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1st time Jeep Build Advice

2K views 19 replies 5 participants last post by  bbarron88 
#1 ·
After reading through sinclair, mdjk, mrs.t, and starbrights builds I have some excellent ideas on what I want to build. You all have beautiful Jeeps and I enjoyed reading through all of your build threads!!

I hope you can help me with a couple of questions...

I've decided that I want the most basic wrangler I can find and customize it to fit my needs. I'm using this as a vehicle for family fun (all 5 of us) when we go camping about 5 times per year. So it will be off-road except when going to and from our destinations.

I found a 2015 sport at a dealer for $27,000 bare bones.
I'm going to put 4.88 gears front and rear for towing and off roading
I'm going with a 3.5" AEV lift kit and Rancho 9000xl shocks or maybe the ones AEV offers with the kit, what are your thoughts?

Wheels and Tires will be 315/70/17

I know I want the tow package but should I bother with the max tow since I'm going to re-gear?

Another option is the anti-spin rear diff, should I bother with this upgrade or will I get that when I re-gear.

What is a reasonable price to have a shop do the lift and gear work? What brand gears should I get? ( I'm in southern Cali so I know the prices will be higher here than other areas)

Sounds like I can do the rest of the upgrades myself following the lead of the rest of you in this forum, but is there any factory build option you think would be a good idea to have the dealer do before I pick it up?

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to you all!!
 
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#2 ·
Hey glad your here. I'm here in SoCal too. I have Jeeperformanceinc do my work. He's Jpi1 on the forum. Good people. The biggest question I would ask you is what kind of wheeling do you plan on doing and is it a stick or auto? You don't need a 3.5 for 35's. You can do a 2.5 and maybe an OME kit. My buddy has that on his 10 JKU and it works sweet on and off road. As far as the limited slip I don't thing it is a big deal here where we wheel. I got my rubi because I didn't want to mess with all the work of upgrading to lockers and axles later. But then I knew that I would be doing a lot more that camping with it. And JPI is not too expensive but they are honest and helpful. Are you going to tow a big trailer?
 
#7 ·
No...trailer is a small 18' right now. However, I'm selling that to fund my mods :happyyes: We will eventually get a pop up tent trailer. In the meantime we'll just tent it. I want the ability to tow a boat, or a dirt-bike trailer in the future which is why I want the 4.88s
 
#3 ·
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed my build thread. :)

When you get in to a 3.5" lift, did you read yet that you'll have to get into several other mods like axle sleeves, gussets, trusses, driveshafts, etc.? For the tire size you mentioned, you can get by with a 2.5" lift. Now, you didn't mention what type of terrain you plan to camp and offroad in, so that might necessitate a 3.5" lift, but wanted you to know what you should research and learn more about before you get caught up in more than you expected.

As for shocks, I am definitely a devotee of the Rancho 9000xls. Especially since you can adjust them based on your specific needs at any particular time. You can change them for towing, then change it again once you've parked the trailer for how you like it for wheeling.

I would vote for saving your money on the towing packages, since you're planning to regear.

I am not an expert on the gear/LSD combination, so I'd suggest you check with one of the experts, like kjeeper10 or tabber02. They know that stuff backwards and forwards and they can explain all the details to you. I don't want to tell you the wrong thing and wind up costing you more money.

Yukon gears are popular here, but again I'm not an expert. kjeeper and tabber would be good people to ask about them as well. All the work we've done has been DIY, so we haven't had to pay shop rates for anything, so I can't comment on that either.

It sounds like you've got a good starting plan for what you want and how you want to do it. The only thing I can think of that you might be interested in is the connectivity group, just for the EVIC. The enhanced EVIC gives you individual tire pressures, oil temp, trans temp and some other goodies that you might like having that isn't added as easily aftermarket.

If you have any other questions or there's anything else I can do, please feel free to ask!

Hope you had a very merry Christmas and happy new year to you!
 
#8 ·
Good point on the 3.5" I was hoping a $2,500 lift kit would include the front end components needed to take care of any geometry issues, with the exception of a few other minor mods such as drive shaft and u joints. I still need to research that further however. If I can get a 3.5" kit that will take care of everything and have a good shop do it, then I would prefer that. If there is a ripple effect that takes place causing me to have to be constantly upgrading/modifying front end stuff through experimentation, then the 2.5" will be the route I take.

There are two reasons I was leaning toward the 3.5": The load and the trailer.. With 5 people, bumpers, racks, and gear loading us down and the addition of a trailer sometimes, I figured I would need the height. The wheeling isn't going to require it, other than the occasional trip to Sedona and Mammoth Mountain, but I'm savvy enough to avoid those paths...I hope..

If you think the 2.5" will suffice, I may just stick with that. I'm going to look into that further now that you mentioned it.. Given those details, do you think the 2.5" will work alright?

Turns out I have to get the Connectivity option anyway. I can't find a dealer that will offer a Jeep without it. Ironically enough (and another testament to this forum) I'm glad you mentioned those helpful features because now I REALLY want it!:bop:... I'm sure I'll get tired of using these smiley dudes soon, I hope its not too annoying...
 
#5 ·
Ha Ha...yeah, we have an 8 year old, 6 year old, and a 2 year old. They all fit nicely in the rear seat right now. We put the car seat on the far right side and the other two fit in perfectly. In a few years my oldest will be following on his quad and my youngest will be able to use the booster seat and it will be more comfortable.

What we typically do is set up camp in a safe area, then we take several rides throughout our stay. On the more technical rides, I usually go by myself or with a friend. On the casual stuff we all pile in. :)
 
#16 ·
I will second everything that Star said regarding your choices. :thumb:

Highly recommend the Rancho 9000's. I've had to adjust mine as I've added weight to the jeep, and it really does help.

As far as the tow package....Star is right, I wouldn't spend money for it if you are going to regear. Seems like a piece of cake to add a hitch and wiring, plus it's cheaper than the factory option.

I've always avoided going with a lift that requires me to modify axles, drive shafts, and stuff. Only my personal preference because I don't need that much clearance, and my jeep is my daily driver too. Had an Old Man Emu kit on my other JK and while it gave me plenty of lift (3" from a 2.5" kit), it was stiff and sometimes a bit too harsh. The Teraflex I have now is friendlier on the highway but has sagged a bit with my heavy bumpers and skids. So.....pick your poison!

I am loving the EVIC. I use it way more than I thought I would. So I recommend that package also.

Good luck! Can't wait to see it!! :D
 
#17 ·
Well today was an ordeal! The dealer that promised me the Truecar price pulls out a different jeep than was shown in the picture on their website. Upon closer look it was the same one but they changed the wheels!

He shows me that the list of features on their website ad has the 16" wheels but the wrong pic was attached to the add. I showed him the sticker on the jeep that was torn exactly in the same spot as the one he pulled out and he just kept saying that it was a mistake. I understand that they base the price on the features listed but that's misleading and disingenuous to put a better set of wheels for a pic and then take them off just before delivering the vehicle.

I lost all trust in this place after that and left. So I drove an hour to the other dealer that honored the Truecar price only to find out that the Jeep "still hadn't arrived from their sister dealership" he said it would be there "any minute" only it never showed up. Come to find out it was sold by the other dealership when I was on my way over. There was a "miscommunication."

And of course they had "a whole lot of other wranglers in stock" which all happened to be at least $2000 more than the one which was promised.. Ugg!

Back to square one. Maybe a used one will turn up that fits what I'm looking for. I so love dealing with private parties more than dealerships!

I hope my next post tomorrow is a pic of my new jeep!
 
#18 ·
Don't lose hope, baron. Dealerships are a-holes, plain and simple. They absolutely CAN find the one you want, they just don't want to when there are jeeps in their inventory that they want to move out. I suggest doing a search to find the exact jeep you want (brand new), without going through Truecar. Then, when you locate a dealer with that one on the lot, punch it back into Truecar using their zip code and everything. Dealers hate doing dealer-trades, but guess what? It still counts as a sale for them in Chrysler's eyes. So they don't "lose any money" on a dealer trade like they would have you believe.

I could go on and on about my experience with this, but you've probably heard it all before. The JKUR I have now came from Austin Texas - about 600 miles away - but I gave my dealership the song and dance about being a repeat customer and wanting to deal only with them, blah blah. They sent a porter to pick up my jeep the very next day. Your jeep is out there.....be patient, be a hard a$$, and don't give up. They want to move their stock, but they can just as easily move it to another dealership in return for the one you want and they still make a sale, despite a little leg work on their part. It's a $30k jeep.....you and your money can shop around for the best price. But they should have to work for your business also.
 
#19 ·
I'll agree with 99% of what you said, Sinclair.

Only caveat is the 'other' dealership is under no obligation to accept a dealer trade offer. They can choose to hang on to their inventory, if they think they can make more money on THAT jeep than the one offered on trade. You can still get the jeep you want, you may just have to do the driving yourself.
 
#20 ·
Finally landed a good deal!! Went with a Rubi. End of the month and end of the year they were hungry for a sale and I could smell it.

That totally changes my build plans so I'll post a new build thread for our new Rubi, "White Bear".
 
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