What do YOU do to make your Gladiator last forever.

[DanW]

Beyond meticulous maintenance, with top quality oils, gear lube, filters, etc, I do the following to my JL Wrangler:

• Wash thoroughly after every off-road trip
• Undercarriage was frequently in the winter to remove road salt
• Turtle Wax Ice Hybrid Solutions Ceramic or Seal N Shine about 4 times per year
• Hand was with cotton microfiber only. No touch auto car washes, ever.
• Every Fall, Rustoleum Rust Reformer underneath on even the tiniest spots of surface rust, on welds, seams, etc, then Fluid Film inside the frame rails and in suspension/body nooks and crannies.
• Every Spring, Rustoleum again.
• Keep engine compartment clean--Mild car was soap lightly sprayed on and low pressure water to rinse off.

I've got a 2008 Jeep JK Wrangler Rubi with 149k miles on it and it looks and runs like new, in spite of many Indiana winters bathed in road salt and many off-road trips. It is in such good shape I could not begin to guess when it will ultimately meet its demise. I developed the care plan/process above on this Jeep. There isn't any rust anywhere on or under it. I did replace the rock sliders. They did rust, from the inside. The replacement set had no rust, so I had them sprayed with Line-X. They are now sealed, so they should do better than the originals.

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[bring44]

Change the oil.

 

[andrew8404]

Ohhh touched a nerve did I? Someone else apparently financed for 84 months. Great financial move!

yup 3% for 84 months and I’m debit free! So my financial decisions must be pretty good since along with the truck I have a house also. what a douchebag.

 

[metalry101]

How do you guys wash your Jeeps in the winter if you don't go to car washes?

 

[eaglerugby04]

That is actually not true. Think about people that don't actually have a right leg.
My father in-law actually drives left foot brake right foot gas which I never knew.
Anyways once getting on a freeway/ highway the Adaptive Cruise Control is a God send.

Come to think of it, I just kind of trusted the doctor on that one. Never have owned anything with ACC though, that has got to be awesome in this instance.

 

[Blade1668]

Keep up maintenance, change fluids to include brakes power steering, transmission, axles, transfer case and don't forget the coolant. Why do you think vehicle manual don't have a service for transmission? They want to sell another vehicle. I flushed out p.s. and brakes fluids every two years or so in most of my Jeeps in past, Transmission too.
Don't leave out in sun if you can but don't park under trees too. The latter damaged the paint probably worse than the sun on my LJ and RV. Fix scratches as soon as found. Watch around any hinges, trim pieces in or on metal for rust. Frame ends, bends or wherever mud can collect flush the mud out of the frame. On the exposed plastic if black use protection stuff on it, I've found tire wet works good on my LJ plastic. But collects dust mud slides off. But the plastic is like a fishing sinker and hooks.... expendables with about 10 plus year life. Good regular washing and waxing painted surfaces. My MJ spent first 4 years being washed and waxed almost every week (oh I miss them days of having unlimited time to kill), LJ was once a month average if I had time but rained on often even without top and doors, it's a time management thing now. JT it's been washed and waxed a few times.

 

[Mark Doiron]

I'm not catching your point ...

At the risk of getting too far afield for a Jeep Gladiator forum, I'll try to be more clear. Regarding your example of financing your house to gain leverage for your "investment". As I wrote above, it's not a terribly good investment because you need a place to live. Yes, you can make money when you sell it to downsize and take advantage of the one-time tax exemption on the capital gains for those over 55.

But, suppose you pay cash for the house with that money you have? Then finance another house across the street. And rent that one out. Now you have the same leverage, a potential income stream, and considerable tax advantages. One hundred percent of the financing cost is tax deductible--no upper limit. And exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes. The home is depreciable, allowing you even more exemptions on your income. The cost you pay to maintain the home is one hundred percent tax deductible. When you drive to pick up that washer for the leaky faucet, not only is the washer tax deductible, but you can declare mileage expense for your vehicle. You can use the profit (income) you make to make Roth IRA contributions that will be tax exempt when you retire. If you exceed the Roth limits, use a backdoor Roth (The IRS has deemed that legal). Or, you can opt for a 401K. I could go on and on about why financing personal things vice using your available credit for business investment is a poor idea. But I hope that you begin to see my point now.

 

[FoxForce4]

At the risk of getting too far afield for a Jeep Gladiator forum, I'll try to be more clear. Regarding your example of financing your house to gain leverage for your "investment". As I wrote above, it's not a terribly good investment because you need a place to live. Yes, you can make money when you sell it to downsize and take advantage of the one-time tax exemption on the capital gains for those over 55.

But, suppose you pay cash for the house with that money you have? Then finance another house across the street. And rent that one out. Now you have the same leverage, a potential income stream, and considerable tax advantages. One hundred percent of the financing cost is tax deductible--no upper limit. And exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes. The home is depreciable, allowing you even more exemptions on your income. The cost you pay to maintain the home is one hundred percent tax deductible. When you drive to pick up that washer for the leaky faucet, not only is the washer tax deductible, but you can declare mileage expense for your vehicle. You can use the profit (income) you make to make Roth IRA contributions that will be tax exempt when you retire. If you exceed the Roth limits, use a backdoor Roth (The IRS has deemed that legal). Or, you can opt for a 401K. I could go on and on about why financing personal things vice using your available credit for business investment is a poor idea. But I hope that you begin to see my point now.

No arguing we could come up with limitless scenarios stringing together assumptions. We're arguing the same thing- capital efficiency for both sides of the balance sheet.

Without externalities, is there a reason for someone who can afford to pay cash to do so if they can finance below their ER over the term?

 

[WaterDR]

Ohhh touched a nerve did I? Someone else apparently financed for 84 months. Great financial move!

Irony is when someone who bought a new 50k car and paid cash tells someone else who bought one and financed for 84 months that they are a moron. Why? Because no smart financial person would buy a new $50k car and pay cash. A smart person would buy a used one

I put a larger sun of money down on mine. Financed the rest for 84 months. The shares of stock I was going to sell and pay it off have since gone up over 30%.

I was lucky, but I’ll claim smart.
But I just got a 30% additional discount on my Jeep.

 

[AmishMike]

As many others have said, wash often especially in the winter or after off roading, make sure to do an undercarriage wash. Most car washes have an undercarriage spray but for home, we bought a 'J' shaped wand that is for cleaning gutters out and it works great underneath. I also black spray paint every cut and scrape under the truck.
Keep up with your maintenance, it truly is a case of 'Pay me now or pay me later'. Preventative maintenance also keep those wheels turning.
Enjoy if for what it is and know it's limits, just because it can do somethings doesn't mean it should do them all the time. Whether that is heavy hauling or rock crawling or whatever, the more time it spends working closer to it's limits the less time it will work.
I agree with letting a vehicle warm up, I let my coffee cup in overnight then start the truck when I go get it. By time I wash the cup, pour my coffee, kiss the wife, pat the dog etc. my truck has warmed up.

But the best way to make a vehicle last is to make memories with it!

 

[MojaveBart]

It's interesting to me how people are putting words in my mouth that I never said. I never called the OP a moron. (Well the post you quoted, the person posting was just getting defensive and obviously had no smart financial plan).

My point is that MOST people that choose a long term finance plan do it simply because it's the only way they can afford the vehicle they want. That's exactly why Finance companies also offer such long terms. It's not so people can invest the money they aren't spending on a car loan. And in MOST cases an 84 month term is at a higher interest rate than 36 months.

If someone has a solid financial like one of the other posts above regarding investing money and how the investment will out-pace the interest. AWESOME! That is a smart person. But again, most people that choose 84 months have NO such plan.

I hear ya, but lets be honest. The people that are using what they saved in loan payments for an investment are far and few inbetween...

Irony is when someone who bought a new 50k car and paid cash tells someone else who bought one and financed for 84 months that they are a moron. Why? Because no smart financial person would buy a new $50k car and pay cash. A smart person would buy a used one

I put a larger sun of money down on mine. Financed the rest for 84 months. The shares of stock I was going to sell and pay it off have since gone up over 30%.

I was lucky, but I’ll claim smart.
But I just got a 30% additional discount on my Jeep.

 

[MojaveBart]

Yeah, I'm a douche and any horrible name you can call me. It doesn't phase me. Keep them coming if you think it hurts my feelings and if it makes you feel superior or helps you feel better about your financial decision.

You don't need to justify to me that you own a house and in 84 months you'll be debt free. I'm not your SO.

yup 3% for 84 months and I’m debit free! So my financial decisions must be pretty good since along with the truck I have a house also. what a douchebag.

 

[NCLife]

I’m the last guy to give advice on keeping a car forever, as I’m a serial car flipper. However, I do have advice because I know few things about cars. Change your oil after the first 1k miles. Change the differential fluid front and rear after 5-10k miles. The differential fluid will be far from spent, but on my 19 JLUR, I found serious metal shavings in the front differential the first time I changed it. Not from wear but poor quality control, they were from milling something. They were like metal coils. My original thread from there - https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/front-diff-metal-“coil”-shavings.43994/#post-969970

 

[WaterDR]

Irony is when someone who bought a new 50k car and paid cash tells someone else who bought one and financed for 84 months that they are a moron. Why? Because no smart financial person would buy a new $50k car and pay cash. A smart person would buy a used one

I put a larger sun of money down on mine. Financed the rest for 84 months. The shares of stock I was going to sell and pay it off have since gone up over 30%.

I was lucky, but I’ll claim smart.
But I just got a 30% additional discount on my Jeep.

I think the problem is with 84 month lending is that it has become a tool for those who should NOT be buying a 50k car, to be able to do it in most cases.

It's interesting to me how people are putting words in my mouth that I never said. I never called the OP a moron. (Well the post you quoted, the person posting was just getting defensive and obviously had no smart financial plan).

My point is that MOST people that choose a long term finance plan do it simply because it's the only way they can afford the vehicle they want. That's exactly why Finance companies also offer such long terms. It's not so people can invest the money they aren't spending on a car loan. And in MOST cases an 84 month term is at a higher interest rate than 36 months.

If someone has a solid financial like one of the other posts above regarding investing money and how the investment will out-pace the interest. AWESOME! That is a smart person. But again, most people that choose 84 months have NO such plan.

I hear ya, but lets be honest. The people that are using what they saved in loan payments for an investment are far and few inbetween...

You nailed it!

 

[DanW]

NIce to see us slowly getting back on topic. We're all friends here with much in common, so let's not forget that.

My warm-up routine is to start it up, plug in my phone, adjust a few things, mainly music or nav, then drive gently until the oil temp reaches into the 180s. Idling isn't great for an engine, as the timing chain and other parts are not riding on a layer of oil until higher RPM. In the Pentastar, it is about 1550 before the timing chain has no metal/metal contact. So warming up will be quicker and cause less wear when it is operating.

But, Pentastars are popular cop engines now and they idle constantly. I see them with many miles on them, so it may not be as big a difference as it sounds. But the ones I've seen with 300k plus on them are not cop cars, either.

If it were a DI engine, then no way would I sit and idle much. They already suffer from fuel dilution more than non-DI engines. Idling makes that worse. I've seen oil from Ecoboost engines that idle alot where you can smell the fuel in the oil on the dip stick. Yikes!

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