2017 Jeep JL Wrangler Aluminum Body on Frame or Unibody?

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I know this news has already been posted but, I just read another article regarding the new 2017 Jeep Wrangler and how it may very well leave Toledo to become an aluminum unibody vehicle and thought it was worth posting up. What do you guys think?

Wrangler may leave frame, factory, steel behind
The 2017 Jeep Wrangler may leave its historic steel body-on-frame construction and Toledo plant behind, according to Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, as quoted by Automotive News’ Larry Vellequette.

2017-jeep-wrangler.jpg

The current Wrangler has good mileage for rugged four wheel drive vehicles, but poor economy overall, at around 17/21 mpg (depending on model and transmission).

Mr. Marchionne said the Wrangler will need to lose weight and might need an aluminum unibody setup; previously, he had implied that Wrangler would be Chrysler’s first car to make extensive use of aluminum since the Plymouth Prowler, whose team was largely hired by Ford.

The 3.6 liter V6 would likely be swapped out for either a Hurricane 2.0 turbo and/or the smaller 3.2 V6. Many believe a diesel will be optional.

TNAP-Supplier-park.jpg

Mr. Marchionne said that the Toledo South plant could not handle an aluminum body, but that any solution would not affect local employment. This means that a new plant might be built, or that the plant could also be repurposed (or closed) and the Wrangler moved to Toledo North, Sterling Heights, or Belvidere, though this would mean that the aluminum-bodied Wrangler would be made with steel-bodied cars, which seems unlikely.

The current Wrangler plant was created under Daimler and is enclosed by a “supplier park,” making expansion difficult at best and reducing flexibility.

There has also been considerable talk of using an independent suspension. While there has been an innovative long-travel independent-suspension Wrangler prototype, one suspension engineer said he suspected the company would adopt a version of the Ram 4×4’s setup instead.

Mr. Vellequette pointed out that a unibody setup would “effectively be a modern-day version of the popular Cherokee XJ,” and pointed out that the massive changes could be too much for dedicated Jeepers.

Article can be found here:
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2014/10/wrangler-may-leave-frame-factory-steel-behind
 
I will wait to see what the Jeep looks like on the trail. To mee it sounds like the unibody will cause more headaches than it worth. A lot of twisting and wrinkeld bodies are coming.
 

DA RUNT

New member
Do we have to bash the next Gen Wrangler and say it's not a real Jeep because of X,Y and Z? :crazyeyes:
 
Here would be my suggestion to Chrysler.

Give Mel, Eddie, Greg, Drew, and Chris all a next Generation Jeep with the top of the line components being offered and perform a real field test. Then get the feedback to see what the Next generation Jeep is going to be about. Then we can call it truly trail rated. :twocents:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I guess we'll know of the rumors are true when they start retooling the manufacturing plants.

Well now, that's an interesting point to be making. Whatever Jeep we will see is already in the works now. Tooling for any new vehicle is typically started 5 years BEFORE production starts. In other words, whatever we will ultimately see has for the most part, already been decided.
 

GCM 2

New member
Here would be my suggestion to Chrysler.

Give Mel, Eddie, Greg, Drew, and Chris all a next Generation Jeep with the top of the line components being offered and perform a real field test. Then get the feedback to see what the Next generation Jeep is going to be about. Then we can call it truly trail rated. :twocents:

We know that crew of Fiat/Chrysler guys pretty well......I just don't think that well. Although Jim at Dynatrac has the best inside line to all the R&D and even he is kept in the dark :icon_crazy:

Well now, that's an interesting point to be making. Whatever Jeep we will see is already in the works now. Tooling for any new vehicle is typically started 5 years BEFORE production starts. In other words, whatever we will ultimately see has for the most part, already been decided.

You are correct, this level of retooling is serious corporate espionage level stuff to try and find out. For example Ford had been testing a few of their brand new 2015 all aluminum body F-150's possibly all the way back in 2011. The magazines were amazed that Ford was able to pull it off without anyone knowing until the official reveal. Not saying it was not possible for Jeep to hide, but it would take some serious effort.
 

jkjurny

Member
Well now, that's an interesting point to be making. Whatever Jeep we will see is already in the works now. Tooling for any new vehicle is typically started 5 years BEFORE production starts. In other words, whatever we will ultimately see has for the most part, already been decided.

I'm not familiar enough with auto manufacturing, but that does sound right for a major overhaul. It could be less if they can re-use parts of the line.

I know that the Tesla Factory here at Fremont is shutting down one line for only 6 months to retool for the X SUV. Maybe Chrysler can do it faster than 5 years. Not sure.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Here would be my suggestion to Chrysler.

Give Mel, Eddie, Greg, Drew, and Chris all a next Generation Jeep with the top of the line components being offered and perform a real field test. Then get the feedback to see what the Next generation Jeep is going to be about. Then we can call it truly trail rated. :twocents:

We know that crew of Fiat/Chrysler guys pretty well......I just don't think that well. Although Jim at Dynatrac has the best inside line to all the R&D and even he is kept in the dark :icon_crazy:

Yup, we know the guy and, as sad as I am to say it, I actually think we're the wrong guys to be talking to when it comes to designing the next generation Wrangler. Fact of the matter is, Fiat/Chrysler is in the business of selling vehicles and the Jeep faithful like us are actually a minority in the marketplace. Making a 4-door was sacrilegious to the fans but was ultimately the right decision to make the Wrangler the hottest selling product that they have. Making a Wrangler that is even more soccer mom friendly will sell even better.

As Mel always likes to say, so long as they keep the wheel wells trapezoidal to allow for bigger tires, there will always be a way to build it up :yup:

You are correct, this level of retooling is serious corporate espionage level stuff to try and find out. For example Ford had been testing a few of their brand new 2015 all aluminum body F-150's possibly all the way back in 2011. The magazines were amazed that Ford was able to pull it off without anyone knowing until the official reveal. Not saying it was not possible for Jeep to hide, but it would take some serious effort.

Crazy to think that a lot of the guys who made it possible were guys that worked on the Plymouth Prowler. The advent of an aluminum F-150 has shaken things up in the industry and I think it is the reason why Fiat/Chrysler is making this move now. Have to wonder if they might in fact be making some last minute changes to things because of it.

I'm not familiar enough with auto manufacturing, but that does sound right for a major overhaul. It could be less if they can re-use parts of the line.

I know that the Tesla Factory here at Fremont is shutting down one line for only 6 months to retool for the X SUV. Maybe Chrysler can do it faster than 5 years. Not sure.

Setting up a plant can take anywhere from 6 month to a year. When we visited the TAC in Toledo, we saw them setting up for the KL Cherokee and the wing it was going in had been vacant for about that long. The tooling I am referring to is in regards to things like the dies, stamps, molds, etc. to make the parts that will get assembled at the plant.
 

SmokinV10

Caught the Bug
Maybe I'm the pessimistic one about the capabilities of a IFS unibody aluminum rig. It's going to be the same as modding a 2014 Range Rover. Could it be done? Sure, but I would guess that that level of change would have costs that make a DTD with ProRocks seem like a bargain basement flea market deal. Gonna hold on to the current rig as the last of a dying breed.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Maybe I'm the pessimistic one about the capabilities of a IFS unibody aluminum rig. It's going to be the same as modding a 2014 Range Rover. Could it be done? Sure, but I would guess that that level of change would have costs that make a DTD with ProRocks seem like a bargain basement flea market deal. Gonna hold on to the current rig as the last of a dying breed.

Well, in all fairness, with each new Wrangler that has been released, the cost of building it up has only gotten more and more expensive. It is the reason why so many people just stick to building up old XJ's and YJ's. With the new Wrangler, it'll only cost that much more.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I will have to say one thing and that's, if I could bet, no matter what we get in this new Wrangler, I have little doubt that right out of the box, it WILL out perform a factory JK. At least, this was the case with the JK and the TJ before it.
 

GCM 2

New member
Maybe I'm the pessimistic one about the capabilities of a IFS unibody aluminum rig. It's going to be the same as modding a 2014 Range Rover. Could it be done? Sure, but I would guess that that level of change would have costs that make a DTD with ProRocks seem like a bargain basement flea market deal. Gonna hold on to the current rig as the last of a dying breed.

Well, in all fairness, with each new Wrangler that has been released, the cost of building it up has only gotten more and more expensive. It is the reason why so many people just stick to building up old XJ's and YJ's. With the new Wrangler, it'll only cost that much more.

I don't know that it would be that incredibly expensive, at least not much more than what we already throw at our vehicles. The shock packages pretty much stay the same no matter if you are running single coilovers or a single bypass with a traditional coil spring at each corner, or even a Double Throw Down set up at each corner. Dynatrac already offers both ProRock 60 and 80 IFS/IRS center sections, the Ultra 4 class and Pro 4 LOORS truck series race class also has lots of IFS technology that could cross directly over to high end daily driver builds, there are tons of aftermarket mfg's like Brenthel and Camburg who currently offer long travel fully boxed upper and lower 'A' arm kits for all IFS trucks....or your could do the serious Trophy Truck level style upper and lower 'J' style front arms. There is also no shortage of 930, 934, or the bullet proof '30' series axle half shafts/CV joints already available. The technology is already being used on many other vehicles, from race to daily driver, and unless you follow those scenes and race classes, you would not know it. For example, but shown in juxtaposition, desert racing is huge around the Phoenix area (just like SoCal and Vegas) and I cannot count the number of times desert guys have seen my JK with DTD with three tube bypass shocks and have freaked the hell out because Baja racing technology was on a 'Rock Crawler". The DTD was invented by Baja Racers, not Off Road Evolution. Mel was just the first to pioneer and perfect it for the JK. So just like the baja guys don't know the world of jeeps, many people here don't know the other worlds of off roading. I follow desert racing very closely and that's why I have never really been worked up about jeep going IFS. Will it be as great a rock crawler as a beam axle, pretty darn close, but it sure will ride better in every other environment. And death wobble threads will become a part of history.....
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
:clap2: Well said and really, I couldn't agree more. I can assure you that not only are Cindy and I excited to see what may come, we actually hope it is all that the rumors make it out to be and, will be sure to BUY one because of it :yup:
 

LoPo

Caught the Bug
Greg wouldn't it be hard to adapt the IFS/IRS tech from race cars? The mount points for arms on the buggies are close to center line of the frame...where as production cars have wider frames. Which is why Tacomas and other prerunner/ big travel truck IFS applications have those super wide stances and ultra wide fiberglass fenders.

Sent from my SM-N900V using WAYALIFE mobile app
 

Sharkey

Word Ninja
I know this is an apple to hamburger comparison, but I used to run a Polaris Outlaw 550 full IS race quad. I could blast through the rocks all day long and not feel beat up at all. On my older solid rear axle quad, the same trails left me feeling like I took a few hundred shots to the kidneys.

I know, it's not even the same thing as a Jeep. My point is just that I'm excited about the possibilities. Comfort and performance don't have to be mutually exclusive. It may come at a cost, but that's to be expected.
 
Top Bottom