2024 Jeep Wrangler Sport S on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Junkyard Gem: 1983 AM General postal Jeep DJ-5L

When neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night will stay you from your appointed rounds, you don't need fancy styling or futuristic technology. All you need is a simple steel box with four wheels, one seat (on the right-hand side), a mail-sorting tray, and an engine. The Jeep DJ was that vehicle, and DJs served as workhorses for the United States Postal Service starting in 1955 and — in some rural areas— into our current century. Here's one of the last ones made, found covered with snow in a Denver self-service wrecking yard. Related: Postal truck prototypes spied from Oshkosh and Karsan When American Motors bought Jeep in 1970, it built and sold DJs via its AM General subsidiary. The DJ-5 was a stripped-down, two-wheel-drive version of the pretty-spartan-to-start-with Jeep CJ, and there wasn't much to go wrong with it. The final year for the DJ-5 was 1984. During the AMC era, the DJ received an ever-shifting array of engines, depending on what looked like the best deal in Kenosha at a given time. Starting with the Chevrolet Nova straight-four, Jeep DJ engine compartments boasted AMC straight-sixes of 232- and 258-cubic-inch displacements, followed by Audi 2-liter straight-fours (yes, the same engine used by the Porsche 924), then the 2.5-liter GM Iron Duke four, and finally the 2.5-liter AMC straight-four. This DJ-5L has Duke power. The early DJs had manual transmissions, but all the AM General DJ-5s came with automatics. If you think an Iron Duke powering a Jeep is odd, consider that it's bolted to a Chrysler Torqueflite transmission. Once the USPS was done with them, cheap DJ-5s flooded the market. This one has had a random junkyard seat swap, but retains the handy mail-sorting tray. Featured Gallery Junked 1983 Jeep DJ-5L View 21 Photos Jeep Commercial Vehicles Classics amc mail truck

Jeep Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer, and pickup confirmed for production, all built in the US

Jeep has confirmed some much-anticipated future models: a new Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer as well as a pickup truck, which we expect to be based on the Wrangler. FCA has also announced where these new vehicles be produced, the investment involved, and that adding the models will create 2,000 American jobs. The Wagoneers will be built at FCA's Warren Truck Assembly Plant in Michigan, which currently produces the Ram 1500. The overhaul required to add the Jeeps will also set the plant up to build Ram Heavy Duty models, which are currently made in Mexico. (It's not clear whether this would be additional Heavy Duty capacity or a complete move of production of those trucks to the US.) The confirmed Jeep pickup will be built at the Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio as expected. This is the same plant that builds Wranglers today and will produce the new JL Wrangler that the pickup version is expected to use. View 30 Photos All of these factory upgrades are part of a $1 billion investment by FCA. The retooling is scheduled to be completed by 2020, which means these models are likely to come online for the 2021 model year, which jibes with the rumors that the Wagoneers have been delayed. That the large Jeeps will be built at the plant that currently produces Ram 1500s also leads us to believe that they will in fact use a version of the Ram truck platform instead of being built off the Grand Cherokee platform as originally planned. The timing of this announcement and its mention of Mexico and US jobs may have something to do with recent talk from President-elect Trump about US auto industry jobs and possible tariffs to be imposed on vehicles built across the border. Marchionne says these plans have been in discussion "for some time" but it's not clear what that timeframe was. Trump has targeted Ford, General Motors, and Toyota in recent tweets but has stayed quiet on FCA. While the announcement may have been political in nature, Jeep fans will no doubt welcome the news of the returning nameplates and the long-awaited pickup model. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2019 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Dealer Leak Spy Shots Jeep Crossover SUV Luxury Off-Road Vehicles jeep wrangler pickup

Why Mopar won't release a factory lift kit for the new Jeep Cherokee

The Jeep Cherokee Dakar concept showed off at the 2014 Easter Jeep Safari made a lot of online friends, even the Cherokee naysayers assenting that there's a monster Jeep underneath the Cherokee's skin if you're willing to go in and get it. But after reading Road & Track's write-up of what went into creating the Dakar, particularly its lift, you'll understand why you'll probably never see the components for it in the Jeep Performance Parts catalog.
The concept's press release mentions a "prototype Jeep Performance Parts lift kit, and additional suspension modifications." The short-story explanation is that the front struts on the standard Cherokee weren't engineered to accept any amount of lift, so the long story begins with the phrase, "an entirely new suspension." Head over to RT to read the details, and don't be afraid to ogle the Cherokee Dakar gallery and another awesome Jeep fancy that won't likely crawl over the hurdles imposed by production reality.