Capt-Zoom
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
OK. So some of you might remember my 2018 JLUS was plagued with porous welds, incomplete welds and slag in addition to some other issues. So Friday, I picked up my 2019 JLUSS. In the first 200 miles we've put on it in a day (plus my shake down on Wednesday both my wife and I have noticed some interesting things which I will describe below. To begin with I have to say that my Regional Customer Service Manager really came through for us. The 2019 was hotlisted and received extra inspections at the factory and upon arrival to make sure it was right and tight when I got it. The 2019 is configured similarly to my 2018 except for the 7inch radio in the 2019 and its other standard features. Both had Auto trans, 3.6L, Antislip axel, Hardtop.
Observations
1. I came in on Wednesday to inspect the welds and take the jeep on a skakedown drive to check the steering. The welds are very very good. I am thoroughly impressed. Very little porosity, good looking beads, and minimal slag. I still think that they should be brushing these frames before electrocoat but I think this is as good as it is going to get. There was one weld that had been touched up (probably during one of those extra inspections) and I suggest anyone with a 2019 should examine theirs. It is the back most weld for the front drivers upper control arm. The only other issue I saw after spending about an hour and a half examining the welds was some weld drip on the bottom of the frame rail under the passenger front door. I had Fort Collins Jeep Grind the drips down to weld height and repaint as they would have interfered with my rock slider installation. I'd have done it myself but its a bit cold to be painting in an unheated garage this time of year.
2. Tires. The 2019 JLUSS came with Goodyear Wrangler AT tires which IMHO is a massive upgrade over the Bridgestone AT that I had on the 2018. With the Bridgestone's I could never get them to feel right no matter what air pressure I ran. They seemed to lose traction easily and also may have contributed to some strange handling characteristics that I was experiencing when going straight through roundabouts (simluating rapid s-turns) where on exit the 2018 JLUS would undertake this weird little Shimmy in the rear end. It was disconcerting since it felt kinda like when your rear slides out due to black ice.
3. Suspension. Now the Sport and Sport-S are supposed to have the same suspension but I feel like the 2019 JLUSS is slightly stiffer than the 2018 Sport. I also know this isn't my imagination as before I brought it up to my wife, she brought it up to me. The 2019 JLUSS suspension just feels better which might also contribute to its better handling than the 2018 JLUS. I would say that the stiffness is between a Sport and Rubicon. I wish I would have taken a pic but the gap between the top of the tire and the bottom of the fender is a 1/4-1/2 inch bigger on the 2019 JLUSS. I cannot Immagine that my 2019 JLUS sagged that much in just 10k miles.
4. Taking #2 and #3 into account the 2019 JLUS just feels better planted to the ground and more predictible which is good and what we want. I found the 2018 JLUS with the Bridgestones rather unpredictable....not as unpredictable as our 1999 Lifted TJ but still very unpredictable and difficult to keep in a lane.
5. The 7" radio. So far the 7 inch radio has performed swimmingly. I am still trying to work out how to get android auto to display my nav (haven't had time to really configure it properly) but other than that everything works as it should. It feels like this head unit drives the speakers better than the Horrid 5" head unit in the 2018 JLUS. We had nothing but problems with the 5" unit. Sadly I have to say that the 7" unit is worth every penny simply to avoid the 5" unit and its poorly planned system.
6. Even though I didn't order the freedom top bags it came with them
7. Spent Saturday adding my equipment to the JLUSS. I can for certain say that the following parts made for the 2018 fit the 2019 perfectly: LOD signature slider, The mopar bug/air deflector [these are incredibly durable...the one on my TJ has lasted 20 years without a crack including half its life in frigid northern Minnesota], the 7inch radio screen protector, and the Drawtite Hitch [i did have to dremel one of the holes on the frame a tiny bit to get one bolt in...probably wouldn't have been an issue had I removed the muffler]. I also added the quadratic full coverage sill guards instead of the mopar one's this time. On a very nice note...Prestige Jeep who we bought the 2018 JLUS from owed me some credit so I got the replacement screen protector ($20) and the replacement bug/air deflector ($85). When I went to pick them up my bill was supposed to be $75 but the parts guy just gave them to me for free since I had gone through so many issues with the 2018. Was a nice guy.
8. Looks like the 2019 come with a much cheaper drawstring bag for your ownership materials than the 2018 did. The dealer let us keep the 2018 one since the 2019 one is crappy.
Overall we are very happy with the 2019 JLUSS in the short time we've had it.
Updates
Posts #10
Observations
1. I came in on Wednesday to inspect the welds and take the jeep on a skakedown drive to check the steering. The welds are very very good. I am thoroughly impressed. Very little porosity, good looking beads, and minimal slag. I still think that they should be brushing these frames before electrocoat but I think this is as good as it is going to get. There was one weld that had been touched up (probably during one of those extra inspections) and I suggest anyone with a 2019 should examine theirs. It is the back most weld for the front drivers upper control arm. The only other issue I saw after spending about an hour and a half examining the welds was some weld drip on the bottom of the frame rail under the passenger front door. I had Fort Collins Jeep Grind the drips down to weld height and repaint as they would have interfered with my rock slider installation. I'd have done it myself but its a bit cold to be painting in an unheated garage this time of year.
2. Tires. The 2019 JLUSS came with Goodyear Wrangler AT tires which IMHO is a massive upgrade over the Bridgestone AT that I had on the 2018. With the Bridgestone's I could never get them to feel right no matter what air pressure I ran. They seemed to lose traction easily and also may have contributed to some strange handling characteristics that I was experiencing when going straight through roundabouts (simluating rapid s-turns) where on exit the 2018 JLUS would undertake this weird little Shimmy in the rear end. It was disconcerting since it felt kinda like when your rear slides out due to black ice.
3. Suspension. Now the Sport and Sport-S are supposed to have the same suspension but I feel like the 2019 JLUSS is slightly stiffer than the 2018 Sport. I also know this isn't my imagination as before I brought it up to my wife, she brought it up to me. The 2019 JLUSS suspension just feels better which might also contribute to its better handling than the 2018 JLUS. I would say that the stiffness is between a Sport and Rubicon. I wish I would have taken a pic but the gap between the top of the tire and the bottom of the fender is a 1/4-1/2 inch bigger on the 2019 JLUSS. I cannot Immagine that my 2019 JLUS sagged that much in just 10k miles.
4. Taking #2 and #3 into account the 2019 JLUS just feels better planted to the ground and more predictible which is good and what we want. I found the 2018 JLUS with the Bridgestones rather unpredictable....not as unpredictable as our 1999 Lifted TJ but still very unpredictable and difficult to keep in a lane.
5. The 7" radio. So far the 7 inch radio has performed swimmingly. I am still trying to work out how to get android auto to display my nav (haven't had time to really configure it properly) but other than that everything works as it should. It feels like this head unit drives the speakers better than the Horrid 5" head unit in the 2018 JLUS. We had nothing but problems with the 5" unit. Sadly I have to say that the 7" unit is worth every penny simply to avoid the 5" unit and its poorly planned system.
6. Even though I didn't order the freedom top bags it came with them
7. Spent Saturday adding my equipment to the JLUSS. I can for certain say that the following parts made for the 2018 fit the 2019 perfectly: LOD signature slider, The mopar bug/air deflector [these are incredibly durable...the one on my TJ has lasted 20 years without a crack including half its life in frigid northern Minnesota], the 7inch radio screen protector, and the Drawtite Hitch [i did have to dremel one of the holes on the frame a tiny bit to get one bolt in...probably wouldn't have been an issue had I removed the muffler]. I also added the quadratic full coverage sill guards instead of the mopar one's this time. On a very nice note...Prestige Jeep who we bought the 2018 JLUS from owed me some credit so I got the replacement screen protector ($20) and the replacement bug/air deflector ($85). When I went to pick them up my bill was supposed to be $75 but the parts guy just gave them to me for free since I had gone through so many issues with the 2018. Was a nice guy.
8. Looks like the 2019 come with a much cheaper drawstring bag for your ownership materials than the 2018 did. The dealer let us keep the 2018 one since the 2019 one is crappy.
Overall we are very happy with the 2019 JLUSS in the short time we've had it.
Updates
Posts #10
Sponsored
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