2012 JK 2 door overlander setup advice
05-16-2018, 07:45 AM
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2012 JK 2 door overlander setup advice
Hey I'm new to the forum and I know there's a lot of posts that ask this same general question but I haven't found any that cover all the upgrades I'm may or may not want.
I have a 2012 JK sport s auto. No mods so far but I want to turn it into a Jack of all trades master of none, DD, over lander, rock crawler etc. I have a pretty good idea of what I want but I'll see one video or read a post that says the current parts dream list in my shopping cart isn’t as good as this setup. I'm mainly looking for some advice so I don't go too overkill in my build.
Right now I know I want 3'in of lift, 35in tires, 5.13 gears, and better brakes( I’m pretty confident in the brake setup I have in mind so I’m not worried about that so much). I’m going to get a motorcycle as my main DD so this will be a bad weather or long distance car, I'm in no rush and can build this piece by piece, I’d like to spend around 5k to 6k on the lift, wheel, tires and brakes but if I have to go over budget for a valid reason then I’m fine with that. I do have a dirt bike I’d like to tow on one of the hitch mounted carries that puts the side of the bike towards the back of jeep, and I’m going to get better bumpers and amour which will add weight too.
The first question I have is for a jack of all trade build would you recommend going with a cheaper short arm kit such as the Teraflex alpine ct3 with the Falcon 3.1 shocks (complete kit no welding/cutting has fully adjustable control arms and you can upgrade the falcons pretty easy) or go with a long arm kit like the Rock Krawler jk25xfla2.5 x-factor long arm system lift kit with the same falcon shocks? (Little more articulation better ride compared to short arm kits may be overkill depending on who you talk to but most people seem to agree that long arms are better for on road handling since it fixes a lot of geometry issues)
For the lift I prefer the better ride as in better control and more support since I plan to use the jeep for long distance driving (at most 400 miles visiting family) or for hauling a 250 pound dirt bike shorter distances.
For axles I’m almost certain I just have Dana 30(halfway across the world so I can’t check to confirm), my question is would getting an axle support kit be strong enough for what I want out of the jeep or should I try to find some Dana 44's. If the Dana 44's are recommended is there a recommended brand to go with? (I checked out some posts about upgrading axles but did see anything that included hauling a dirt bike on the back of the jeep)
For the axles I want to make sure I don't break something in the middle of nowhere, I do prefer to do faster off-roading compared to more technical rock crawling but that's mostly because there's nothing to technical near me. I saw the FAQ here about axles and found out that Dana 30 can support the tires I want with a support kit and better axle shafts I just wanted to see if it would be a better decision to upgrade to Dana 44 or if I can stick with the 30s.
I saw some posts on recommended upgrades if you get a lift kit so I understand I should get a new drive shaft front and rear that have CV joints and I'm sure I can find other recommended parts to in case these lifts don't supply them already, I just wanted to get an idea of what I truly needed for my jack of all trades build.
I have a 2012 JK sport s auto. No mods so far but I want to turn it into a Jack of all trades master of none, DD, over lander, rock crawler etc. I have a pretty good idea of what I want but I'll see one video or read a post that says the current parts dream list in my shopping cart isn’t as good as this setup. I'm mainly looking for some advice so I don't go too overkill in my build.
Right now I know I want 3'in of lift, 35in tires, 5.13 gears, and better brakes( I’m pretty confident in the brake setup I have in mind so I’m not worried about that so much). I’m going to get a motorcycle as my main DD so this will be a bad weather or long distance car, I'm in no rush and can build this piece by piece, I’d like to spend around 5k to 6k on the lift, wheel, tires and brakes but if I have to go over budget for a valid reason then I’m fine with that. I do have a dirt bike I’d like to tow on one of the hitch mounted carries that puts the side of the bike towards the back of jeep, and I’m going to get better bumpers and amour which will add weight too.
The first question I have is for a jack of all trade build would you recommend going with a cheaper short arm kit such as the Teraflex alpine ct3 with the Falcon 3.1 shocks (complete kit no welding/cutting has fully adjustable control arms and you can upgrade the falcons pretty easy) or go with a long arm kit like the Rock Krawler jk25xfla2.5 x-factor long arm system lift kit with the same falcon shocks? (Little more articulation better ride compared to short arm kits may be overkill depending on who you talk to but most people seem to agree that long arms are better for on road handling since it fixes a lot of geometry issues)
For the lift I prefer the better ride as in better control and more support since I plan to use the jeep for long distance driving (at most 400 miles visiting family) or for hauling a 250 pound dirt bike shorter distances.
For axles I’m almost certain I just have Dana 30(halfway across the world so I can’t check to confirm), my question is would getting an axle support kit be strong enough for what I want out of the jeep or should I try to find some Dana 44's. If the Dana 44's are recommended is there a recommended brand to go with? (I checked out some posts about upgrading axles but did see anything that included hauling a dirt bike on the back of the jeep)
For the axles I want to make sure I don't break something in the middle of nowhere, I do prefer to do faster off-roading compared to more technical rock crawling but that's mostly because there's nothing to technical near me. I saw the FAQ here about axles and found out that Dana 30 can support the tires I want with a support kit and better axle shafts I just wanted to see if it would be a better decision to upgrade to Dana 44 or if I can stick with the 30s.
I saw some posts on recommended upgrades if you get a lift kit so I understand I should get a new drive shaft front and rear that have CV joints and I'm sure I can find other recommended parts to in case these lifts don't supply them already, I just wanted to get an idea of what I truly needed for my jack of all trades build.
