jeep 4x4 to do so was still a CJ, or civilian Jeep, and the 304 cubic-inch engine came from American Motors Corporation. Incidentally, this generation of the Wrangler is also the first to be offered in a pickup variant. Cue the beard-stroking.  Now, frankly, it's not even remotely fair to compare the H3T's powertrain offerings to the decade-newer Gladiator's, but the Hummer actually boasts a few advantages over Jeep's modern pickup. While most of the Jeep's off-road specs give it an edge, the Gladiator doesn't come close to the H3T's 30.1-degree departure angle, for instance. And in more practical terms, the stubbier H3T has other maneuverability advantages. The Gladiator has 3" of wheelbase and 5" of overall length on the H3T, and a 22.4-foot turning radius to show for it. The Hummer's? Just 18.5'.