How are you going to drive it? Is it a mall crawler, rock crawler, weekend wheeler... Buy it and build it how you want so far from what I have seen and done there is no wrong way when your doing it your way.

 

Ring gear on the rear is the same, Rubi or not. It is 8.5" diameter. Axle shafts are stronger though. So yeah, overall, Rubi D44 is stronger than non Rubi.

 

I wheel pretty hard and I drive to and from the trail. My thing is I like to road trip and explore the back country as well. So the Jeep will get used no doubt but it will definitely be an all around rig. Like I said I've done the Con, Hells Revenge, Moab Rim and more. My style of driving is a little conservative, my current Jeep is locked front and rear on 33's and with my 4 to 1 tcase I still run stock D30 shafts in the front and I've NEVER broken one in 6 years. I have nothing to prove if I can't make it up or over something on my first try, I'll back down and try and new line. I think Rubicon 44 axles will suite me well but I know for sure longevity on ball joints and hubs will be greatly reduced if I run 37's.

As far as pricing goes I know Sport models are more negotiable then a Rubicon. I'm thinking realistically if I buy a Sport it wouldn't be ultra base model, it would be upwards of 25-27k or so and the Rubicon I want is 36ish...so yeah its about 8 or 9 grand difference not to mention more taxes. Paying an extra 80 bucks a month or so for a Rubicon hurts less then forking out the difference of 9 grand and building a Jeep to Rubicon standards, or slightly better.

Aside from axles, 4 to 1, lockers, sway bar disco, the fancy "Rubicon" hood sticker and stuff like that is there anything I should care to know? I've tried building various Jeeps online and going around and looking at them and I can never quite figure out all the different packages. It seems to me, to get things like seat warmers you need a Rubicon or Sahara, I know the interior varies a little bit and I read that the Rubicon has different brakes because of the 4 to 1. I'm pretty much sold on a Rubicon but I'd still like to educate my self so I have no regrets, I haven't totally ruled out a Sport.

 

@ KG6SLC, thanks for the info actually. I'm a very analytical guy and I like that kind of information.

 

Like I said.....There is a lot of confusion. This chart clearly shows the New Generation (JK) rear ring gear to be 8.8"

 

Don't know how the wrong quote got in the last post. Even my edit shows the quote from the terminator.

 

Well, that's strange that Dynatrac shows it as 8.8". Yukon Gear has it as 8.5":

Differentials: Dana 44 Rear, JK Rubicon - Dana 44 Rear, JK Rubicon

If you check their R&P sets for Rubi and non Rubi JK, they have exact same part numbers too.

 

Oh, the other thing I was wondering from those of you with experience. How much of a necessity is it to long arm a JK? They seem to handle short arms well and I know they have a clear advantage but the length of the short arms on JKs seem to be a lot more reasonable (longer in length) then my old XJ or TJ's.

 

From what I have read right about at 4" of lift or so is when the long arms are really needed. That is probably about what you will need to clear 37's unless you want to go with some sort of flat fenders or a BL.

As far as some of the thoughts, I think you would be able to get away with the stock 4:10 gears in the Rubi and a manual with the 37's. You would also have the 4:1 TC for rock crawling which would certainly help. Unless you stay under 2.5" of lift you will need a new front drive shaft pretty quickly regardless.

To run this setup on the Sport you would most likely need a new front axle and gears as well, and you still wouldn't have the Rubi TC or lockers.

If you want to stick with minimal mods I say go for the Rubi, slap on your lift and tires and have some fun

 

I have been running 35s on my sport for nearly 57k miles. I have the 3.5 express lift with adjustable arms and totally removed the front sway bar after getting tired of it getting in the way on tight turns and lots of flex. I am constantly asked what kind of lockers I have added to my sport because it goes places where only things with lockers are supposed to be able to go. I have the stock option of 3.73 gears and manual tranny. If I had the rubi 4.10s and the 4:1 tcase it would be about perfect.

If you are wheeling the rubi with a modest lift and maybe a 1 or 1.5 inch body lift it should handle the 37s with the stock running gear just fine based on how mine has held up with the 35s I would think. Now if you are wanting to drive it like a baja racer instead of wheeling like a jeep (going slow and steady) then you might want to beef stuff up to handle those abrupt dips and humps that will come along when going fast on rough terrain. I just have gotten used to wheeling where when you hit the trail you are in low range and first gear almost all day with maybe a couple of times when you actually get into 2nd gear. Every time when I hear someone say that the JK doesn't have enough power I always scratch my head since I hardly every need more than just maybe a quarter throttle at most on the steepest hill climbs and usually just off idle since the slope is usually not smooth and you don't want to be bouncing to loose traction. That is why I wish I had the 4:1 tcase so I could get a few more rpms in certain situations.