You are right Brian, I've driven 70 series before (with DANA axles) and they are nice rigs, but none of that applies to us here in the US. Shame on Toyota for not bringing us a stout product, not Daimler Chysler. They stepped up to the plate and I don't think that it is fair to knock them for it.
Well, I'm not knocking Chrysler for bringing us the Rubicon or the Powerwagon. Not at all. Both are interesting and neat rigs in their own right. And both appear to possibly be continuing and expanding a new and exciting trend in the auto industry.
But I would hardly call them "stout". Certainly not the Rubicon. Maybe the Powerwagon, just because of it's size and load capacity. The Rubicon is nothing more than a Jeep with the axles that it "should" come with standard to be equal to most Toyotas. The Dana 30 and 35s are a joke.
And neither of those rigs are anything that couldn't built with a couple of ARBs, and T-case gears. In the end, you still have a "Chrysler" and all of the inherent design deficiencies of a cheaply made and designed vehicle, IMHO.
The Rubicon still needs an expensive lift to be truly capable. I personally witnessed a nearly stock IFS 4Runner, with basically no lift, and 32s trounce all over a stock Rubicon because the Rubicon kept getting hung up on the rocks. A Powerwagon, as already mentioned, isn't going even be able to fit on many trails, much less make it through.
But I've always said, Kudos to them to bringing us those rigs and continuing a trend, which I believe was actually started by Toyota, and the first real electric lockers on an SUV (the Land Cruiser 80 series in 1993) and pick-up (the Tacoma in 1995). <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
