How to tell a Rubicon from a regular jku?

tw89yj said:
None related to wheeling, or thoughts of wheeling. Seriously, they make badass dd/wheelers, when used correctly. That said, I HATE typical jks. They are freaking everywhere, and have the same ridiculous crap bolted on them. But I love mine.

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It's a chick car, but I'd wheel the piss out of your minivan.
 
a Rubicon is a smart buy if you’re gonna DD and wheel around here.

I’m on 37s / beadlocks with 5:38s. Rear 44 is stock aside from the gears. Front 44 is sleeved, Chromoly shafts, heavy duty ball joints and steering. I don’t abuse my Jeep but I also don’t shy away from things either. I’ve considered axle swap and larger tires but it does what I need it to do in its current state and can cruise the interstate with the best of them.

My point in sharing this is that in my opinion anything more than what I have warrants an axle swap. If you’re eventually gonna go that route get a Sport instead and save the money. The time between purchase and axle swap can be fun wheeling a lesser built Jeep and relying on skill.
 
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If I did a standard JKU, I loose the 4:1 case and get stuck with shit axles. I at least want 37s, maybe 40s. For that, the Rubicon would have to be the choice. 40s would be pushing it but it's no different than 35s on a D30. Plus I get the 4:1 and don't have to worry with an Atlas at the moment.

Maybe one day I could do the LS and put the D60s in. On day, in about 10 years. Better start gathering parts now. :D
 
With 37,s on rubi axles with a few upgrades you will be just fine. I wheel mine alot and am not shy to take a tough trail. The axles have lasted 5 yrs of wheeling with only One front balljoint set replaced.

I no kidding have put more trail miles in these axles in a few years than most do in a lifetime.
 
Should be worth about $33k out the door. If you can get em to knock $980 off and waive some fees.
 
I've seen LS swap mentioned a couple times here. Not sure how much you've looked into it already, but I'll throw in 2 cents worth of unrelated info...

I have an LJ, 2 kids, and a gen III LS motor (LM4) sitting in my garage. For a brief while, I started thinking I could sell the LJ, buy a 2007-2011 JKU with high miles pretty cheap, and put the LS in it. The more I looked the worse that idea looked. To do a clean swap in a JK, it seems like a gen V LS is the way to go (CAN bus). So you're looking at a lot higher investment in engine and wiring to swap a JK. I would almost say a hemi would be the way to go in a jk...
 
The LS swap idea is mostly a fallacy and likely wouldn't happen for 10 years once the vehicle is no longer a daily driver.

It's not off the table but on the very back burner
 
You can see the locker switches in this crappy pic:
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And the window sticker agrees that it's a Rubicon
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So you should be good to go on the whole Rubicon thing.
 
Do you still have a Buggy to finish? When you gonna bring that thing to me so we can get it done? Maybe one of these nice guys will haul it down here for a few bucks :)


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MarsFab said:
Do you still have a Buggy to finish? When you gonna bring that thing to me so we can get it done? Maybe one of these nice guys will haul it down here for a few bucks :)


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Oh yeah, the buggy. :D

Once my truck gets fixed I'm heading that way. I need to make a stop in to Cliffside anyway.
 
LBarr2002 said:
If it were me, I'd buy a 2012+ Rubi, put 35-37s on it with sleeves in the front, and leave the rest alone.
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This is exactly what I would do if I wasn't such a tight wad.
 
Many will say the Dana 44s in them are shitty because the .250 wall tubing used on the front axle. I’ve personally seen stock shafts in them run 37s on heavy 4 doors but they also drove like they had some sense. Bigger u joints and stubs shafts than any d44. However ten factory is the only company that I know of that will warranty flanges on JK rear shafts, they do get bent some times and cause some brake noise. Truss it ASAP, JCR makes a very low profile truss, artec’s truss you’ve gotta bump stop to keep it out of the pan. I’ve bent a housing from being a dumbass jumping mine with 38.5s on it. 2012-up auto JKs can’t run an auto locking diff in the rear if you every decide to go 1 ton, it’ll send it into limp mode and you can’t run a 4 spd atlas. Manual trans JKs are stupid after the engine, as long as you keep wheel speed sensors on a manual JK, whatever trans/tcase and axles you want to run is up to you. I thought about doing a 231/300 doubler in mine one day after I swap the tons in mine.

Pay attention to spring length if you’re keeping the coils. A lot of manufacturers can’t run more than a 11” travel shock without the springs unseating, personal recommendation is Currie springs or coilovers. You don’t need “long Arms” you can get plenty of flex out of the stock length arms, deff replace the housing bushings with johnny joints, those deteriorate rather quickly.

You know our county is trying to get rid of emissions so an LS swap could be a lot easier if you gut it but then you’ll lose your creature comforts. Be smart about your wheel and tire combo, the lighter the better. Don’t add a shit ton of armor, or if you do go aluminum. It’s expensive but the more weight makes that 4 door feel sluggish as hell. I’ve been helping a guy with a 2010 4 door auto and his with 5.13s feels like you’re riding a snail compared to my 2 door 6 spd on 38.5s with 4.10 gears.

Just ship it to gen right and have them throw their $20k suspension setup on it. You’ll probably not wheel your buggy ever then. I’ve still yet to cut out my single triangulated 4 link rear brackets and 3 link front brackets for my JK, but I’m still gathering parts for all that.


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Find you some half doors for it, they make them actually look 1 billion times cooler (IMO).
 
drkelly said:
Haha! The BBC Extreme Pleasure Package. That is an expensive option!
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They are really nice dildos. Jeep really kept the enthusiast in mind.
 
Ok. So now we know how to tell the difference.


But, what are the actual notable differences besides the 4:1, D44s, special wheels and tires, and electric lockers?


Considering if it's worth just getting a regular jku for cheap and just copying @tw89yj and doing a D60/14b and end up cheaper. Still wouldn't have the transfer case but that's ok. Can always do an Atlas later.
 
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