been jeeping since 1965 built a lot of Jeeps owned a shop for 10 years. A lot of questions what should I do now that I bought a Jeep?
First off you bought a Rubicon do you know why itās called a Rubicon? The engineers that worked at jeep were some young guys and they want to come out with a jeep that had a little bit more rock crawling ability than just the ones that they currently had in the range or lineup. They talk management into it and it was a standard to which they had to build and that standard was be able to drive the Rubicon Trail in 0EM form and thatās what they did that was the test bed and that is why itās called Rubicon. Right off the bat youāve got all the Jeep that you can probably drive in all likelihood you got capability youāll probably never use unless you are just an incredible avid rock guy a hard-core wheeler.
Like most have said on here letās start with recovery care you wanna get a winch Iām a Warn man itās far as Iām concerned go warn or go home Iāve done many extreme pulls with Warn and when I say extreme I mean extreme nobody else would tackle and I said Iāll do it. Iāve saved lives Iāve pulled jeeps on the rivers I even helped get a jeep out of the river that a wrecker couldnāt get out. Yes thereās lots of winches out there theyāre all good but good is not good enough when your life is on the line you never know when that may occur especially if you start playing in Moab. I also suggest when you get your winch if it comes with a steel cable take it then take that steel cable off contact masterpull.com and buy one of their rop-ed nobody makes a better rope than masterpull and I say that because Iāve had my rope for 20 years and I send it back every couple years to masterpull they inspect and repair it if it needs it and they certify it and they do this for me every year at no cost. While youāre at it get you a bag with some shackles and some other goodies a small first aid kit make sure you have a fire extinguisher on board the general basics is if youāre out there on the trail with other people or even alone that if something occurs at that level that you can address it.
The next thing I will get would be an onboard air system something that you can air up tires with if you want to wheel youāre gonna need something to air up the tires because youāre gonna let the air down and if you have a pretty good tire and a pretty good rim you can probably air down around 18 pounds maybe 15, be careful on that. You can increase the size of the footprint by up to 25%. Speaking of tires you need some good ones youāre gonna hit the rocks you want a quality tire I have never run anything other than Goodyear MTRs or BFG KM series itās the only thing that I will run. Iāve had the only Jeep on a trail run of nearly 10 vehicles that did not have a flat or slice side walls think about that.
Do not buy a Hi Lift Jack, you need it like a hole in the head Iāve had highlift jackās going back to my years on the ranch. We use them for exactly what they were meant for tractors and stretch barbed wire fencing theyāre not for jreps and theyāll break your arm in a heartbeat.
Lift kit you may want to add one if you do I would never put anything higher than a 3 inch lift on jeep, never have not in my shop you simply do not need it. If you get serious about rock crawling and you start playing on the seven and above trails which then you do not need a tire bigger than a 37. I ran a 3 inch lift 37 inch tires Iāve done Pritchard Canyon one of the toughest trails in the US forward and backwards Iāve done it by myself never pulled a winch or strap. For most 35s on your wheels will do the majority of what you want if you want to go to 37ās to get into some hard-core rock work then I would strongly recommend you go with a set of beadlocks. I ran bead long for hundred thousand miles a travel all over the US with him never had a problem never got stopped no one ever asked a question no one ever knew what they were. I ran Walker Evans bead locks some the best out there and when you have those then you can drop your psi down to 3 to 5 pounds and really take on the serious trails thatās where you really need onboard air to re-inflate those things. I would say for most start with 35 stock wheels and if you get really serious and I was go to 37s and beadlocks you wonāt regret it. As far as maintenance on be locks itās a breeze Mo shops will not sell you tires and mount on a be lock so what do you do thatās what I did a discount tire as you take you take your wheel down there without locking ring and have them simply put it on the tire when you buy the tires from them just put it on the tire then you take it home put your bed lock rim on there and then you do all the talking down that you need on your own that way itāll be done right. If you do it yourself which is fine get you a torque wrench and air compressor at the house bingo you got it done