Momma’s new ride! JLU Sport makeover

[Az-jewel]

And I’ve made some new Jeep friends!! We’ve all been learning together and having a blast!! We’re the #bluejeepgirls in various shades of blue!! It’s been fun going out with friends and our kids love it too!!

Advertisement

 

[Az-jewel]

I’m just updating my journal.
I take my Jeep in next week to finally get it regeared. I’ve debated what gearing to choose, but considering I have 35” tires, and a 6-speed and I enjoy wheeling, especially rock crawling, but still drive highway often...I’ve chosen 4.88. I toyed with 5.13, as I may eventually go to 37’s, but I don’t think I will, at least not in the next 5 years. IF I do, I will look for a Rubicon take off transfer case.

im SO excited to drive it, especially uphill off road, once it’s done! I will need to relearn how to drive it. I’m managing ol with 4lo in 2nd gear and giving it a good amount of gas, but it’ll sure be nice to just ease up rocks and hills without stalling!

we also decided to take advantage of the labor savings to get my front axle trussed and arb air lockers installed! Woohoo! That was my last “wish list” item to my build!! Yay!! I’m so excited!! I’ll have a few weeks to break in my gears then I can be back on the trails.

I’ll put up a few pics from some of my recent runs. The weather in AZ has been fabulous this spring and I’ve enjoyed getting out on the trails. I’ve lived out here for 15 years and never seen some of these beautiful places!

This was heading up the “waterfall” in Box canyon. I had to gun it a bit to keep from stalling, but got a bit of air on this part. We had a big group (23 Jeeps) and I was the last one up this obstacle. It was a fun run!

 

[Az-jewel]

Living in the desert I always like finding water!

 

[Az-jewel]

First pic is at the top of a hill in The Rolls area-on the way to a lake. This is me stalled, changing to 4lo .

Beautiful sunset night run to Montana mountain last weekend. Fun trail and just beautiful out there!!

 

[Punk'n Head]

how does your sport do withe the new gears. I have a sport w a manual, and am on the 33' bfgs and run in to the same problem your describing on hills in 4h - stalling. I also do a combination of driving, freeway and country roads in northern Va.

 

[Az-jewel]

how does your sport do withe the new gears. I have a sport w a manual, and am on the 33' bfgs and run in to the same problem your describing on hills in 4h - stalling. I also do a combination of driving, freeway and country roads in northern Va.

I’m still on the break In the break on period so I haven’t really tried it out. I’m hoping to get off road this weekend and hit the freeway too. I’ll come back and let you know. But so far 1st gear is really short, 2nd needs some break in still and 3rd and 4th are fun! I’m trying to hit 500 miles by Friday, but restricted to 20 miles at a time, under 50mph.

 

[Maverick909]

Did you axle swap to Rubicon axles or are you still running the sport dana 30 and 44 rear shorts?

 

[Az-jewel]

Did you axle swap to Rubicon axles or are you still running the sport dana 30 and 44 rear shorts?

I ended up getting my front D30 axle trussed. I left the back axle the same D44.

 

[Az-jewel]

Woohoo! I did my break in miles this week on my new axles and got the diff fluid changed! I am cleared to go! I’m very excited to hit some trails.

I do like the regear a lot. First gear is short and not of much use...reminds me a bit of that short range for 1st in 4lo. I am loving third and 4th, and haven’t gotten on the freeway yet to try the others.

unfortunately the filter for my air compressor isn’t in yet so I can’t try out the air lockers .

I’m looking forward to getting back out there!

 

[Az-jewel]

how does your sport do withe the new gears. I have a sport w a manual, and am on the 33' bfgs and run in to the same problem your describing on hills in 4h - stalling. I also do a combination of driving, freeway and country roads in northern Va.

I got out on some trails today and LOVE my new gears!! My Jeep crawled up and down some challenging rocks today with no gas pedal, no stalling!! Love it! 4-Lo was great and 4-hi too! I’m so glad I did it!!

also hit the freeway and am enjoying 5th and 6th gears now too!! Woohoo!! 2500rpms at 75mph in 6th!

 

[jmcdtucson]

But now your tire pressure is low - better get that looked at by the dealer

 

[Az-jewel]

So, after regearing my manual Sport I realized my ess wasn’t working (which frankly I was happy about) and my back up camera would stop working. Additionally a few days after that I had the ABS, ESC and SERV4WD lights come on and the messages that 4wd is currently unavailable, etc. And cruise control doesn’t work either.

so, like every good Jeep owner I took to the forum to see who else has had this problem.

As it turns out there were 2 problems. With the manual transmission and regear you need to reset the computer to reflect the new gears. There’s a procedure to reset the sgm by disconnecting the cable to the negative terminal on the battery as well as the additional cables on the negative that lead to the 2nd battery. You disconnect them and let it drain then reconnect and drive the Jeep in 6th gear for 20+ seconds. It’s more detailed than that, but that’s the gist of it. I did this and it didn’t work the first time, but did the second. It seems to have fixed the backup camera problem, but my ess has not been working (and I’m ok with that.)

additionally I bought a 12+8 cable adapter and Viecar 2 obd2 scanner tool to go with the jscan app I downloaded (and purchased the vehicle license for). After connecting all of that and fiddling around with it I was able to reset my gears to 4.88, as well as reprogram the tpms value to 30psi so it won’t the light won’t be on all of the time.

the other lights and lack of 4wd and cruise control took me to the dealer who diagnosed it as a wheel speed sensor for the front left wheel. Turns out the cable wasn’t properly clipped back into place after the work I recently had done and the cable was crushed and trapped between the spring and my newly trussed axle. The dealer wanted $370 to fix it! I get it, it was an after market adjustment, so not their fault. I called the shop that did all the work and they wanted to see it too. Picked up my Jeep from the dealer, paid the $53 for the diagnosis and drove it up to the other shop. Long story short, they agreed that the sensor was the problem but couldn’t find one in stock locally anywhere. So they’re ordering it and will call me when it’s in. I didn’t ask if it was their cost or mine, but I certainly hope it’ll be theirs. the right front cable was also not clipped back in place, but thankfully my husband clipped it before it too got crushed.

It has been a hassle and annoyance but hopefully they’ll do right by me and fix it this week. I had to cancel plans for some fun rides this weekend as no 4wd, but am glad it’ll be fixed soon.

That's the latest on my build! I am definitely enjoying the new gears. it still dies going up steep hills on the freeway...but I can downshift and get more power. Not a lot of power and am still in the slow lane going up hill, but better than it was. Definitely not a power boost .

 

[Creeker]

Great looking rig!
Sorry to hear about the troubles with the sensors.

Interested in more info on the hwy gearing, since my rig with a manual and 37's needs to be re-geared.
On a steep hwy, can you keep 70 MPH in 5th (assuming you have 4.88 and 35's)?

 

[Az-jewel]

Great looking rig!
Sorry to hear about the troubles with the sensors.

Interested in more info on the hwy gearing, since my rig with a manual and 37's needs to be re-geared.
On a steep hwy, can you keep 70 MPH in 5th (assuming you have 4.88 and 35's)?

Thanks!
how are you managing 37’s on stock manual gears? Do you have a Rubicon?
Not sure how steep you’re talking, but I had to down shift to 4th yesterday on a long steep climb, and even then I was only getting a bit over 60. Some of that was slower cars that prevented keeping speed, but the regear is definitely not a total fix. It helped, but not enough power in the engine I’m afraid. If I shifted to 5th I usually lost speed if it was still steep.
I would look into 5.13 for those 37’s. 4.88 would still be a big improvement but I’d consider 5.13 (I did and I only have 35’s.)

 

[Creeker]

Az-jewel,

Thx for the information.
In NC, as far as steep, going west bound toward Asheville NC is the Black Mountain Climb on I-40.
A six percent climb for 5 miles.
In a sports car, the climb is a blast!