Mighty Jeep JK Has an Insatiable Appetite for Power: What’s Up in the Forums
Jeep build is already packed with a ton of great stuff, but the owner wants more. So what would you suggest?
Building a Jeep to meet your own personal taste and wants is certainly fun. But it can also be a task ripe with confusion and indecision. After all, there are so many different parts and part manufacturers out there it’s hard to sift through all of them. But that’s exactly what places like JK Forum are for. There, you can lean on others who have undertaken one or even a dozen custom Jeep builds. Thus, that’s exactly what member MAG00 is doing in this very thread.
“I am curious as to other’s thoughts on my 2013 Jeep JKU build. I could just leave well enough alone and not spend any money. But it’s a Jeep! I am just curious to hear some thoughts on what you all would do given my current set up and the options I’ve listed. This is my daily river, so it sees a lot of pavement time. Daily drive consists of city and some interstate. Not many distance trips as with a family of five we normally take the wife’s Suburban if the trip is any real distance/time.”
The OP’s Jeep already sports most of the common stuff you’d expect to see. That includes a mild lift, big tires, and beefed up axles and lockers. But he’s batting around the idea of an LS swap, a roll cage, and coilovers. Along with your more basic upgrades. But resharp001 adds in another option for the OP in terms of upping the output of his JK.
“Guessing you are opposed to considering a supercharger since that wasn’t listed? Seems like it would add power with a smaller price tag than an LS swap. Especially since your 3.6L only has 50k miles or so. Plus you could always resell the SC later down the road if anything changed.”
Member hivoltagedriver also votes for a power adder, but he suggests going turbo instead of blower.
“I have owned several LS vehicles and tuned many more. Several of which were LS-swapped Jeeps. I love the LS platform. Having said that, I bought the Jeep with the intention of keeping the 3.6 and installing a Prodigy stage 2 turbo kit. I think the 3.6 is perfectly adequate down low and off-road. Where I miss the power is up top. Merging on the highway and passing – right where the turbo will shine. They just make power so efficiently.”
And T&ERun adds his two cents on the idea of installing a roll cage.
“The roll cage is the biggest question here. Either you need it or you don’t. Do you do large hills or go high speed? If yes on either one then get a cage. If you think you could roll with what you do on the trails, then that would be your first priority.”
Thus far, this thread is chock full of great advice from folks who have been there and done that. So be sure and head over here to check out all the recommendations our members have for the OP. And while you’re there, maybe add in your thoughts on how this Jeep build should evolve moving forward.
Join the JK-Forums now!
