If you’re a regular visitor to this site, there’s a chance you’ve got modifying your Jeep all figured out. But perhaps you just got one and want to know how to make it more bad-ass without screwing it up.
Well, you’ve come to the right place. Here are some top tips for upgrading JKs from Bond Gilmer, the president of Rebel Off Road.
1)Build around the tire size you’re after. “Keep the vehicle sitting a little bit lower.” So, if you’re going for 35 or 37-inch tires, get a lift that’s only 3-4 inches high. Don’t put your center of gravity up in the clouds.
2)Thinking a few years down the road…er…trail can save you money. Once you know how you want your rig to eventually look and perform, you’ll have a better idea of the right hardware to buy to achieve that vision. Don’t skimp now because you’ll more than likely spend twice that amount of money in a few years when you replace that second-rate part with the one you really should have bought in the first place.
3) Don’t just focus on the big picture. If you bolt on bigger tires to your late-model JK (Gilmer recommends something in the 35 to 37-inch range), remember to make sure your sway bar links and brake lines are the appropriate lengths, otherwise, when your suspension is fully flexed in a place like the Rubicon, you’ll end up puncturing one of your tires with a link that’s too long, or snapping your brake lines because they’re too short.
4)Beef up your driveshaft. That up-sized rubber and those larger wheels bring additional weight and physical stress, so you need a driveline that can handle those forces. This is an especially important change to make if you have a lift of 3 inches or greater, particularly on a two-door JK.
There you have it. Now you won’t break the bank or your dirt-road rambler.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
