Hey everybody. I know I haven't posted here in ages, but I wanted to come by and say goodbye.
This spring my wife was driving the KJ when the transmission started acting goofy and it would only drive forward about 20 feet. I had it towed to a transmission shop and after disassembling it they told me that a snap ring inside had broken (apparently Chrysler used too thin of a snap ring in the 42RLE and they are prone to breaking; replacements are thicker) allowing the internals to shift a bit. This prevented the clutches from seating fully, causing extreme heat build up in a very short time and some of the parts actually melted together. I saw the results and it was not pretty. Needless to say this was going to require a full rebuild.
The shop quoted me $2500 for the full rebuild. NADA and KBB only valued the KJ at $5000 in perfect condition, and my KJ was far from perfect with LOTS of pin striping and tree-rubbed bumper corners. I hadn't taken the KJ on a trail in about 3 years, and with it getting only 16MPG on the highway and costing me almost $500 a month in gas the wife and I decided that, sadly, it was time for the KJ to go. We headed out to the Subaru dealership and convinced them to give us $2500 for the KJ, sight unseen, as a trade in on a brand new Outback with the 2.5L boxer 4 and CVT.
The Outback is obviously nowhere near as capable as the KJ was on the rocks, but it has amazing all-wheel drive (I've had it in 60mph 4 wheel drifts around curves on dirt roads with complete confidence), and nearly 9 inches of ground clearance to the lowest point on the underside, so it can still take me plenty of places. It has miles of space inside for people and gear, and I can also get 34MPG out of it on the highway with two bike racks on top if I drive nice, so that doesn't hurt.
We were both very sad to see the KJ go. It was our first new vehicle and we developed quite a bond with it. It took us to some amazing places and helped us meet some amazing people. I'll never forget the fun we've had in it, and to this day our trip to Moab with everyone in '05 remains our best vacation ever. Just this past December we drove it from San Antonio to New Jersey and back, with lots of mountain passes on the route and heavy snow at the destination and it never let us down. In hindsight that long trip with its 15 hour days may have contributed to the poor KJ's demise.
We'll miss the KJ, and though I haven't been very active on LOST in a while, I'll miss the friends I made here. We hope to someday get another Jeep and when that happens you can bet I'll be back. In the mean time, happy wheeling and remember to keep the shiny side up!
P.S.
The parts I was able to pull off before the dealer took it away are available for purchase here: http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=63128
