Looking to get some ideas. 2012 JKU Sahara

[Skippy]

So I am looking to build up my jeep in about two years, however I am going to start acquiring parts in the interim while the new vehicle appeal wears off and I can buy my wife another jeep to turn this one into a monster. I am looking to turn my JKU into a more than capable mud/trail rig, pref running 37's full lockers, and armored right up.
So my question is from everyone's experience what are your experiences in building a jeep like this, what parts did you use approx cost.

I was looking at getting a D44 for the front to replace the D30, sleeving it, and adding chromoly axle shafts, re gear to 5.38s, dropping an atlas transfer-case in place of the stock Sahara one, and upgrading the 2" BB BDS lift for a 4.5" BDS long arm lift, adding in E lockers from and rear. Was thinking of adding a supercharger to it as well as these things really are gutless compared to my 6.7L cummins daily driver but haven't done much research on them yet.

I would love to hear what you think, and would love to hear your thoughts on other products and parts.

[w squared]

Do you want a mud rig, or a trail rig? The two are not one in the same. Take a good hard look at what you use your Jeep for now, and what you will use it for in the future.

Your 2012 has the Pentastar, right? I don't know how much support there is in the way of supercharger kits for those yet...and according to the people that I know who own them , the Pentastar is god's gift to Jeeps, right?     Also understand that the more HP you add, the more money you will spend. Either on upgrading driveline parts, or replacing driveline parts.

For a lift, I'd buy something that uses top-quality joints. I don't believe that BDS qualifies. I don't know a single person that's purchased a Currie or Clayton lift and then regretted it. For a JK-specific long arm, Clayton makes a kit that's radius arm front, 4 link rear, and Off Road Evolution makes a kit that's 4 link front and rear. Here's my question to you....WHY do you want a long arm lift? Not that there's anything wrong with them....but don't go long arm for 4.5 inches on a JK just because someone told you that long arms are way cool.

For your front axle, since you have to buy a D44 to go in there anyways I would probably just buy an axle that is suitable for your intended purpose. If you buy the right D44, you won't need to sleeve it. Don't forget your rear axle either - depending on how you're going to wheel, cromo shafts may be an idea.

Why do you want to run 5.38's with 37's? That's shallower gearing than the stock Rubicon (4.10's with 32's). Have you figured out where your engine would be revving at 120 KPH on the highway? Speaking of gearing, are you looking for a 2 speed or 4 speed Atlas? What sort of ratios?

Armor - are you talking about bolt-on sliders and bumpers, or an exo-cage? If you want to build your rig to be amored up so that it can take anything, you had better have deep pockets because no amount of armor will be enough to deal with careless and/or unskilled driving on the trail.

What about the stuff you haven't mentioned? I think that it would be foolish to dump a huge amount of money into a rig and not include quality beadlocks in your build plan. If you're buildign a really wild rig, at the very least you should probably beef up the existing "cage".

[Skippy]

Do you want a mud rig, or a trail rig? The two are not one in the same. Take a good hard look at what you use your Jeep for now, and what you will use it for in the future.

 - I want a trail rig that can handle big mud holes if we run across it, or if I feel like doing some bogging.

Your 2012 has the Pentastar, right? I don't know how much support there is in the way of supercharger kits for those yet...and according to the people that I know who own them , the Pentastar is god's gift to Jeeps, right?     Also understand that the more HP you add, the more money you will spend. Either on upgrading driveline parts, or replacing driveline parts.

 - I like the idea of more power, the pentastar does have more power than the previous gen jeeps, however, it is still gutless. I want to have power and torque and not need to be in 4 low to feel it. IMO to much power never hurts, it's better to over build than underbuild. As I said I am not planning on getting these parts today, so I figure over the next two years I'll see more on the market. As for upgrading parts, the reason I went with a sahara over a rubicon, is I planned to build this jeep to be able to handle anything I want to throw at it.

For a lift, I'd buy something that uses top-quality joints. I don't believe that BDS qualifies. I don't know a single person that's purchased a Currie or Clayton lift and then regretted it. For a JK-specific long arm, Clayton makes a kit that's radius arm front, 4 link rear, and Off Road Evolution makes a kit that's 4 link front and rear. Here's my question to you....WHY do you want a long arm lift? Not that there's anything wrong with them....but don't go long arm for 4.5 inches on a JK just because someone told you that long arms are way cool.

 - As for the lift, I am not to worried about brand specific, I want the long arm lift to keep the control arm angles correct, and they are generally a better lift if it includes a 4 link rear to help avoid axle wrap and drive shaft vibration on the highway "which I had with my old superduty with an 8" lift"

For your front axle, since you have to buy a D44 to go in there anyways I would probably just buy an axle that is suitable for your intended purpose. If you buy the right D44, you won't need to sleeve it. Don't forget your rear axle either - depending on how you're going to wheel, cromo shafts may be an idea.

 - The reason I am going to be sleeving it and building it up, is I am going to have the front out of the jeep for a few months prior to install, and it is cheap and easy to do when its just sitting on the garage floor. Again IMO I would rather over build it than through in a stock d44 and have it brake on me.

Why do you want to run 5.38's with 37's? That's shallower gearing than the stock Rubicon (4.10's with 32's). Have you figured out where your engine would be revving at 120 KPH on the highway? Speaking of gearing, are you looking for a 2 speed or 4 speed Atlas? What sort of ratios?

- You need to re-gear a jeep to efficiently run 37's, if not you run the risk of chewing up a diff on the trail or being completely under powered on the highway. As for the Tcase I haven't decided, as I was looking with just a two speed you can get some really low gear ratios, however, depending on cost it may be better to just drop the 4 speed in to have it.


Armor - are you talking about bolt-on sliders and bumpers, or an exo-cage? If you want to build your rig to be amored up so that it can take anything, you had better have deep pockets because no amount of armor will be enough to deal with careless and/or unskilled driving on the trail.

- I want to throw on a full set of skid plates underneath the rig, rear bumper and tire carrier, rock sliders. As for an exo-cage I am not to sure, I have seen some pretty decent re-enforcement kits for the jeep to beef up the factory roll bars.

What about the stuff you haven't mentioned? I think that it would be foolish to dump a huge amount of money into a rig and not include quality beadlocks in your build plan. If you're buildign a really wild rig, at the very least you should probably beef up the existing "cage".

I will be putting bead locks on and tires I plan to run will most likely be the tsl boggers as I have had really good experiences with superswamper tires. 
I think for the most part I just want to build this thing right, and build it strong.

[JackstandJohnny]

Sounds like you should sell it and find a miled out cheaper 2007. It sounds like you are going to rebuild everything anyways so why start with a brand new rig?   I say this because ask anyone whose built a TJ huge and I bet quite a few will say they shoulda started with a bone stock older 97 98......

[Skippy]

Well this one I got for the wife right now, so in two yeasr i'll buy her a new one and upgrade it. I pref to have a newer vehicle to ride in, and I am kind of a sucker for wheeling with leather heated seats

[w squared]

I think that you should do a bunch more research before you start spending money. You seem to have some ideas that you've carried over from other vehicles that don't apply to JK's.

-You don't have a Dana 44 up front on a Sahara. If you want a 44, you need to buy one. If you're going to buy one, why would you bother buying a stock JK Dana 44 that you are going to need to modify when you can buy a bolt-in unit from Currie or Dynatrac that is EXACLTY what you need it to be. Dynatrac will even let you choose the OD and wall thickness of the axle tubes from a variety of offerings, so you get an axle that is engineered to soak up the level of abuse that you want to dish out. Unless you get a screaming deal on a Rubicon take-off (and most people seem to thnk that any Rubi take-off part is made outta gold), you are going to spend just as much money buying used and modifying.

-Understand that the kind of power increase you are talking about will come with an engine swap - not a bolt-on blower. This means a new transmission...and probably axles that are beefier than D44's unless you tend to wheel with finesse rather than skinny pedal. I don't get the sense that you're that guy. If you really do want gobs of torque available on demand, save yourself a bunch of grief and get Jay at Chanda to install a 5.7VVT Hemi in your rig.

-To be honest, I would worry about getting "brand-specific" on your suspension. A big chunk of the cost of your modified suspension is the joints...and if you buy cheap joints, you'll just end replacing them on a regular basis. Most of the "complete" lift kits out there are built to a specific price point....and not to a specific performance level. As far as 4-link rear suspension....you're aware that your stock suspension (front and rear) is currently 4-link, right? You're also aware that the vast majority of the JK suspension kits out there maintain this configuration - especially in the rear? And are you aware that the JK's stock arms are WAY longer than a TJ or XJ's stock arms, and that at 3 inches of suspension lift, the control arm angles are still pretty good, right? Unless you're installing very long travel suspension (like coilovers) or you're going to be doing a lot of high-speed runs over rough terrain, long arms may not show you good return on the extra money.

-As far as re-gearing goes, I am VERY familiar with why you want to re-gear. My question is why you've picked 5.38's to go with 37's....instead of the 5.13's that most folks choose to run with 37's? Especially if you're going to be adding HP and bottom end torque. If you were staying with a 2.73:1 transfer case, it would make sense...but since you're going to be installing an Atlas, I'm kinda like Ray Charles here. I just can't see it.

-As far as skid plates go, take a good look under your JK right now. I've been wheeling my JK moderately hard for the past four years, and the only underside armour that I've added is diff covers and the evap skid. The gas tank is already protected by a skid, and the rest of what you've got is up between the frame rails. Other than the evap canister, there's not a whole lot that's super-vulnerable to trail damage unless you're beating on your rig.

[Delco21]

I think that you should do a bunch more research before you start spending money. You seem to have some ideas that you've carried over from other vehicles that don't apply to JK's.

-You don't have a Dana 44 up front on a Sahara. If you want a 44, you need to buy one. If you're going to buy one, why would you bother buying a stock JK Dana 44 that you are going to need to modify when you can buy a bolt-in unit from Currie or Dynatrac that is EXACLTY what you need it to be. Dynatrac will even let you choose the OD and wall thickness of the axle tubes from a variety of offerings, so you get an axle that is engineered to soak up the level of abuse that you want to dish out. Unless you get a screaming deal on a Rubicon take-off (and most people seem to thnk that any Rubi take-off part is made outta gold), you are going to spend just as much money buying used and modifying.

-Understand that the kind of power increase you are talking about will come with an engine swap - not a bolt-on blower. This means a new transmission...and probably axles that are beefier than D44's unless you tend to wheel with finesse rather than skinny pedal. I don't get the sense that you're that guy. If you really do want gobs of torque available on demand, save yourself a bunch of grief and get Jay at Chanda to install a 5.7VVT Hemi in your rig.

-To be honest, I would worry about getting "brand-specific" on your suspension. A big chunk of the cost of your modified suspension is the joints...and if you buy cheap joints, you'll just end replacing them on a regular basis. Most of the "complete" lift kits out there are built to a specific price point....and not to a specific performance level. As far as 4-link rear suspension....you're aware that your stock suspension (front and rear) is currently 4-link, right? You're also aware that the vast majority of the JK suspension kits out there maintain this configuration - especially in the rear? And are you aware that the JK's stock arms are WAY longer than a TJ or XJ's stock arms, and that at 3 inches of suspension lift, the control arm angles are still pretty good, right? Unless you're installing very long travel suspension (like coilovers) or you're going to be doing a lot of high-speed runs over rough terrain, long arms may not show you good return on the extra money.

-As far as re-gearing goes, I am VERY familiar with why you want to re-gear. My question is why you've picked 5.38's to go with 37's....instead of the 5.13's that most folks choose to run with 37's? Especially if you're going to be adding HP and bottom end torque. If you were staying with a 2.73:1 transfer case, it would make sense...but since you're going to be installing an Atlas, I'm kinda like Ray Charles here. I just can't see it.

-As far as skid plates go, take a good look under your JK right now. I've been wheeling my JK moderately hard for the past four years, and the only underside armour that I've added is diff covers and the evap skid. The gas tank is already protected by a skid, and the rest of what you've got is up between the frame rails. Other than the evap canister, there's not a whole lot that's super-vulnerable to trail damage unless you're beating on your rig.

A little off topic but I gotta say you definately know your stuff and I think it's awesome that everyone on here is so helpful

Thanks for the great insight I'll be referring to your posts about this when I upgrade my JK as I found the things you said to be very helpful especially since I'm learning all this day by day

[Skippy]

Yah I was thinking about the hemi swap. Sounds like a really nice option however that is a $$$ upgrade...

For the gears I guess I am pulling numbers pre 2012, but we do lots of travelling through the foothills and mountains, and I cant stand how gutless the thing is up them. I would consider 5.13 gears if I supercharged it as it would have the power the pull it through the hills. But all in all, these things, even the 2012 are super wimpy on the highway 5.38 with 37's will give me the power I want when I am trying to make it up those hills and not have to drop 3 gears.

The skid plates aren't bad, but remember I have a sahara and not a rubi. So an armor upgrade is deff in store, even just to cover the spots where you dont think you need any.

[AstraX]

If you think the 2012 is gutless it's a good thing you didn't get a 2007-2011.  The new engine is so much better then the old 3.8L

[Skippy]

Yah I know, that's why I held out for the 2012. But it's brutal how little power it has. I honestly think Kia's could take it. :-p

[Delco21]

Yah I know, that's why I held out for the 2012. But it's brutal how little power it has. I honestly think Kia's could take it. :-p

Might want to take yours back to the dealership and get it checked cause my 2012 hauls arse

[Skippy]

No it goes compared other jeeps. But it might as well be a KIA compared to my truck. Even still, once the warranty is up in two years it wont matter, it wont be a sahara any more

[hornblower]

Yah I was thinking about the hemi swap. Sounds like a really nice option however that is a $$$ upgrade...

For the gears I guess I am pulling numbers pre 2012, but we do lots of travelling through the foothills and mountains, and I cant stand how gutless the thing is up them. I would consider 5.13 gears if I supercharged it as it would have the power the pull it through the hills. But all in all, these things, even the 2012 are super wimpy on the highway 5.38 with 37's will give me the power I want when I am trying to make it up those hills and not have to drop 3 gears.

The skid plates aren't bad, but remember I have a sahara and not a rubi. So an armor upgrade is deff in store, even just to cover the spots where you dont think you need any.

So are you building a trail rig or something to cruise around in and it look like a trail rig?

I don't understand the need for a hemi swap or such deep gears. If your worried about it driving to jasper and never leaving O/D then you should leave the dreams of 37's behind you.

I drive a 2011 Sahara and I agree on the highway when pulling my quads or boat it can get a little luggish but as far as trail use goes the 3.8 isn't all that bad.

Also all the mods you mentioned are based around power and wanting more of it, Ask rookie recurve if power is the key to navigating trails effectively.

I'm not trying to bash you here but if you want a trail rig you don't have to start with the heavy stuff like gearing or engine swaps. Take the more effective route and get rid of that crap front plastic bumper and add in a winch. Get a decent lift and throw on the 33 mud tires or aggresive A/T. Grab some diff covers and an evap skid plate. Remove and replace that crap plastic rear bumper and tire carrier. Get some extra lighting and some basic off-road equipment like CB's and recovery kits. Start here and once you have actually hit the trails a few times maybe you will notice some other stuff you need.

This might not sound as glamorous as what you have planned or look as cool in the parking lot but i assure you it will create a very capable rig. Hell the rig you have now is pretty damn capable out of the box. Last but not least get some experience on the trails with your new jeep and go from there because all the power and 37's in the world aren't going to help you if you don't know how to use them on the trail.

[Skippy]

So are you building a trail rig or something to cruise around in and it look like a trail rig?

I don't understand the need for a hemi swap or such deep gears. If your worried about it driving to jasper and never leaving O/D then you should leave the dreams of 37's behind you.

I drive a 2011 Sahara and I agree on the highway when pulling my quads or boat it can get a little luggish but as far as trail use goes the 3.8 isn't all that bad.

Also all the mods you mentioned are based around power and wanting more of it, Ask rookie recurve if power is the key to navigating trails effectively.

I'm not trying to bash you here but if you want a trail rig you don't have to start with the heavy stuff like gearing or engine swaps. Take the more effective route and get rid of that crap front plastic bumper and add in a winch. Get a decent lift and throw on the 33 mud tires or aggresive A/T. Grab some diff covers and an evap skid plate. Remove and replace that crap plastic rear bumper and tire carrier. Get some extra lighting and some basic off-road equipment like CB's and recovery kits. Start here and once you have actually hit the trails a few times maybe you will notice some other stuff you need.

This might not sound as glamorous as what you have planned or look as cool in the parking lot but i assure you it will create a very capable rig. Hell the rig you have now is pretty damn capable out of the box. Last but not least get some experience on the trails with your new jeep and go from there because all the power and 37's in the world aren't going to help you if you don't know how to use them on the trail.

I understand where are coming from, but this is the it i want. I want to be able to drive it down to Moab, or into the rockies, have it be able to tackle any obstacle in its path and still be able to drive home. The thing is I have a ton of experience on the trails I grew up less than 10 minutes from McLean so I have spent years 4wheeling and am frankly tired of getting stuck 3/4 of the way down a trail because someone with 44's came and chewed it out and now means I am breaking or damaging parts trying to make it through when if you take the time and money to build it right I wouldn't always be towing underbuilt trucks back on trailers.

Also if you read my signature my jeep already has a bumper, winch, 33's, and 2 in lift. I simply want it bigger and better... Lol that's why my daily driver is a 2011 1ton dually.