Colorado adventures

New to the Jeep world, but loving every second of it so far! Just moved to Colorado, anyone know good places to off road at? And any recommendations for an all terrain build? I want this Jeep as my daily driver, also a weekend trail rig.
 
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Greg@RME

Adventurer
Welcome to Colorado! What part did you move to? Colorado is AMAZING for Jeep adventures and exploring the mountains... and deserts! I'm in a similar boat, I built my Jeep to be capable to drive long distances, but still capable of tackling the hardest trails. If you need a DD, I'd suggest 33's... 35's at the most if you want to tackle the more challenging trails. You will probably need to regear for 35's.

What year is your JKU? Is it a Rubicon?
 
Welcome to Colorado! What part did you move to? Colorado is AMAZING for Jeep adventures and exploring the mountains... and deserts! I'm in a similar boat, I built my Jeep to be capable to drive long distances, but still capable of tackling the hardest trails. If you need a DD, I'd suggest 33's... 35's at the most if you want to tackle the more challenging trails. You will probably need to regear for 35's.

What year is your JKU? Is it a Rubicon?

I moved to Colorado Springs, and it’s a 2011 Sahara, I don’t know how lifted a Jeep needs to be to run 35’s, trying to lift it another inch in the near future. It has a 3” lift now running 33’s.
 

JandDGreens

Adventurer
Hi I live in Englewood Co. And have been wheeling the front range for about 5 years now. I like the trails down by you in colorado springs but most are very tame close by. The nearest fun trail that is pretty nice to wet your appetite is China Wall (not to be confused with Chinamans Gulch) it is about a 4 out of 10 in the range of difficulty. It isn't far from the Springs but the only draw back is it is closed from Jan. 1st to
June 1st.

From your post it seems you might be a beginner (which is great!) My advice to you is not to go it alone for a while until you know your limitations, there are many groups to be a part of some are structured diifferantly the then óthers. I joined a few (3) one I'm especially found of is Front Range 4x4. Great group of guys and gals. It is formatted so it is possible to set-up your own trail run making it more likley to have others join in. They don't require a fee (monthly or dues) they open up for donations to fund the site a couple of times a year once it us covered it's closed. you can familiarize yourself with thier by-laws before you commit but the main one is to get out at least once a year to stay current.

I personally like trails that are going to explore the back country more than trying to do hard core wheeling to be honest. My rig is not quite as capable as I want it to be, but even if it was a 7 out of 10 is pretty much where I draw the line.

You mentioned that you have questions about what to do to your rig to keep it both daily drivable and off road worthy at the same time. My biggest advice I can give you is wheel it the way it is for as long as you can before you start making any changes. I feel in love with wheeling when we bought my son a cheap xj (stock) for his first car. Took it camping with my son-in-law and his rig (rubicon) and did some crazy steep trails and I was hooked. I ended up buying myself a xj but it was already modified, the more I wheeled it the more I ended up up-grading from what the previous owner had done. I think the biggest thing I would try to do is no matter what you do lift wise I feel the most important up-grade to me is matching your gearing to your tires. Sure you can get away with 33"s and stock gearing but you pay the price both on the street and the trail!!! Mine had a 4.5 inch ĺift and 33" tires and no guts.

Hope to get the chance to hang with you some day out on the trails. :smiley_drive:
 
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ratled

Adventurer
I sub to Outlaw 923 on You Tube and he lists the trails he does, you should check him out. Makes me want to head to CO!

ratled
 

JandDGreens

Adventurer
Note did not realize you stated you have a saharah, I think it probably has 3.73 gears which is a little under geared for your 33"s right now and will deffinatly be to far off for 35"s. If you had a rubicon you could pull it off, but it still would not be opptimal for daily driving.
 
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Hi I live in Englewood Co. And have been wheeling the front range for about 5 years now. I like the trails down by you in colorado springs but most are very tame close by. The nearest fun trail that is pretty nice to wet your appetite is China Wall (not to be confused with Chinamans Gulch) it is about a 4 out of 10 in the range of difficulty. It isn't far from the Springs but the only draw back is it is closed from Jan. 1st to
June 1st.

From your post it seems you might be a beginner (which is great!) My advice to you is not to go it alone for a while until you know your limitations, there are many groups to be a part of some are structured diifferantly the then óthers. I joined a few (3) one I'm especially found of is Front Range 4x4. Great group of guys and gals. It is formatted so it is possible to set-up your own trail run making it more likley to have others join in. They don't require a fee (monthly or dues) they open up for donations to fund the site a couple of times a year once it us covered it's closed. you can familiarize yourself with thier by-laws before you commit but the main one is to get out at least once a year to stay current.

I personally like trails that are going to explore the back country more than trying to do hard core wheeling to be honest. My rig is not quite as capable as I want it to be, but even if it was a 7 out of 10 is pretty much where I draw the line.

You mentioned that you have questions about what to do to your rig to keep it both daily drivable and off road worthy at the same time. My biggest advice I can give you is wheel it the way it is for as long as you can before you start making any changes. I feel in love with wheeling when we bought my son a cheap xj (stock) for his first car. Took it camping with my son-in-law and his rig (rubicon) and did some crazy steep trails and I was hooked. I ended up buying myself a xj but it was already modified, the more I wheeled it the more I ended up up-grading from what the previous owner had done. I think the biggest thing I would try to do is no matter what you do lift wise I feel the most important up-grade to me is matching your gearing to your tires. Sure you can get away with 33"s and stock gearing but you pay the price both on the street and the trail!!! Mine had a 4.5 inch ĺift and 33" tires and no guts.

Hope to get the chance to hang with you some day out on the trails. :smiley_drive:

Very helpful thanks man. And yeah I’m a beginner.... I don’t want to hit crazy trails right now cause I don’t have someone to go with me or a winch to pull myself out yet.. and I’ll check out front range 4x4.
 
Note did not realize you stated you have a saharah, I think it probably has 3.73 gears which is a little under geared for your 33"s right now and will deffinatly be to far off for 35"s. If you had a rubicon you could pull it off, but it still would not be opptimal for daily driving.

I’m not sure what 3.73 gears means.. but my Jeep is very slow and damn near struggles going up hills, my last trail I hit going up the Rockies it told me “Hot oil” What kind of gears would be ideal if I got 35’s?
 
According to the factory build sheet on all Sahara Wrangler, the standard gear ratio is 3.21 (unless otherwise stated). Although the jeep is very capable as is, Your current 3'' lift with 33'' tires would/could might stress the system. Here's how to check what gears your jeep is installed with:

1) Run the vin number for the build sheet
2) Check the rear deferential for a stamp or tag located on the side or near the def cover.

I'm under the impression (unless you have documents the gears have been changed) you're running the 3.21 gears. If one wants to increase the tire size, one would need to research what gears can be installed in the current Dana deferential. In other words, simply replacing or upgrading the ring & pinion to an optional gear ratio may be limited as to what size you deferential is. Here's a reference chart of the most common def covers and their associating Dana numbers.

2rp9zb4.jpg


You're mainly interested in the Dana series numbers: 30, 35, 44, 60 etc Typically the jeep would or could have the 35 front & 44 rear. The Rubicon/Recon would have the Dana 44 front and rear. Note the greater the number posted on the Dana image above, the taller the def cover gets based on the larger ring & pinion set installed.

Getting back to your original question, I would sub to a local news letter or jeep group in order to participate in jeep trail rides. It's not wise to go off roading by yourself IF you've never done this before. Never go solo in the jeep or outside the jeep. Meaning always have someone to help you if you become stuck, have on and offline mapping or communications. Locate local off road training centers or mild training trails within a controlled environment. This would mean a small fee would grant you a day pass to drive a predesignated coarse/trail for beginners.

Gained a lot of knowledge from this, thank you!
 

JandDGreens

Adventurer
Yeah the reason I was thinking it might be 3.73 is some packages came with lower gear ratios (tow package) but if your gearing is 3.21 with the 33"s is would be much like my rig was. After my first trip with my rig to Slaughter house gulch, it was so bad that for the time being I traded my 33"s for 31"s just so I could fell confident my rig would have enough low end to run trail. Then swapping axles with lower gearing allowed me to move back up to 33"s. I still plan on swapping into 4.56 gearing in the future as my rig is not a dd it is my toy and still will be capable of driving across country (overlanding) just won't be leaving anyone behind.

I really love taking my rig to the trail and back, and really am grateful to be a part of the 4x4 crowd.

By the way FR 4x4 is not vehicle specific group. It is another thing I like about it, although there are great advantages to vehicle specific groups (ie knowledge, spare parts are going to help fix ur rig) I would much rather have a larger pool of people to go with so that I can go more often as I want to. If at all possible you don't want to have to leave your rig behind, have enough experiance people to at least get it to the teail head and get a tow home. If you have to leave it back in a trail you might come back to retrieve a shell as opposed to your vehicle. I am so disappointed in people when I see it first hand.
 
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Greg@RME

Adventurer
So the 2007-2011 Wranglers came with the 3.8 engine which makes a measly 200 HP.... they're pretty anemic stock and bigger tires will only make it worse. The 2012+ Wranglers have a different engine (3.6 Pentastar) that makes 285 HP and they can get away with bigger tires without re-gearing. If you have a Sport and are running either 3.21 gears or even 3.73 I would suggest holding off on bigger tires until you can afford to regear, your 33's and a 3" lift make the Jeep plenty capable to start in the world of offroad driving. Living in Colorado, you're going to need all the gearing you can get for the mountains. I would keep your JKU on 33's and save up to re-gear.

Here is a gear chart for your year Jeep, I would suggest you shoot for being in the Blue portion to make up for elevation. One chart is for a Automatic Transmission, the other is for a Manual.-
3.8-jkgearing.jpg



I'm on the Western Slope of CO, so I don't know all the 4x4 shops on the Front Range, but I have heard good things about Northridge 4x4 in Denver. They know Jeeps quite well and should be able to help you outfit your Jeep for your needs. Hope all that helps!

What else do you want to do with your Jeep, far as build? You mentioned bumpers... I'm running a Teraflex Explorer on the front, I like the winch mount and how it's narrow on the sides so I have a better approach angle for offroading. On the rear I have an Outback bumper, really like this one because it's built so it's tight against the body and has plenty of clearance, but it also has a big, flat surface on top. I have a roof rack and can stand on the rear bumper, to reach on top of my rack. Far as Winches.... I'm a Warn or Nothing guy. They build the best in the business and if I'm going to need a winch at my worst, then I want to know it'll work without fail. You mentioned tires, too.... I love BFG KO2 All Terrains. They are smooth and quiet on the road, work excellent offroad and last a long time. I'm over 30k miles on my 35's and they're just under 1/2 tread... and they've seen a LOT of offroad miles!

Hope all that helps!
 
Yeah the reason I was thinking it might be 3.73 is some packages came with lower gear ratios (tow package) but if your gearing is 3.21 with the 33"s is would be much like my rig was. After my first trip with my rig to Slaughter house gulch, it was so bad that for the time being I traded my 33"s for 31"s just so I could fell confident my rig would have enough low end to run trail. Then swapping axles with lower gearing allowed me to move back up to 33"s. I still plan on swapping into 4.56 gearing in the future as my rig is not a dd it is my toy and still will be capable of driving across country (overlanding) just won't be leaving anyone behind.

I really love taking my rig to the trail and back, and really am grateful to be a part of the 4x4 crowd.

By the way FR 4x4 is not vehicle specific group. It is another thing I like about it, although there are great advantages to vehicle specific groups (ie knowledge, spare parts are going to help fix ur rig) I would much rather have a larger pool of people to go with so that I can go more often as I want to. If at all possible you don't want to have to leave your rig behind, have enough experiance people to at least get it to the teail head and get a tow home. If you have to leave it back in a trail you might come back to retrieve a shell as opposed to your vehicle. I am so disappointed in people when I see it first hand.

I’m hoping to find a good group of people for expeditions, or overlanding, never tried overland but looks fun. When I go over bumps my Jeep is very stiff and wobbles a lot. I don’t know if that’s cause the shocks I have, they’re the rough country shocks.
 

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