2006 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited

Post by **Dred** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:38 pm

So I decided to add to my extremely long list of 4x4's that I've owned...
This time I went with a Jeep. The Jeep was pretty much stock when I bought it expect for some 2" coil spring spacers and some slightly oversize tires (285/75/r16). I can't seem to leave anything stock for very long, so I decided to go with the Rubicon Express 3.5" superflex kit for the suspension. I had good results with this kit on the last Jeep I owned. Within a day or two of getting the new Jeep home I had it up on jackstands and had the suspension all taken apart. After working on it for a couple evenings, I had it all put back together with the new suspension. I also modified the air intake to gain a little more power. I swapped the 285's off of it for the 315's I had on my Land Cruiser. I'm sure I will have many more mods in the future to post up, but here are some pics of the progress so far.

Post by **Username** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:24 pm

Very cool. When are you gonna take it up the washout and knock some of the shine off?

Post by **Arya Ebrahimi** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:40 pm

Still got the Land Cruiser? Do you still have my 3rd row seat belts?

Post by **Dred** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:57 pm

Username wrote:Very cool. When are you gonna take it up the washout and knock some of the shine off?

As soon as the weather gets warm enough to take the hard top off

Post by **Dred** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:58 pm

Arya Ebrahimi wrote:Still got the Land Cruiser? Do you still have my 3rd row seat belts?

Yep, I still have the cruiser and I still have your seat belts.

Post by **Fonger** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:57 pm

Sweet Jared. Looks like a good Big Dogs rig right there. Let me know if you need some parts. I can get most things and a set of long travel Old Man Emu shocks on that thing would be sick...

Anyways, looks sick. The Unlimited is on my list of rigs I'd like to own. I figure if this one survives a good Hannah punishing then I'm good to go.

Post by **Dred** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:50 pm

I've got the suspension stuff covered... I went with some Pro Comp shocks to go with the RE superflex kit. I may be hitting you up for some bumpers sometime in the near future though. I was up on Brush today flexin it out to make sure everything clears and check shock lengths, etc. I did give it a good full throttle assault up Special Trail (it's been raining a lot here lately) and she held together just fine so far.

Post by **Dred** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:31 pm

Here's a few updated pics... I got my winch mounted and took the top off to enjoy the weather this weekend.

Post by **Dred** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:30 pm

I installed Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers last weekend to take care of some tire rubbing issues. The front tires were rubbing on the lower control arms and sway bar at full lock. The rear tires were slightly rubbing on the upper coil buckets. The spacers have fixed all of my tire rubbing issues for now... I guess that means that it's time for bigger tires!

97JEEPTJ · Post by **97JEEPTJ** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:50 pm

Does the Jeep seem more stable on the roads/trails with those spacers installed? You basically lock-tite them onto the wheel studs, and torque them down, right?

What backspacing do your wheels have?

Edit:
---Stock Rubicon Wheels: 5" backspacing with 315 tires ~ 12.5" wide

Must've been tight.

Post by **Dred** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:22 pm

Stability has not been an issue since I'm only running the 3.5" springs, but I suppose the Jeep does feel slightly more stable with the 2.5" increase in track width. As far as the installation goes, the instructions tell you to use locktite and torque the nuts to spec. I don't really see why locktite would be necessary if you have all of the nuts torqued to the proper spec. The wheel spacers, if properly torqued, shouldn't be any more likely to come off than a wheel. I have heard of people having their wheel spacers come loose, but I'm assuming the spacers weren't seated properly, or they weren't torqued properly. I didn't bother using locktite on mine so they could be easily removed in the future if I get different wheels. If I do have one come loose, it wouldn't be the first time I've lost a wheel at highway speed!

97JEEPTJ · Post by **97JEEPTJ** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:32 pm

Gotcha, thanks for the info. You've got one nice Jeep.

Post by **Dred** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:09 pm

Well, I decided that it was time for some bigger tires since my tires weren't rubbing anymore. I got a deal that was too good to pass up on a set of 37x14 Iroks. I have a JKS 1.25" body lift on the way to help out with clearance. Here are some pics of the 37's as it sits now.

97JEEPTJ · Post by **97JEEPTJ** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:36 pm

That is sick, what a beast.

Post by **yotacowboy** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:01 pm

42 is the new 37.