I am restarting my CJ project, now that there are funds, and thought I would ask how much difference is there on the trail between a well prepared CJ and a newer Jeep. I am partial to old CJ-5's (mine is a 74 and is solid), but not so partial that I want to pour a bunch of money into this one and get badly outperformed on the trail.

I am in AZ, so I am looking at desert wheeling. I want to be capable on the rocks, but not an all out rock crawler.

I am looking at putting in a tied in cage/seats/safety equipment. I want to keep my D20, driveline and axles, with a Terralow kit, 4.10's and a Detriot Locker in the 44 and a whatever that Detriot LS is up in the 30. 32 inch tires, a Ford 302 EFI (that I don't have yet, but easy to get here) hooked up to a NP435 (which I do have). Power steering, A/C, disk brakes. 2 1/2 inch spring lift and 1 inch body lift. Probably need to box at least part of the frame, fix wiring, stuff like that.

I am fairly new to desert wheeling (last time I had a CJ was when I lived in Iowa, and the only thing there is mud and snow), so I am not sure how this will do compared to something newer. All these mods won't be cheap, so I want to do this right the first time.

Whadayall think? Am I just being nostalgic for old CJ's. Should I be looking at one of those Jeeps with those funky square headlights and coils springs?

Something to consider is the little extra length the newer jeep will give you. The short WB of the 5 is great in the woods, but longer lengths is better in rocks, usually. Hands down, you will need to build a pretty serious machine to compete with a stock TJ. From what I have heard, the coils are that good. Plus, the newer it is the less likely you will nickel and dime yourself to death fixing all the little thins.

this is just my $0.02.

Good Luck!

Enjoying Montana's Big Sky

Some things you might need to know:

CJ - leaf springs and round headlights
YJ - leaf springs and square headlights
TJ - coil springs and round headlights

The only thing with "funky square headlights and coil springs" would be the XJ (Cherokee) - leafs/rear coils/front square headlights.
"It's a Jeep thing... and I DO understand"