Finally Have My New Rubicon!

[The Swiss]

Congratulations!! White JKU Rubicons rock

I really didn't want to pay so much extra for the white painted top and fenders

I wish I would have paid the extra for the hardtop being white. (I trade ya ) I'm thinking about painting mine white as the black just heats up too much, baking my head.

[Septu]

Congratulations!! White JKU Rubicons rock



I wish I would have paid the extra for the hardtop being white. (I trade ya ) I'm thinking about painting mine white as the black just heats up too much, baking my head.

If I'd thought of the heat angle when ordering my JK last winter, I would have had the painted HT as well. I wanted the painted fenders but couldn't order those without the roof. After sleeping in the JK while camping the other week, once the sun came out it got pretty warm in there fairly quickly. If I did it again, that's one thing I would change. And if I continue camping in it and don't get a trailer or something I might have to have the roof painted.

[Token]

Word I'm getting is Hypertech does have one that's shipping, but it's not on the website yet..

One of the things about Hypertech is they know there's a difference in a Jeep and Corevette... They can get more power out of a Jeep than the standard tunes they provide, but it's not useful power for most folks.. Not many of us in Jeeps need power at 6000+ rpm, so they tune for usable power in the areas you need it.. Tune for a bit more bottom end grunt on the trail in the low - mid RPM range or tune for fuel economy on the freeway.. Changes from one to the other can be made in a few minutes.. So it you're making a 2 day road trip to play on the trails in Colorado or Moab, you've got what you need to get the most out of the trip as long as you toss the programmer in your glove box as you head out..

[brianjwilson]

After a long three weeks at work I finally made it home Thursday night and got to work on the AEV 3.5" lift...

[brianjwilson]

I meant to take more pictures as we went through the install but it got overlooked.
The instructions were less than impressive, rather vague in many areas which caused a bit of frustration but all in all it was okay. If I installed another lift it would take significantly less time.
Teraflex exhaust spacers were also used but it was obvious that spacers alone did not move the exhaust far enough for driveshaft clearance under full droop. With one side of the axle at full droop it is fine. But with the whole axle at full droop the driveshaft contacts the exhaust. At this point I'm not sure what I will do to remedy this. I could have custom exhaust work done, or strap the axle in board of the shocks so that I'm not limiting articulation (side to side) but only preventing the axle from dropping too far as a whole. Or I could start looking into a custom driveshaft and do it right. Any suggestions on a driveshaft design that is more narrow, will handle the angle and allow use of 4x4 at higher speeds without headaches?

Initial driving impression = Awsome. I see why people say this kit drives better than stock. The suspension is both more firm and more compliant, which sounds odd. Less body roll, less brake dive, but it soaks up big bumps, big rail road tracks etc with no drama. Unfortunately I just finished final adjustments yesterday afternoon and had to run to my mother in-laws with the trailer so no off road yet. I pulled the 6x12 a little over 100 miles and again, the suspension handled it great. Very little squat, no bouncing, no sway, no problems. To my surprise, the 4.10 gears and six speed manual trans work great with the pentastar. For the few miles I drove without the trailer it actually seems to accelerate quicker as it felt a little over geared from the factory. Pulling the trailer is not as enjoyable, but not bad. I was able to maintain 55-65 in sixth gear most of the time without drama, something that I understand the 3.8 couldn't do empty with 4.10s and 35s.

Hopefully I'll get to ditch the trailer soon and play!

Oh yeah, I need to order a new bracket to fit the other 35 on the gate...

[Septu]

Go check out AFE's Y pipe.

[brianjwilson]

Ah, I hadn't been able to find a description of that pipe until now, I didn't realize that it actually relocated the exhaust behind the skid. Hmm, wasn't planning to spend the money on exhaust but that's probably the right solution. That may interfere with my bumper budget. Haha

[Rubicon08]

Brian, check out this article about your driveshaft issue.

http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-tech/l...ont-driveshaft

[brianjwilson]

Thanks for the link. I had a hard time seeing that an aftermarket shaft would even clear on mine at full droop. Mine is a manual trans which supposedly pushes the transfer case further back. There is an afe y pipe sitting in the garage right now, I picked it up this evening. We'll see how much life I get out of the stock driveshaft in this config, but the joint is at a pretty steep angle. At least this should buy me some time to figure out what driveshaft I want.

[Rubicon08]

yeah, I haven't done a whole lot of research on the drive shafts. I just saw that article on my facebook and your issue reminded me of it.