Hey Texas - Just remember, JEEP stands for "Just Empty Every Pocket" haha. I have a 1998 4 banger TJ and although it goes zero to sixty in 5 minutes (exaggeration, obviously) I've tackled some pretty tough stuff with the only modifications i've done to it being bigger tires - 31 x 10.50 mickey thompson baja claws.

Somebody on here mentioned the sailcloth top - i replaced my old OEM top back in 2004 with the bestop sailcloth and it IS quieter than the stock top. I like it, even tho a hardtop would be awesome up here in buffalo, NY for winter.

The greatest thing i love about wranglers is you can make it whatever you want for a decent price. If you wanna make it the biggest baddest rock crawler out there, you can. If you want to make it a weekend warrior that will still get you to work on monday, you can. Thats what i'm doing to mine - 3" teraflex suspension, not sure about the shocks yet, superwinch 9000 up front. I'm not a gearhead like some of these guys are so i haven't done the locker thing but for weekend trail riding and getting dirty, you don't really need 'em.

For those sticky situations where a locker WOULD come in handy, though, I would recommend a decent winch (warn, superwinch, ramsey) with pulling pounds to spare and a top of the line battery (optima red top), just in case you get a little excited and get in over your head <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> (no matter which kind of 4x4 you get)

Disadvantages - wranglers are REALLY just about 2 seaters only because if you're doing any serious camping, that back seat is coming out and being replaced with gear for the weekend, unless you have the rack up top. Other than that, don't keep anything you want to lose in the car itself, get a nice ignition security system and some wheel locks and you're all set.

Top down, doors off - its the only way to go!