To Daily or not to Daily

[HOrnbrod]

4 minutes ago, Skorpyo said:

While I'm not as fervent I also disagree that just because it's a Renix you can't DD it. Engine maintenance and upkeep are no different between them and each has its own unique abilities to fail or succeed. Just because it's a Renix isn't a sufficient reason in my book to not DD it. Now if it's a Renix OR an HO and it's not maintained well, or in rough shape then no I wouldn't DD it. If you have a Renix just go through @cruiser54's list of articles and you'd be good. 

 

Touché. Excellent point regarding keeping the vehicle's preventative maintenance procedures up-to-date no matter what you're using for a DD.  

[gogmorgo]

My 330,000 mile MJ has been my daily on and off for the last five years. The only times it wasn't were when I was dailying a Lada Niva for a year (that since I quit dailying has spent more time on jack stands than it has drivable) while the MJ was down with some severe knocking after some severe abuse, and currently I'm dailying the $250 Jimmy that I picked up because I loved between provinces and it's entered a bit of a grey area whether it's still legally registered or not in my old province so I thought it best not to take the risk of running it every day. But if it wasn't for that I'd much rather be driving the MJ.

Is it old? Yes. Rough around the edges? Yes. Unreliable? Well six months ago it made three 1000-mile runs, one moving most of my stuff out here, one driving back there, and another grabbing a couple more things and towing a car out here.

If anything, the last five months with the Jimmy have taught me that life is too short to drive a boring car. I need to get the MJ inspected and registered here soon. I've only put 500 miles on it since picking up the Jimmy and I hate seeing it sit. 

[johnj92131]

Using and "old" car for a daily driver can be a huge pain if the car has lot's of deferred maintenance (or more likely, no maintenance).  It also means spending a lot of time, attention, and money to discover and fix all the stuff that is wrong.  But once you have done most of it, there is no reason the car/truck can not be as reliable as a 6 to 10 year old car.

 

In the case of my 91 Comanche, I have had it for 10+ years and taken care of most of the problems as they have come up.  Net result in summer of 2016, I was comfortable enough with the truck to make 2 round trip cross country trips.  The first one was San Diego to Boston and back.  The second trip was from San Diego to Victoria, B.C to Michigan to Charlotte, NC and home to San Diego.  We had 2 issues on the road:  1) Over heating towing another Comanche going over the Cascade mountains.  Fixed by properly refilling the cooling system with fresh antifreeze.  2) Sticking starter motor on the way home in New Mexico.  Several hard hits on the starter with a hammer got me home.  Then I replaced the starter.

 

This year, my only problems have been with a dead fuel pump and a failed new Bosh replacement fuel pump. 

[Swampy]

Love all the replies definitely going forward with DD'ing the manche

[Skorpyo]

3 hours ago, HOrnbrod said:

 

Touché. Excellent point regarding keeping the vehicle's preventative maintenance procedures up-to-date no matter what you're using for a DD.  

 to you too! 

[87MJTIM]

I DD mine regularly, but my office is 3 miles from my house.  I also drive it around locally to stores and whatnot.  I will take it on long trips to camping in WV or for hauling stuff for family members.

 

Long trips for work, I drive one of my many other vehicles.

 

As for driving a Renix, I would drive my MJ across country if given the opportunity.  

[ComancheKid45]

I DD my MJs pretty regularly, but having a slight arsenal of Jeeps to choose from each day, none of them get any type of crazy miles put on them anymore.

[Jeep Driver]

I worked out of mine for better than 5 years, put well over 100K miles on it. It never left me stranded, even when the trans went out, I still made it home. 

 

[PCO6]

3 hours ago, ComancheKid45 said:

I DD my MJs pretty regularly, but having a slight arsenal of Jeeps to choose from each day, none of them get any type of crazy miles put on them anymore.

 

That describes my situation perfectly.   That plus being retired helps!   Lots of time to work on and play with them.

 

 

2 hours ago, Jeep Driver said:

I worked out of mine for better than 5 years, put well over 100K miles on it. It never left me stranded, even when the trans went out, I still made it home. 

 

 

That is a GREAT picture.   Thanks for sharing it.

[SVPete]

My truck has been my daily driver since October 1988 to present, except when in Germany, war, or otherwise deployed. My daily commute is 25 miles round trip between 35-45 mph. The truck has been on the side of the road two times (knock on wood)...once when the clutch pedal broke in 1992 and around 2007-ish when I tried to limp home with a dead battery. The truck endured years (decades?) of minimal maintenance, but just wouldn't quit. If that's not reliable, I don't know what is.

[Swampy]

On 10/14/2017 at 10:11 PM, SVPete said:

My truck has been my daily driver since October 1988 to present, except when in Germany, war, or otherwise deployed. My daily commute is 25 miles round trip between 35-45 mph. The truck has been on the side of the road two times (knock on wood)...once when the clutch pedal broke in 1992 and around 2007-ish when I tried to limp home with a dead battery. The truck endured years (decades?) of minimal maintenance, but just wouldn't quit. If that's not reliable, I don't know what is.

 

Thanks for the input bud. I am definetly going to daily mine once I get to like 80-85% of the build complete