Jeep Wrangler hunting vehicle

[nvbroncrider]

Man Guy that looks great. Your just missing one significant upgrade. YOU NEED A 4BT IN IT!!!!!! That would make it absolutely perfect!!

 

[truck driver]

Looking good Guy. 8) I hope you had a larger gas tank installed. :roll: Those 4.10s will cause it to get rather hungry. :lol:

 

[Guy Miner]

I dunno Truck Driver, the V6 seems really happy with the new gearing and is turning in slightly better fuel economy running around town and with a few short trips up to 55 or 60 mph on the local two-lane.

I doubt I'll be seeing 22 or 23 out on the open road anymore, but for the rest of my popping around town and in the hills I don't think I'm going to lose a bit of fuel economy. I'll report on that as I accumulate more miles on this gear set. So far, so good. Sample is too small with only about 70 miles on it since the gear change, but hanging around 16 mpg in mixed town/country driving.

Guy

 

[SJB358]

I would imagine you'll do fine Guy. The Rubicon's come with 4.10's and my old one did really well. Especially when I went to bigger tires. I think yours are a touch larger than stock, so your probably so close to stockish type gearing your making everything turn easier.

I have a question though, since you have gone through all the work. If you had to do over again, would you have just purchased a Rubicon already set up with gears and lockers or still gone through the work on a new Jeep? Just wondering. I think about that a little. I tend to like the idea of getting it set up with the warranty, but the mechanic in me likes to tinker as well..

 

[BK]

Do the Rubicons still come with the 4:1 transfer case low range gearing? That was my biggest turn off with them. Well, that and the number of toolio mall ninja types that bought them because the were 'cool' and never took them on gravel...

 

[SJB358]

Yup, sure do. Why didn't you like the 4:1 transfer case Kurt?

Just wondering as I went from a 77 CJ5 I dumped enough money into that I could have bought a new truck with, to the 2005 Rubicon Unlimited, added a lift and man, it ran really well and was about all I needed on trails. It was an awesome rig in 4 low. Just nothing more I could have done to make it much better..

 

[Guy Miner]

I have a question though, since you have gone through all the work. If you had to do over again, would you have just purchased a Rubicon already set up with gears and lockers or still gone through the work on a new Jeep? Just wondering. I think about that a little. I tend to like the idea of getting it set up with the warranty, but the mechanic in me likes to tinker as well..

Very worthwhile question, and I've wondered myself.

Some of the things I've done to my Jeep I'd have had to do to a Rubicon as well:

Winch. Any Jeep I got was going to get a winch.

Front and rear heavy duty steel bumpers (new front bumper is still in a BIG cardboard box in my garage).

Rocksliders. Might not have changed these since the Rubis come with Rocksliders/Rocker panel protection but these aftermarket pieces are tougher.

Small 1.5" Teraflex "leveling kit" with four new, heavier, coil springs. That gets rid of the nose-low appearance of the stock 2007-2014 JK Wranglers.

So - yeah, I'd have done all that as well as adding the CB radio, even if I bought a Rubicon.

Now, re the gears & diffs... I'm part-way to true Rubicon Jeep standards. Fall short though.

I've still got the Dana 30 front axle. Rubis come with the Dana 44 front and rear.

I went with a limited slip diff in the rear axle, which I actually prefer to the selectable locker. Arguments can be made either way, but I do like the limited slip. Mine is made by Yukon, and has four springs at 400 ft lbs, pre-loading the axles. It pretty much acts like a locker in loose traction situations, but also allows easy differential action on pavement. Lessons learned from other limited-slip equipped vehicles are that I'll have to be cautious in the snow & ice. Back end will tend to slide around real easily. Pluses and minuses there. The hard-core rock crawler guys all want lockers in their diffs, front and rear (like my son has in his Cherokee).

Front diff of the Rubi is also a selectable locker, driver operated. I've pretty much duplicated that in function by adding an air-locker to the front axle. I like the selectable locker up front. It works like an open diff, for easy steering, until the driver wants it locked.

I've still got the standard transfer case, with something like a 2.75:1 (roughly) reduction. The Rubi comes with a 4:1 reduction. For what I do, I'm very happy with the standard case.

The Rubi comes with sway-bar disconnects operated by a pushbutton inside the vehicle. I have to crawl under my rig and disconnect them, then zip tie them out of the way if I want to disconnect. And reverse the process at the end of wheeling.

The Rubi also comes with excellent wheels and tires for off-pavement use. I had to buy a set of wheels and tires to get similar capabilities. Fortunately I found a set of five lightly used wheels and tires about a week or two after buying the Jeep two years ago. I would not have purchased aftermarket rims if I had bought a Rubicon.

So... my rig is approaching the capabilities of a stock Rubicon, and is armored better, and sits a tad higher on the springs. But I have only one locker and don't have the push-button sway bar disconnects or the 4:1 transfer case.

It sure would have been easier to just get a Rubicon and set it up the way I wanted! :grin: But the tinkerer in me has enjoyed making my Jeep a bit different, and set up the way I want it.

Tossup.

BTW, with 130 miles since the gear change, I'm averaging 16.5 mpg, mixed town & country driving. That's actually about 1.5 mpg better than I was getting with the stock 3.21 gears! Love it! I doubt I'll ever see those 22 mpg figures out on the long road trips again though.

Regards, Guy

 

[SJB358]

I am with you Guy. All of the upgrades you've done were all common sense oriented and well thought out. I almost forgot about the front 44 in the Rubi's which was a great unit in mine. My rear was also a decent limited slip as well, before being locked. Awesome Jeep you've got!

This is a cool conversation. Love to have another Jeep in the future. They are very handy rigs to have around the hills and I think one of them would be real slick in elk country as well, at least a few racks on them would make them handy as well. Much more nimble than a full sized rig on the old roads.

Good deal about the fuel mileage. That is a nice benefit for sure!

 

[BK]

Yup, sure do. Why didn't you like the 4:1 transfer case Kurt?

Just wondering as I went from a 77 CJ5 I dumped enough money into that I could have bought a new truck with, to the 2005 Rubicon Unlimited, added a lift and man, it ran really well and was about all I needed on trails. It was an awesome rig in 4 low. Just nothing more I could have done to make it much better..

If I did a bunch of rock crawling, a 4:1 would be great, but for what I do, mudding and trail running, my stock 2.7:1 is just about ideal, 4:1 is too much of a good thing... Like taking a .257 Weatherby to a prarie dog town.

 

[Guy Miner]

Today, 5/29/14 at about 5,700' asl. I wasn't surprised to find the snow:

 

[DrMike]

I'm quite certain there is still quite a bit in the high country. Neat photo, Guy.

 

[SJB358]

Very nice! You gotta give us some initial impressions Guy.. That rig just took on a whole nother bunch of capability.

 

[Guy Miner]

Scotty, initial impressions are all favorable.



The limited slip goes almost unnoticed in daily driving around town or on the highway. It's quietly working back there, doing its thing. Off-pavement, it works great. I did 50 miles off pavement on 5/29, and except for that 50 yards or so of snow-bank, I was in two-wheel drive all day.

The lower gears are outstanding! Keeps the JK's 285 hp V6 in it's power band much better. No slipping the clutch and revving the motor to move out from a stop. Just let the clutch out and it goes. On the highway I can finally actually use 6th gear. Turning 2300 rpm at 60 mph in 6th. Very comfortable.

Jeep is averaging about 1.5 mpg better since the gear ratio change, up to about 16.5 mpg in mixed town/country/mild off-pavement driving. Used to get about 15 mpg in the same sort of driving.

Am thinking that freeway fuel economy won't be as good. Ah well...

Front locker is not yet hooked up to air & electricity. Waiting for a cool little control box... More on that later.

Initial impressions are that I couldn't be happier with the gearing and the rear limited slip.

Guy

 

[truck driver]

It's funny how some things work when you change the stock engineered dynamics of a vehicle. A young man I worked with had a Ford F250 4X4 that he put huge tires on and raised the suspension. The fuel mileage went south plus the engine didn't have enough power to pull those tires. He had to put 4.56 gears in it to get the power back and some gas mileage.
Probably the lower gear with the over size tires was what you needed to make everything come together. The lower gear compensated for the bigger tire.

 

[Guy Miner]

Agree. These tires aren't all that big, just 265/75/16's as have often been found on stock pickups. Only a little larger than the tires that came on my Jeep. Wider though. They're a bit over 31" tall, very similar to the good old 31x10.50 tire size. If I bump up to the next size that will fit my 16" rims, I'll be running a 285, which is about 33" diameter, and should work perfectly with my current 4.10 axle ratio.

It really is interesting, mucking around with tire sizes and gear ratios, but dang, it gets expensive in a hurry. I've got to shut down spending on the Jeep for a while... Have hunting season coming up, and costs associated with that.

Guy

 

[SJB358]

Yup, I hear ya. Saving for hunting is the priority this time of the year!

Glad it's working so well. Figured you would really dig it! Traction rules the roost and now you've got all four tires making forward or backward progress on demand.

 

[Guy Miner]

The sPOD switch system and ViAir compressor are both installed and working now! Too cool:

With the air compressor I can do mundane but useful tasks like inflating the tires. Nice, since I let air out of them while off-pavement. The compressor also feeds the front air locker!




Let me tell you... 4:10 gears, low gear, low range, limited slip rear and locked diff up front... puts a whole new attitude into this little critter! Good grief. Talk about traction & torque to the ground... Wow!

Also finished up the instal of the front winch bumper. Much better protection for the front end!




All these parts had been purchased before, it was just a matter of finding time to set everything up on the Jeep. Looks like we're pretty much ready for hitting the trail!

Guy

 

[DrMike]

That is looking pretty neat, Guy. Great setup you've prepared.

 

[SJB358]

That's really awesome Guy. You have really put a bunch of quality stuff in that Jeep. I can't imagine how awesome it runs and moves through the dirt!

I keep looking at the Jeeps. Couple of years I think I can probably have my own.

 

[BK]

Allright, I can be a Jeep enabler for Scotty!