Time to start a 'Riot! 2015 Jeep Patriot sport build.

[Darkrider]

Finally made the jump to the Jeep side of life. It was a matter of time till i got one. It was always going to be either a Patriot or a Grand Wagoneer. Today i traded my 2012 Dodge Avenger SE for a 2015 Jeep Patriot Sport. It is essentially a bare bones unit with the crank windows and base stereo. Not quite sure what material is on the seats however. I want to say either pleather or vinyl. It has the 2.4 and since i am not seeing trailrated badges on it or a low range switch it should have the newer 6 speed non CVT trans and FD1 transfer case. From what i read of threads on here after 2011 they used FDII springs on pretty much all of them so that should put me pretty much the same height as what Jhills Patriot was at the end of that build. Anyways onward to a couple pics from today. I will get more when i take delivery of it tomorrow.

Pics with the wife's Kia soul that replaced the Odyssey as her daily driver

 

[TripLeader]

Looks good & congrats on the new Jeep.

 

[Darkrider]

Resource: http://www.rocky-road.com/jeep-patriot-lift-kit.html

Interesting to see a lesser Jeep model being thought of as an overland, but anythings possible. One will be limiting in the options or accessories that can be acquired because this type of vehicle normally not know for being heavily modified. So unless you have your own shops with an extremely large about of tooling equipment, you'll simply be adding preexisting products into and onto area not known for any sort of mounting position. if one is able to succeed in the creation of product for this vehicle, you will have a small following other Pat owners who want you to create these items for them.

Thanks for the link, At least i have some info from reading a couple other builds on here so that gives me a guideline.

Looks good & congrats on the new Jeep.

Thanks, def looking forward to having 4wd again.

 

[Darkrider]

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/148299-2010-patriot-soft-roader-build

The above build thread has a lot of great info in it on the Patriots. Which if i am reading some of it right indicates that my Patriot is sitting close to the same height as his was at the end as there was a point that Jeep just threw the FDII springs under all models.

 

[Darkrider]

The build plan as it is for the moment anyway:

FDII Skid plates
FDII Tow hooks
FDII Alternator
215/70R16 tires on OE rims
Mopar driving light mounts in bumper with either Mopar lights or Lightforce lights
OE fog lights in bumper

Optional ideas that may or may not get used:

RRO lift kit
RRO steel roof rack

The last two items are optional as i am not sure if i will even need to upgrade the Jeep that far to go to most of the places i would go. If it came down to it i would also probably consider the RRO winch bumper eventually as well.

 

[AggieOE]

Sounds awesome! Looking forward to seeing what its like having fun overlanding while also getting decent mileage. lol

 

[2180miles]

It'll be fun to see where this goes. Coming from modding a WK2 G.C. I can appreciate (though there's probably a little more aftermarket support) the difficulty of branching out from the Wrangler-esque builds.

Congrats on the new Jeep!

 

[Darkrider]

Sounds awesome! Looking forward to seeing what its like having fun overlanding while also getting decent mileage. lol

It should be quite interesting, Hopefully this summer i will get a chance to go exploring some ghost towns around my area.

It'll be fun to see where this goes. Coming from modding a WK2 G.C. I can appreciate (though there's probably a little more aftermarket support) the difficulty of branching out from the Wrangler-esque builds.

Congrats on the new Jeep!

Thanks! Def looking forward to building it.

 

[Sandstone]

Congrats on the Patriot!

Just thought I'd mention there's another lift option, CRDSTU coils. I've been running Stu's for about 6 years, they've done well for us.

 

[Darkrider]

Congrats on the Patriot!

Just thought I'd mention there's another lift option, CRDSTU coils. I've been running Stu's for about 6 years, they've done well for us.

Thanks! Will def look into those coils as well. Took a brief look under the jeep yesterday to see where snow may have collected when i went through a drift yesterday. And was pleasantly surprised to find a skid plate staring back at me. Guessing the main difference between the FD1 models and FD2s are that the skids under the FD2 are metal. While researching skid plating i also seen a couple aftermarket ones that actually look somewhat simple to make. So i may talk to a buddy of mine that works at a fab shop about the idea of making one. The one design i seen required it to be dropped to do an oil change but that is a small price to pay for extra protection. The other had cut outs similar to the stock part in the affected areas. I may take a design idea i seen under some chevys like the trailblazer i used to own and the S10 i used to own and design in small removable panels for those areas. That way i have a middle ground between the two aftermarket ones. But for now for most of the terrain i run on the stock plastic one should be more then enough.

 

[autism family travels]

I have a 2015 pat altitude blackout edition in white. Congrats. You have a great rig. Going non fd2 makes for a much better rig actually. You get close to the same low range gear and much better high range gear. I have 235/65/17s on mine using 1.25 inch spacers. It sits perfect. For suspension change out to Monroe shocks at least and figure your ride height from there. We are getting king coil overs with remote reservoirs custom built. I have a much better shock plus ride height control then. I would get the metal skids. Protection is important on lower rigs like ours. As for Lighting upgrade the headlights add some sort of mount and pop on some good lights on that.

 

[autism family travels]

Oh ps darkrider, mine has crank windows and base stereo as well. My son got into the rig, looked at the crank and said whats that! ha ha....

 

[Darkrider]

I have a 2015 pat altitude blackout edition in white. Congrats. You have a great rig. Going non fd2 makes for a much better rig actually. You get close to the same low range gear and much better high range gear. I have 235/65/17s on mine using 1.25 inch spacers. It sits perfect. For suspension change out to Monroe shocks at least and figure your ride height from there. We are getting king coil overs with remote reservoirs custom built. I have a much better shock plus ride height control then. I would get the metal skids. Protection is important on lower rigs like ours. As for Lighting upgrade the headlights add some sort of mount and pop on some good lights on that.

Nice! Will def keep tabs on your thread for when the Kings are installed. At least with the Series II Patriots having the FDII springs i can consider running 225/70R16s or 235/70R16s. Kind of keeping an eye out for some Wrangler/TJ "Moab" 16x8 wheels for that tire upgrade. Still puzzling out what i am going to do for carrying a spare at that stage but i will figure it out when i get there i suppose. One idea i have already kicked around is replacing the plastic floor with a piece of 1/2-3/4" Plywood and some eye bolts to serve as tie down points with ratchet straps or a Nfab tire strap kit. If i move the spare to the cargo area like that i will probably repurpose the original spare tire area to carry recovery tools and such. At least then the space is still used somehow. Unless it is in fact possible to fit one of the above into the factory tire well with removal of the sound deadening or something. Thoughts?

Good point on the lighting upgrades. I will more then likely end up running a couple pairs of Baja Designs Squadron sports. One pair on an RRO bash bumper and one pair up near the windshield. I think i finally figured out how i am going to deal with switches for the above.

Oh ps darkrider, mine has crank windows and base stereo as well. My son got into the rig, looked at the crank and said whats that! ha ha....

Lol Nice!

 

[autism family travels]

Get a hitch with a 2 inch receiver and get a tire gate. Problem solved with the tire mounting. Yeah the kings are already available from their site, it’s just call them and get valving and spring rates figured out.

 

[Darkrider]

Get a hitch with a 2 inch receiver and get a tire gate. Problem solved with the tire mounting. Yeah the kings are already available from their site, it’s just call them and get valving and spring rates figured out.

Good idea when it comes to the Tire/Hitchgate. I was planning on ditching the stock hitch anyways so upgrading to a 2" curt or similar was already in the cards. Just become a matter of locating a local dealer or talking to my buddy about building one. Same goes with the front bumper guard. May go with an RRO like i mentioned or talk to him about building a similar setup that might be a bit wider to allow for more then just two lights mounted to it.