Advice needed: 2020 JL Sport Unlimited with Manual Transmission

[mfinn628]

New to forum, hello. Lots of great info here. I purchased a new Wrangler and intend to add several modifications for both aesthetics and function. In truth, 80-90% of use will be on paved surfaces. I will not be rock crawling and most of the off road use is camping and hunting. No deep mud holes (unless I screw up which is a real possibility). I know I am replacing bumpers, (bumpers adding 75# to front and 40# to back) going to either 33” or 35” tires, adding a winch and lights. Probably sliders eventually.

I am not mechanical at all so all work will have to be professionally done. What I am hoping to get from this forum/post is a list of things I need to make sure I consider as I add components and/or weight. I want to be as informed as possible so I don’t have to rely on a salesperson to tell me “what I need”.

If I lift, are spacers fine or do I need a full kit? Why?

I think I can get by without a lift for 33” and a 2” lift will get me to 35”. That sound right?

What special considerations do I need to think about since I have a manual transmission?

Any other thoughts on things I need to consider?

I am way more interested in doing this right than in doing this cheaply.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

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[entropy]

I am on a similar position as you are with the additions of rock sliders. Hunting, camping, and I do go offroading. My plan is to beef up the suspension of my sport with Rubicon takeoffs. I have springs and shocks from a rubicon that came with metal bumpers, top, and towing package, so I know this suspension will be able to hold my mods and give me at least the extra inch of clearance the Rubicon has over the Sport. I wouldn't do spacers because spacers don't compress like springs do, and they are not there to replace a suspension. To my understanding, spacers are good only if you need to get a little ground clearance like .5in or so. Think about it, springs compress and decompress, they let your jeep "flex" as well, a spacer can't do that.

I think you should consider the Rubi suspension + a spacer on the front due to the weight of the winch+steel bumper, either that or lift. 35in tires on a sport I think will make your tires rub, you'd need a lift, or a rubi suspension + rubicon fenders, or aftermarket fenders. 33in tires are ok.

 

[paulsoncall]

Others on this forum have mentioned that you will likely need to re-gear if you up the tire size, especially for 35s. Someone with a manual tranny mentioned that when he upgraded to 33’s, it rendered 5th and 6th gears useless. Further research I’ve done has confirmed this.

 

[Toycrusher]

New to forum, hello. Lots of great info here. I purchased a new Wrangler and intend to add several modifications for both aesthetics and function. In truth, 80-90% of use will be on paved surfaces. I will not be rock crawling and most of the off road use is camping and hunting. No deep mud holes (unless I screw up which is a real possibility). I know I am replacing bumpers, (bumpers adding 75# to front and 40# to back) going to either 33” or 35” tires, adding a winch and lights. Probably sliders eventually.

I am not mechanical at all so all work will have to be professionally done. What I am hoping to get from this forum/post is a list of things I need to make sure I consider as I add components and/or weight. I want to be as informed as possible so I don’t have to rely on a salesperson to tell me “what I need”.

If I lift, are spacers fine or do I need a full kit? Why?

I think I can get by without a lift for 33” and a 2” lift will get me to 35”. That sound right?

What special considerations do I need to think about since I have a manual transmission?

Any other thoughts on things I need to consider?

I am way more interested in doing this right than in doing this cheaply.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

I hate to say it, but your probably better off trading for a Rubicon. It has basically everything you want including the ability to run 35" or 37" tires without a lift. Best of all, all the components work together and you get a full warranty to go with it.

 

[entropy]

I hate to say it, but your probably better off trading for a Rubicon. It has basically everything you want including the ability to run 35" or 37" tires without a lift. Best of all, all the components work together and you get a full warranty to go with it.

That's not true. Rubicon doesn't come with steel bumpers, you have to add them, and the rear mopar metal bumper sucks, so you are better off with aftermarket. The rubi sliders are also terrible, and people sell them for nothing.

All OP needs is a rubi takeoff suspension (springs and shocks) which only cost about $150.... and he could get rubi wheels + tires takeoffs for less than $1000. Go with aftermarket metal bumpers, much cheaper than trading it for a Rubicon....

The only issue would be the re-gearing. That, I don't know.

 

[Logger]

That's not true. Rubicon doesn't come with steel bumpers, you have to add them, and the rear mopar metal bumper sucks, so you are better off with aftermarket. The rubi sliders are also terrible, and people sell them for nothing.

All OP needs is a rubi takeoff suspension (springs and shocks) which only cost about $150.... and he could get rubi wheels + tires takeoffs for less than $1000. Go with aftermarket metal bumpers, much cheaper than trading it for a Rubicon....

The only issue would be the re-gearing. That, I don't know.

This is good advice. Regarding the regearing, I have a M/T Sahara with aftermarket wheels and 33s which are actually 34s and I have no issues with the added weight. To be honest I hardly ever used 6th with the stock wheels, but have still regularly use 5th with the upgrades. 37s is where you might get into some issues with gearing.

 

[8flat]

Definitely re-gear. Hell if I had a stock sport with a manual I'd regear even if I stayed with stock tires, 3.45s are way too high for this manual and its two overdrives coupled with a high-strung engine with no off-idle torque.

My rubicon with 4.10 gears and stock 33s are too high for 6th gear to be very useful, and reverse is too tall to back up a hill very well without slipping the clutch or lugging the engine to the point it sounds cringe-worthy.

I think 4.56 gears and 33" tires might be just right. Or 4.88s if you went with 35" tires?

 

[Toycrusher]

That's not true. Rubicon doesn't come with steel bumpers, you have to add them, and the rear mopar metal bumper sucks, so you are better off with aftermarket. The rubi sliders are also terrible, and people sell them for nothing.

All OP needs is a rubi takeoff suspension (springs and shocks) which only cost about $150.... and he could get rubi wheels + tires takeoffs for less than $1000. Go with aftermarket metal bumpers, much cheaper than trading it for a Rubicon....

The only issue would be the re-gearing. That, I don't know.

What you say holds some Merit for a DIY kind of guy. But he is planning to farm out the work to a shop, that gets expensive. Regearing the axles is $2k at least, not counting selectable lockers. Yes, he might prefer aftermarket bumpers, but it's an absolute steal when you consider the equipment included in the Rubicon package. Unless your planning on running 40s through the rocks, there isn't much you can't do with a Rubicon as a foundation

 

[Toycrusher]

Definitely re-gear. Hell if I had a stock sport with a manual I'd regear even if I stayed with stock tires, 3.45s are way too high for this manual and its two overdrives coupled with a high-strung engine with no off-idle torque.

My rubicon with 4.10 gears and stock 33s are too high for 6th gear to be very useful, and reverse is too tall to back up a hill very well without slipping the clutch or lugging the engine to the point it sounds cringe-worthy.

I think 4.56 gears and 33" tires might be just right. Or 4.88s if you went with 35" tires?

I'm pretty happy with my manual Rubicon and 37s but I'll be happier when my Tazer allows 2wd low range for those instances you just need to crawl a little slower

 

[entropy]

What you say holds some Merit for a DIY kind of guy. But he is planning to farm out the work to a shop, that gets expensive. Regearing the axles is $2k at least, not counting selectable lockers. Yes, he might prefer aftermarket bumpers, but it's an absolute steal when you consider the equipment included in the Rubicon package. Unless your planning on running 40s through the rocks, there isn't much you can't do with a Rubicon as a foundation

He never mentioned lockers, all he is adding is some weight, which he can do and keep his sport suspension anyway. A beefier suspension will just do a better job at handling the added weight. $150 takeoffs, pay $400 to a shop for the suspension swap that's $550. Bumper install he can do, if not you can find shops to do it cheap for you. Now, trading in, he will lose a lot of cash since he is not gonna get what he paid for from the dealer, in fact he'd get even less than the actual value of the Jeep. Then the Rubicon without the metal bumpers is what? 10k more?. even if you throw in the regearing, it will be more expensive for the OP to trade in for a Rubicon that he actually doesn't even need.

Add to this that getting a good deal on a Rubicon is pretty hard, while Sports get discounted more. When I went to buy my Jeep I was seriously thinking about a Rubicon. I got my Sport + S with tech package, headliner, no slip rear diff, for about 15k less than they were giving me a Rubicon for. With the 15k extra I have a lot of cash to make a crawling beast if I wanted too. Trading in for a Rubicon will cost him a lot more.

Also, did you know the very capable JK Rubicon had 32in tires and only .3in more than a JL sport? the JL sport is an extremely capable Jeep, for camping/hunting and occasional off-roading? he has more than enough. I think it is a perfect fir for the OP and he can grow into wheeling as time goes by if he wants.

 

[IceBerg]

I have a 6 Speed JLUR and went from 33" to 35" and I really notice the loss of power. To be honest it's 100% drivable but I am very heavily thinking about going to 4:56 gearing.

35s on the JLU gearing would probably be terrible.

 

[8flat]

I'm pretty happy with my manual Rubicon and 37s but I'll be happier when my Tazer allows 2wd low range for those instances you just need to crawl a little slower

Yeah that'd be nice for backing up a trailer. One question though, how does the Tazer allow you select 2 or 4 "mode" once you pull the t-case back into 4LO position? Does it have a little module you would push a button on to disable the front end?

 

[Toycrusher]

Yeah that'd be nice for backing up a trailer. One question though, how does the Tazer allow you select 2 or 4 "mode" once you pull the t-case back into 4LO position? Does it have a little module you would push a button on to disable the front end?

It doesn't have the feature yet but hoping he'll add programming to disable front CAD

 

[Billet_JLU]

If I were to do it again I’d skip the 33’s and rubicon suspension and go to 35’s with a lift. With the KO2 33’s and a manual transmission with 3.45 in the sport 6th is pretty much useless. But it was nearly useless in stock form as well. With this setup I towed a Uhaul from South Carolina to Ohio and I actually didn’t think the gearing was much worse at all with the trailer. After towing that I’d give 37’s a try even. Would it be perfectly geared? Far from it. Could it work for a while while deciding gears? I think it could. To add to that I’m picky with the gearing and I’m willing to try big tires first.

 

[8flat]

If I were to do it again I’d skip the 33’s and rubicon suspension and go to 35’s with a lift. With the KO2 33’s and a manual transmission with 3.45 in the sport 6th is pretty much useless. But it was nearly useless in stock form as well. With this setup I towed a Uhaul from South Carolina to Ohio and I actually didn’t think the gearing was much worse at all with the trailer. After towing that I’d give 37’s a try even. Would it be perfectly geared? Far from it. Could it work for a while while deciding gears? I think it could. To add to that I’m picky with the gearing and I’m willing to try big tires first.

Gads I couldn't imagine 37s and 3.45 gears with a manual. Although I acknowledge I'm a little biased, always owned high torque engines with any manual rig I've owned, so I'm having a hard time getting used to this setup...haha
I got stuck in snow this last spring, late season sticky snow, and the poor thing couldn't even spin over the tires in reverse without revving it way up and side-stepping the clutch. Just too high geared. And 4LO in a rubi is so crazy low you don't have any wheel speed, which is a requirement to get out of a gigantic snowbank 100yds long.......fun times.

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