DeJkUnlimited
Caught the Bug
I'm starting this thread to chronicle the evolution of my JKUR build, my own JK knowledge base, and my experiences learning about and enjoying this awesome vehicle. My wife and I are actually now on our 3rd JK within the last 3.5 years. A bit of backstory to help explain how we went from a '13 Sahara, to a '14 Sahara to the '17 Rubi. So I'm apologizing now for this being a bit long winded.....In the beginning, I originally went out and surprised her by trading our '10 Chevy Equinox on a '13 Billet Silver Sahara. We had discussed on and off for close to 2 years that we thought it would be a lot of fun to own a Wrangler. But at that time it was her that REALLY wanted one. Up to that point I had always been more into sporty fun cars and being, in a roundabout way, in the car business I'm around A LOT of different makes and models and was always very fickle when it comes to cars. Between the two of us, over the years we've owned at least one vehicle from Pontiac, Chevy, Mazda, VW, BMW, Honda, Acura and now Jeep. The second JKU was a result of her seeing a Granite Crystal Wrangler while we were out one day. She absolutely loved the color. I did as well, if it had been available in 2013 I would've purchased one, no doubt. When we decided to make the trade it was right at the end of the '14 model year with '15s trickling onto lots. At the time since GC wasn't available on the '15s we had to purchase a leftover '14 Sahara that our dealer had to locate. Thank god these things hold their value really well because it made for a pretty painless change. Ever since we purchased the '14 I've been wanting to lift, mod and wrench on it. As I stated in my "wave" intro, I had just installed a 3" Teraflex lift with 35s and had stumbled upon this forum looking for info on aligning JKs. I'm really glad I found Wayalife but I wish I had found it about 2 weeks earlier or had spent another week or two researching lift kits. Between driving the Jeep more and more and finding additional info here it didn't take real long to realize that for me, the TF lift was a mistake. The lift yielded a little more height than I had hoped for and the ride was also stiffer than I would've liked. But it was something I could've lived with for a while as I continued to hang out here and learn. Then about a month ago an opportunity arose out of something really silly but lead to the '17 JKUR we have today. I was running late for work on a Monday, came out to my work vehicle (Chevy Traverse) and the battery was dead. My wife had our jumper cables with her and all I could do was grab all my tools and throw them in the Wrangler and head out. It was only out of shear laziness that I wound up working out of the Jeep for the week because I didn't feel like putting my tools back in the Traverse.....and if I'm being honest, I also liked the attention our newly lifted Jeep was receiving. But on top of that, the Jeep had more room to work out of than I realized and the gas mileage was very comparable to the Chevy. This lead directly to me seriously considering getting our 3 vehicles (the other being an Accord lease) down to 2 and dropping a car payment and some monthly insurance expense. To do this though both the '14 Wrangler and the '14 Traverse had to go. To keep it short, we had a lot of equity in the Jeep, negative equity in the Chevy and didn't want to shell out any cash to get rid of the Chevy. So we traded both on the Rubicon. Part of the equity paid off the Chevy the rest was put down on the Rubi. And here we are....I had just dubbed the '14 "Tumbler" but I'm transferring that name to this Jeep. Besides, the vanity tag is already on the way. :dont_tell:
I upgraded to the Rubicon for several reasons. Driveline wise, it may be all I'll ever need. It's a better foundation to build upon, and anything I do take off will have better resale value than anything I could've removed from our Sahara. I went with the Hard Rock because they gave me a great deal (did I mention my dad works for this dealer group?) and initially, its OEM equipment eliminated several things I wanted to upgrade on the Sahara. LED lights, bumpers, axles, gearing, transfer case, lockers etc...this doesn't mean that I'll never change out those things, just that the need is nowhere near as urgent.
Two immediate changes that I'm going to make right off the bat that should be glaring upgrades over the TF components are, 3" Evo Plushrides, and Rancho RS9000 shocks. I'm in no hurry and I need to round out my parts list to be able to complete the lift and would like some opinions and guidance on a few things and manufacturers. Here where I'm leaning but my mind can certainly be changed on some things and I also have some questions that I'll ask as they come to mind. If there's any reason to avoid the brands on this very early build path please throw it out there.
1) 3" Evo Plush Rides
2) Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks
3) JKS adjustable front lower/rear upper control arms.
4) 3" Synergy bumpstops front/rear
5) Synergy sway bar end links
6) Synergy brake line extensions.
7) AEV tire carrier to transfer spare weight to the chassis (compatible with HR rear bumper)
8) exhaust spacers to hold me over until new driveshafts are required.
9) keep Fuel wheels and 35" tires
10) C-gussets
What I need help/guidance with:
1) I thought I read somewhere about the JKS rear trackbar relocation bracket hardware or configuration interfering with the left rear coil?
2) Adjustable front trackbar vs drag link flip with track bar relocation bracket, pros vs cons?
3) are the factory coil/spring isolators sufficient for the Evo coils or should I be adding to or replacing them? The Teraflex kit had 1/2" spacers in addition to the factory isolators (keep in mind, at this time I don't intend to trim any flares.)
4) anything else? Suggestions or reasons to steer clear of the above components?
Also just to add, if anything I remove from the Tumbler interests anyone here it's ALL available, just PM me. The Rubicon suspension and wheel/tires will all most likely have less than 1500 miles on them. But I'm not here to sell stuff so since I'm new, I won't be posting anything in the "for sale" section for quite some time.
I upgraded to the Rubicon for several reasons. Driveline wise, it may be all I'll ever need. It's a better foundation to build upon, and anything I do take off will have better resale value than anything I could've removed from our Sahara. I went with the Hard Rock because they gave me a great deal (did I mention my dad works for this dealer group?) and initially, its OEM equipment eliminated several things I wanted to upgrade on the Sahara. LED lights, bumpers, axles, gearing, transfer case, lockers etc...this doesn't mean that I'll never change out those things, just that the need is nowhere near as urgent.
Two immediate changes that I'm going to make right off the bat that should be glaring upgrades over the TF components are, 3" Evo Plushrides, and Rancho RS9000 shocks. I'm in no hurry and I need to round out my parts list to be able to complete the lift and would like some opinions and guidance on a few things and manufacturers. Here where I'm leaning but my mind can certainly be changed on some things and I also have some questions that I'll ask as they come to mind. If there's any reason to avoid the brands on this very early build path please throw it out there.
1) 3" Evo Plush Rides
2) Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks
3) JKS adjustable front lower/rear upper control arms.
4) 3" Synergy bumpstops front/rear
5) Synergy sway bar end links
6) Synergy brake line extensions.
7) AEV tire carrier to transfer spare weight to the chassis (compatible with HR rear bumper)
8) exhaust spacers to hold me over until new driveshafts are required.
9) keep Fuel wheels and 35" tires
10) C-gussets
What I need help/guidance with:
1) I thought I read somewhere about the JKS rear trackbar relocation bracket hardware or configuration interfering with the left rear coil?
2) Adjustable front trackbar vs drag link flip with track bar relocation bracket, pros vs cons?
3) are the factory coil/spring isolators sufficient for the Evo coils or should I be adding to or replacing them? The Teraflex kit had 1/2" spacers in addition to the factory isolators (keep in mind, at this time I don't intend to trim any flares.)
4) anything else? Suggestions or reasons to steer clear of the above components?
Also just to add, if anything I remove from the Tumbler interests anyone here it's ALL available, just PM me. The Rubicon suspension and wheel/tires will all most likely have less than 1500 miles on them. But I'm not here to sell stuff so since I'm new, I won't be posting anything in the "for sale" section for quite some time.
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Trails are hard to come by in Delaware, at least grounds that are legal to be on. I'm hoping as I hang around more I'll be welcome at some gatherings in PA, MD, NJ, VA. Rausch Creek is about 2.5-3 hrs away for me. But I definitely need to cut my teeth soon. :thumb:
