I have had my 2015 Rubicon Unlimited. It's currently stock and riding trails in Arizona has taught me that I need more ground clearance or skid plates. My budget is limited and I want to get the most bang for my bucks. Can someone suggest brands that offer durability and value? Also, what order should I do this in? I currently have stock wheels and tires. When the tires wear out, I'll be looking at slightly larger tires. I am a full time RVer so the Jeep is also the family car and I need to be able to tow it behind the RV.
I already installed a Rock Hard front bumper with towbar tabs so I can flat tow it. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
Depending on what type of wheeling you do out there you're going to want both as mentioned above. A good lift for frame clearance and skids for your under carriage. Forum user mommymallcrawler is from AZ. She does trail rides so maybe try tracking her down (perhaps post in the Arizona regional section). for some "local" advice.
I thought I heard my name lol.
If you will be wheeling in Arizona, skid plates are your best friend. I went with the full Rock Hard belly skid setup. Also recommend switching out the factory tinfoil crossmember for something with beef on it - I went with Poison Spyder. You also want real differential covers or differential sliders. I love my Rough Country differential sliders. Another piece of low hanging fruit is your lower control arms. I skidded my fronts, and replaced the whole mount with a welded one that is skidded on my rears. The Rubicon rails are ok to bring your rig down on or crunch small rocks under. But you eventually want a real rock slider. I am thinking I will go with Shrockworks.
As far as lift, realize this: no matter how big of a tire and how high of a lift, there will always be trail rocks or whatever that are bigger. There is no "you will clear everything" height. Most folks we run with that drive limos (4 doors) go usually for 35s on a 3.5 lift. (2.5 inches to clear your tires, the other inch to get that huge belly up a bit). Rock Krawler and Metalcloak get a lot of love out here from the JK crowd. Playing on rocks in Arizona and doing bigger tires, you should truss and gusset your axles (Artec does a great setup). Bigger tires will also mean a regear. When your lift goes on, make sure you get your rear axle side trackbar bracket WELDED on, not bolted on. I have the Synergy weld on, and it will probably outlive my axle lol.
What I would do if I were you and you dont want to do everything at once and arent doing tires now is to do a small puck lift (once you start adding armor, it will weight you down a little) and get the belly armor and crossmember on. Rock sliders if you can swing it.
When you are ready for tires, do the lift, gears and truss/gussets.
Realize a 4 door will clunk stuff - it is the nature of the big belly and breakover angles that come with it. Make armor priority one.
Skid plate inspection photo lol! I have a 2 door.
