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Would it make sense to add lockers/LSD to both axles of a JL Sport?

Stuckinthesand

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Not sure where everyone is getting this Rubicon resale value is higher than a sport. Please look at the statistics for the last dozen years. Sport not only has a higher resale value but also comes out ahead in dealer and private party sale.

Check the historical Wrangler lease residuals. Over 36 months, a Sport generally retains about 71% of MSRP, a Rubicon 69%, and the Sahara (Overland), about 67%, depending on mileage variables. There are however certain options which work toward lease residuals which have no actual value on the second hand private market (blue tooth speaker for one). When people are evaluating used vehicles, generally the only things they consider important are transmission, AC (which they all have now), leather, and power windows/locks. The rest of the options lose value there. Rubicon also has lower residual values so they don't lease quite as well either.

Unless you do hard core rock crawling you donā€™t need a Rubicon. Get a sport with LSD and youā€™ll be fine. I donā€™t know how people spend 60k plus and beat the shit out of it on rocks but to each their own. I go monthly to Raush creek or AOAA and have not come across a trail I couldnā€™t handle with my sport s with the LSD. I run 35ā€™s just fine on a 2.5ā€ budget boost and some aftermarket shocks. Are the Rubiconā€™s nice. Hell yeah but Iā€™m not paying for something I donā€™t need. My sport s is well equipped and with my upgrades Iā€™m barely touching 40k.
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guarnibl

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Not sure where everyone is getting this Rubicon resale value is higher than a sport. Please look at the statistics for the last dozen years. Sport not only has a higher resale value but also comes out ahead in dealer and private party sale.

Check the historical Wrangler lease residuals. Over 36 months, a Sport generally retains about 71% of MSRP, a Rubicon 69%, and the Sahara (Overland), about 67%, depending on mileage variables. There are however certain options which work toward lease residuals which have no actual value on the second hand private market (blue tooth speaker for one). When people are evaluating used vehicles, generally the only things they consider important are transmission, AC (which they all have now), leather, and power windows/locks. The rest of the options lose value there. Rubicon also has lower residual values so they don't lease quite as well either.

Unless you do hard core rock crawling you donā€™t need a Rubicon. Get a sport with LSD and youā€™ll be fine. I donā€™t know how people spend 60k plus and beat the shit out of it on rocks but to each their own. I go monthly to Raush creek or AOAA and have not come across a trail I couldnā€™t handle with my sport s with the LSD. I run 35ā€™s just fine on a 2.5ā€ budget boost and some aftermarket shocks. Are the Rubiconā€™s nice. Hell yeah but Iā€™m not paying for something I donā€™t need. My sport s is well equipped and with my upgrades Iā€™m barely touching 40k.
The argument for the Rubicon was never related to depreciation. If you spend $6k extra on the Rubicon, you will make up some of that difference on resale. That's a fact, as your post suggests.

I agree though otherwise. No reason to buy one unless you are doing more of the hardcore rock stuff. As your own experience shows (and mine as well) -- even a stock Wrangler is insanely capable!
 

MudHorn4xforLife

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Now add the price of the 33ā€™s that came on the rubicon, skid plates you donā€™t have, 4-1 tcase youā€™re lacking, sway bar disconnects, rocker protection, and higher clearance fenders when you do want to go to 35ā€™s and you have already spent that $7k easy. You still have narrower and weaker axles, your locker isnā€™t selectable and you only have 1, your disconnects are manual, and your resale value is still thousands less than the rubicon. If you want to ā€hang with the big dogsā€ either buy the rubicon out the gate, or at least upgrade your axles.
Please donā€™t be butt hurt over my opinion. You just continue excelling with your rubi, Iā€™ll continue to excel with my makeshift poormans rig. āœŒšŸ¼
 

Stuckinthesand

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Please donā€™t be butt hurt over my opinion. You just continue excelling with your rubi, Iā€™ll continue to excel with my makeshift poormans rig. āœŒšŸ¼
šŸ˜‚ Donā€™t forget the Rubicon has the same skid plates as the sport. There is no difference there. Donā€™t need high line fenders for 35ā€™s and the sway bar actually only disconnects one side not both. Manual is actually better. Take off Rubi rockers 75-100 at most. I already proved the myth about the higher resale value wrong especially in the thousands.
 

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The Last Cowboy

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I would love the simplicity of True Tracs if they were available for out axles. Going on the 4th model year now. Last I checked, they do not have a fitment for M series axles.
 

guarnibl

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šŸ˜‚ Donā€™t forget the Rubicon has the same skid plates as the sport. There is no difference there. Donā€™t need high line fenders for 35ā€™s and the sway bar actually only disconnects one side not both. Manual is actually better. Take off Rubi rockers 75-100 at most. I already proved the myth about the higher resale value wrong especially in the thousands.
Ah, I didn't know the skid plates were the same! Good to know. I did see some take offs for $50-$100 on Craigslist, so even if you did have to replace yours or add them, seems low enough cost.
 

Stuckinthesand

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Ah, I didn't know the skid plates were the same! Good to know. I did see some take offs for $50-$100 on Craigslist, so even if you did have to replace yours or add them, seems low enough cost.
Most of these forum members are pretty chill. I get irritated when people act like the Rubicon is the only Jeep that can do anything. Everything he listed I highly doubt cost 7k. Tires and transfer case will be most. You can get Rubi take off wheels for like 1000. To each their own. I know what mine is capable of and Iā€™m perfectly happy with it. I plan to have it a long time and donā€™t want to beat it to hell.
 

Jamrock

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Most of these forum members are pretty chill. I get irritated when people act like the Rubicon is the only Jeep that can do anything. Everything he listed I highly doubt cost 7k. Tires and transfer case will be most. You can get Rubi take off wheels for like 1000. To each their own. I know what mine is capable of and Iā€™m perfectly happy with it. I plan to have it a long time and donā€™t want to beat it to hell.
We are not saying that the Rubicon is the only Jeep that can do anything. We are not saying that the Rubicon is the best option for everyone.

Many members purchase the Sahara because the Select Trac handles snow covered roads with less driver intervention. It automatically shifts from snow to pavement and back to snow seamlessly.

Many members purchase the Sport because it is good for the types of trails they want to travel on. They won't need lockers or a sway bar disconnect. They see no reason to spend more on features they won't be using.

The OP asked a specific question because he wanted lockers for the types of trails that he wanted to drive on. We are answering his specific query. He listened to all sides of the argument, made his decision and told everyone thanks for assisting him.

The funny part is that he thinks he won't be doing a lot of modifications to his Jeep in the future. Over time he will learn how things work. But that is a thread for another time.
 

Stuckinthesand

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We are not saying that the Rubicon is the only Jeep that can do anything. We are not saying that the Rubicon is the best option for everyone.

Many members purchase the Sahara because the Select Trac handles snow covered roads with less driver intervention. It automatically shifts from snow to pavement and back to snow seamlessly.

Many members purchase the Sport because it is good for the types of trails they want to travel on. They won't need lockers or a sway bar disconnect. They see no reason to spend more on features they won't be using.

The OP asked a specific question because he wanted lockers for the types of trails that he wanted to drive on. We are answering his specific query. He listened to both sides of the argument, made his decision and told everyone thanks for assisting him.

The funny part is that he thinks he won't be doing a lot of modifications to his Jeep in the future. Over time he will learn how things work. But that is a thread for another time.
Donā€™t take that the wrong way. Wasnā€™t meant toward the majority. Really meant towards the poster a few posts up that said if you want to hang with the big dogs buy a rubicon or upgrade axles. 99.9% of this forum is good people. Just every once in awhile you get that Rubicon is end all be all attitude.
 

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guarnibl

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Most of these forum members are pretty chill. I get irritated when people act like the Rubicon is the only Jeep that can do anything. Everything he listed I highly doubt cost 7k. Tires and transfer case will be most. You can get Rubi take off wheels for like 1000. To each their own. I know what mine is capable of and Iā€™m perfectly happy with it. I plan to have it a long time and donā€™t want to beat it to hell.
Understandable. It's all about the use case. The thread started off as someone wanting to rock crawl/run Moab, and add lockers. If we assume that folks responses are based off reading that initial piece of information, I understand where the sentiment is coming from. They're saying -- long term it's cheaper just to buy the Rubicon and be done with it.

Everyone is different. That's why there are so many trim levels in the first place. It's honestly not easy to navigate. There's a lot of confusing sentiment/information out there.
 

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Zandcwhite

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Please donā€™t be butt hurt over my opinion. You just continue excelling with your rubi, Iā€™ll continue to excel with my makeshift poormans rig. āœŒšŸ¼
Not at all butt hurt, just pointing out that for serious wheeling the rubicon is the budget option. You can't slap rubicon springs and 1 locker on and pretend it's the same thing. You can't build up the axles, transfer case, tires, rocker protection, etc to rubicon level without spending the money you saved just in parts. Maybe your labor is free so your out the door cost will be in the ballpark (my labor is far from free). Now you have a similar rig to a bone stock rubicon, you're at the limit of what your dana 30 will hold up to, none of your mods are warrantied, and you won't have the resale value of a rubicon. I've wheeled lots of poor man's rigs, a $35k starting rig is far from that. The time it would take to source, buy, and install all those parts would be better served for me by picking up a couple weekend shifts and paying the extra $7k even if the upgrade parts were free.
 

Zandcwhite

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šŸ˜‚ Donā€™t forget the Rubicon has the same skid plates as the sport. There is no difference there. Donā€™t need high line fenders for 35ā€™s and the sway bar actually only disconnects one side not both. Manual is actually better. Take off Rubi rockers 75-100 at most. I already proved the myth about the higher resale value wrong especially in the thousands.
$37kƗ71%=$26,270
$44kx69%=$30,360
I know math is hard, but one literally holds a$4k higher resale value and no you won't get anywhere near 50% of your mod budget back on resale value. Even if you swap everything from rubicon axles to t-case to fenders, the rubicon will still have a higher resale value. Nobody said the rubicon was the only way to go, but if you plan on adding lockers, larger tires, and actually using them in the rocks, it is the better buy in my opinion. If you plan on 40's and an atlas transfer case, start with whatever you want, as clearly budget isn't an issue. You'll be swapping in axles and suspension anyway so it's just a shell with an engine at that point. You don't need a rubi to wheel, you don't need lockers either. We did the rubicon trail multiple times in a base model 09 jk with a manual trans, underpowered 3.8l, way over geared for 35's at 3.21's in the axles, on a 3" budget spacer lift, with open difs. If you want to build it to be different, more power to you. If you think you'll build it the same for so much less, I think you're kidding yourself.
 
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travvaller

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Jeep Wrangler JL Would it make sense to add lockers/LSD to both axles of a JL Sport? Screenshot_20210203-150801_Google


REALITY VS MYTH... So, a set of lockers and a lift kit will not get you where you want to go. In your mind, your Rubicon is like the rock crawler, but ummm, no its not. And well, the rock crawler will get u a divorce unless it was your wife's idea. So, there really is no debate. We expect too much from our vehicles in general. The build I am involved in is finished from the axles up. Took 3 years. It is tasteful and functional, but sets me apart from rest of the wrangler field. Next step, hopefully within 3 years, only because of cost, is aftermarket Dana 44, Terra Flex 4.5" lift with all proper up rated running gear components from yokes to drivesahfts, race shocks the whole number. And I still don't believe it will rock crawl w any proficiency. No, crawling is best left to a
Jeep Wrangler JL Would it make sense to add lockers/LSD to both axles of a JL Sport? Screenshot_20210203-150601_YouTube
old CJ5 w fully customized suspension purpose built to have fun on rocks. So, if you roll, side swipe or any of the other stoopid things happen on the trail come up, your not stuck repairing the vehicle you street drive 95ā€° of the time.
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