TJ...water height?

[kis86]

Since we're in the middle of all of the flooding, I'm curious as to how much water I could get through if necessary.

I have a 99 TJ with 31" tires and a 3 1/2 inch suspension lift. How much water can I get through without having issues..for instance will water start getting into the tranny fluid etc after a certain height?

[SteelHeadz]

Your Trans., T.Case, Front and Rear Axles should all have a Vent tube's attached to each one of them. these are routed upwards. The front axle vent tube should be on the driver side next to the radiator. The T.case and Trans. should come up on the firewall closer to the passenger side. . The rear axle vent tube should be on the driver side rear quarter panel. If i were you , i would not let the water past the crankshaft pulley just to be on the safe side. A foot of rushing water is enough to sweep your Jeep away..Also keep in mind that the throttle body intake tube is in a forward position on the passenger fender well. if enough water splashes into the air filter box, the engine will induce water..

[kis86]

Thanks a bunch SteelHeadz :) any idea how high my crankshaft pulley is? I wouldn't go into any rushing water, but possibly some standing water in the streets etc.

[SteelHeadz]

Originally Posted by kis86

Thanks a bunch SteelHeadz :) any idea how high my crankshaft pulley is? I wouldn't go into any rushing water, but possibly some standing water in the streets etc.

I wouldn't have a clue on what the final height of your crankshaft would be after the lift and tires. The best thing to do is eyeball the crankshaft relative to its position in the engine compartment. Draw an Imaginary line outside the Jeep body and this will give you an idea how close you are on where you dont want the water to pass.

[kis86]

Will do, thanks again for the help

[SteelHeadz]

Anytime.

[mud4feet]

I've been in water up to the bottom of my doors with no problems. But I can't emphasize enough, "DON'T TRY GOING THROUGH MOVING WATER!!!!". It's really surprising how little it takes to sweep you away. As the old margarine commercial used to say, "It's not NICE to fool with Mother Nature!" Best of luck.......I feel for ya with all that flooding. I reckon it's all heading down here eventually.

[Turbogus]

Back when I was in the US Marines we drove M-151's (AM General Jeeps) on beach landing exercises we had to connect the "fording kit" that consisted not only a snorkel for the intake, but one for the exhaust as well. The tops of these snorkels were above the roofline (military inteligence?)
The procedure for disembarking from an LST was to pull out the hand throttle halfway, stand on the tub entry rail and keep our right hand on the steering wheel for guidance. On more than one occasion even though I'm six foot, I gulped so southern california seawater in the process.

[phall92139]

Since you are specifically talking about flooding, which usually involves moving water, it is a whole different deal than crossing a shallow pond, casually flowing stream or creek. While a TJ is pretty well equipped for the later due to the advantages SteelHeadz mentioned, these do nothing to counter the force of moving water.

I've extracted this info from The Disaster Center at: http://www.disastercenter.com/guide/flood.html

"If your vehicle becomes surrounded by water or the engine stalls, and if you can safely get out, abandon your vehicle immediately and climb to higher ground. Many deaths have resulted from attempts to move stalled vehicles. When a vehicle stalls in the water, the water's momentum is transferred to the car. The lateral force of a foot of water moving at 10 miles per hour is about 500 pounds on the average automobile. The greatest effect is buoyancy - for every foot that water rises up the side of a car, it displaces 1,500 pounds of the car's weight. So, two feet of water moving at 10 miles per hour will float virtually any car. Many persons have been swept away by flood waters upon leaving their vehicles, which are later found without much damage. Use caution when abandoning your vehicle, and look for an opportunity to move away quickly and safely to higher ground."

While we sit considerably higher than your average sedan or coupe, adjust the above figures accordingly but remember, as good as Jeeps are, they ain't boats!

-Phil

[kis86]

Wow great information! I was mainly thinking of if I needed to travel to streets that had flooded a bit via ditches that had overflowed etc, and definitely not in places with moving water. It's amazing that it only takes a couple feet before it'll take you away at 10mph I can see how easy it would be to think you're fine and then be swept away.

[B'ham Jeeper]

Saw the flooding on the news this morning. You be careful out there!!

[kis86]

Thank you :) We're all working very hard to fight the water away from the city...it's looking good, although the 5-8 inches of snow we're getting now isn't helping!

[BAM4x4]

That damn global warming!

[robo83]

weather like this cold we are haveing does put global warming in a bad spot

[xt master]

You need to look at the up side of global warming.New places to go off road at.At some point maybe people can go off roading at one of the poles with the top down.If every one looks at the down side you can not enjoy life.

[Jason4x4]

As others have said, you should be very careful crossing any non-standing water. Now, having said that...





The above crossing didn't do any damage. That's my '06 TJ with a 2" budget lift and the 30" tires that came with it from the factory (I have 32" mud terrains now). I changed the t-case fluid not long after that and it looked ok. Did the front and rear diffs much later and they looked no worse for wear either. Boy that was a fun day. I miss Paragon so much. Rausch Creek just isn't the same .

[FLLawdog]

I've had mine about halfway up the doors (stock height and 30's) for a short period of time and no ill effects. We were in rocker height water for the majority of that same trip. I need to change the tranny fluid, but nothing catastrophic.

[Sine Deviance]

I've had water up to the top of my front bumper. No problems. That's a good foot or more off the ground.

[gardengirl38]

well i was/am right in the middle of the flooding from the storm. I happen to live right down by the bay and across the street from a river so we get overflowing banks as well as storm surge. The end of my street floods really badly but it is not moving water. I did drive through it with my jeep and it was just up to the side step panels. During hurricane Isabel we lost a Ford Explorer in that same flooded area so I was nervous to go through it in the jeep this time. I also had driven through that area a few times in a mini van and that got the carpeting wet in the van and I regretted that everytime i smelled it.
The whole area down here stinks now, people up and down the road from me had their bottom floors flooded out, there is torn out carpeting and abandoned cars and mud everywhere . Very sad. Basically the whole town smells like old wet laundry. :-( My back yard still is full of water and my shed flooded halfway up, I was smart enough to move all my good stuff out of there knowing the flooding was coming. We lost a 10 year old tree, that is always sad. I planted it and it was just really getting to be a good size.... the thing broke clean off midway down the trunk and fell on the privacy fence.