What mods do you regret and would NOT do again?

[Sean L]

First Mod I ever did, I got a Grille Guard.

I came down on top of a rock in Uwharrie and it wound up shoving the guard supports into the grille and damaging the paint. So I took the guard off, plastidipped the grille and eventually replaced my bumper with a takeoff steel bumper.

Looking back at all of the trouble, I should have just changed out the bumper for something like this to start with.

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[CarbonSteel]

There were a few "re-do's"--some of them due to a move to a new location, but others because I should have taken advice from others. I never intended to run more than 35" tires and did not know that I would be moving to 7K ASL or I would have made different choices.

-- Mopar tire relocation and tailgate reinforcement. Though I bought it used and re-sold it, I should have just bought the CavFab that I have now from the start. The studs pulled out of the relocation plates and I fabricated new ones from 1/4" thick stainless and backwelded studs into it. Though it was a solid part after I rebuilt it, the tailgate would still rattle and the tailgaite reinforcement would loosen periodically. This is a lost cause...

-- 35" tires; don't waste your time or money on a JLUR IF you will be lifting it past 1.5".

-- 2.5" springs; while it does work well with 37's, you may need more clearance depending on how you use your Jeep. While I will recover part of the cost of the springs, I should have gone 3.5" from the start, but then with 35" tires it would have looked more than a little silly.

-- 4.88 gearing; with a 3.6L and a ZF8, IF you are going to be running 37's, go 5.13 from the start especially if you are at higher elevations.

-- RCV front axles; I am sure there will be different opinions on this, but if I had to do it over, I would have passed on them and spent more time understanding what it takes to make Dana Spicer CrMo axle shafts work (I think I have it figured out now).

-- RCVs are typically viewed as the "best", but the grease they sling is a showstopper for me.​

-- Additionally, they are more than a PITA to rebuild versus a traditional u-joint axle. The boots are expensive for what they are and if you have to change the passenger boot, the amount of work is needed is equivalent to a rebuild.​

 

[aldo98229]

Replacing the OE mast with a short stubby antenna will result in a loss in radio reception. No ifs or buts about it. It’s just how it is. If it didn’t, being how cheap FCA is, it would have given us a 9-inch antenna and pocket the 25-cent different.

Arguing that a stubby antenna doesn’t result in any loss of reception is being in denial. What it really boils down to is how much loss are you willing to live with. Which in turn depends on where you live (urban, suburban or rural area), how often you turn on the radio, and how much do you really care...

For instance, I live in a city of 90,000 souls. We only have four or five local radio stations; three of which emit religious content. The two closest metro areas are Vancouver, 50 miles to the north, and Seattle 80 miles to the south. So if I wanted to listen to the radio, I’d need to retain the OE mast. On the other hand, if I didn’t care about radio any more, then I’ll just remove the mast. There’s little point in replacing it with a stubby antenna that does neither.

 

[kah.mun.rah]

I love my JLR except I didn't get a front camera. I'm buying a new rig just for the front camera. I've got a good WiFi backup camera mounted on the front, but it sucks compared to the factory camera. I read every review on the front camera before I ordered, and all they said was it was great for recording. One ride in a rig with the font camera and you can't live without it where I crawl.

When off-roading the glare from the dirt washes out the camera to the point where you can't see details. It's not horrible but not as good as I expected. If you add a hoop and/or winch it blocks the view of the camera.

 

[driventoadventure]

Dealer upgrades that I wound not do again:

- advanced safety package
- front camera
- trail rail management system
- any of the upgraded wheel options
- dealership surface protection, theft deterrent, etc.
- dealership installed lift kit
- spare tire cover

Personally, I find the front camera the best option I ordered... When off-road, it gives me the ability to choose better paths when I am solo, and when I have a guide it really helps to see what they are trying to get me to do as far as path, wheel placement, etc... I have even been complimented about how well I work with guides because I do use it to help see what they are telling me to do. My biggest complaint about it is that it required the upgraded radio... The speakers just aren't arranged nicely, and require tweaking the equalizer too frequently to keep the sound balanced across bass/mid/treble tones.

 

[cgkades]

I 100% regret getting a full length roof rack. It's now hanging in my garage so that I can take the top off.

 

[aldo98229]

I 100% regret getting a full length roof rack. It's now hanging in my garage so that I can take the top off.

Yeah, I dodged that bullet!

I cavilated about getting a roof rack for years, but the wind noise would drive me bonkers!

 

[kah.mun.rah]

Another lesson learned is trying to make do with a cheap air compressor. It's better to buy once, cry once.

On the same topic, if you buy a rapid air down tire deflator that removes the valve core, buy a bag of spare cores to bring with you.

 

[kingspecialized]

35x12.5” I would’ve gone straight to 37s if I had realized quite how much lift 2.5” was going to give me.

dv8 products in general it seems, I still have the rear bumper and it doesn’t fit quite right but it’s good enough that until other things get worked on i can stay. The bumper mounted tire carrier got tossed like 3 weeks into ownership and I got the teraflex spare tire carrier.

hindsight is 20/20 but I wish I had gone rubicon to begin with if we count that as a mod of the trim level haha.

I agree, I would have gone with a Rubicon if I was more knowledgable about Jeeps when I made my purchase. I also would purchased with the soft top instead of the SOT.

 

[Spank]

The only mod I've been largely unhappy with is my EVO tire carrier. I've managed to fix most of its flaws myself, but this product was poorly powdercoated and I don't think the holes that mount the brackets to the tub were drilled in the right spot, because the gate never lined up properly with it installed. I ended up using nylon spacers and a lot of fine-tuning to get everything straight.

It's built like a tank and certainly holds my 37" spare just fine, but the fit and finish was extremely poor and has turned me off to buying any other EVO products in the future. If I had to do it over again, I would've gone with Rusty's or Cavfab.

 

[Twist]

Another lesson learned is trying to make do with a cheap air compressor. It's better to buy once, cry once.

On the same topic, if you buy a rapid air down tire deflator that removes the valve core, buy a bag of spare cores to bring with you.

What compressor did you go with? Ran into my first issue this week trying to air up on a cheap amazon compressor that would over heat for each tire. Ended up taking ~2hrs to air up.

 

[Go_Galt]

Genright aluminum stubby bumper (in conjunction with Warn Zeon 8-S).

Genright notes that a Zeon winch will have to be 'clearanced' slightly with an angle grinder to fit in between the front frame rails, with how their winch tray positions them. Ok, no problem. I can knock down some high spots on the winch case.

What a PITA. Had to remove SO MUCH material from that f-ing case. Went through 5 angle grinder batteries. Had to grind SO MUCH material off the Zeon case, I was starting to wonder how close I was getting to going through it. Just a phenomenal PITA.

Couple this with the fact that the thing was too expensive, had to be finished by the end-user (add $150 in powder coating), and the final product positions the winch so tightly with respect to the winch tray, you can't even use the fairlead/hardware that came with your $1,500 winch. No prob, the Genright fairlead with its weird ass low profile hardware system will work! Just another $100.

I also opted for for the $200 steel lip reinforcement/ rash guard, which somehow doesn't fit on the application for which it was sold (interferes with the swaybar motor bash plate/ bar).

With it done, I really do love the bumper- Its high clearance, how closely it positions the winch, doesn't interfere with camera or cooling, gives good access to winch drum, and I love how it looks. But if I got another JL there's a 0% chance I'm doing that again. I'd probably just force myself to live with how the factory steel bumper buries the winch, or live with the bull bar on an ARB stubby, which I really dislike.

 

[Jtclayton612]

I agree, I would have gone with a Rubicon if I was more knowledgable about Jeeps when I made my purchase. I also would purchased with the soft top instead of the SOT.

Just gives us an excuse to get better than rubicon axles and an atlas transfer case right? ……right?

 

[Fudster]

I'm not sure it's a mod, but I still think it's worth mentioning.

First a disclaimer: a small bunch of us really enjoy and otherwise do drop our windshields, and that's cool. Still more, Stellantis did a fine job making this task easier on the JL over the JK.

That said, buying this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076PY8785/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which I needed to get the wipers off, and lowering the windshield was for a me a "been there done that" task I'll never need to repeat.

 

[kah.mun.rah]

What compressor did you go with? Ran into my first issue this week trying to air up on a cheap amazon compressor that would over heat for each tire. Ended up taking ~2hrs to air up.

VIAIR and now an ARB twin (w/ tank) and a speedflate 4 hose sysem. A Power Tank was tempting.

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