That's why I like having a job where I can clean up using the shop pressure washer LOL. I jack it up as high as I can, take off the wheels, and basically get everything clean enough to eat off, including flushing out the inside of the frame. On my older ones I'd pull the drums off the rear brakes and clean in there as well - I did a rear brake job about once a month because mud just ground everything down. At least the axle vents & such are extended on Jeeps, because back in the day it wasn't uncommon to have to drain and refill the axles, transmission, and transfer case if water got in through the vents.

Rubicons are a good start, nothing is really ultra-strong but for most people it's more than adequate. Jeep is the one maker that still seems to be willing to cater to the off-roaders more than the soccer moms.

I had a really neat Land Cruiser that I bought from a guy that was leaving when I was in Iceland. The thing had an altimeter in it!

I was always afraid to really take it off road, but I did drive it right onto the beach a number of times. It worked well in the sand and on the lava rocks.

Now my off road car is a Subaru Impreza.

The Land Rover. When driving a "sports utility vehicle" still meant actually going off-road and into difficult terrain. Instead of mom driving the kids to school in a 250 HP, 2.5 ton family van thingie with multi-media suite and parking assistance.

BTW great pics, toonces!

Make that about 300hp with a multimedia suite and forward looking radar



And yeah it rains here in Belgium too, just like back home in Scotland

Interesting take on the development of the 4x4 in 'James may's Cars of the People' TV series, if you can see it;
BBC iPlayer

Thanks BD-123,
I'll give it a watch when I'm back home this weekend

I wish we had access to the Toyotas, Mitsus and Nissans much of the rest of the world has. Basic but tough and reliable SUVs.

There was much outcry when Toyota brought out the FJ100 series in 1999 because they used independent suspension and changed from the 6 stud wheel hubs to 5 stud, the disquiet was mainly in the outback of Australia when FJ100s were stripping the front diff as it wasn't as strong as the previous one.

Within a few months Toyota brought out a FJ105 which was basically the 100 series but back to the 6 stud wheels and beam axle, They had the benefit of the bigger turbo and intercooler on the turbo diesel and the electronic gizmos of the FJ100 with the strength and reliability of the older FJ80. It was only available on the Australian market and to special order.

I had one of the last models of the FJ80s which had the bigger turbo but still the older smaller intercooler, and without a lot of the fancy gimmicks like lazy entry, electrically adjustable steering wheel etc. etc. Sat nav was not an option on the FJ80 I had but it was on the FJ100, I used a Garmin 45XL and an interface to connect to my Psion organiser 3 and Microsoft's AutoRoute with a hack that allowed the GPS position to be updated real time.