ravencr

Hey guys,


We finally bought our first Jeep a couple of weeks ago, and I have to admit I've never seen my wife so giddy to drive a vehicle. I like it too, but the one thing that's really annoying me about it is the almost buffeting/echoing sound not to mention the super high level of wind noise with the hard top on and the windows up. But, nevertheless, I am excited about the versatility of it and the somewhat out of the box wheel-ability of it, as well. So, my wife wants to keep it low, because she'll be daily driving it with two kiddos in car seats. Here it sits in stock form, minus the front bumper extensions.











The first thing I wanted to do is replace the the tires and wheels, so we ended up choosing the Nitto Ridge Grapplers in 35"x12.50"x17". After doing some reading on here, I decided I wanted to find a wheel that was hub centric, so we decided on the ATX AX194 Ravines with the grey spokes and black outer ring.











Chris

ravencr

Here's a list of the things we've ordered for it so far:

- MetalCloak Aluminum Hardline Fenders
- MetalCloak Aluminum Front Inner Fender Liners
- MetalCloak Skid Plates
- MetalCloak Fender to Grill Reinforcement

- Rubitrux Maximum-3 Winch Plate
- Rubitrux Maximus Red Winch Hook Anchor
- Rubitrux Maximus-3 Filler Trim Plates
- Rubitrux Maximus-3 Front Bumper End Caps

- Warn Zeon 12-S Platinum Winch
- Factor 55 1.5" Aluminum Fairlead

- AEV Rear Differential Slider
- AEV 2" Spacer Lift

- Hothead Headliner & Side Panels with Sound Assassin

- Bartact Paracord Grab Handles

- Hi-Lift X-Treme Jack

- Powertank Drop Bracket

- Staun Tire Deflators

- Rock Hard 4x4 Evap Canister Relocation Kit
- Rock Hard 4x4 Bolt-On Rear LCA Skid Plates

- RotoPax 2 Gallon Gas Can
- RotoPax LOX Pack Mount

- Teraflex Hi-Lift Jack Mount
- Teraflex Rotopax Mount

That's it so far...we're heading to Moab, UT the beginning of November. Normally we're in SxS's, but I'm excited to wheel the new Jeep.

I'm curious what folks that wheel aggressively carry for spare parts and tools for the Jeep? I have to admit I've been a Toyota guy my whole life, so I know those backwards and forwards. But, I know virtually nothing about these Jeeps.

Chris

dmwil

I've had the AEV 2" spacer lift and 33's for 60k now, and its been great! Handled Moab and other tough off-roading beautifully! That's a really nice looking Jeep!

What did you do with your Recon wheels? Did you sell them?

ravencr

Sweet! Did you do their camber brackets, by chance? I’m selling the stock wheels and tires with less than 500 miles on them.

Chris

dmwil

I used all the parts that came in the kit. I disposed of the shock extenders when I went to Rancho RS5000X shocks. If I had it to do over again, I'd have gotten some new Rubicon shocks and stuck with the brackets. They had a better ride than the Ranchos, but the Ranchos handle very well and do well off road. I just think the Rubi shock is better. Are you talking about the AEV control arm correction brackets? I did not get those, because 33's don't change the angle much. If I ran 35's, I'd have done them. However, I think Rancho makes a better bracket that is 1 piece. It looks stronger and simpler than the AEV.

How much do you want for those tires and rims? I'm really only interested in the rims, if you'd separate them. If you won't separate them, though, how much would you like for them?

ravencr

Cool, I’ve got the tires and wheels listed for $1,500. RubiTrux has them for $1,699, so I thought that $1,500 was fair I guess.

Chris

ravencr

I haven't had much time to dedicate to forums lately, but we had a great 5 week trip in the Jeep. I'll post a bunch of videos and pics as soon as I can...Moab was outstanding as usual.

Since then, I haven't touched the Jeep till recently. One thing that really irritates me about this vehicle is the noise level. After doing a little research, apparently there's little to no sound deadening material anywhere in these Jeeps. I understand the utilitarian off-road capability motto of the Wrangler, but when you buy a $50K+ vehicle, I personally expect at least some attempt by the manufacturer to keep noise down. Jeep, in this case, does virtually nothing, resulting in a very annoying resonance and wind noise that is atrocious in my opinion.

Needless to say, I bought a bunch of Dynamat products to begin quieting it down. I started yesterday with covering the underside of the hood with Dynamat Xtreme and then their Hoodliner. I also removed the piece in between the hood and the windshield, because as you'll see in the video, it sounded like a tin can before applying the Dynamat.

I plan to tear apart the doors and basically the whole interior to apply Xtreme, DynaLiner, and some DynaPad throughout the entire interior. I had already installed the hot heads headliner, which did make a good difference. But, it really needs a lot more work to quiet this thing down.

I'll post more videos as I get around to it, but here's the first short one of the hood. I did have to trim the section of the Hoodliner above the intake (not shown), which I guessed I would.

I haven't had much time to dedicate to forums lately, but we had a great 5 week trip in the Jeep. I'll post a bunch of videos and pics as soon as I can...Moab was outstanding as usual.

Since then, I haven't touched the Jeep till recently. One thing that really irritates me about this vehicle is the noise level. After doing a little research, apparently there's little to no sound deadening material anywhere in these Jeeps. I understand the utilitarian off-road capability motto of the Wrangler, but when you buy a $50K+ vehicle, I personally expect at least some attempt by the manufacturer to keep noise down. Jeep, in this case, does virtually nothing, resulting in a very annoying resonance and wind noise that is atrocious in my opinion.

Needless to say, I bought a bunch of Dynamat products to begin quieting it down. I started yesterday with covering the underside of the hood with Dynamat Xtreme and then their Hoodliner. I also removed the piece in between the hood and the windshield, because as you'll see in the video, it sounded like a tin can before applying the Dynamat.

I plan to tear apart the doors and basically the whole interior to apply Xtreme, DynaLiner, and some DynaPad throughout the entire interior. I had already installed the hot heads headliner, which did make a good difference. But, it really needs a lot more work to quiet this thing down.

I'll post more videos as I get around to it, but here's the first short one of the hood. I did have to trim the section of the Hoodliner above the intake (not shown), which I guessed I would.


Chris

karls10jk

Looking forward to seeing the Metalcloak products installed. Why do such an insane build out for just a Moab trip, just curious...

jadmt

karls10jk

Nope, it's 2,137 miles away so all I see is what folks post of their Moab adventures. It's on the short list though.