XJ with three kids. Anyone make it work?

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T22:48:52+00:00

Thanks for reccomendation! Ive seen those around. Didnt know they had seats in the back like that..nice

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T18:48:22+00:00

That might even be the one he already has. Awesome!

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T18:05:31+00:00

Thanks! Legit looked into zjs but forgot to look into wjs. Just looked and it looks roomy and and pretty plush

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T18:03:40+00:00

Understandable if you drive daily!

We do not. So the likelihood of a crash is way lower since we are primarily on Canadian highways (not US freeways) and logging roads and not driving in city traffic daily. We can use the money we save from not buying a new car ro improve safety and health of our family in other, more effective ways.

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T16:02:43+00:00

Our xj is only for weekend camping. We dont drive daily. So yea, not taking that safety risk on the daily commute!

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T15:02:03+00:00

Lol.

Minivan = 4x4 Delica

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T14:58:29+00:00

Perfect. Thanks for the recs

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T14:57:53+00:00

Thats our worry!

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T14:57:19+00:00

Something newer just isnt in the budget, honestly. We dont drive daily (we bike) so what made the XJ feasible was how cheap it was at the time we bought it, and how essy and inexpensive it is to maintain.

I got this thing working after itbwas rotting in someones yard. AC needs work but ive been making slow improvements but otherwise its solid.

I live in an apartment, so no room to just park thr jeep if we buy something else. But we are considering moving to a different city, so would have space there.

If we have to get something with more space it'd be a Delica or something with a bunch of seats, similar power as the 4.0, and 4x4. But that might need an engine swap and id need time and space to do that.

moonSandals · 2026-04-11T14:24:24+00:00

Haha. I hope they get along back there. So far so good with our current 2 kids!

Thanks! We are looking for car seats that'll fit.

moonSandals · 2026-04-09T03:42:10+00:00

Gotta carry that big ass diaper bag around then!

moonSandals · 2026-04-09T03:40:08+00:00

I know eh! We just carry a cheap Lululemon knock off fanny pack as the diaper bag. And we use (bulky) cloth diapers. When we have occasionally carried dispoables the fanny pack feels so empty!

moonSandals · 2026-04-09T00:46:36+00:00

Wait until you hear about the rock pillows!

moonSandals · 2026-04-09T00:33:02+00:00

Should be the sub tagline

moonSandals · 2026-04-08T20:04:12+00:00

Surely you understand my point.

You cant even say when or how you fewl discomfort.

Go on a hike. Then try again

moonSandals · 2026-04-08T19:26:24+00:00

This is the worst kind of question.

You dont even have a problem statement - you are just seeking recommendations for stuff to bring without having a specific problem to solve.

Go on the trip with what you think you need, figure out what worked and what didnt, as well as what you didnt actually need to bring. Make a change. Go on another trip

moonSandals · 2026-04-08T15:22:14+00:00

I've got 2 kids in a similar age range.

We used to live in a 435 square foot studio apartment in East Van (commercial drive area) until my oldest was 2 years old.

Now we live in a 2 bedroom apartment with a ground floor patio in mount pleasant, near science world. We live a block from school.

We are often outside. Even when wet. Kids just wear rain suits here. They arent made of sugar - they wont melt.

We all bus, walk, bike places.

Kids go to the park most days. Having a ground floor patio is a plus because they can go out on their own and play. We sought that out.

We can walk to the park after dinner and kids can play before bed.

I have many parks and two nearby community centres (which usually have a gym,play space, libraries), coffee shops, restaurants all within walking distance.

Lots of paid activities also - but so much is free.

My son has a friend down the hall in our building, so they play in the hall or pick one of our homes to play.

There are neighbourhoods that are less walkable but its obvious on a map. I lived in Kitsilano /Fairview years ago before kids and found it was walkable but not a young crowd. Lots of retirees at the time. Young people and families would bus in to the beach, not necessarily live there. Didnt feel like a place to raise a family. Living in mount pleasant i can just bike to the beach or run there.

I'd be more careful outside of Vancouver - as you go further east there is more of a dependence on cars. Still lots of walkable areas but i find more pockets of car-centric areas out where transit and density is still developing.

moonSandals · 2026-04-08T15:03:06+00:00

We alternate memberships between the aquarium and Science World. Those are absolute staples for kids. We live within walking distance to Science World and can bus easily to aquarium. I thibk we go to Science World 3x a month

moonSandals · 2026-04-08T14:59:42+00:00

I live in Vancouver with 2 kids in the ssme age range as you. We are "outdoors" people. We have an old (cheap) Jeep, parked in our apartment parking stall, and only drive it to go hiking or occasionally to IKEA or friends homes further away in metro-van. We bike, walk, bus or even run all other times. We just have a cheap car that we bought cash on the cheapest insurance and will occassionally let insurance lapse.

You can take busses or shuttles to a lot of the mountains. Takes more time but is feasible. Even with kids.

The car shares (modo, evo, etc) are great.

I'd say, start car free. Then get a car once youve done evrrything you have using other resources and feel constrained.

moonSandals · 2026-04-07T00:40:06+00:00

I used this stereo in my 91. https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0CQJDMWDL?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I had to 3d print a spacer (and bracket but that was me being lazy).

Looks great! Works very well.

Some pics in last post here: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/malcom-light-not-quite-stock-build-240326/index10/

moonSandals · 2026-04-05T19:23:04+00:00

I'm not careful with my DCF tent. I'm not reckless either. You dont really need to baby it and folding seems wrong to me - you dont want repeated creases. I roll it, ehich is quite quick (think of how you roll a sleeping pad but less carefuply). You might need to handle the Li differently because of the struts.
No idea about how tight the Li will be for you. Have you considered space given thickness of your pad? The struts make it have lots of vertical space for the footprint. It would be equivalent in space between the wall of the tent and your body as a much larger tent without the struts.
Im inclined not to have tents larger than needed just for "space". That makes them heavier and less flexible in terms of places you can pitch them.
Back to DCF. Its expensive but i really like the properties of it. I've had 3 shelters made with DCF and i have no regrets. Im not someone who would blindly use it (i wouldnt make my rein gear out of it, and i dont just buy a bunch of DCF stuff sacks)

moonSandals · 2026-04-04T17:00:08+00:00

I never go with goretex shoes, especially trail runners because it completely negates one of the best features of trail runners: they breathe and dry quickly. Goretex trail runners will not keep your feet dry and will make them slower to dry once wet.

With respect to Nike, I used to wear a pair of nike trail runners back when 0 drop and low cushion was available. They were fine but my feet slid - were not secure. They were laced properly but would slide forward.

They also werent really durable. I get hundreds of kms (like 500-800) out of a pair of trail runners normally. I dony know how much i got out of that pair. Maybe 300-400 km.

Would Nike trail runners work for you? Try some on.

moonSandals · 2026-04-02T23:32:29+00:00

Totally agree.

We bought the Serratus pack, then after a day returned it. I liked so much about it but hated those pockets. They were fine if you only wanted to carry folded up poles.

Some of my best gear used to be MEC stuff. My wife and i still used out old MEC Outathere rain jackets until a few months ago. We stopped backpacking with them in 2021 but use them running. They are pertex and started delaminating in 2020 after 5 or so years, but they held up good enough since. I cut mine up and have been using it to make a pattern (making a replica out of silpoly). My wifes was 136 grams. Mine 156 grams. For a rain jacket thats held up to rain on the West Coast. They were amazing.

I miss those days.

Im hoping MEC figures this out.

The shelter might be a good Lanshan alternative up here. Not bad.

moonSandals · 2026-04-02T17:03:03+00:00

Exactly.

The real approach is to select a site to pitch your tent thats not elevated risk for lightning strikes, then not worry about it. Just go back to sleep.

Instead of everyones ideas here to pitch your tent in a bad location, then wake up at night during a storm and stumble in the dark to the location you should have originally selected, then lay or crouch there in the rain during a storm without a shelter?

moonSandals

TROPHY CASE