2023 Earl 4XE Rubicon (50 Shades of Cray!)

[Boostshakalaka]

Earl 4XE Rubicon Ordered 7/15/2022 Delivered on 10/26/2022

I'll keep the mod list and most recent pics on this post. build journal below this post.

Interior
- American Adventure Labs Versatable
- XG Cargo Gama Bags
- 67Designs Phone Holder
- Midland MXT275 Radio
- Mopar Cup Rear Holder
- Kilmat 80mil Butyl Mats
- Siless 157mil CCF with Thermal Foil
- Armorlite Flooring System
- Rugged Ridge Door Sill Covers
- Hot Headliners

Exterior
- Chemical Guys Carbon Force Ceramic Coating
- Xpel XRPrime Plus Window Tint 15% front, 35% rear, 50% windshield
- Rockslide Engineering Side Steps
- Bushwhacker Bug Deflector(Color Matched)
- Mopar Rear Hingegate Reinforcement (Color Matched)
- Rough Country Spare Relocation Bracket
- MP Concepts Front Bumper
- MP Concepts Rear Bumper
- Mopar Winch Guard
- Badland Apex 12000lbs winch (Wiring relocated to side)
- Mopar 3rd Brake Light relocation kit
- Color Matched Door handles, mirror covers, and lock covers
- Steinjager 21in antenna
- Midland Ghost GMRS Antenna

Lighting
- Oracle Reverse Lights
- Oracle Third Brake Light(Smoked)
- Lasfit HP Series Flood Ditch Lights with Amber Lens (on Seven Sparta mount)
- Diode Dynamics Max Fog Lights
- 7in Laser LED headlights (low beam wired to aux switch, high beam and laser wired to relay and high beam trigger)

Suspension/Wheels
- Volk Racing TE37XT Mspec 18x8.5
- Toyo AT3 Tires 35x12.5
- Hellwig Rear Sway Bar
- Teraflex Falcon EF2.2 Steering Damper
- SDI E-Clik Pro Shocks
- Mopar Lift Kit LCA's
- Metalcloak Durospring Bump Stops
- Teraflex 1.5in/0.5in spacers

Performance
AFE Mach Force Axle Back Hi Tuck Exhaust (ceramic coated)
AFE Momentum GT Intake (Not installed)
AFE Blade Runner Intercooler Hot Pipe (Not installed)

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[Boostshakalaka]

Bought a 2022 Sahara 4xe in April and threw some TRX take off 35's with some black rhino chambers (about 95lbs for the combo) and lost about 30% of my electric range and my long distance mpg took a massive hit(interstate speed going slightly uphill i needed to be in 6th getting 9mpg). Figured out it was the junk gearing that came on the Sahara, but regearing would cost just slightly less than ordering a Rubicon 4Xe plus i hated maintaining the black paint, so i went to the dealership and ordered a Rubicon 4Xe

Took the sahara on some level 3 and 4 trails, and it never rubbed. i did install a hellwig sway bar that limited the rear travel and improved on road handling so that may have helped

The 35s on the heavy black rhino wheels really destroyed my electric range and mpg. so i'm going to be more nitpicky on wheel selection for the rubicon.

Earl Rubicon Ordered 7/15/2022 Delivered on 10/26/2022

Here's some pics of the Rubicon the night i got it and the Sahara $h!t$h0w below

 

[Boostshakalaka]

First thing... wheels and tires. ordered these a while ago since they take so long to get here. No way i'm making the same mistake and putting some heavy cast wheels and tires on this thing. I contemplated doing 37's and i know everyone says if you are already thinking about 37s, just get them because you will regret 35s

well. i daily drive the jeep and i got the 4xe over the other models for the efficiency. so i didnt want to give that up. if i want to do a strictly trail vehicle build, maybe i'll get a 392 in the future. I do trails about once every other month, but i do take quite a few snowboarding trips in the winter, so i went with 35x12.5 Toyo AT3's (listed weight 59lbs) and got my volk te37xt mspec wheels (listed weight 17.5lbs) forged aluminum so strong and light but friggin expensive

took a weight measurement after mount, balance and with tpms. and it came in at 79.3lbs not too bad. Stock tires came in at 80.2lbs, so my new 35 setup is actually 1 pound lighter than stock.

oh and the te37xt mspec have that "bead grip" stuff that you can get on some of the fancy methods that weigh too much

 

[Boostshakalaka]

This may be an unpopular opinion but i feel like ive always seen black door handles and trim pieces on entry level cars and i never liked that the rubicon had them, but i also didnt want to get a high altitude and have the same issues and gripes that i had with my sahara. so i got some door handle covers, mirror covers, lock covers, and a bug deflector (this bug deflector actually helped my sahara get 1 extra mpg so i had to get another one) and i color matched them earl

also got a mopar hinge gate reinforcement sanded it down and painted it earl too. I like the teraflex style reinforcements in black, but the mopar one always looked kinda weird to me in a contrasting color because it covers up the hinges and doesnt replace them. but hey i got it for a dumb cheap price cuz it was all scratched up so why not.

if anyone is curious how i painted them, sand everything down with 180 then 300. hit it with filler primer, sand again with 800 grit, then base coat color, then clear. wet sand with 2000 grit, then polish.

lots of work but i took my time since the jeep isnt here yet.

Update: 10/26 picked up the jeep and installed the parts. the bolts on the stock hinge are extra dumb. the paint makes them feel like a t50 when in fact they are a t55.... so i stripped 2 and added about 4 hours to a 30min-1hr install.

 

[Boostshakalaka]

next project. front bumper. got an open box that was kinda scratched up and missing the horns. (note the sahara is back to stock awaiting trade in)

Took about a week (doing about an hour of work a day) of sanding, etching, priming, then paint and clear with some 2k paint(basically a step better than Rust-Oleum and a step below powder coat) also Rust-Oleum Maui blue is a perfect match for 4xe hooks.

Also the crown automotive horns suck. I cleaned them with alcohol and it melted the outside coating. Painting and clearing helped make them more chemical resistant.

Finally installed the diode dynamics max fog lights from my Sahara. This took almost an hour because of the tight spaces to work in to get to the brackets. Glad I did this while the bumper was off the car, also nice to shave an hour off the bumper install whenever the car gets here

 

[Boostshakalaka]

Got an open box rear bumper that was very scratched and scuffed. Spent about a day sanding and painting. Then installed the Oracle reverse lights. since i had half the rear apart, i put on the mopar brake light relocation and oracle 3rd brake light. the mopar tire relocation was still setting off my parking sensors, so i threw away the mopar relocation kit and got a rough country one off amazon.

Reverse sensors worked until i wired up the oracle lights to the trailer plug. then i get the parksense error now. i'll have to go back in and poke around one of these days.

 

[Boostshakalaka]

So, after doing the bumpers, winch, and side steps, i felt like the jeep was sitting a little bit low. when i brought my jeep in for service. it confirmed my suspicions. Its sitting about an 0.75 inches lower in the front and about 0.25 inches lower in the back from the added weight. Pic of my JLURe next to a stock one for comparison.

I like the stock spring rate, and the fuel economy i am currently getting so I dont want to go with a crazy lift. Plus I prefer trails rated below 5. So I didnt really need anything more than stock height.

11/22 installed Teraflex spacers 1.5 inch for the front 0.5 inch for the rear, Metalcloak durospring bump stops, Mopar lift kit LCA's, and SDI E-Clik Pro shocks.

Jeep sits nice and level now. just a hair higher than stock

 

[Boostshakalaka]

Hot headliners came in. i followed the instructions with the sound deadening on my sahara, but decided to go nuts on the rubicon. I layed killmat over the entire panel then put acoustic foam with thermal foil in the channels. The hot headliner stuck to the kill mat perfectly!

11/10 laid down some killmat and foam and thermal foil before installing the armorlite flooring. I didn't go as crazy as I did in my Sahara because I didn't want to make any relief cuts in the flooring

 

[Boostshakalaka]

Installed an extra set of headlights. They aren't crazy bright but they lay down good light. Best part is I wired the low beams to Aux1, High Beams and Lasers are wired to a relay triggered by the high beams, and they have a DRL function too.

The Diode dynamics max fog lights are amazing, lay down good light and are mind blowing in inclement weather.

I added a set of Lasfit HP series flood pattern lights with amber filters as ditch lights because when i went night wheeling on a shelf road around julian, ca, there were certain times on descents going into a switchback , any light at the stock headlight level or below would be completely useless. i ended up having to stick my head out of the window to see where the trail was.

 

[Boostshakalaka]

Took advantage of the black friday sales and got me some stuff to help the engine breathe a little better. First was the AFE axleback exhaust. I ceramic coated it to help with heat dissipation. After 50 miles, i gotta say i'm super happy i went with the axleback instead of the catback. It's noticeably louder, not too bad, but any louder than this would probably get annoying.

AFE intake and intercooler hotpipe were on backorder so i'm waiting patiently

 

[Boostshakalaka]

the earl gray daily on te37xt mspec with toyos and the suzuka grey on te37 ultra mspec with toyos

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