Newbie in Philly Area
 

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and to the world of Jeeps/Wranglers in general-picking up a new Unlimited Rubicon any day now (as soon as the freakin' dealer gets it delivered-it's killing me that it's "in transit" still, and seems like it has been forever, which is only 3 days but I want it now...).

I'm in my mid-30's and I always wanted a Jeep growing up but could never afford one ("I was born a poor black child...":D), and then spent the last 15 years in big cities and living overseas so the Jeep dream was never fulfilled, until now. And the 4 door options has opened, or reopened, the Jeep world to so many of us family men and women-thanks Jeep, Inc.!

A few questions:

-anyone know of good off-roading areas in Southeast PA? I see that Rausch Creek looks very cool, but anyone know of anything closer to Philly (PA, South Jersey, Delaware)? Rausch is more of a full day trip from where I'm living (Villanova), and while I plan on doing it when I can, reality strikes when you have kids and a family and you just can't do exactly what you want and take an entire day out every weekend. I'm new to this also, so starting out slow and not doing big rock crawling at first is probably in my best interest, so I'm not looking for an East Coast version of the Rubicon trail.

-I will fully admit that I'm new to real off-roading and I'll probably be the kook doing something wrong on the trail. Can anyone recommend good books, or even an off-roading course somewhere in the general mid-Atlantic states?

-I see tons of advice on what to do for your first mods and I'd more than welcome advice from anyone. I don't mean this in a snotty or bragging way at all, but I don't really have an upper limit to my budget for mods, so fire away. That said, I don't want to be the tool who just bought his way into a really cool ride, or end up looking like the Vanilla Ice of the Jeep world with a bunch of shiny bolt on pieces of cr*p. I'd also like to do most of the work myself, at least what doesn't involve lifting an engine or opening up a transmission box. And while I probably will cave in some day and have an outrageous lift and massive tires, I'd like to use it as an every day driver also, so I don't really want to go too big.

Thanks everyone and I'm really looking forward to getting into this Jeep!

Welcome to the JK-Forum!

welcome, im 5 minutes outside penns landing, :rock:

Welcome to the party!

Welcome bud to the forum.

Welcome to the forum. Your two main options for wheeling in SE PA are Rausch, technical wheeling lots of rocks and rutted out forest trails, and Warton Sate Forest in southern NJ, not as technical with lots of water.

The Rubicons are very capable out of the box. If you are going to do rocks I would recommend armor as the first mods, heavy duty diff covers, evap cannister relocation or skid, possibly an engine skid. If you think you are going to do more deep water raise your beather tubes on your diffs, tranny and transfercase, and add a snorkle.

At the Topless for Tatas ride one of our members is doing a 101 course, but spots are filling up quickly so you would need to get your registration in fairly soon.
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...ugust-6th-2011

Rausch Creek offers monthly guided rides for beginners and 101 courses once in a while. Check out the East Coast staging area we have rides and get togethers happening all the time.

Thanks all! Jeep's coming in tomorrow so I'm picking her up just in time for the long weekend. Psyched.