How fast can you drive a Jeep?

[Ron D]

I never underestimate the value of blather.

It's what produces most of the entertainment value!

[jnissen]

Yeah I resemble that comment!


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[Ron D]

Right on Jim!
Full disclosure: I've been known to blather myself.

Usually, but not always, after I have beans for supper......

Way off topic and might get me banned, but maybe someday the folks up there in Sillycone Valley will figure out a way to get smell on the interweb? One can only hope for a little Blazing Saddles meets Grumpy Old Men action!

[Ron D]

Blazing Saddles jeep drivers say "how fast will she go?"

Grumpy Old Men jeep drivers say "treat the old girl nice!"



Ok, ok, blather off.

[Mark Jesic]

Put me in with the grumpy old men, Ron.

[Cotterpin]

I got my GPW little over a month ago. Soon as I got it home I had to take it for a ride. My area, even though it’s being invaded by north Jersey and NYC people who want to escape the iron curtain states, is still pretty rural with a few dirt roads left.
We have no police force so we depend on the state police who, unless they are in the area, usually take about 45 minutes to arrive from the barracks because of the distance and roads traveled.
So I figured I’d be safe to take it out for a spin on the back/dirt roads. All was going well until..... Wouldn’t you know it. I ran straight into a state trooper at a 3 way stop. He stared at me and my GPW, as I was crapping a brick, then waved me on to go first. Dam I was hoping he’d pull out and go his way. Well I pulled out and he stared all the while I went by. As soon as I got around the corner I floored it and head for home. Got it up to what I thought was 120 mph but was actually 50 mph. That was as fast as I want to go in the old gal. Luckily he must have been just looking at the Jeep instead of for a license plate.
Like others said it seems happy around 35-40.

[mdainsd]

When I take one of the jeeps (or the Dodges for that matter) out for a drive, it is for pleasure, plain and simple. The voyage is half the fun. So I plan my trips to meets or shows or whatever along the routes less travelled. Out in the sun, no top, rolling along listening to the little machine hum along. Its therapeutic to me in a way, since I deal with SoCal Hiway commuting in my day job.

[horrocks]

Age... I started working as a mechanic in 1974. The jeep is a '43 GPW and every piece of it was apart and fixed. And it does have seat belts.... Looks like 65 mph is top speed by the book, thanks all.

Unless you have a roll cage, the seat is one place you wouldn't want to be strapped into if the Jeep turned, and they turn easily.

[podski]

Been reading this thread with interest. Like a few others have said, my jeep likes 35-40 MPH. And so do I. But I am a very conservative, no risk-taking, always worrying about something going wrong type.

The question was posed "How fast can you drive a jeep?" The discussions seem to have settled on how fast folks routinely drive their jeep.

Personally, I think the responsible question is "How fast can you stop your jeep?" Let's accept that your jeep and your driving on an open road is fully capable of 55+ safe MPH. Now lets throw in the other folks on the road. We've all been there in our modern vehicles, travelling along at 55 MPH when some knuckle head pops out of nowhere and does something senselessly reckless and you have to brake/swerve/stop etc. After the event, you're sweating profusely and your heart is thumping out of your chest wondering how in the world you came out of it unscathed ! Could you and your jeep have done that same thing without incident? For the cases I've experienced, the answer is absolutely not!

I am like Chuck, I take my jeep out on the back roads in the daytime in good weather and stay at my comfortable speed (that the others on the road probably think is too slow) and enjoy the leisurely ride. For an event I have committed to, I may push that just a little - but not much. Occasionally, I drive my jeep to work about 5 miles on two lane, 35 MPH suburban roads just to keep it from getting too antsy in the garage. I have also developed the habit of automatically driving incredibly defensively in my jeep (as I do on my motorcycle). And I do not ride on roads where doing max of 40-45 is unsafe. Finally, unless part of a properly organized convoy travelling at reasonable MV speed, I never travel on highways - there are always back roads that will get me to the same place.

Just my preference and $.02 and some food for thought.

Keep 'em rolling and always be safe!

[podski]

Unless you have a roll cage, the seat is one place you wouldn't want to be strapped into if the Jeep turned, and they turn easily.

Absolutely correct. Jeeps, tractors, atv's, etc. with no top/rollover protection + seatbelts + rollover = fatal. The preferred option in a rollover (though it is the lesser of two evils) is to be thrown clear.

[northcoastsailor]

I normally do 45 max. I've gotten up to 50, maybe 55. for where I drive, I have to take a few miles of freeway to get where I'm going (across the bay). I try and keep it 45-50 in that case, and hope I can find a big semi to hide behind. I get on at the first ramp before the bridge and get off at the first one after. After that, it's 35-45 max through the winding back roads. At 40, the jeep purrs just fine. I'm hoping an OD will keep the RPMs low when I'm forced to do these freeway drives.

Safety wise, I'm thinking of some magnetic stop and tail lights to throw on the rear to be more conspicuous.

[horrocks]

Unless you have a roll cage, the seat is one place you wouldn't want to be strapped into if the Jeep turned, and they turn easily.

Absolutely correct. Jeeps, tractors, atv's, etc. with no top/rollover protection + seatbelts + rollover = fatal. The preferred option in a rollover (though it is the lesser of two evils) is to be thrown clear.

When I rolled a jeep it was on a grass airstrip, racing another jeep, sheer stupidity, driving too fast and braked hard, the brakes weren't aligned and it went into a sideways skid, side-on towards a recently cultivated field. In the way that everything goes into slow motion on these occasions, I remember thinking that as soon as the two passenger-side wheels hit the earth they would dig in and the jeep would go over. I actually pulled my legs out from under the steering wheel, sort of crouched on the seat and as it went I leapt/was propelled in the direction of travel. When I hit the ground I rolled away from the jeep and was actually sitting up as it landed with a crash beside me, about 3 feet away, square upside down, the wheels spinning round and the motor still briefly running. The momentum was violent.

My 15 year old daughter was sitting cross-legged on the ground about 25 yards away. She was frozen to the spot.

It makes me break into an adrenaline sweat just writing this, all these years later...

..in the previous run she had been sitting beside me in the passenger seat.

I need to go out and take a walk now.

[Chuck Lutz]

There will always be those who tempt the hand of Fate....

Or as Clint "Dirty Harry Callaghan" Eastwood once said..."are ya feeling lucky"

[Ron D]

I think Harry also said: "A man has got to know his limitations."

[Chuck Lutz]

Amen to THAT!