What type of lifts are you running?

[Krycol08]

I have a 1.5" teraflex st1 lift and fox 2.0 with resevoirs on my '16 rubicon 4 door, 33" tires. It goes to a lot of places that some 4x4s can't. Mostly because of the lockers and sway bar disconnects. Later, I will change the springs to 2.5" and get 35" tires, waiting for the current set to wear down (bfg km3), tread lasts forever and a half with all the offroading I do.

I love the look of your jeep. Clearly capable without being overly aggressive looking. Thank you for sharing the details. I'm beginning to think I need to just pull the plug on lockers, etc in addition to the lift. I don't want to be held back and if I want to crawl rocks I'll stick to UTVs haha

 

[Smileyshaun]

I love the look of your jeep. Clearly capable without being overly aggressive looking. Thank you for sharing the details. I'm beginning to think I need to just pull the plug on lockers, etc in addition to the lift. I don't want to be held back and if I want to crawl rocks I'll stick to UTVs haha

Honestly for the effort of upgrading axles gear swap and lockers you may just want to look into getting a rubicon, it’s plug and play with everything ready to go and you also get a 4:1 t-case

 

[Outdoordog]

I love the look of your jeep. Clearly capable without being overly aggressive looking. Thank you for sharing the details. I'm beginning to think I need to just pull the plug on lockers, etc in addition to the lift. I don't want to be held back and if I want to crawl rocks I'll stick to UTVs haha

Thanks! I want to avoid the batmobile look that's so popular amongst the jeep community.
This is as most as I'll upgrade, other than the longer springs and tires.
Currently working on my sound system, to battle the mud tires

 

[Krycol08]

Honestly for the effort of upgrading axles gear swap and lockers you may just want to look into getting a rubicon, it’s plug and play with everything ready to go and you also get a 4:1 t-case

sounds like I'll get the opportunity for two build outs. I don't mind dropping money into the Sahara but this is definitely something to think about. After everyone's input/comments I'll probably just do lift that requires the least amount of additional modifications. I can always keep the sahara as my secondary driver and get a rubicon for adventuring in two years when the sahara is paid off.

 

[MazeVX]

So, you mentioned RE and that was my keyword.
I have a jku sport with 2,5" Rubicon express lift, the linear springs and their adjustable shocks with reservoir, forged front trackbar, currie draglink and ome steering stabilizer with relocation bracket, front lower controlarms are non adjustable jks and I run 285/70r17 on 17x9 kmc wheels.
Added some Rubicon rock rails and that's all. So far it did everything I asked, clearly limited in big rocks, maybe ad 3/4" spacer in the rear because without a winch the front sits pretty high.
Very satisfied with the lift so far.
Picture shows fully loaded jeep...

 

[Krycol08]

So, you mentioned RE and that was my keyword.
I have a jku sport with 2,5" Rubicon express lift, the linear springs and their adjustable shocks with reservoir, forged front trackbar, currie draglink and ome steering stabilizer with relocation bracket, front lower controlarms are non adjustable jks and I run 285/70r17 on 17x9 kmc wheels.
Added some Rubicon rock rails and that's all. So far it did everything I asked, clearly limited in big rocks, maybe ad 3/4" spacer in the rear because without a winch the front sits pretty high.
Very satisfied with the lift so far.
Picture shows fully loaded jeep...
View attachment 211720

Oh nice! Glad you like the RE. It's certainly on my mind given how my friend swears by them. And if I'm going to switch up my build out plans it may be a good place to start! I may just have to copy your build haha

 

[donmontalvo]

Wow thanks for all this info! My master plan was to slowly build up the Sahara to be trashed by future me and buy a rubicon once I transitioned the Sahara to a fully off road/fun car. But now I see I shouldn’t have let my hold ups keep me from the rubicon in the first place!

I'm having trouble deciding whether all the money I threw at my previous 2dr Jeeps (including a Rubi axle swap!), was worth it, or if I should have bought the Rubicon first.

Nah, the experience was soooo worth it. Met so many people, learned so much. If I started with a Rubicon, I would have regretted. #denial

 

[Krycol08]

Wow thanks for all this info! My master plan was to slowly build up the Sahara to be trashed by future me and buy a rubicon once I transitioned the Sahara to a fully off road/fun car. But now I see I shouldn’t have let my hold ups keep me from the rubicon in the first place!

I'm having trouble deciding whether all the money I threw at my previous 2dr Jeeps (including a Rubi axle swap!), was worth it, or if I should have bought the Rubicon first.

Nah, the experience was soooo worth it. Met so many people, learned so much. If I started with a Rubicon, I would have regretted. #denial

See I was all onboard with the jku rebuild

But plot twist, the SO today just said we should just trade in for a rubicon

 

[Smileyshaun]

See I was all onboard with the jku rebuild

But plot twist, the SO today just said we should just trade in for a rubicon

Building rigs can be fun and a fantastic sense of pride and accomplishment from completing the task and knowing you did that …. But it’s also nice to just have it done from the get go and just work on creature comforts , every weekend spent in the garage wrenching is one Less spent out on a trail .

 

[Krycol08]

1) Thanks for everyone’s input. So helpful. Gave me a lot to think about and ponder

2) The end of the saga: sold the JK and ordered a rubicon. Will certainly be building this bad boy up though once it arrives…

 

[donmontalvo]

1) Thanks for everyone’s input. So helpful. Gave me a lot to think about and ponder

2) The end of the saga: sold the JK and ordered a rubicon. Will certainly be building this bad boy up though once it arrives…

Smart move! So far I only had to:

1. Mopar 2” lift
2. ICON Rebound Pro (modern DOT approved beadlocks).
3. BFG KO2 (315/70/17C)

Load rating C on the 35s, since it’s my daily driver.

Working on comms and dash cam.

 

[Krycol08]

Smart move! So far I only had to:

1. Mopar 2” lift
2. ICON Rebound Pro (modern DOT approved beadlocks).
3. BFG KO2 (315/70/17C)

Load rating C on the 35s, since it’s my daily driver.

Working on comms and dash cam.

Thanks. It was a sad decision. Was looking forward to a big build but really didn’t make sense for me at the moment. (Don’t really have time with my job) 35s, a mopar lift, beadlocks and more fun ordered and on the way!

 

[MazeVX]

1) Thanks for everyone’s input. So helpful. Gave me a lot to think about and ponder

2) The end of the saga: sold the JK and ordered a rubicon. Will certainly be building this bad boy up though once it arrives…

Sad to hear, honestly I don't see what benefits you get from a Rubicon. In my opinion the low range is to low and the front axle tubes are the same, the rear anyway.
But hey I wish you good luck with it!

 

[donmontalvo]

Building rigs can be fun and a fantastic sense of pride and accomplishment from completing the task and knowing you did that …. But it’s also nice to just have it done from the get go and just work on creature comforts , every weekend spent in the garage wrenching is one Less spent out on a trail .

The best thing about a Rubicon is all the stuff that comes installed is fully warrantied. :) make sure you get the AUX switch option.

 

[Apoclapedia]

Im a OBS Ford guy. I piece together my own lift kits. Just buy the springs i want at the height i want. Grab some new, ubolts, break lines and shocks. And away i go. Cost me like $1000 to do it that way vs spending $2500 on a kit. My F350 is a mild off roader. I wanted it more for hauling gear and trailers on dirt roads than really hitting the trails. So i did a 4” lift on 35” Nitto Trail grapplers. But my Ranger i did a 4” suspension lift and a 3” body lift. Its on 33” BFG KM3.