Lessons learned while modding (warning---long post)
JK Freak
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 528
Likes: 0
From: Brunei - Expat
More learnings - 2010 JK Sahara 4dr
Great post/learnings by Paul R, if you don't mind I will be adding my leanings (having seriously modified a 1997 TJ and my current 2010 JK Sahara 4dr):
In sequence.........(of installing from new)
Body armor: ARB deluxe fr/rr bumpers + rock sliders,
The front ARB bumper is easy to install, don't worry about the crushcan's not many people install them. The rear bumper is slightly more tricky and make sure if you have it installed at a shop they do it properly. it was the only upgrade I had installed (installation came with it) but it was done extremely poor. I took the bumper off again an installed it properly with the steel plates on the inside of the chassis.......indeed quite tricky to do but once done you can pull and a tree out of the ground.
Also the ARB deluxe front bumper caters nicely for a winch, I have a WARN RC9.0i which is brilliant
Indeed I would fully recommend side steps installed/drilled to your chassis, quite a tricky thing to do but rock solid. I am just back from a weeks worth of jungle driving and I am glad my rocksliders and not my doors took the hit.
I bought also the MOPAR tow bar and this fits without modification with the ARB deluxe bumper, very pleased with it ! It will tow my boat (21ft) no problem at all.
Lift: Teraflex 2.5" Coil lift
I installed a 2.5" TF coil lift in approx one weekend, reasonable easy to do just make sure you have the right tools to jack the car up (3ton hydraulic jack + 2 car stands) remember than the car stands are for non lifted cars so you might want to get some wood as well.
I also installed all adjustable control arms (TF full kit), as the jeep is only lifted by 2.5" you have to ignore the TF control arm settings and just set them as short as possible. Officially you don't need adjustable control arms but as it looks good I went for it.
When you install the rear control arms, make sure that your rear trackbar extension bracket doesn't clash with your bump stop axle bracket, if so, adjust your control arms to suit.
I had to shorten (1/2 inch) my front heavy duty adjustable trackbar (TF) to recenter my front axle, just cut of 1/2 inch from the bar and sleeve and bod is your uncle.
I am very impressed with the TF 2.5" coil lift although it is well short of 2.5" lift, not to mention when you load the car going for a camping trip. I would suggest to use spacers or go for 4" lift if you want a outright 2-3" lift.
Exhaust; Borla catback
I installed the Borla Catback exhaust in a matter of hours, very easy to do, the biggest job is getting the old exhaust away from the back axle, I probably should have jacked the car up (What i didn't do). Great noise, nice dual tip, very pleased with it. OK the tips are rather venerable for damage thought, as mentioned, have done quite some jungle driving and my tips are pretty well mangled. The tips are close to the ARB bumper so if you bottom out on the back your exhaust tips can get squashed.
Shocks: ELKA shocks
I took the plunge and went for ELKA shocks for a 2.5" lift, very nice ride and easy to install, make sure you install your extended bump stops otherwise you will destroy your expensive shocks very easy with loading the car.
Spacers-Tires-Rims
I used initially my stock alloy rims and wrangler tires and 1.5" Spidertrax spacers, works very well and give the alloys a nice balance in your arches. Then I bought Procom 3017 16" alloys......THEY DON'T FIT YOUR CALLIPERS. As I didn't have much choice (very limited availability of alloys in Brunei) I decided to grind down my callipers, not a big deal and my Procom's have just survived a weeks worth of sand and mud without an issue. However if I would have known I would have bought other alloys.
Tires, I opted to go for Yokohama Geolander 305x70xR16 (only available here) great looking tires, very noisy on the road though and you can clearly feel the nobbles vibrating the car while driving away but I guess that is normal
Body modifications - AEV heat reduction hood and snorkel
The AEV heat reduction hood is easy to install however don't order it prepainted, mine was prepainted in jeep green and the colour wasn't even close to the colour of my jeep. I had to get it resprayed again at additional expense. As it is a hot country here I have to say that I am very impressed with the hoods performance, indeed there is a much better airflow through the engine. Don't worry about water coming in to the engine bay, no issues at all. The snorkel is easy to install as well however becareful if you want to take the snorkel out of your stock airbox again, it is not easy to do and my airbox cracked, a bit of glue fixed it though no problem.
'cold air intake' K&N system
I installed a K&N cold air intake, easy to install and I noticed a difference not to mentioned the great sucking sound. It is possible to leave the AEV snorkel and have the K&N airfilter installed, however it is a bit of a squeeze.
I also went for a Airrade (however you spell it) it is basically installed in your air intake and should swirl the air into your manifold, although it makes a nice hissing sound it is ........(totally useless) I actually took it off as it make a horrible sound with I really pushed the engine, like the engine is ready to explode, much better now without it.
Chip - Jet Stage Two.....
Both my jeeps have Jet stage two and I still need to find the difference in power...... OK in my 'head' I think my jeep has more power but in reality? I have an edge products increased air intake and ECU reprogram what works well, maybe the jet stage 2 chip helps with this. Haven't seen any power increase in my JK....thinking about changing to superchip.......
Jeep Roof Rack - MBRP
Just a few weeks ago I installed the MBRP roof rack, absolutely fantastic, OK it is a bit daunting to drill into your hard top but very much worth it. I had it installed in 4hrs and really really pleased. I put a light aluminium roofrack on top of my MBRP and carried my 33" spare wheel, fuel and lots of stuff on the roof without any issues. I also installed a ARB awning (home made brackets) very very nice and extremely strong, OK not cheap but I really recommend MBRP roof racks, fingers crossed Q is shipping my ARB series III tent soon as my roof rack was specially meant to harbour my tent.
Data management - Aeroforce interceptor
To keep a good eye on my engine and tranny I installed a dual Aeroforce interceptor gauges, literally installed in minutes and takes all the information from your IB2? port, really nice. I used the Aeroforce supplied pod and just installed it on top of my dash. I still need to install the oil press and temp but will update you once done.
I identified using the gauges that my transmission ran rather warm (220>F) just driving on the highway........so I installed a transmission cooler and now i am running at 160F temperatures, really pleased and would recommend a transmission cooler if you want to keep your jeep for a long time.
OK, will stop for the moment but hope my experience and learnings will help others
Cheers,
Mark
In sequence.........(of installing from new)
Body armor: ARB deluxe fr/rr bumpers + rock sliders,
The front ARB bumper is easy to install, don't worry about the crushcan's not many people install them. The rear bumper is slightly more tricky and make sure if you have it installed at a shop they do it properly. it was the only upgrade I had installed (installation came with it) but it was done extremely poor. I took the bumper off again an installed it properly with the steel plates on the inside of the chassis.......indeed quite tricky to do but once done you can pull and a tree out of the ground.
Also the ARB deluxe front bumper caters nicely for a winch, I have a WARN RC9.0i which is brilliant
Indeed I would fully recommend side steps installed/drilled to your chassis, quite a tricky thing to do but rock solid. I am just back from a weeks worth of jungle driving and I am glad my rocksliders and not my doors took the hit.
I bought also the MOPAR tow bar and this fits without modification with the ARB deluxe bumper, very pleased with it ! It will tow my boat (21ft) no problem at all.
Lift: Teraflex 2.5" Coil lift
I installed a 2.5" TF coil lift in approx one weekend, reasonable easy to do just make sure you have the right tools to jack the car up (3ton hydraulic jack + 2 car stands) remember than the car stands are for non lifted cars so you might want to get some wood as well.
I also installed all adjustable control arms (TF full kit), as the jeep is only lifted by 2.5" you have to ignore the TF control arm settings and just set them as short as possible. Officially you don't need adjustable control arms but as it looks good I went for it.
When you install the rear control arms, make sure that your rear trackbar extension bracket doesn't clash with your bump stop axle bracket, if so, adjust your control arms to suit.
I had to shorten (1/2 inch) my front heavy duty adjustable trackbar (TF) to recenter my front axle, just cut of 1/2 inch from the bar and sleeve and bod is your uncle.
I am very impressed with the TF 2.5" coil lift although it is well short of 2.5" lift, not to mention when you load the car going for a camping trip. I would suggest to use spacers or go for 4" lift if you want a outright 2-3" lift.
Exhaust; Borla catback
I installed the Borla Catback exhaust in a matter of hours, very easy to do, the biggest job is getting the old exhaust away from the back axle, I probably should have jacked the car up (What i didn't do). Great noise, nice dual tip, very pleased with it. OK the tips are rather venerable for damage thought, as mentioned, have done quite some jungle driving and my tips are pretty well mangled. The tips are close to the ARB bumper so if you bottom out on the back your exhaust tips can get squashed.
Shocks: ELKA shocks
I took the plunge and went for ELKA shocks for a 2.5" lift, very nice ride and easy to install, make sure you install your extended bump stops otherwise you will destroy your expensive shocks very easy with loading the car.
Spacers-Tires-Rims
I used initially my stock alloy rims and wrangler tires and 1.5" Spidertrax spacers, works very well and give the alloys a nice balance in your arches. Then I bought Procom 3017 16" alloys......THEY DON'T FIT YOUR CALLIPERS. As I didn't have much choice (very limited availability of alloys in Brunei) I decided to grind down my callipers, not a big deal and my Procom's have just survived a weeks worth of sand and mud without an issue. However if I would have known I would have bought other alloys.
Tires, I opted to go for Yokohama Geolander 305x70xR16 (only available here) great looking tires, very noisy on the road though and you can clearly feel the nobbles vibrating the car while driving away but I guess that is normal
Body modifications - AEV heat reduction hood and snorkel
The AEV heat reduction hood is easy to install however don't order it prepainted, mine was prepainted in jeep green and the colour wasn't even close to the colour of my jeep. I had to get it resprayed again at additional expense. As it is a hot country here I have to say that I am very impressed with the hoods performance, indeed there is a much better airflow through the engine. Don't worry about water coming in to the engine bay, no issues at all. The snorkel is easy to install as well however becareful if you want to take the snorkel out of your stock airbox again, it is not easy to do and my airbox cracked, a bit of glue fixed it though no problem.
'cold air intake' K&N system
I installed a K&N cold air intake, easy to install and I noticed a difference not to mentioned the great sucking sound. It is possible to leave the AEV snorkel and have the K&N airfilter installed, however it is a bit of a squeeze.
I also went for a Airrade (however you spell it) it is basically installed in your air intake and should swirl the air into your manifold, although it makes a nice hissing sound it is ........(totally useless) I actually took it off as it make a horrible sound with I really pushed the engine, like the engine is ready to explode, much better now without it.
Chip - Jet Stage Two.....
Both my jeeps have Jet stage two and I still need to find the difference in power...... OK in my 'head' I think my jeep has more power but in reality? I have an edge products increased air intake and ECU reprogram what works well, maybe the jet stage 2 chip helps with this. Haven't seen any power increase in my JK....thinking about changing to superchip.......
Jeep Roof Rack - MBRP
Just a few weeks ago I installed the MBRP roof rack, absolutely fantastic, OK it is a bit daunting to drill into your hard top but very much worth it. I had it installed in 4hrs and really really pleased. I put a light aluminium roofrack on top of my MBRP and carried my 33" spare wheel, fuel and lots of stuff on the roof without any issues. I also installed a ARB awning (home made brackets) very very nice and extremely strong, OK not cheap but I really recommend MBRP roof racks, fingers crossed Q is shipping my ARB series III tent soon as my roof rack was specially meant to harbour my tent.
Data management - Aeroforce interceptor
To keep a good eye on my engine and tranny I installed a dual Aeroforce interceptor gauges, literally installed in minutes and takes all the information from your IB2? port, really nice. I used the Aeroforce supplied pod and just installed it on top of my dash. I still need to install the oil press and temp but will update you once done.
I identified using the gauges that my transmission ran rather warm (220>F) just driving on the highway........so I installed a transmission cooler and now i am running at 160F temperatures, really pleased and would recommend a transmission cooler if you want to keep your jeep for a long time.
OK, will stop for the moment but hope my experience and learnings will help others
Cheers,
Mark
JK Newbie
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
From: Stratford, Prince Edward Island
Well written and something every newbie needs to read!
Speaking as a new JK owner, I'd like to thank you for putting so much good info and advice in one spot. One of the best posts I've read on any forum.
JK Junkie
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 3,213
Likes: 21
From: Grand falls, Newfoundland
I have just picked up my unlimited, it's my dd. I'm building it to suit my needs. Going to use teraflex leveling kit, mbrp front light hoop and mounts for my hella hid lights, hid headlights, skid row armor, rough country diff armor, spacers and 33" Goodyear territory tires. I'm thinking about installing electric lockers too.
Very mild looking but built to take what I'm going to dish out.
Very mild looking but built to take what I'm going to dish out.
JK Newbie
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 16
Likes: 0
From: Az
New JK unlimited Rubicon owner. This is a great thread.
Two questions -
Are the mopar differential skid plates a good option for protecting the dana 44's?
Does the cold air intake increase the risk of water damage to the engine during water crossings?
Thanks,
Mike
Two questions -
Are the mopar differential skid plates a good option for protecting the dana 44's?
Does the cold air intake increase the risk of water damage to the engine during water crossings?
Thanks,
Mike
