Being that the Q-Jetted 4.0 has done very well on road, it was about time to see how it acted offroad. New Years day a friend of mine always hosts a trail ride on his property, this run was the cherokee's maiden trip off the beaten path. Line up as pictured below, Toyota rock buggy, 2 chryco cherokees, my 88, an 86 commanche, a chevy tracker (don't laugh, it kicks ***, lol), a YJ wrangler, and the property owners Toyota 4 runner.
No it's not an optical illusion, the rock buggy is really that much bigger than a cherokee on 33's, lol).
Little view of the chero on 34's
The cherokee performed exceptionally well offroad, even with all the off canter scenarios, steep climbs and descends. I was more than impressed, as were my passengers, two of my friends that had a less than stellar opinion of the quadrajet, haha. The q-jet barely skipped a beat, the only time it copped an attitude is when I had the jeep almost standing on the back bumper, only then did it stall, but only cause I let it idle down (I didn't want to go over backwards, lol). My friend with the commanche was the only other vehicle out there with a carb on it (running a 318 and ax15), though I believe he's running a holley, and it was giving him a bit of grief on the climbs. He and I were also the only ones running our daily drivers, so we were supposed to keep each other from doing anything dumb and breaking or damaging our rigs, lol......He broke a trackbar on of the climbs.
Since this is a thread about other AMC vehicles, here's a couple shots of the 86 Manche.
Down through the twisties, and steep hills lead us to the final obstacle, all the rigs that go always do very well up until the last hill climb, three rigs managed to reach the top without the aid of a winch. The Rock buggy (obviously, lol), the toyota 4 runner, and the 88
.
All in all, the carbureted 4.0 is a great success, both on and offroad. There is no lack of power on the trail, no hesitation, and no bog, smash the gas to the floor and try not to over rev, hahaha.
Oh one more thing, I can't end this response without some actual proof, so here's a video of the jeep tackling the final hill. My Girlfriend starts the run, gets out after spinning sideways in the middle of the trail (scary to say the least), leaves me to figure out how to get the thing back down the hill with out going inverted, then it's a throttle fest to the top, hahaha. So here's close to 10 minutes worth of 4.0 torture....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCeBYdV3_wg&feature=youtu.be ***No body damage occurred from this trail run***
Topic: As Close to an AMC as it Gets...... (Read 44902 times)