2007 JK Unlimited Rubicon advice

[RUBICON13]

I am considering the following mods to my 2007 JK Unlimited Rubicon and am looking for some advice. I am new to this so, go easy on me. I am looking for bang for the buck (not most expensive but not cheap either). Any productive advice is much appreciated. I want something that is capable off road (yeah, I know it already is stock but, I have the bug) but not over the top:

Front bumper and winch: Rough Country JK Winch Bumper ($380) with D-rings and mounts ($90) (like it because it is clean looking and utilizes stock fog lights but D-rings and mounts seem a little expensive) Warn's new entry level 10,000 pound winch can't remember the name ($650).

Enough lift to run 35s on stock rims if desired. I have read that the JKs can run 35s with as little as a 2.5" lift but may need 1.5" spacers for stock rims so the tires don't rub. I am having difficulty determining a good bang for the buck way to do this (seems to be so many options).

I would like a way to carry my high lift jack and a fuel can on the outside (perhaps a rear bumper with attachment or something to attach to spare?) Garvin Wilderness racks look great but $1500, really?

other accessories looking for advice on: portable air compressor, recovery strap(s), snatch block(s), 35" tires...

Thanks in advance!

Jeff







 

[w squared]

Welcome to the sickness. On the upside, any back issues that you may have had in the past will improve now. You won't have any money, so your wallet will be thinner and you won't be sitting lopsided.

Let me adress your questions one by one.

Front bumper and winch - a Warn is money well spent. You don't need to buy new, as a used Warn will offer good value, but you may need to be patient. As far the bumper goes, $380 is VERY inexpensive for a JK bumper. I paid far more than that for a custom bumper...but I still spent much less than many of the "big name" bumpers out there for the JK.

Suspension - don't spend ANY money on this until after you've been on a few runs with guys that have modified JK's. Find the one who has suspension that does what you want it to, and then start asking questions. You can fit 35's ona a JK with nothing more than wheel spacers, extended bumpstops, and a sawzall....but that doesn't mean that it's a good idea. There are three factors when it comes to suspension:

-Performance on the road (will your Jeep still be manageable to drive down the #2 at 110 KPH?)
-Performance off the road (will your Jeep flex out and keep up with the pack on technical obstacles?)
-Cost (will you still be able to put gas in your Jeep after the fact)

If you are lucky, you'll like the answer to two of these three questions. I have yet to meet someone that got an answer they liked to all three.   

Some of the guys running JK's in this club (myself included) went with Old Man Emu long travel coils and shocks - it's a great performing lift...but it's not cheap to do it right. That said, we're all very happy with both on road and off road performance of the lift.

As far as a gerrry can and a hi-lift on the outside of the vehicle....yup. That's about the going rate for a rear bumper/tire carrier combo with good features. Give or take $300.

Air compressor, recovery straps, snatch blocks....come out to the trail project this weekend and ask MangerineFox. He'll talk your ear off about JK's. I'm stuck working, so I won't be able to help. Even better, come out to the show + shine the following weekend. You can see how the various lifted JK's perform on the RTI ramp.

[silverfox]

Welcome to the sickness. On the upside, any back issues that you may have had in the past will improve now. You won't have any money, so your wallet will be thinner and you won't be sitting lopsided.

Let me adress your questions one by one.

Front bumper and winch - a Warn is money well spent. You don't need to buy new, as a used Warn will offer good value, but you may need to be patient. As far the bumper goes, $380 is VERY inexpensive for a JK bumper. I paid far more than that for a custom bumper...but I still spent much less than many of the "big name" bumpers out there for the JK.[/quote]

Hmmmm, bumpers..........too many options to even start.  Have a look around and see what you want, what style fits you, what is your budget.  You can go custom,  or any one of seems like hundreds of options.  W has a custom full width, I have poison spyder shorty, I have seen modded stock bumpers etc.....

As for winch.......yup you can go Warn and there are lots of them out there that come up now and again.  While not long term proven here, Chanda sells the Kingone that specs out similar to the Warn but at a way lower price.  I have one and so far it is awesome, it has done a lot of heavy pulls for me but it is only 5 months old so time will tell.  I would suggest not cheeping out here and if you can get synth..............trust me after a day of pulling steel cable you will love having synth

Suspension - don't spend ANY money on this until after you've been on a few runs with guys that have modified JK's. Find the one who has suspension that does what you want it to, and then start asking questions. You can fit 35's ona a JK with nothing more than wheel spacers, extended bumpstops, and a sawzall....but that doesn't mean that it's a good idea. There are three factors when it comes to suspension:

-Performance on the road (will your Jeep still be manageable to drive down the #2 at 110 KPH?)
-Performance off the road (will your Jeep flex out and keep up with the pack on technical obstacles?)
-Cost (will you still be able to put gas in your Jeep after the fact)

If you are lucky, you'll like the answer to two of these three questions. I have yet to meet someone that got an answer they liked to all three.   

Yup what he said, you can run 35's with a little creative cutting and some minor changes.  However you will rub if you flex it out and risk cutting the tires or tearing up an inner fender skirt.  Plus if you plan on wheeling that extra lift makes a huge difference.......way more than I expected.

Some of the guys running JK's in this club (myself included) went with Old Man Emu long travel coils and shocks - it's a great performing lift...but it's not cheap to do it right. That said, we're all very happy with both on road and off road performance of the lift.

I went with the OME as well and I haven't looked back, the components are top notch, the ride is good and off road it handles well and is passable at highway speeds.  Lots of options in this department as well, the one recommendation I have is if you are going to go cheap here then just keep stock height, you want good quality heavy components on your lift that can withstand the extra rigour that wheeling can do to it. [/quote]

As far as a gerrry can and a hi-lift on the outside of the vehicle....yup. That's about the going rate for a rear bumper/tire carrier combo with good features. Give or take $300.

Air compressor, recovery straps, snatch blocks....come out to the trail project this weekend and ask MangerineFox. He'll talk your ear off about JK's. I'm stuck working, so I won't be able to help. Even better, come out to the show + shine the following weekend. You can see how the various lifted JK's perform on the RTI ramp.

The first things I got were a compressor and tow straps and some D rings.......................as for talking your ear off.................welll.................awww hell he's right I love talking jeeps.  Come join us on Saturday and you can have a look at a few different rigs.

[Bnine]

Honestly, high lift jacks and jerry cans are more for guys going after the "expedition look". They really serve no practical purpose for recreational wheeling around here.

Secondly, adding things like that to the back of the jeep will actually restrict its ability to climb. The more weight you throw behind the rear axle, the harder it is to drag that rear axle up hills.

A small bottle jack and a peice of wood for a base will usually do the trick.

OME is good suspension.

Selling the stock tires and rims and buying new rims with a more favorable back space is also an option. Personally I am big on beadlocks. I figure if you are spending money on rims, you might as well do it right.

Good example for a jk, and they are DOT "legal"

https://secure.aev-conversions.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=20402016AA

They look good, and the performance difference is like going from open differentials to locked. In fact, the difference is enough that there are occasions when an open open beadlocked rig will go farther then a locked rig without beadlocks.

Ultimately its your choice, but if you are after performance at all, the 1500$ spent on that rear bumper could be much better spent on some beadlocks and a small air compressor.

[RUBICON13]

Thanks everyone for your comments! They are all very helpful.

I intend to attend both the trail project this weekend and the show and shine next weekend. Look forward to seeing you guys there.

Take care,

Jeff

[RUBICON13]

Bnine,

I read the info on beadlock wheels. Am I missing something or is the only benefit that you can replace the outer 'rim' when it becomes damaged/doesn't look good? Based on the information in the source you provided it apears that you have to keep a pretty close eye on them as well. Although I am pretty good at keeping an eye on things I am not sure if there is enough benefit to these rims/wheels for me at least to justify the purchase. They also apparently recommend only runnning these offroad and not as a daily driver. Thus, I don't think these are for me since although I want a capable Jeep I do want to be able to drive it to my offroad destinations and even to work and back if I so choose. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Also, I would like to carry extra fuel if possible. Most of my offroad experience is with atvs and I always carried extra fuel and it was a life saver (mostly for friends riding with me) several times and unfortunately carrying it inside because of fumes is not an option here. Thus, is there another option other than on the back to address your concern of rear weight?

As far as the high lift jack goes, I have seen it used on occassion to get people out of a bind (and I hagve already purchased one) and I simply would prefer to have it on the outside somewhere (perhaps front bumper instead?) rather than taking up room on the inside. I am also considering a roof rack at some point but that it could be attached to, but, that is lower down on my priority list right now.

Thanks for your great advice!

Jeff

[BlackYJ]

The purpose of beadlock rims is to actually clamp the outer bead of the tire to the rim so you do not have to worry about blowing a bead on the trail when running low tire pressures.

As for fuel Jeeps have a much greater distance than ATVs.  I have gone all weekend wheeling on a single tank of gas.  The best practice is to fill up at the last point you can and you will be good for the day or two.  Unless you are going to be in the bush for more than a couple days, extra fuel is usually not required.  Unless you are running some high HP gas guzzling, big block.

[RUBICON13]

Thanks BlackYJ,

How common is it to blow a bead while running low pressure on your tires? If it is a fairly regular occurence I could definately see the benefit of beadlock rims.

Thanks,

Jeff

[w squared]

Blowing beads is not all that common, because most people run their tires at a pressure that doesn't have them blowing beads all the time. Unless their name is Kevin.

The big benefit of beadlocks is that they allow you to run a MUCH lower tire pressure than non-beadlocks. With a non-beadlocked rim, you're probably going to be running between 15 psi and 10 psi when on the trail. Some folks run as low as 9 or 8 psi without beadlocks, but that's starting to get into risky territory unless you're running just the right rim width vs tire width combo.

The guys I know with beadlocks run at 6 or 4 (or even 2) psi. These low pressure allow the tire to have a HUGE footprint, meaning that you have more traction available, and the tire is able to conform to the terrain to a greater degree.

As far as extra fuel goes, your JK Unlimited with no extra fuel will already cover more distance than a TJ with 5 gallons of extra fuel. Don't spend any money on things for carrying extra fuel until after you've spent a couple weekends out wheeling with other Jeeps and you've seen how things roll.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't plan on spending any money on things other than a small air compressor or a winch/front bumper combo until after you've been out wheeling with us at least a few times. The best thing that you can do in terms of modding your jeep intelligently is to get out there and see first hand what works, what doesn't, and what you really want your Jeep to be able to do. Different people want to do different things with their Jeeps...and they end up with different mods. Real-world experience is what will guide you into doing the mods that will work well for you and your rig. Please don't get suckered into buying mods based on what looks cool on the interwebs or what me and Bnine and Mangerine Fox tell you. Especially that Mangerine Fox guy...he has strange ideas about Jeep colours! 

[RUBICON13]

Excellent advice everyone. Thanks!!!

Look forward to chatting with you all out on the trails.

[Bnine]

The boys pretty much covered it all.

I will add, many of us have daily driven beadlocks for several years with no issue. Also, they require virtually no maintenance once the bolts are torque and set.

Honestly, all the stuff they say on the website is discalaimer stuff for the dumb.