Jacksonville, NC (help needed for my sister)

[Nick_n_ii]

Hey all I'm sending a help call out for my little sister. She's a Marine stationed in Jacksonville, NC area. She's on her way down there now in her ZJ (I know it's not a XJ) (Grand Cherokee, 4.0l NP249 t-case). With in the next few weeks sooner than later she needs a T-case replaced. And also finding a T-case to replace her's..

She's new to the military so budget is tight. She does have BIG plans for her ZJ and I'm guiding her build from here in Michigan. But I need help from you all my Jeeper friends for her..


Thanks Nick

 

[old_man]

The NP249 has a chronic problem with the viscous coupling. I would recommend swapping in a cheap NP231. They came on that year model, so getting the guide plate that goes around the lever should be simple. If the vehicle has the dash mounted system that shows the shift position, there is a jumper that can be changed to make it work with the NP231.

 

[RedHeep]

There are two places you can try.

www.jvillejeepers.com is a group of enthusiasts based out of jacksonville. There are active duty and retired Marines there that can probably help.

Bob's offroad place out in swansboro is a shop with a good reputation. The jville jeepers guys will tell you how to get a hold of him. He probably has a 231 tcase that can be swapped in or he can source you a 249.

Do not send her to any of the other "offroad" shops in jacksonville. Horrible reputations and lousy work. If I wasn't deployed right now, I could help more. There are a lot of "mechanics" and people who are going to try and help her when she gets to base and she should be careful who she lets tear her jeep apart at the auto hobby shop, if her peers volunteer to help.

 

[RedHeep]

PM me on the backside and let me know where she's checking into. I might have a few contacts that can help her out.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Nick, you probably know this..

With a 249 she can use the back half of a 242 with her 249 front case half with most of the 242's internals. This will eliminate any issues with locating the proper input gear.

In the south i would imagine the 242's would be cheap as well.

What year is the ZJ?

 

[jeepgeek2002]

i got a 242 that i swapped out.. i dont know how bad the insides look but what i do know is that when it came time to swapping it out about half a cup of oil only came out.
it was stuck in fulltime 4x4.
Its free if picked up in Columbia SC..
just throwing it out there..

 

[Nick_n_ii]

Thanks all..

Trying to get her the right connections and with me here in Michigan I'm not much help other than the web sites..

 

[Ghost]

RedHeep will have the hook up there. You can trust what he tells you Josh is a good guy. If It were closer I'd be glad to help. If it's drivable we could do a wrench fest at my shop. It's a long way for her though. I'd see what she can get worked out there first.

 

[Nick_n_ii]

Ya from what I've been told High range is gone. Low range only.

Seems it started popping into neutral about 3 hours from there. Than High range was lost altogether.

 

[Nick_n_ii]

Well got a call today and my sister is opting to get rid of the ZJ and buy a new Wrangler..

 

[RedHeep]

I never got an email or anything from her.

If she's out in Jacksonville buying a car, she's getting taken on a bad interest rate loan with an overpriced car. Especially if she's an E3 or below. I hope she listens to her leadership.

 

[HttpWayne]

I recommend staying away from JVille Jeepers. I haven't done anything with them, but I know someone who has.
A bunch of them went out wheeling somewhere and she got stranded out there. Everyone left her there and kept on wheeling. She had to call someone else to come get her out.

I'm not saying everyone out there is like that, but there is always the possibility. For someone new to the area I would be careful around them and make sure I don't get stuck. Something you need to know about the Jacksonville area and Jeeps (particularly Wranglers, seems like only the responsible/older crowd drive XJ's in this city) is that it's the new Mustang for 18 and 19 year olds. There's a lot of kids that buy one just to have one because it's the cool thing to do. That's not a crowd I would want my sister hanging around.

Marines that are in their first to second year in the Marines are impressionable much like highschool kids just entering the 9th grade. I highly recommend she finds a more responsible/older crowd to offroad with. Coastal Carolina Offroad is one such group. They aren't too active during the work week but it's a solid group of individuals that have character. This site and CherokeeForum.com are also great sites as well. I would investigate the forums to see what kind of individuals frequent other forums before sending her off. For example, I wouldn't do ANYthing with Pirate4x4.com if they were have some form of get together. Least of all I would tell her to pack some mace and a tazer just to be on the safe side if she did.

As a general rule of thumb I wouldn't go anywhere with anyone I didn't either know in person or who I hadn't talked to on a forum. Just going somewhere because someone tells you to without you knowing anything about them is generally not a good idea. Especially with her being a female Marine where the male/female ratio is so low that it brings out the jackass in the younger crowd males to establish their ego so they can get in the panties. As bad as that sounds its reality. I just finished 8 years in the Marines, and 4 as a Sergeant. That reality hasn't deviated in any way since 2003 when I first came in. Although not all of the males between 18-21 are like that... I'd say about 92% or more are.


She really should get involved herself on some forums so she can be more educated.

I hope all this helps.

 

[HttpWayne]

Well got a call today and my sister is opting to get rid of the ZJ and buy a new Wrangler..

Not a good sign. I gaurantee the first words she heard from everyone was "You should buy a Wrangler." Hence she bought a Wrangler.
She's already stationed amongst the worst Wrangler population I have ever seen, and now she owns one. Things aren't looking good in general.

As expensive as they are she could have done so much more to that ZJ and come out with more money in her pocket on the other side. Now she has to buy all the new expensive toys where there's hardly any room for 2nd hand buys off of someone parting out their stuff.

But hey, she bought a Wrangler. She's cool now like everyone else that told her to buy one.

 

[RedHeep]

Everyone left her there and kept on wheeling. She had to call someone else to come get her out.

I'm certain there's more to this story than what you know. Just because you elect to go wheeling with someone you meet on an internet forum doesn't mean you're wheeling with the relatively small group of individuals that run that particular forum. Jackasses are jackasses, but if I had to guess, they went wheeling at that mud bog/swamp they call an offroad park down by south of the border and your friend probably didn't have any reason to be there in the first place.

There's a lot of kids that buy one just to have one because it's the cool thing to do. That's not a crowd I would want my sister hanging around.

You're in the kid category still. There are a lot less jeeps running around jacksonville than there are hondas and motorcycles. Jeeps retain their value much better than some of the other vehicles that the younger Marines choose to purchase, especially those that can walk into the crotch rocket dealership and come out at 150 mph for $7k.

Last time I checked, people weren't running out of their barracks rooms to hang out with the "uncool" people.

For example, I wouldn't do ANYthing with Pirate4x4.com if they were have some form of get together. Least of all I would tell her to pack some mace and a tazer just to be on the safe side if she did.

I agree. Who wants to go to stuff like King of the Hammers and hang out with pirate4x4 people? :banghead:

I just finished 8 years in the Marines, and 4 as a Sergeant.

If I recall, the gentlemen that runs jvillejeepers is in his late 50's. 3 of the more prominent gentlemen that frequent meet and greets and wheeling trips are Gunny's and retired Gunny's with more deployed time than your actual service time. There are 10% of everything in life and I'm sure that there are 10% people that hang out there as well. But your opinion sounds like hearsay and rumors, not actual fact.

I said my piece about the dangers of purchasing an automobile in a military town, but certainly didn't feel the need to lump his sister into a category of "female Marine" that's preyed on by male Marines and their egos. I certainly wouldn't judge someone like that without meeting them first. How do you know who her leadership is and what part they played in her decision to purchase another vehicle? Maybe she's smart and made an intelligent buy on a wrangler she's wanted for a long time.

Be mindful of ranting. It makes you look like you don't know what you're talking about.