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ChattVol

ChattVol

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Always felt the side vent areas needed something to tie them in. Added @pixeldecals black vent decals with red border. Was a bit tedious to install with lining everything up bc it comes as two separate stickers that overlap. It was still worth doing.
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This is a bit off topic...if anybody likes watching beautiful cinematography and challenging wheeling, I stumbled upon a highly underrated youtube channel linked below. It focuses on a nicely built gladiator...definitely well made videos and worth a watch.

 

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guarnibl

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Build turned out great. Hows your gas mileage with the Patagonia's? Assume you didn't re-gear? Also still running stock gearing on 37's (Nitto Trail Grapplers).
 
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Build turned out great. Hows your gas mileage with the Patagonia's? Assume you didn't re-gear? Also still running stock gearing on 37's (Nitto Trail Grapplers).
Thanks...I started driving 3k miles/month for work and bought a used honda accord and stopped paying attention to gas mileage in the jeep. I semi checked it once after recalibrating the tazer...with tires around 27 psi with 6 speed and 4.10 gearing, mpg seemed to have dropped about 3mpg to 14-15 mpg on hwy in 5th gear driving 70mph. 6th gear doesn't have enough power to maintain 70mph on flat ground...so its useless at this point. My previous 35s/alloy wheels weighed about 92 lbs/ea and 6th gear was still useful at 70+ mph. These new wheels weigh 120lbs...you can obviously feel the additional 28 lbs per corner of rotating mass.

In my opinion, the 4.10s with 6 speed work fine for on road driving with the 37s if you're ok with losing 6th gear. Braking still feels adequate, which was a pleasant surprise. I imagine it will be a little more challenging offroad making it easier to stall on steeper obstacles. With the 4:1 transfer case in low and 35s, I didn't have to touch the clutch and it would idle over obstacles in 1st gear. I looked at the math of regearing....on paper, 4.6 gearing with 37s would be stock equivalent to 4.10 gearing with 33s. I've considered 4.88s after talking with a friend who runs 4.88 gears in his jl 6 speed on 37" beadlocks and pulled a 1000 lb trailer coast to coast and did the rubicon trail + many other tough trails in the last year. He said the 4.88s are perfect for 37s bc it feels a little stronger than stock and provides useful power in all gears while maximizing efficiency. He's getting 16mpg on the hwy and has good low end power idling over obstacles.

I've strongly considered regearing recently, but may end up selling the jeep when kid #4 comes in May and likely wouldn't recoup any regear cost in resale. I'm evaluating whether I want to keep making monthly payments on the jeep + insurance when it's now a pricey wknd hobby that prob wont be used alot in the next year and is taking up space in the garage while depreciating.:lipssealed: It's the worst time to sell in terms of depreciation bc jeeps depreciate the most the first 2 years and hold value better as the age.
 
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guarnibl

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Hmm. I haven't felt the need to regear but I have the 2.0 4 cylinder. Might re-think it if I had to tow something. Actually, I'd just get the diesel :)

Congrats on the kiddo. Your mpg is about the same as I get with my 37" Nitto Trail Grapplers on AEV beadlocks. Granted 8 speed (in 7th gear). If I get head winds or have to go through elevation I get 9 :)

As far as holding value, if you will use it enough it's warranted to keep it assuming you can afford the upkeep (maint/insurance) without adjusting your life style or retirement plans (given what you said -- depreciation has mostly occurred).
 
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Hmm. I haven't felt the need to regear but I have the 2.0 4 cylinder. Might re-think it if I had to tow something. Actually, I'd just get the diesel :)

Congrats on the kiddo. Your mpg is about the same as I get with my 37" Nitto Trail Grapplers on AEV beadlocks. Granted 8 speed (in 7th gear). If I get head winds or have to go through elevation I get 9 :)

As far as holding value, if you will use it enough it's warranted to keep it assuming you can afford the upkeep (maint/insurance) without adjusting your life style or retirement plans (given what you said -- depreciation has mostly occurred).
The automatic is obviously a different animal and seems to manage 37s a little better.
 

guarnibl

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The automatic is obviously a different animal and seems to manage 37s a little better.
Holding 4.10 gears the same, on the highway it should be the same, since the drive ratio for the 5th gear is nearly the same as 7th in the 8 speed. I think it actually favors the 6 speed slightly. City mileage is probably much much worse though with a manual.
 

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Back at it...The jeep has had 1-2" of play in the steering and a nice shimmy going over potholes/sewer covers the last few months. Retorqued everything and it didn't help. Castor is at 6 and I put in a Metalcloak chromally trackbar 2 months ago...steering still had a good amount of play and found draglink had some slop at the pitman arm...joint was prob going bad. I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade steering to Synergy draglink, tie rod and fox stabilizer. It fixed the shimmy and steering is much tighter...worthwhile upgrade.
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Also, went on a fun narrow/muddy trail ride today with a neighbor in his utv and found a cool view near us. UTV's are super fun and can fit in tight places very well...it had lockers and pulled through mud well.
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Finally took the jeep offroad for first time in 3 months...showed a neighbor around some fun trails nearby in his Honda UTV. I've been reluctant to offroad after having it buffed/waxed and listed for sale back in October and potentially relisting it before next kid arrives in May. It's rained a ton in East TN the last 2 months turning it into a mudfest everywhere.(not a fan of mud boggin) We finally had a few dry days, so I wanted to flex it with the 37s and test the 4.10 gearing with beadlocks at 8 psi and 2 bumpstops. It was still muddy and challenging following a UTV through narrow tree lined bypasses around mud holes.

Takeaways were...3.5 backspaced wheels with 68" rubi axles noticeably widen the stance making it tougher to squeeze through narrow areas. 1st gear in 4 low crawled adequately...had to give it gas a few times to not stall...could benefit from 4.88 gears and a fender chop to get more uptravel. Airing up and airing down takes a good bit longer going from 26psi to 8 psi and back up. The ride on rocky terrain was noticeably smoother at 8 psi vs 15 psi that I ran with non beadlocks. I didn't do terrain technical enough to need lockers or notice how much the traction increased at 8 psi. I'm waiting for it to dry out more before trying tougher trails...want to lower the risk of sliding into a tree.
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Saw an interesting example showing how airing down increases tire footprint in the latest Litebrite video. The top tread is at 35psi and the bottom is at 7psi.
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Hey! can you tell me how you made your front sport brake lines work on your rubi axles?
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