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Graywolfsurvival SHTF vehicle part2: Jeep Grand Cherokee

March 8, 2013 by 18 Comments

Ultimate SHTF project: 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Ultimate SHTF vehicle project: 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee

So, after a search that started when I was in Afghanistan a couple months, I picked up a SHTF bugout vehicle: a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Why this one? That’s the focus of this post.

There are a lot of schools of thought as to what would be the ultimate SHTF/zombie vehicle in case SHTF. To prepare for a real SHTF scenario, you have to take a lot of things into consideration. You also have to deal with realistic considerations.

Remember, just as in the case of a weapon, a vehicle is just a tool that solves a problem for you. Some tools are perfect for one situation but suck for others. Some tools are fairly good for many situations but aren’t really all that good for any in particular. As with all of your life, you need balance.

What are you preparing for?

The first thing to consider when trying to pick the best SHTF vehicle to get you through an emergency or disaster situation is what situations are you trying to prepare. You need to know what the vehicle is going to do for you and the big picture part of that is what are you going to be dealing with.

It drives me crazy when people have what they think is a “creative” solution to a SHTF vehicle such as; horses, dirtbike, bicycle, sneakers, etc and keep toting those as the ultimate solution.

Bullshit

They are great backup solutions but if you really look at the overall problem, you’re wrong. Those solutions may make you feel smart when you post them on your favorite prepper/survivalist forum on the ultimate SHTF vehicle but they just don’t work. They solve a few problems extremely well but suck for everything else. They are as unbalanced a solution as you can get. Don’t fall for it. Look at your situation and the gaps you have, come up with what it would take for a balanced solution and then make a plan.

The collapse of society in a war-torn country would need different abilities from your vehicle than dealing with the aftermath of a tornado or getting out of your home temporarily during a winter storm. Now don’t get me wrong, unlike what Doomsday Preppers seems to cast people doing, you shouldn’t be focusing on one TEOTWAWKI situation and go full on for that. You need to try to plan for more than one contingency.

There are many bad things that could happen to your world that would require you to move from one place to another. Unfortunately, not only do you not know which of them may come true, more than one may happen. In your planning, don’t be laser-focused on one situation.

Look at the worst-case scenarios that you think are worth your time and effort to plan for, and then look at how those situations will affect your mobility. Where are you going to try to go? Will the roads be passable? Will fuel be available? What special considerations such as security do you need to plan for?

After the worst-case, take a look at the most likely SHTF scenarios that you need to plan for. Hopefully this list isn’t the same as the worst-case. You need to take both worst-case and most likely into consideration in your planning.

Make an overall list of what will be going on in all of those situations and look at these elements as a whole. You should look at figuring out a vehicle that will cover as many situations as possible and definitely do the most critical ones.

What do you need a SHTF vehicle to do?

Now that you’ve had a chance to look at what situation you’re in, you need to get to the crux of the situation: what do you need the vehicle to do?

How many people are you planning it to carry? Are any of those people small children, older people or physically impaired?

How much gear are you going to try to carry with it?

How about OPSEC? If someone sees certain things on a vehicle, they might not only try to steal the vehicle for their own use, they might make certain assumptions about other things you have, thereby putting your family and your preps at risk.

What kind of terrain are you going to cover? If you live in the mountains of Colorado, the terrain you need to deal with will probably be different than someone who lives in New York City. If your bugout route covers off road terrain, you may need something that is very good off road and can be improved easily. A lot of off road capability is due to the driver but even the best driver can’t take a 2008 Ford Focus through a foot of mud.

What about security and protection? A horse may be much more maneuverable in off road conditions but it gives you zero protection from zombie hordes or a cold rain. If you’re considering things such as armor, remember that such additions are EXTREMELY heavy so some vehicles won’t work.

If you’re looking at protection from EMP, you may want to consider an older vehicle that has no vulnerable electronics.

What are your limitations?

The biggest limitation you’ll probably face is your budget. In addition, think about things like local laws, the availability of the type of vehicle you’re considering and what your family will be comfortable dealing with.

How good are you at wrenching? If not so good, you’ll need a reliable vehicle or at least one that is easy to work on.

What about fuel? How far do you need to drive before refilling? Do you make your own diesel or already have other vehicles that have a particular fuel requirement?

How easy is it to get parts for your car?

SHTF vehicle pros and cons

Each mode of transportation has pros and cons in different situations; your vehicle won’t be any different. No vehicle is going to work for every situation. What you need to do then is look at the requirements above, compare it to what your vehicle will do for you and then make a plan to mitigate the problems your vehicle will have in certain situations.

If you have a car that isn’t so good off road but you’re planning on going through a wooded area to get to your bugout shack next to the lake, your choice is to either get a different vehicle or adapt. If getting another car isn’t the smartest situation, what else could you do?

It’s best if you don’t get stuck off road, but second best if you can just get yourself out of the situation if it happens. Having a cumalong (a good one, not a POS you find at Wal-mart) and a strong strap can pull you out of a ditch in most cases and isn’t all that expensive. If you have a truck or something that can take it, a wench is usually better, but isn’t always as adaptable. I would personally have both available if possible. You don’t want to spend the next year and $10,000 investing in your preps only to end up leaving your car and most of your gear in the middle of a wash because you didn’t think your monster would get stuck.

If your car doesn’t get great gas mileage, can you carry some?

How reliable is your car? Does it have any failures that are common to your model/year that could deadline it? What are you gonna do if that happens? Can you upgrade it now?

My SHTF vehicle

I’m not gonna go into the breakdown of what SHTF scenarios I’m planning on in this section because that’s a bunch of posts in itself, and you have stuff you should be doing instead of spending the next 10 hours reading a ridiculously long post. I’m just gonna jump in the middle and show you what I was looking for and what I’m doing now.

As I stated in Part1 of this series, I had the following requirements for a vehicle I was looking for:

  • Under $10,000
  • Cheap to maintain
  • Very good off road
  • Can sleep 2 inside comfortably
  • Decent gas mileage/range
  • Discreet enough that it wouldn’t be noticed as a SHTF vehicle

So, I picked up a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with Quadradrive and a 4.7L v8. Why? Let’s break down my requirements and see how it stacks up.

Under $10,000

I’d like to have the vehicle reasonably ready to go for under $10k after any repairs and necessary upgrades. The vehicle came out a hair over $5,000, which was $6,000 tax, title, tags out the door. This leaves me $4,000 for repairs and upgrades.

I took the Jeep to the mechanic shop I’ve been using for years after my initial assessment. I’m fairly adept at wrenching but not a professional mechanic. Here’s pretty much everything the Jeep needs to make it whole:

  • Passenger rear electric window doesn’t roll down (hopefully a regulator or something cheap)
  • Tires are dry-rotted
  • Front brakes are pretty low but rotors can be redone instead of replaced
  • Transmission gasket is starting to leak in one corner
  • Rear seal of transfer case is starting to leak

All in all, nothing serious. The most expensive fix by far is going to be the tires. Don’t know about the window yet but it’s not something I need to worry about at the moment.

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  • John Foley

    i think you actually made a wise choice not to big or to small great 4 wheel cababilites with a few improvements like a lift kit of no more than 3 inches some bigger tires great shft vechile for any secnario

    • graywolfsurvival

      That’s exactly what I was thinking.

  • David Morriston

    Graywolf, you have indeed made a respectable choice of vehicle, Jeep is of course renown for off road compatibility in many conditions. Don’t be to put off by the 4.7L, good motor with horsepower in the 230 range and torque in the 300 ft/ lb range enough to move you, gear and folks right along in inclement conditions. Only advise would be the addition of skid plates.for under carriage protection and a slight lift as noted by John. Looking forward to further developments.

    • graywolfsurvival

      Thanks David. The skid plates will be coming at some point because they’re definitely important. I’ve replaced the tires and done a complete workover to make it as reliable as I can without rebuilding everything so far so I’ll mention that in the next update. I’m working on fitting it with equipment currently such as the vehicle go bag and trying to do a good comms bag that’ll plug into it with a ham radio.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Scott-Schoemann/758619965 Scott Schoemann

        If nothing more get the fuel tank plate, look to bone yards for it as most rokees were bought with them from the factory ( the factory plate is very stout) new expect to spend around 3 bills for a fuel skid…

  • http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/ steveo77

    Had to get a replacement vehicle for Wifey and have always loved the Grand Cherokee, shw didnt like the looks prior to 2011, a little too “Jeepy”, but believe it or not after looking at tons of SUVs and crossovers, she came up with the idea of Grand Cherokee….downside, more money for 2011. Upside, now we have 2 bugout vehicles with low mileage, other is a F150 FX4 which is highly capable 4 wheel, but not as much interior stowage. The 2011 get decent gas mileage. Its full time 4WD which is not as good as selectable 4WD, but still quite good and will be a safe all around vehicle for 4 season driving. Either vehicle can carry our 2 large German Shepherds inside, but the Jeep will be alot better in cold conditions with interior stowage. Also great for roadtrips, comfort and mileage.

    • graywolfsurvival

      Awesome, and you have a backup in case one goes down. The F150 will come in handy a lot too in the meantime.

  • Matt

    http://www.kevinsoffroad.com/cart/zj-all-8701-xjmj-hardkor-track-bar-conversion-cures-death-wobble-also-fits-8486-with-minor-modification-p-1017/

    this completely fixed the death wobble in my 96 ZJ
    currently making a tow bar setup to tow it behind my Suburban in the SHTF situation. a family of six is too big for the jeep, but it make a very usable towed vehicle, extra gas, stuff goes in like a trailer and it can be driven if necessary.

    • graywolfsurvival

      Luckily everything looks good in my front end so DW shouldn’t be an issue but a lot of things apparently can cause it. Definitely too small to bug out a family of six on its own though.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Scott-Schoemann/758619965 Scott Schoemann

      check out http://www.harborfreight.com for a towbar it’s extremely well made. however you will have to fabricate mounting points to bring frame attachment points forward due to the bumper design of the grand rokee… but that’s par for all tow bars.

      • Matt

        Thanks Scott, I just installed a hanson winch bumper with shackle mounts, got some adapters and am having a tow bar made that mounts to them. my death wobble was all in the steering.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Scott-Schoemann/758619965 Scott Schoemann

    death wobble is ALWAYS alignment issues ALWAYS. However the BIG question is what is causing them. it could be as simple as wheel alignment, out of balance tires imitating death wobble bent rim the same thing, an improperly done lift… if you wheel hard get a lifetime alignment and don’t look back… radio, go look on ebay, if you have a single din radio, Diesel makes a single din with GPS that will fit (not sure what year you have missed it in the write up) that is really nice AND CHEAP… put one in my 98… ( I have a 95 5.2 and a 98 4.0 and an 06 wrangler) Mounting the ham rig is the fun part,,, depending on the radio you intend to use… First thing I would do is buy an engine stand. then get a 4.0 block and start building a mild stroker. the increase in torque and power will actually increase your MPG over the 4.7, and at the same time you can pick up a carb, intake manifold and mechanical ignition and generic electric fuel pump and pack them away JIC of an emp or similar,

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Scott-Schoemann/758619965 Scott Schoemann

    One word of caution on ALL 2000 and forward Grand Cherokees. Make sure the PCM (powertrain Control Module) is properly grounded. there have been extensive numbers of incidences where the engine started to surge when the PCM got wet and the ground was interrupted. this can be confirmed with a quick web search.

    • graywolfsurvival

      Good to know. That’s exactly the kind of thing I’ll be researching to fix preemptively. Thanks for the info.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Scott-Schoemann/758619965 Scott Schoemann

    If you do not already have it add a receiver hitch, maybe even a front receiver as well, extremely useful on the front. Since you wont be dedicating this to JUST bugging out (not all or nothing), a bug out trailer, is a handy as all get out tool. If you have a garage, you can box everything in sealed containers and keep it loaded and just hitch up and run when you need to… not to go into details for another thread, fuel cans and water cans can be mounted on the trailer, “jerry” style, you can even add power and flood lights on poles…

    • graywolfsurvival

      I have a rear receiver hitch. I’ll be adding something to the front to make it easier to grab onto to pull me out of something from the front but haven’t figured out what yet. I’m redoing all my tools now that I’m back from Afghanistan – apparently people borrowing my tools while I was gone decided to place them in random places around the house instead of putting them back where they belong.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Scott-Schoemann/758619965 Scott Schoemann

        a front receiver makes an excellent portable mount point for a winch, if you do not want to go through the expense of a true winch mount or winch bumper, in addition to making maneuvering trailers into tight places a snap

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Scott-Schoemann/758619965 Scott Schoemann

    A quick look at your GC as I came down to check the comments reminded me of one other point, If you live in an area where roads are salted in the winter, dump the alloy wheels if you are setting it up as a BOV. They are unreliable after a handful of years due to rim leaks and “pin holes”, and invariably end up losing pressure, and when moving out in a rush the last thing you need to do is additional maintenance. If you have a large compressor not an issue, but it does you no good on the run. Replace them with Steel rims, and add green slime as a preventative sealant to ensure the rims are sealed and minor punctures stay sealed while the object is still in place (nail screw etc.). Tires are the biggest limiter on a vehicle, especially full time 4x4s which require RELIGIOUS rotation, to ensure a full life span and watch your tire pressure and wear patterns (to make sure steering geometry is correct). 4x4s are a science unto themselves and are not just drive and forget vehicles.

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