Rubicon Armor

[D60]

I’ve wheeled mine quite a bit in the rocks this year. Rock crawling is what I specifically target and there are lots of trails to play on near Denver. I’ll tell you what has sustained damage and you can decide if you need additional protection based on your use case.

Rock sliders - hit them a bunch. I have LOD destroyer step/sliders

Front lower control arm mounts (on front axle, hang low). Hit these several times, usually the passenger side as I aim to not hit the diff.

Rear lower shock mounts. - these hang really low.

Transfer case cross member and skid - don’t hit this much, but I do hit it.

Exhaust pipe forward of the transfer case. I have hit this once.

Fuel tank - lots of scrapes

Rear bumper - came down on a rock once at the underside of passenger corner.

Driver side, frame side upper control arm mount - Not a common place to hit, but I did on a tricky situation.

I have ordered skids for the front lower control arms, rear lower shock mounts, and front and rear diffs.

my Jeep has 1” spacer lift and 35” tires. If you go taller you may fare better.

***Side note, front lower control arm skids will interfere with the metalcloak FAD skid. I will have to modify the FAD skid to get it to work. I think the control arm skid is more critical.

***Second side note, it’s amazing what my Jeep (and yours!) will crawl over with just a few minor modifications. I plan to be on 37’s soon though.

Why not move the rear shock mounts up?

What sort of control arm damage are you seeing that's concerning? To the ends, the body of the control arms or the mounts?

Are you wanting control arm skids to prevent actual damage (I'm having difficulty seeing any damage that would be a show stopper) or just to prevent hanging up?

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[D60]

Oh and even though I'm a bit of a skeptic on a lot of the skids I want to pursue an exhaust loop skid solely because it's such an expensive PITA fix if you mash it.

Anything dealing w cats/emissions ain't cheap, esp on these newer vehicles. I don't even have inspections but I don't feel like messing with anything substantial in the exhaust if I don't HAVE to.

 

[sourdough]

Skid Row has a exhaust loop skid. I installed one and they are HD. Have not hit it yet but nice to know it's there.

 

[MarkY3130]

Why not move the rear shock mounts up?

What sort of control arm damage are you seeing that's concerning? To the ends, the body of the control arms or the mounts?

Are you wanting control arm skids to prevent actual damage (I'm having difficulty seeing any damage that would be a show stopper) or just to prevent hanging up?

I suppose I’d call the part getting damaged the ‘ears’ of the mount that the bolt goes through. Not a lot of material on the ‘ears’ part and it removes a surprising amount of metal when I’ve rubbed them.

The great part about my Jeep is that it’s mine and I can install on it what I think provides value to me. The great part about yours is that you can do the same

 

[ProjectJL]

You definitely want heavier duty rockers. Artec skids help with the hanging up on the factory crossmembers. Oh, and the Rubicon steel bumper is a POS that will impact your tub if you actually hit it. It hangs low and has got to go. You will also hit your receiver hitch. Factory exhaust will be damaged especially at the rear pipe.

So far I run RSE step sliders with skids for rockers, artec aluminum skids, a Motobilt rear bumper, and G2 heavy duty diff covers.

You will scrape your control arm mounts and your shock mounts same with your differential. Skids will work, but they also more lose clearance. An example is once replacing my bumper with Motobilt, I rarely touch the bumper. It simply has more clearance.

I’ve done both Rubicon and John Bull with this setup (two of the harder trails in California) along with a ton of others. I did John Bull before skids and I got hung up on a large fallen tree (that has since been cut away) in the rain, because the crossmember was hanging up instead of sliding over (stupid design).

I do hard lines only, I am not easy on my rig at all.

I’d go sliders first before anything. Then I’d go skids. Finally I would go diff covers when you regear.

More armor = more weight. Choose wisely.

Height helps, but I’m on a 2.5” lift and 37’s.

You see how hard LiteBrite wheels? I’ve seen their Jeep when it was in pieces at DCD, and frankly, it was in amazingly good shape. These things were made to take a beating.

Also, best advice I’ve ever gotten, it’s called Rock Crawling, not Rock Avoiding. Up and over, keep your wheels on the obstacles and those other things matter less.

 

[D60]

{snip}
Also, best advice I’ve ever gotten, it’s called Rock Crawling, not Rock Avoiding. Up and over, keep your wheels on the obstacles and those other things matter less.

My gf drives a Mule (basically a workhorse ATV / SxS) at her second job in a rural setting.

She says since she started 'wheeling with me she's become a better driver w the Mule 'cause now she puts her tires on the high points rather than trying to avoid or straddle them

Anyway, unless you're in the must-have-bumper-mounted-tire-carrier camp, I'm not sure a rear bumper is necessary at all. Rusty's offers some radiused flat bar for a bit of protection at the corners, and a couple places (Ace might be one) offer a minimalist crossmember that spans the framerails

My eventual plan is no rear bumper and just a bit of body armor, but I'll hopefully just fab most of it. I also think the receiver can go up, right between the framerails

 

[MNWrangx2]

Following the thread here - mostly to see what might work vs what already comes stock on a Rubicon.

I had an Iron Rock 2-3" lift on my '18 JLR and the shop said in their advertising that it was "heavily wheeled", so I probably have some damage I haven't noticed yet. So, looking at upgrades for 2020. Metalcloak had something for 2 doors, and I've seen some aluminum on Quadratec or ExtremeTerrain. Need an adjustable track bar too - maybe SteerSmart's, although my club keep telling me about some aluminum bars that flex on their JKs.

+1 on the stupid plastic bumper: I ripped off the right side and dented the tail pipe on just one set of rocks, so upgraded that rear to a JCR Vanguard + Shield setup. I've also used a Stinger mounted in the hitch, but didn't use it last time out as I'm worried about it hanging up if I have to reverse.

Also +1 on the upgraded rock sliders. Upgraded that after ripping off passenger rear plastic fender and mirror on various close tree encounters. I have Deegan 38 wide steel sliders that are also steps - totally saved my side when I slid on mud across a hill in to a tree (but pain in the but to install - sheared off a frame bolt); Red Rock has something similar now on Northridge's site.

 

[Rploaded]

Rustys has their full belly skids on sale. I was blown away by the quality and the ease of install.

 

[MNWrangx2]

I'm not seeing a 2 door kit on Rusty's.
https://www.rustysoffroad.com/jeep-...ys-jl-wrangler-36l-complete-skid-package.html

 

[LunchBoxFab]

Here is just the front transmission and engine oil pan skid from Motobilt after my first trip out.

I’d say its pretty close to a necessity I’d you’re looking to do anything close to rock crawling.

here’s the rest still attached.

 

[MNWrangx2]

Yikes! I thought Rubicons came with 'armor'. Guess I better look under mine, especially with my lift kit installer's comments. Been rock & log crawling at least 6 times, enough to rip off various plastic parts. Was about to do a quick undercoating this weekend anyway, if I can ever get all of the dirt out.

 

[Halstem1]

First: I love that "Lite Briting" became a verb.

Second: Point of reference, I did several trails in colorado, including 3 badge of honor trails on a 2 inch lift and 37's. I can't find one spot on the bottom that made contact with anything. I might have touched the exhaust on a rock but that was it. And I took some of the harder lines on several trails. So everyone's level of "needing skids" is different.

 

[MNWrangx2]

First: I love that "Lite Briting" became a verb.

Second: Point of reference, I did several trails in colorado, including 3 badge of honor trails on a 2 inch lift and 37's. I can't find one spot on the bottom that made contact with anything. I might have touched the exhaust on a rock but that was it. And I took some of the harder lines on several trails. So everyone's level of "needing skids" is different.

I will admit that I have never watched Lite Brite actually wheeling. However, I have often watched Brittany and their mods as a result of damage instead.

Not all of us have 37's. I'm still rocking the factory 33's and only recently a 2" lift (for now...; 35's in 2020 but 37 too big for daily driver AND parking garages). My club criticized my lack of diff clearance a few weeks ago.

 

[DanW]

First: I love that "Lite Briting" became a verb.

Second: Point of reference, I did several trails in colorado, including 3 badge of honor trails on a 2 inch lift and 37's. I can't find one spot on the bottom that made contact with anything. I might have touched the exhaust on a rock but that was it. And I took some of the harder lines on several trails. So everyone's level of "needing skids" is different.

Yep, lots of variables, for sure. I got more skid plate/crossmember strikes on a muddy trail near Hurricane Creek Road in NC yesterday than I did in a week in Moab, even though the trail wasn't nearly as hard. Of course, I had better spotters in Moab, too, so that helped.

 

[Halstem1]

I will admit that I have never watched Lite Brite actually wheeling. However, I have often watched Brittany and their mods as a result of damage instead.

Not all of us have 37's. I'm still rocking the factory 33's and only recently a 2" lift (for now...; 35's in 2020 but 37 too big for daily driver AND parking garages). My club criticized my lack of diff clearance a few weeks ago.

haha. Fair enough.

I will admit that I have never watched Lite Brite actually wheeling. However, I have often watched Brittany and their mods as a result of damage instead.

Not all of us have 37's. I'm still rocking the factory 33's and only recently a 2" lift (for now...; 35's in 2020 but 37 too big for daily driver AND parking garages). My club criticized my lack of diff clearance a few weeks ago.

haha. Sorry. I didn’t mean it to sound like “i’m so cool with 37s”. . You’re right, they obviously help though. But since you can fit 35’s on a stock Rubi, i do kinda assume someone has got tires before extra armor. Depending on how aggressive you’re gonna get, I think the stock rubi is set up pretty well. Even on 35’s i’m not sure I would have scraped the bottom. We followed a stock rubi up Mineral Creek which was pretty aggressive and he did just fine.

Also, mine is a daily driver and used for road trips and does really, really nice on 37’s. I’m glad I didn’t do 35’s. For what its worth.

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