First Wrangler! General questions

[DaltonGang]

And I have zero issues with my aftermarket KIWI MASTER LEDs after 2 years I really think that it was one of my best mods.

Mine still look factory, and cost $30 to replace(Philips 9008 H13 +100%). Yours cost over $200, and look nothing like the factory look, with all the little bulbs showing, when in daylight. That is a factor for me.

I didn't factory order them because the $1,700 or so that they wanted seemed a bit crazy to me. I figured I would go aftermarket bubs for ~$200 which would be a quick replacement and get the taillights used whenever I come across a cheap pair.

Go Philips +100 Halogens. You wont regret it. I've used them on 4 of my vehicles, over the past many years, and they produce a huge amount of light, and dont throw off the light pattern, like the aftermarket LED bulbs will. Which means, I wont be blinding oncoming drivers, and lighting up the tops of trees.

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[wibornz]

If it is primarily for off road use, I would prioritize recovery, and the ability to air down and up.

Recovery gear is not something to skimp on. Buy a nice kinetic rope, a nice tow strap, and some good soft shackles, and a tree saver. What ever winch you end up with, I would suggest a Synthetic line on the winch. I do not use others recovery equipment as I do not know the condition of it or the quality of it. If they are pulling me out, it will be with my gear.

There are plenty of great portable air compressors. I would only mount on board air if you wanted to save space for other gear. Mind you I have on board air and love it, but it is expensive and works like a portable air system. I only have on board air so that I have room for other things while Jeep traveling.

Part of the recovery gear should also include a tire repair kit.

Your 2dr Rubicon will go most places in Colorado. You are in for a great time. I would suggest that you look up a local Jeep club on Facebook if you Facebook. Our local Facebook Jeep club is so active that you can not participate in everything that is going on. There is just not enough time and this is coming from a retired guy. There are club members that wheel all over the US and it is not hard to get involved with the trip and local Jeep wheeling almost every weekend, plus the coffee meets, Dinner meet ups. Ice cream meet up, and bbq at members houses and so on.

Heck there are 20 of them meeting me in Moab over EJS.

 

[Chupacabra]

Which means, I wont be blinding oncoming drivers, and lighting up the tops of trees.
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Light pattern looks pretty identical with mine (just whiter), nobody's flashed me in over a year, and no I don't light up the tops of trees.

 

[Mike08]

Just got my new Rubi, and same as you had a list of 'Day 1' items, then prioritized after that. Some of my higher priority items were actually not off-road specific but rather for protection and damage mitigation from first day.

- All weather floor mats
- All weather cargo tray
- Mopar Uconnect screen protector
- Door hinge rock ding protection (two major chips within first 100 miles)
- Seat covers
- Breaker bar, extension and 22mm socket (to avoid risk of marginal factory lug wrench)
- Hood lock
- Phone mount
- Two way radio
- Tazer JL Mini or OBD J-scan (to adjust for tire size, TPMS, winch mode, etc.)

Off-road items you might want to add:
- Skid plate protection
- Rock slider upgrade

Thank you! this is perfect, I didn't even think about a bunch of these and forgot about the floor mats haha. I find it pretty odd that all weather ones don't come standard on the Rubi.

Just my opinion, but for off roading I would get good compressor as a first priority, then recovery kit and then everything else. Or recovery kit, compressor and then everything else. Also I think LED headlight were my very first mod because halogens are just awful.

Good point! I have a smaller pump for my passenger vehicle but apparently it has a pretty low continuous operating time. Up in priority the compressor goes.

I changed my halogens to LED, no issues last winter. We get so little snow anymore in the Denver area that I just don't worry about it.

True! I think I'm going with just a bulb replacement for now and holding off on a full headlight change.

Mine still look factory, and cost $30 to replace(Philips 9008 H13 +100%). Yours cost over $200, and look nothing like the factory look, with all the little bulbs showing, when in daylight. That is a factor for me.



Go Philips +100 Halogens. You wont regret it. I've used them on 4 of my vehicles, over the past many years, and they produce a huge amount of light, and dont throw off the light pattern, like the aftermarket LED bulbs will. Which means, I wont be blinding oncoming drivers, and lighting up the tops of trees.

..

I'm planning on changing out the bulb for now and not the full headlight. Hope the pattern stays relatively low. I'm not a huge fan of halogens due to efficiency and longevity.

If it is primarily for off road use, I would prioritize recovery, and the ability to air down and up.

Recovery gear is not something to skimp on. Buy a nice kinetic rope, a nice tow strap, and some good soft shackles, and a tree saver. What ever winch you end up with, I would suggest a Synthetic line on the winch. I do not use others recovery equipment as I do not know the condition of it or the quality of it. If they are pulling me out, it will be with my gear.

There are plenty of great portable air compressors. I would only mount on board air if you wanted to save space for other gear. Mind you I have on board air and love it, but it is expensive and works like a portable air system. I only have on board air so that I have room for other things while Jeep traveling.

Part of the recovery gear should also include a tire repair kit.

Your 2dr Rubicon will go most places in Colorado. You are in for a great time. I would suggest that you look up a local Jeep club on Facebook if you Facebook. Our local Facebook Jeep club is so active that you can not participate in everything that is going on. There is just not enough time and this is coming from a retired guy. There are club members that wheel all over the US and it is not hard to get involved with the trip and local Jeep wheeling almost every weekend, plus the coffee meets, Dinner meet ups. Ice cream meet up, and bbq at members houses and so on.

Heck there are 20 of them meeting me in Moab over EJS.

Yeah! Someone else said the same thing, going to prioritize the compressor first now over the front bumper and winch. Figured I won't be wheeling alone anyway for a while. Also definitely getting a good recovery kit before heading off-road.

I figured there would be a ton of groups and CO and I guess I'll start looking at Facebook again. Hope to see you at Moab in the future!

 

[Sidspider]

Don’t rush into anything, go out a few times with some experienced people and you’ll soon figure out what you really need and what you don’t.
I’d stay away from Barricade, their stuff is inexpensive for a reason. If it’s in your budget, there are lots of Jeep parts available that are still made here in the USA.

 

[Heimkehr]

Go Philips +100 Halogens. You wont regret it. I've used them on 4 of my vehicles, over the past many years, and they produce a huge amount of light, and dont throw off the light pattern, like the aftermarket LED bulbs will. Which means, I wont be blinding oncoming drivers, and lighting up the tops of trees.

I've used Sylvania SilverStar halogen bulbs (the approx. equivalent of the Phillips +100s) in several other vehicles I've owned. My wife's Honda has a set of the SilverStar H4s installed right now.

While I'm impressed with the improved down-road visibility that the Sylvanias provide, and their light temperature, the trade-off here is a material reduction in service life/rated hours when compared to the "basic" bulbs. I've yet to have a set of the former that will last beyond two winter seasons (when night driving is much more frequent). How long do the Phillips +100 bulbs work before they burn out?

 

[DaltonGang]

I've used Sylvania SilverStar halogen bulbs (the approx. equivalent of the Phillips +100s) in several other vehicles I've owned. My wife's Honda has a set of the SilverStar H4s installed right now.

While I'm impressed with the improved down-road visibility that the Sylvanias provide, and their light temperature, the trade-off here is a material reduction in service life/rated hours when compared to the "basic" bulbs. I've yet to have a set of the former that will last beyond two winter seasons (when night driving is much more frequent). How long do the Phillips +100 bulbs work before they burn out?

So far, 3 years in the Jeep, and 6+ years in my truck. No reduction in light, or burnout yet.

 

[Wanted33]

Welcome to the family Mike, and congratulations on the new Jeep. Enjoy the ride.

 

[zakaron]

If you do plan to just swap out the bulb for an LED, you may not have a good light pattern for the LED. I don't have first hand experience, but I've heard on others that the halogen housing doesn't work that great for LED. I just wanted to throw that out as a point to consider. It may work well for you, but if people keep flashing at you thinking you have your highs on, then you may want to get the higher output halogen or change the housing for an LED complete setup. But if it is primarily off-road, then this all may not even matter.

The recovery gear is a good idea. In addition to some suggestions made with the straps, tree saver, and shackles, throw a pair of gloves in your bag and a foldable shovel. Your hands will thank you.
Not sure if it is a thing, but I consider it a courtesy to use your own gear if you are stuck vs getting someone else's dirty if you have the necessary items for getting unstuck.

As an alternative to doing a full bumper and winch setup, you may consider a puller like the wyeth-scott unit: https://www.treestuff.com/wyeth-scott-amsteel-power-puller/

And since this is your first Jeep, hold off on doing any major mechanic modifications until you get a feel for the vehicle and know its limits. It may surprise you what the stock setup can do. Plus if you have any powertrain issues, you'll likely discover them in the first year, so you don't want factory related problems masked by aftermarket modifications. I know it is tempting to jump in and start modifying, but just be mindful that a new vehicle isn't always perfect from the factory. I've left mine stock for a year now, so I can now better decide on what I want to modify and what I can keep stock based on the kind of riding I do. I'm quite pleased with how the factory MT2s have handled rained out trails for example, so I am in no hurry to do wheels or tires.

 

[Headbarcode]

If you do plan to just swap out the bulb for an LED, you may not have a good light pattern for the LED. I don't have first hand experience, but I've heard on others that the halogen housing doesn't work that great for LED. I just wanted to throw that out as a point to consider. It may work well for you, but if people keep flashing at you thinking you have your highs on, then you may want to get the higher output halogen or change the housing for an LED complete setup. But if it is primarily off-road, then this all may not even matter.

The recovery gear is a good idea. In addition to some suggestions made with the straps, tree saver, and shackles, throw a pair of gloves in your bag and a foldable shovel. Your hands will thank you.
Not sure if it is a thing, but I consider it a courtesy to use your own gear if you are stuck vs getting someone else's dirty if you have the necessary items for getting unstuck.

As an alternative to doing a full bumper and winch setup, you may consider a puller like the wyeth-scott unit: https://www.treestuff.com/wyeth-scott-amsteel-power-puller/

And since this is your first Jeep, hold off on doing any major mechanic modifications until you get a feel for the vehicle and know its limits. It may surprise you what the stock setup can do. Plus if you have any powertrain issues, you'll likely discover them in the first year, so you don't want factory related problems masked by aftermarket modifications. I know it is tempting to jump in and start modifying, but just be mindful that a new vehicle isn't always perfect from the factory. I've left mine stock for a year now, so I can now better decide on what I want to modify and what I can keep stock based on the kind of riding I do. I'm quite pleased with how the factory MT2s have handled rained out trails for example, so I am in no hurry to do wheels or tires.

Headlamp housings come in 2 types, reflector and projector. When the whole lense is shining and there's no horizontal cutoff, that's a reflector housing. Those were designed specifically for incandescent/halogen bulbs. The use of led and hid bulbs in these housings will result in a very fractured uncontrolled pattern, which is blinding to oncoming traffic. When there's a distinct hotspot shining through the lense and there is a horizontal cutoff, that's a projector housing. This is a newer design that better focuses the light pattern. Incandescent bulbs can be used, but will still leave a noticeable central hotspot that fades off to the sides. Led bulbs in this style of housing is the best, because the light pattern will be consistently bright from side to side.

Personally, I would take the advice of others who are recommending better and brighter halogen bulbs. Save the eyes of oncoming traffic, and hold off on the LED's until the housings get upgraded to the projection type.

 

[Trk3263]

If I add the phillips led bulbs mentioned above will I need to update the computer or is that only the full aftermarket housings and all?

 

[Heimkehr]

If I add the phillips led bulbs mentioned above will I need to update the computer or is that only the full aftermarket housings and all?

The Phillips bulbs mentioned in this thread are halogen (incandescent) bulbs.

 

[Trk3263]

The Phillips bulbs mentioned in this thread are halogen (incandescent) bulbs.

Oh thanks. When I looked for them on Amazon they mentioned LED but I was thinking maybe that was just an Amazon scam thing. Thank you

 

[Heimkehr]

Oh thanks. When I looked for them on Amazon they mentioned LED but I was thinking maybe that was just an Amazon scam thing. Thank you

LED-equivalent bulbs are available for legacy incandescent bulb designations like H4, H13 and so on. So possibly you were indeed viewing a legitimate product listing. Just be careful when clicking Buy Now. ?

I use Sylvania ZEVO LED tail light bulbs in my motorcycles; they use the 1157 designation interchangeably between incandescent and LED.

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