I was just looking at the new Jeeps. While you can't, apparently, get the heavy duty front drive axle with the bone stock model(s), you do get the HD rear as a stock item. Which you really do need with the 6 cylinder engines. The Rubicon Jeep is the Jeep that the hard core jeep users have been building and dreaming of for many years. One wonders why it took Jeep so long to put it together.
I'm still driving my 2nd, a 2000 model Wrangler. It's been very impressive. I've had the front end alginment checked every year. Hasn't needed a thing in at least three years. I hunt it, off road for the whole season as a rule, and use it all summer and into the fall off road. The only break downs I've had have been tires. I've learned that, for my uses, I need to use 6 ply tires. Even those get ripped up at times.
As far as how much you push a 4WD when hunting, I limit myself to those areas which I know aren't safe. But even iffy stuff I sometimes try. If I have a passenger, he or she walks or waits while I do the "iffy" driving.
When I go hunting, my camp is a truck camper that sits on a very capable Dodge 4X4. If I break the Jeep, the Dodge can be used to drag the Jeep back to civilization. The plain fact is that off road driving puts far more stress on a vehicle than many understand. If it's going to break, it will do so when you need it most. The long held rule of picking such rigs is that tough constuction is No.1. E
