Rust on a new JK and standard height
 

Good evening everyone I have a 2018 JK and after seeing some videos I decided to look under my rig to find out what type of skid plates were under there. While doing this tonight i found that there was a lot of surface rust is a lot of places. The drive shaft for one had a lot and the area around the brakes had a little. I was wondering if this is normal.

Second question while I was there I decided to take a tape and measure the lowest parts of the JK and found that be ~10" is this normal for a JK, How much higher is a Rubicon? How much higher is expected with lets say a 3" lift and 35?

Thank you very much.

Ernesto.

The drive shaft is bare metal. The brakes and rotors are bare metal. Bare metal mixed with air and moisture=rust. So is it normal? Yes, that combination is normal for every vehicle on the planet.

A 3" lift with 35s will give about 5in of total lift depending on the lift.

That primary place I see "real" rust has s where the various skid plates that cover the gas tank come together. I've used primer, POR-15, and fluid film. I also used POR-15 to completely paint my driveshaft. Please note, the balance of the shaft is important. I actually painted mine with the Jeep on jack stands and the shaft turning with engine running in 4-LO.

The suspension lift isn't doing anything to gain you any additional clearance from your lowest measured spots. That's going to be all tires. there are things you can do though that help, like relocate your SS from under the TR to above, and relocate your lower shock mounts in the rear, etc.....but tires are going to make the biggest difference. The rubicons aren't sitting any higher......the rubi 44 and the D30 axles are relatively the same....same mounts and such that have the same ground clearance. Now, above the axle (the suspension) you'll see a very minor difference due to the springs.

Thank you sir, I kind of figured that but it seem strange after only 2 weeks or ownership.

That is very interesting thank you for the information, will do some research.

Understood, the lifts are to get bigger tires, bigger tires equals more clearance. My version (Oscar Mike) came with a lot of the upgrades in Rubicon to include the 3.73 front/rear Dana 44 Heavy Duty Axle. One last question can I put 255 tires like the ones in a Rubi with out a lift. I have 245 right now.

I linked this thread the other day as well -

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...17/#post211274

Post #3, question #2 - yes, you can put a 255/75R17 on your Oscar Mike without a lift and be fine. Look on Craiglist for cheap options. Around here you can buy brand new Rubi takeoffs for cheap all day long. In fact, if you have a stock wrangler around DFW, there's never a reason to go to a store to pay full price for tires, shocks, steering linkage, axle shafts, drive shafts....the list goes on and on. Cheaper to buy brand new Rubi tires mounted on brand new rubi wheels than it is to go to Discount Tire and buy replacement tires.

You seemed to be confused about the models. You have a sport that has a special edition package and does not include the axles the Rubicon uses. You have a dan 30 front and a standard 44 rear. The rubicon is a model of wrangler (like the sport and sahara). Just because you got 3.73 gears does not mean you have a "rubicon" axle upgrade, it is just a different gear ratio that has been offered in any JK model except the early Rubicons( that cam with standard 4.10 gears).There are basically three things that make a wrangler a Rubicon model and it is front and rear dana 44's with e-lockers (you can't factory upgrade to theses), a 4:1 rock track transfer case (again can't factory upgrade to this), and a sway bar disconnect. Some of the special edition Rubicons came with different hoods and bumpers and the newer Rubicon Recon model came with the new HD dana 44 front axle that basically just has a bigger C casting along with slightly bigger tires. Rubicons can also get 4.10 gear ratios from the factory where you can't do that with the sport or sahara which come in 3.21 or 3.73

This is awesome information, I'm new to Jeep. I knew it was a special edition Sport, but my budget was 40K so Rubicon's were out of the questions unless I bought a use one. I had some requirements and this one filled all those. The information I have provided was based on the configuration sticker (Attached to this reply). Thank you for the info you have provide I really appreciate it.https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...80b892696.jpeg

The Oscar Mike is a Sport with a few upgrades..... It has D30 front/ D44 rear, 3.73 gears, a rear LSD, and a 2.72:1 Transfer case.
The Rubicon has D44 front/D44 rear, choice of 3.73 or 4.10 gears, electric lockers front and rear, and a 4:1 Transfer case.

I have two more questions;
#1 Can the D44 with LSD be convert to an electronic lock?
#2 Can the D30 be converted to an electronic lock?
#3 Is the D30 LSD or a different systems?
Just so you know I'm googleing this information to try to understand more.

VR
Ernesto.

Yes.
https://www.quadratec.com/products/1...BoCoDkQAvD_BwE
Yes.
https://www.northridge4x4.com/part/l...er-3-73-and-up
The D30 is an open differential. An LSD or locker "could" be added to it but smart money says to not spend too much money investing into the stock D30.

So you could upgrade the rear for ~$1200.00 and change the front to a Dana 44 with Elock ~2500 or so. So about 4K would make it a full locking model. I looked up a few items based on everyone's information then looked at my documentation and notice that I have something called Track Lock in the rear. The video showed me what happens while on 4H and 4L but does this mean if things get very tough the power will go to the path of least resistance at least to the front?

This is one of those things that you really just need to get out and use your jeep. Get your feet wet, figure out what kinda things you like to do, then plan from there. You very well could find you're perfectly capable with an open front and LSD in the back. You'd be surprised by the things you can do in a stock jeep. Now, you want to get in to aggressive rock crawling, that won't be enough and you'll need real lockers, but I suspect you will have a lot of fun in your new jeep as is. When you start seeing obstacles you can't conquer due to traction, that is when you start realizing your setup's deficiencies. You can wheel the heck out of what you have right now and have a lot of fun.

Your JK with its rear LSD and BLD (brake lock differentials) is a extremely capable machine like it is. I doubt you'd see much gain from adding selectable lockers unless you're doing some pretty extreme rock crawling.

My 2012 jku has open diff. I don't do anything hardcore, but I think the BLD is perfectly adequate for my needs.

Very good advise thank you I will.

Thank you I have learn so much in just a few weeks, I really appreciate it. So I know I have Track Lock and LSD but I did not now it also had BLD, I saw that in the video but sense i did't see BLD in the docs, I was not sure if it had it.

VR
Ernesto

So BLD is on all the JK's, very cool.

...and both axles.

Yes, all jk have bld. There are some pretty good videos on line about how it works. When I ordered my 2012 I knew I wanted to keep it forever. LSD relies on clutches and becomes a replaceable wear item (theoretically). I decided that BLD was enough for my needs therefore I did not incur the expense of the LSD. I have yet to find any snow in NJ that can get me stuck. I'm not in to mud at all.

Completely understood, I have read that the stock models are extremely capable. The group that I plan to ride with does do some rides that require locking front/back. (San Diego Jeep Club (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEE...iTRSB0VXNbWvRw)). But for now I expect to do the easier rides until I can save the funds for upgrades. I figured this was the most costly upgrades but there are so many other upgrades so I wanted to start slowly with COMMs, Lights, Under Armor, Rack, etc. I did look at the Rubicon's which would solve this missed understood (on my part) issue/concern, but no mater what I could not justified the 10+k to purchase one. Thank you all this has been an awesome learning experience.
Ernesto

Y, off the bat, your money will be better spent on recovery gear than lockers IMO. A winch would be better use of funds, tow strap, tree saver, snatch block. Go out have fun. You'll run across things you see people do that maybe you get stuck on.....and you start to see the real world impact of what a locker can add. Again though.......a lot of time people are using lockers just cuz they are there....moreso than cuz the obstacle actually requires them. $5 says you'll be shocked what you can do as is. You just have to have a little common sense.

Quick disconnects for your front sway bar will be important if you're going to off road. Makes life easier. In regards to "under armor"/skids......I'll contend that the factory TC skid is adequate. It's not a common location the 4dr gets hung up. The gas skid on the 4dr takes the most impact. If you are going to play in rocks, I'd cover that up.....and it doesn't have to be pricey. I'm not a fan of Rubicon Express, but they make a cheap gas skid that does the trick in this instance. Think aobut some sort of protection for your rocker panels too. That's not an area on your jeep you want to F up. Lights, wheels, tires, suspension....all that other stuff is very subjective to personal tastes.

Agreed with your comments 100%. I need to test it, my last off road vehicle was an RZR-4 and there was nothing I could not or would not do. Everything seem so easy I let my 12 year old (at the time) drive most of the time. As you can imagine I'm not there yet with the Jeep.
That being said you mentioned "Rocker Panels" just to make sure I understand are they the ones that go below the doors? If so the Oscar Mike came with special bumpers set that included metal rocker panels (I call them rock sliders) install from Jeep (Mopad Originals or so they say). You can kind of see them on the attached pic.

Thank you.
Ernesto

Yup, sorry, forgot. Everyone will know those as "rubi rails", or in your case "enhanced rubi rails" or "hard rock rails" since you have the bar on it whereas regular rubi rails are just the part right up by the body (also right there is what is know as your rocker panel under the door).

Thought it was this thread....but maybe a different one of yours or someone else's just in last couple days dealing with those rails.....those will indeed flex up and crush the rocker behind them if you really bang em on rocks. Not saying ditch them and go to something else, but be aware the rail will flex up and in to the body. You won't notice it cuz they hide the damage, but you see the damage when you remove them.....and it sucks. MOST people aren't putting their jeep through really rough things though. You'll realize if you're getting aggressive enough that you need to upgrade things.

I kind of figured these were not supper tough and would be very careful in the mean time. I did notice they are not mounted to the chassis but to some mount points in the frame. I figured they would take some of the scratching and bent a bit but I did not realized they would bent the frame but I can see how that would happen. I guess the upgraded ones mount on the the chassis right?

Thank you.