WATCH a Bone Stock Jeep Rubicon XR do a 7 rated trail at sand hollow when its wet!

[chaseshort]

Really happy to see the stock XR on a 7. I have done several 6s with mine, which is stock except for some extra armor.
Would you be willing to post the second, third, and forth videos separately, one in a comment, the second in another comment, etc? I wonder if that will allow some of us to see them; I only saw the first like some of the others.

Here is the Youtube Link!

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[Rubi SoHo]

I agree, the XR is plenty capable stock. I put the increase in capability squarely on the increased tire height, and lower gearing compared to a standard rubicon, other than that, they’re essentially identical.

But I cleared obstacles on Jeep Safari last year with ease, that the stock Rubi unlimited’s needed a few tries with. I’m not a very experienced rock crawler either. We had good spotters, but mine seemed to just crawl up and over stuff (almost at idle) that gave the other Rubi’s some trouble. We all made it in the end, but some with less effort than others.

 

[ColoradoMike]

Here is the Youtube Link!

Awesome! That trail looks very cool, and a little stouter than anything I have done. I have added an oil pan skid and ARB diff covers; guess my rig should be good to go for this.
Couple of questions if you don't mind:
* Do you know what your front bumpstop gap is? There seems to be a lot of variability in this on stock XRs. My bumpstop gap is only .75 inches; I wonder if you have more than me.
* What tire pressure were you running?
Thanks, looks like a really fun trail.

 

[chaseshort]

Awesome! That trail looks very cool, and a little stouter than anything I have done. I have added an oil pan skid and ARB diff covers; guess my rig should be good to go for this.
Couple of questions if you don't mind:
* Do you know what your front bumpstop gap is? There seems to be a lot of variability in this on stock XRs. My bumpstop gap is only .75 inches; I wonder if you have more than me.
* What tire pressure were you running?
Thanks, looks like a really fun trail.

I was down to 12 to 14 PSI because of how cold and wet it was

I agree that there is so much variability on the bumpstop gap, with my winch, I have just about 2 inches of bump. I don't bottom out unless I am really moving. I currently plan on doing the 1 inch coil spacer, and fox 2.0 shocks.

 

[DHW]

Great vids, but "bone stock".... uhh no. You clearly have a stubby antenna.

 

[chaseshort]

Great vids, but "bone stock".... uhh no. You clearly have a stubby antenna.

hahahaha, you're right, Crucial to success

 

[191185]

Yes, and the pics I posted earlier were with the spacers and bilsteins. I have since swapped out to metalcloak 3.5" springs front and rear as 37's will likely be coming soon. I haven't gotten a chance to fully flex it out yet, as we have a bunch of other things going on right now and winter has all the good rock trails in the Sierra's closed. She's a beast in the deep snow though. That being said, I've got some very low mileage teraflex spacers I'd let go cheap...

Was getting more flex the main reason to going to the Metacloak? Because It kind of seemed like you solved the limited flex issue with the spacers and bilsteins .. Just curious. ..

How much more flex to you think your getting with the Metacloak vs the Bilsteins/teraflex

 

[NMPirate]

Here is the Youtube Link!

My brother was there at the same time as you with a built up JK. Same trails but probably in different groups. He said the wet sand was a bit of a bitch on some of the tougher climbs. Looks like the XR did just fine with everything you pointed it at! Good Job!

 

[Zandcwhite]

Was getting more flex the main reason to going to the Metacloak? Because It kind of seemed like you solved the limited flex issue with the spacers and bilsteins .. Just curious. ..

How much more flex to you think your getting with the Metacloak vs the Bilsteins/teraflex

The springs won't add any flex, I was able to use all of the shock travel running the spacers. I did the rear springs after our first camping/ desert trip as the stock springs were just too soft for me. Granted, we always have a full complement of tools/recovery gear/compressor/ etc in the back of the Jeep likely totaling 2-300lbs. Add in the camping gear for 5 days and 130lbs worth of dogs in the back seat and the Jeep had the full Carolina squat going on. After a few trips wheeling it, I just didn't like the mismatch of spring rates between the front and rear with a dual rate coil out back and a stock coil and spacer up front so I pulled the trigger on the front coils for Christmas. It only sits about a 1/2" higher in the front and 1" higher empty in the rear with 3.5" springs vs the XR springs plus coil spacers for what it's worth. I also swapped out the sway bar end links as they were definitely too short and were limiting droop. All in I'm $3200 into the suspension and skids at this point, with the skids being the biggest cost and I'm very happy with the ride and flex on and off road. Skids came 1st as we did dent the oil pan on our 2019 on Holcomb creek early in its life. We tend to run 7+ trails with no spotting if we can so losing track of a rock happens at times. We did the Rubicon trail in the 2019 last summer with 0 spotting, 0 stucks, and 0 damage in about 9hrs total drive time over 2 days. I tend to over build so I can just wheel and enjoy. Stacking rocks, winching, in and out to spot, etc take away from the experience to me. Anybody can drag their rig through a trail, I want to drive it.

 

[AnnDee4444]

"Those are the shittiest tires and he made it up!" hahahaha that guy made me laugh.

Must be at OEM tire pressure too.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

We went to the annual Winter 4x4 Jamboree last weekend, the Jeep I wanted to take was broken, so we ended up taking our Bone Stock 23 Rubicon XR. I was very nervous because of the Wet conditions, as well as tire size and clearance, but this thing absolutely ate it up. Sometimes even doing better than its larger counterparts. 2nd gear, 4 low, and lockers when you need them, and these things are unbelievable. Safe to say it is the most capable stock 4x4 in these types of conditions. I don't really have a reason to mod it now!

I say it all the time- If I had to start from zero, I would start with a JLUR XR, add skid plates, and a winch, and be done with it. Go have fun. Sometimes less is more. 40's and Tons will get you anywhere but they also come at a price. That said: Even the non-Rubi stock Jeeps are insanely capable with good tires in the right hands. Before my JLUR, I had plans of a trailer, tow rig, Trail rig, etc. Now? I'm good with my JLUR. Maybe I'll get a daily driver at some point to relieve some miles and duty from the Jeep. We'll see.

You definitely need to armor up if you haven't already if you're going to continue to off road it

This is the only real advice I would give.

Good driving, good videos, good post. Love seeing stuff like this, OP.

 

[LooselyHeldPlans]

You definitely need to armor up if you haven't already if you're going to continue to off road it

BS.

 

[WheretheJLs]

BS.

Would love to hear your reasoning for why someone shouldn't add sliders and other underbody protection for driving through difficult terrain.

 

[ColoradoMike]

Would love to hear your reasoning for why someone shouldn't add sliders and other underbody protection for driving through difficult terrain.

Well, for devil's advocate, "should do" and "definitely need to do" are very different statements. If you offroad well, skillfully, and carefully, you very well might get away with a lot of successful trips on just the stock skid plates, and if you some day miss a line and break something, well, you'll deal. So it's not accurate to say "you definitely need to armor up" - while it very well may be fair to say "you SHOULD armor up".

 

[mgroeger]

We went to the annual Winter 4x4 Jamboree last weekend, the Jeep I wanted to take was broken, so we ended up taking our Bone Stock 23 Rubicon XR. I was very nervous because of the Wet conditions, as well as tire size and clearance, but this thing absolutely ate it up. Sometimes even doing better than its larger counterparts. 2nd gear, 4 low, and lockers when you need them, and these things are unbelievable. Safe to say it is the most capable stock 4x4 in these types of conditions. I don't really have a reason to mod it now!

Here is theyoutube link with all the videos!

HAH! Hey man how's it going?! I'm the guy (Mike) that lead John's Trail that day. I was watching the video and could here myself saying that you actually made it up that with those $hitty tires... lol. I'm not a fan of the KO2's but you rocked them.
That trail on that day was def challenging. I've never seen the trails where we had to use so much skinny pedal to make it up stuff. You kicked arse that day in that thing. I think we all came out a little bit better for it
I lead Pan B the next day and it was the same stuff.

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