I'm looking at buying a 2009 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (4dr). It has 145k miles on it. Lifted, wheels and tires all that good stuff. I'm looking for hands on experience from those who have owned a JK Wrangler with the 3.8L before I buy. It's a very nice looking Jeep and appears to have been well taken care of. Thanks for the help!
See if it has been re-geared, tuned, etc. And DRIVE IT ON THE HIGHWAY. My 2011 would not run above 65 with 35’s before I tuned it. Looking at either re-gearing it or selling it completely to purchase another truck currently.
The 3.8 is not a bad motor, some have complained of oil consumption issues, mainly due to running 5w20 as suggested. 5w30 usually resolves this issue.
Being a Rubicon it allready has 4.10 gears, which are adequate for 33,s. 5.13 is needed for 35,s or it will be a dog on the road.
If the price is right and well taken care off I wouldn't write it off.
Funny as it is, my dumb-ass didn’t do any research before I bought one, and only test drove it in a 45mph area. If I had tried to take it on the highway I can promise you I wouldn’t have bought it. I never in my life would have thought a “modern” vehicle wouldn’t go down the highway with slightly larger tires on it, and I’m not joking at all, 2 hour trip to the beach on flat ground was miserable, fighting it shifting in and out of OD because it couldn’t maintain 70. Tuner helped, a lot. I considered re-gearing it but at the end of the day, like you said it only has ~200HP.
Everyone that loves the JKU says but it's got more power than a 4.0.... well it also has a lot more weight to push down the road..... I have no real experience just interested in what owners on here say. I still cannot believe they don't offer a v-8 as a premium upgrade.....
Rubitrux will swap you a 5.4L(?) or 6.1L in for the low low price of $25,000 or $30,000 respectively. I’m not sure I want to pull the trigger on a motor upgrade that cost more than the Jeep did.
My coworkers TJ on 35’s and a 6” lift used to be able to walk mine, now he can only do it a little, haha.
The jk in a 12 up, is a totally different story. 285 hp, and will smoke anything with a 4.0. Plenty of power, most old school v8s never had those numbers
The jk in a 12 up, is a totally different story. 285 hp, and will smoke anything with a 4.0. Plenty of power, most old school v8s never had those numbers
at one time, I was interested in building a 4.7 stroker & adding 10-12 psi of supercharged forced induction.. I was thinking that that would have put the stroker right at
275 hp / 300 ftlb (N/A)
375 hp / 450 ftlb (10-12 psi)
Numbers seem reasonable? Technically 14 psi should double both tq & hp, but losses etc & being supercharged vs turbo'. (That dream has changed anyway)
If it’s an auto you’ve got to gear it deep because the overdrive. It’s too much of a split from 3rd to 4th that I can’t maintain speed. Personally I wouldn’t put a tuner on it and call it done. It might bandaid it, but your trans is gonna hate you still. Be mindful of how heavy your tire and wheel package are, with the 3.8 it matters. I do feel like in Low range the 3.8 lugs lower rpm better than the 3.6, but everywhere else the 3.6 walks all over it.
My 3.8/6spd 2dr JK will light the rears up pretty easily, but it’s a lot lighter with the aluminum belly pan. Keeping JKs light helps more than anything. And I’ve put 40k miles on mine, averaged some pretty decent fuel mileage with 37s.
