Question for frequent wheelers

[hmcoleap]

My H1 seemed to be at its worst when it sits without being used for a while... the more I drive it (including offroad) the happier it is. Getting bigger tires did increase the rate of wear and tear on idler arm, pitman arm and I have gone through a few steering boxes. Then again, I usually wheel on technical rock-crawl type trails, which are pretty hard on steering components. Ball joints last just fine, as long as you keep them greased, and most of my halfshaft issues have been from tearing open boots and losing grease, not breakage from abuse.

Overall, compared to my previous Jeep for instance, it breaks less often, and it is a pretty easy rig to work on. I think it is easier to work on at home than an H2 is, but like any vehicle some jobs can be a pain. For example, getting to the back side of the engine is a pain in the butt because you have to pull the interior doghouse off to access the engine cover...

Originally Posted by BlueHUMMERH2

I posted a similar question to this in the H2 discussion. For those of you that get out more wheeling (maybe 15-20x year), do you find you're having to replace more often steering components, ball joints, suspension, etc. on the H1's? My truck sounds worse every time I come home from Paragon or wherever, and I really don't think I'm being that hard on it. Is the H2 just not designed to take a lot/this kind of useage? I suspect I've got some repairs coming soon on mine that are going to hurt.

Also, is it easier to work on the H1's at home, or is this just a fallacy of mine? I know there are far less electronics, and from the blown-apart models at AM General, the systems seem to be easier to access.

At this point, I'm considering buying an older, modified Jeep and using that for wheeling (a trailer queen ) and just driving my H2 on the .....street. Oh, that was painful to say I want something that maybe is easier/cheaper to fix.