Assuming you have a winch ready front bumper, a 9000 lb Engo is only $300. Part of having a winch on the trail is helping other people out. There are situations such as righting a flopped rig or pulling someone slowly over an obstacle where a winch works well and a snatch strap is just stupid. There are a lot of places my locked Rubi would go that I couldn't make in my unlocked Sport. Adding a single locker to the Sport made a world of difference and it is fairly capable. Plus a locker allows you to be more in control and not bouncing around breaking stuff. Having both axles locked lets you crawl rather than use momentum and you are far less likely to get stuck. That's my 2 cents after 20 years of wheeling and owning 5 Jeeps.

 

Get a Rubicon. Then save up for the wench bumper and wench. If your looking at getting an e locker any might as well get the Rubicon.

In addition to getting the lockers. You will also get better wheels. Really good Hwy/off road tires, and better axils, e sway bar disconnect, and a better sound system.

Nothing against sports, and if your wanting to build it up your self that's fine to, but if you can afford the payment for a Rubicon get it. I love my Rubicon. To do all the up grades yourself will end up costing more as odd as that sounds

My Rubicon is a DD to, and the only mods I did before I went to Moab the first time was a stubby front bumper (you could also just chop the ends off the stock front bumper, just pull off the plastic outer shell it), and a Teraflex 2.5 BB with shock extensions.

You will be surprised how much you can do with a set up like that.

 

Well Im wanting to build it up myself. I am seeing how doing so can turn out to be more expensive in the long run. I wish jeep made a rubicon without all the dang bells and whistles, all the "niceties", power this, power that.

Are lockers more necessary for extreme rock crawling? Because I am not looking to get into that. I want a good "trail" Jeep if that makes sense. I will be using it to get to difficult hunting and fishing spots so I can get away from everyone else, and take the family out on some ok trails. I dont intend to use it for the "sport" of rock crawling, or seeing what I can get over and through. Does that make sense?
Thanks for everyones comments, they really do help.

 

X3! My last two Jeeps, 2011 JK and 2013 JKU both have had the 3.73 gears and LSD. I have never needed lockers and have out performed all my buddies with lockers. The combination of the LSD with traction control has proven time and again better than some of the older Jeeps I've had with lockers. If you ever did get stuck the winch would surely get you out where lockers may not.

 

I would go for a winch first. It can get to or a buddy unstuck. If you always wheel with a group and the have enough winches on their jeep I might go for lockers and regear first. I think self recovery items are more inportant. You can get stuck with lockers.

 

In that case I would say go with a rear locker and a wench.

 

I agree that the Rubicon has too many niceties. You can build a better trail worthy Jeep by starting with the Sport. I don't care for the e- disco and the open diffs on the Rubi beg for you to use the lockers more than you should need to. I say start with the Sport with 3.73 and LSD and winch of your choice. If for some reason in the future you feel you need lockers, you can always add them.

 

A LSD would be nice but I could not get that option without adding other crap I didn't want. Im still thinking a winch would be better. The Engo E9000s is looking like a good option. I have not heard anything bad about them, and they are priced really well. If I was to get an expensive winch, Im looking at a Superwinch Talon 9.5 SR. 3 year warranty!

The deal is I have a $5-6k budget, and Im trying to make it was capable as I can. However I do want to do it right, keep it reliable, and buy quality stuff, not a bunch of cheap half-assed stuff just to get everything.

 

Someone already said it and it's really good advice. If your starting out get the solid insurance piece, buy a quality winch then go out and get yourself stuck. Experience that you gain while starting out will be invaluable. Then as you add things like lockers you'll be able to tell how it changed your vehicle and in what times and or terrain you need to engage them. I see a lot of people that engage their lockers after they are already stuck.

 

Depending on how and where you wheel I would go winch over lockers. In Alaska I've used my lockers once but my winch many times. If you're in an area where you can't safely use a winch then lockers might be a better choice. I hit more trails than rock crawling so I generally have plenty of trees to wrap around. And that's usually only to get out of a surprise swamp.