4 door Rubicon vs. 80 (1 Viewer)

[Summiteer]

I'm sorry but I've out crawled many Rubicons. The JK is a capable truck but it has many weak points and some serious front suspension design issues (ie track bar issues). The quality is just not comparable to the 80'support durability.

Quality's not even close I'll give you that. As for an 80 out crawling a jk... only if the jk has a poor driver. stock vs stock the rubicon is lighter, lower geared, better flex, better approach and departure angles, lower center of gravity. I'm not sure if the 80 has any advantages over the jk when it comes to 4wheeling. Love my 80, but got to give this one to the Jeep.

 

[ChiTown]

I was bone stock at the time. The longer wheelbase and wider stance of the 80 makes it a lot easier to traverse a lot of obstacles compared to the JKU. The rubicon stock only allows you to engage the lockers and the electronic sway bar disconnect in 4 low and below a certain speed which sucks when you need some wheel spin because the lockers will disengage on you.

Now I have OME mediums and shocks with 33's and I pretty much follow my buddies in JK's on 37's any where they go.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

I was bone stock at the time. The longer wheelbase and wider stance of the 80 makes it a lot easier to traverse a lot of obstacles compared to the JKU. The rubicon stock only allows you to engage the lockers and the electronic sway bar disconnect in 4 low and below a certain speed which sucks when you need some wheel spin because the lockers will disengage on you.

Now I have OME mediums and shocks with 33's and I pretty much follow my buddies in JK's on 37's any where they go.

FYI the front track is less than an inch difference (61.9 vs 62.8) and a little over a inch in the rear (61.9 vs 63) JKU vs 80

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

I was bone stock at the time. The longer wheelbase and wider stance of the 80 makes it a lot easier to traverse a lot of obstacles compared to the JKU. The rubicon stock only allows you to engage the lockers and the electronic sway bar disconnect in 4 low and below a certain speed which sucks when you need some wheel spin because the lockers will disengage on you.

Now I have OME mediums and shocks with 33's and I pretty much follow my buddies in JK's on 37's any where they go.

JKU's have a longer wheelbase than 80-series. 116" vs 112". That could be an advantage or disadvantage for either depending on the obstacle. Also, any JK running larger than 33" tires is also running 1.5" wheel spacers or offset wheels. So actually the JKU has a wider track width of 65".

I think the locker settings in the Jeep are hackable. Most times that you'd want to be locked and have wheel spin, it'd probably result in digging a hole. Unless maybe at speed in sand dunes. But the 80-series won't even let you lock the center diff in hi without a modification. I think they're both similar in this regard.

As far as anecdotal evidence goes, I followed my friend with an 80 on 37s everywhere he went with a JKUR on 31s with the same 2.5" lift. But that was mostly due to his awesome spotting. Driver and spotter skills definitely make up for a lot. But I'm sure him behind the wheel of my JKUR built around 37s could go places he can't go in his 80 without body damage.

Another advantage the Jeep has, is just a narrower body. You have basically free, replaceable plastic fenders or bumpers everywhere that would make contact with boulders. Which inspires a little more confidence than watching your Japanese galvanized steel body panels brushing up against a rock.

But as everyone has echoed, they're different trucks for different uses. An 80 can hold 45% more weight and is probably only 10-20% less capable. So if you want the most capable stock vehicle and can keep gear passengers and mods under 1000lbs, the Jeep is the way to go. If you need to carry more weight than that, the 80 is the way to go.

But we're not mentioning other things. An older 80 is going to require more maintenance and more expensive parts. It takes more money and weight to modify. It was designed in the late 80s, so it's not as safe and lacks modern safety features like collapsible pedals, side airbags, ESC, etc. But most of us enthusiasts don't care about that stuff. It also gets better gas mileage, is faster, more fun to drive. But you can't make up for that build quality difference. Any of us would be fine in either.

 

[Dragos80]

I got the final answer.

You don't see any respectable ISIS fighter driving around in a Jeep.

 

[wearsabrowncoat]

I got the final answer.

You don't see any respectable ISIS fighter driving around in a Jeep.

True. They prefer prepubescent boys.

 

[Flank]

I got the final answer.

You don't see any respectable ISIS fighter driving around in a Jeep.

Yeah. I wouldn't be so pissed if the USA State Department hadn't paid for all of the all of the shiny new Toyota Trucks that ISIS is driving around in. Thanks, Hillary. Thanks Kerry. Good move.

 

[PDoyle]

Well i just joined a washington state county sar unit two days ago. Give me a year and ill tell you how everyone elses jeep fares vs. My 200k mile 80. The first things i heard at the beginning of the meeting "...does anyone have a rear end for a tj for sale?"

It's been a year what are your findings?

 

[Jason hansen]

Most of the rubicons I see in moab that get wheeled a lot have bent front axels. A lot of guys complain about the new v6 overheating. But that doesn't stop the masses of jk's rolling into town every spring, masses of rich people with over 70k into there rigs. I guess that's how much you have to spend to make them wheel good.