The 2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited suffers from two fatal design flaws: 1 in the front end the geometry is off for working on the road, and the dogbones and the shocks were weak and poorly designed Chinese made junk. The rear end suffers exactly the same problem in regards to the dogbones and shocks. Too many parts, poorly designed and poorly made can cause an accident upon failure, and failures can occur without warning. At interstate speeds the truck can become almost unrecoverable as to control of the vehicle.
Compare the suspension system to the front end and rear end design of either the M38A1 (otherwise known as the CJ-5 in civilian useage) and more importantly with the Mercedes Benz Unimogs either the 404, 406, 408 or U1300L series. Their suspensions are much more robust, and less apt to fail either off road or on road. The geometry issue crept up on the round headlight later Jeeps with coil springs in the suspension, as none of the older CJ's or YJ's suffered that problem as they used the LEAF springs front and rear in place of control arms. The ride was worse, but the maintainability and safety was much greater. Even my 1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 Cargo truck had a basically better front end and even rear end design as to stability and performance on and off road. Fiat Chrysler needs to be taken to task about this and the Japanese air bags as they will be the next large issue with these vehicles.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
The 2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited suffers from two fatal design flaws: 1 in the front end the geometry is off for working on the road, and the dogbones and the shocks were weak and poorly designed Chinese made junk. The rear end suffers exactly the same problem in regards to the dogbones and shocks. Too many parts, poorly designed and poorly made can cause an accident upon failure, and failures can occur without warning. At interstate speeds the truck can become almost unrecoverable as to control of the vehicle.
Compare the suspension system to the front end and rear end design of either the M38A1 (otherwise known as the CJ-5 in civilian useage) and more importantly with the Mercedes Benz Unimogs either the 404, 406, 408 or U1300L series. Their suspensions are much more robust, and less apt to fail either off road or on road. The geometry issue crept up on the round headlight later Jeeps with coil springs in the suspension, as none of the older CJ's or YJ's suffered that problem as they used the LEAF springs front and rear in place of control arms. The ride was worse, but the maintainability and safety was much greater. Even my 1971 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 Cargo truck had a basically better front end and even rear end design as to stability and performance on and off road. Fiat Chrysler needs to be taken to task about this and the Japanese air bags as they will be the next large issue with these vehicles.
- Kyle M., Springfield, US