Weight/lift/performance issues for JKUR

[Ursusvitae]

Hello all,
I recently bought a '12 JKUR, stock, which for some reason had never left the pavement and only had 24k miles on it (I'll start up the obligatory build thread when I can figure out why it keeps on failing every time I try to upload a pic. Anyway...). I'm new to overlanding, but am excited to get some more adventures in.

First things first: My goal for the rig.
I'm looking to build it up to be moderately capable for multiple uses. I need slightly better than stock performance while wheeling, nothing extreme, but capable of getting me out there. I'm planning on sleeping inside it (did I mention I'm 6'3"- I know it'll be cramped- not an issue) and will need to sleep 2. I also need to carry enough gear for me to get out and be self sufficient for several days at a time away from everyone and thing. And finally I want to protect my investment, which means decent armor (front, rails, belly, rear). Current thought on lift is 2.5" while running 285/75/17s on take off hard rock rims. It won't be my daily driver, but needs manners on road for long trips at freeway speeds.

Things I don't want:
I don't want to need to regear (4.10 current). I don't want to have to swap out drive shafts or major components. I don't want to have to park it outside, so it needs to fit in my garage, which means gaining no more than 10inches in total height (wheels, lift, rack, etc)

That said, I'm seeing that all that starts adding up to a lot of lbs.

And all that to preface my primary questions about bumpers and weight distribution. I'm looking at rear bumpers, and I like the design and function of the Smittybilt XRC Atlas. But the thing is a beast, over 200lbs with the tire carrier. Add gear to that and that's 350-400lbs hanging off the *** end. As I said, I'm new to this- is that "normal?" What's an acceptable load that will enable me with a short lift to keep my wheeling capabilities "slightly better than stock." I could relocate the hi lift, but that doesn't really save that much weight off the rear.

Then we start adding armor, and really not sure how much that will add in total- still pouring over what is a want vs need.

So how much is too much weight? (and sorry for the long post, I meander)

 

[Kmrtnsn]

That tire/wheel combo will not work without wheel spacers. If you're set on that wheel style Quadratech makes the same wheel, a little wider with the correct offset for 149 each. For Armor you really don't need much, the EVO Protek kit is nice and includes everything you pretty much need. I'd armor the lower control arm mounts at the axle front and rear as the can take a beating, pick a manufacturer, they're all about the same.. I don't know why you want to sleep inside. Keep your gear inside, sleep outside. Condensation inside your vehicle is a pain when it is cold and ventilation/heat retention is bad when it is hot. None of your windows are screened so whatever bugs outside will be in there with you. Also, to sleep inside you'll need to build an elevated platform which may alleviate some of the gear storage issues but at your height it's still going to be cramped. I doubt you'd be able to sit up.



2.5" lift, LT285/70R17s, MBRB rack. Will NOT fit in garage.

 

[Weeds]

I have had my JKU since 2008, most of my accessories heavy. There is now a selection of aluminum bumpers, skids, etc. I would looking to these. I am partial to the Rockhard rear bumper, made in USA. I carries a good load and does not rattle.

I have even considered replacing my steel bumpers with aluminum.

I do not sleep in my JKU even though I am 5'6" tall. It is just too hard for this 66 year old body to crawl in and out especially for the late night pee.:Wow1:

Good luck and remember every jeep is modified to fit its owner. What works for me, may or may not work for you.

 

[Ursusvitae]

Thank you both.
I live in Socal desert. Sleeping in the jeep is preferred because of high winds in many areas. When I sleep in my Tahoe, I'm nice and cozy, while watching other campers struggle with trying to secure tents that are blowing away, or being buffeted near sideways. Granted, the jeep is much smaller, but with the pad I bought for Jeep, have already slept inside no problem.

I know I'll need spacers, and those will be put in when I switch from the stock BFGs and do the lift. That $800 for new wheels will have to come later.

Right now I'm trying to plan everything out so I don't have to do it twice. Trying to figure out how much weight I can add before I see performance issues, and what I'll need to do lift/suspension wise to accommodate that weight if I go over it.

200lbs for a rear bumper and spare mount seems excessive, but what the heck do I know, the spare mount in my Tahoe is a ratchet strap.

I'll look into the armor suggestions, thanks!

A thought I had was since I only plan on running 34s, if I went with a reinforced kit for spare tire carrier and a light bumper, I still might be able to fit a light rack and be short enough to fit in garage with a 2.5inch lift. (3.5inches of increased height with lift/tires should leave 6.5 inches of roof rack space.)

 

[Kmrtnsn]

I'd love to see a 200lb rear bumper, none are that heavy, up front with a winch that's easy but I don't think mine is even that heavy and I'm running full width and all steel. My recommendation is to get the AEV swing tire carrier. You can use it with the factory plastic bumper. If you upgrade later to the AEV it'll mesh seamlessly. With the AEV tire carrier you could add their fuel caddy too so that't eliminate Jerry cans. The water carrying capability of the AEV bumper has been useful to us, with about 6 usable gallons for the desert. Teraflex just released a rear door mounted rack but I have not looked at it in detail yet to see how it works with other accessories. Check out the Frontrunner roof rack, it might be low enough for your needs. They're in Calabasas so you can pick up local. I suggest you rethink going without a winch. They're worth they weight in gold when you need one and don't have it.

I'm running 33" tires, the roof rack, the AEV rear bumper, and a Warn Elite winch bumper with winch, and the Evo armor underneath. I have 3.73 gears and have been towing an SoCal Teardrop off-road trailer so equipped. Loaded for multi-day expeditions and we haven't had any "power" complaints. Where I have had complaints was in the Teraflex 2.5" lift kit, which was gutted in under a year and the springs replaced with OME 300lb front/600lb rear. When I bought it Teraflex didn't have theiy're outback suspension. That might be worth a look. When you lift look at OME, AEV, and the Teraflex Outback because of the extra weight carried. The Rubicon shocks I started with were dead in two years. Right now I'm running some really stiff gas shocks. The stiffness has all but eliminated sway with the roofrack loaded and when towing but around town empty it's like a dumptruck. I'll likely replace those with OME's too when they're done. You can't have everything so I get that to have great trailer towing and off road flex I have to give up some empty weight "streetability".

 

[Blue Baby Sound]

I found that when I'm loaded heavy the rear door would rub on the metal bumper (XRC), so I added a 1.25" BL to overcome that. Ended up removing the bumper and going with the EVO bumper delete.

As far as storage, I use the Teraflex shelf. It can hold 3 action packers+, leaving room for me and the wife to sleep below.

A few pics for visuals:

Shelf (peeping Tom optional):




Bumper delete:




Depending on how much extra weight you have you might consider rear axle shafts, that's one of the first things that failed for me. Bent flanges.
As far as armor, IMO diff covers front/rear and a engine/trans cover will get you 99% of the way there. The Rubi rails aren't very strong, I'd upgrade those when you have a chance.
Once lifted relocate your rear EVAP towards the drivers side to keep from tearing your boot under flex. Teraflex has a good video for that.
BRAKES, once you're heavier and have larger/heavier wheels & tires you should consider some sort of brake upgrade.

Good luck! At 5'8" I have no trouble sleeping in back, at 6'3" I'd imagine that's a challenge

 

[Jeep or Tacoma]

410 gears

ao if you have 410s then you must have a rubicon for as far as I know you can't 410s on anything else, correct me if I am wrong. That being said. There is a thread on on site somewhere jk waya, rub owners something that lists the weight of the bumpers. Sadly I put on a warn bumper good name right? bumper weight alone was 155lbs after adding a winch my form end had 1/2inch of space before it bottomed out I had to go with an OME 4 inch heavy duty lift. which turned out fantastic. MY rear bumper is a pretty in expensive one at about 475 including a tire carrier. so between the form bumper winch rear bumper and tire carrier. I have only about 1000 into it. last I checked for a nice aluminum bumper alone your looking at almost twice that. so you can easily be into 5grand by the time you do both ends.

Your concerns are well merited. about weight, however. so it becomes a budget trade more bucks = less weight.

I drive an 08 rubicon 4 dr with 410s, as for wheels an tires I am running 315 70 17 on stock wheels with back spacers and stock gearing. everyone said I would hate it I don't I just go a little slower. look carefully at the weight of the tire you choose.. Brand names like BFG are nice but agin very expensive. some are heavy too. Ironically my old falkens were really really good. they lasted an incredible 88,000 miles and were just barely down to the wear marks. 40 years ago I would have said yeah they're still good. but to be honest I was tired of the same tire. now I have Kelly Springfield safari which are very good but starting to get loud.

One absolute must is a transmission cooler. move it to the top of your list. You'll thank me later.

post some pictures and let us ee how it is going.

 

[Ursusvitae]

Apologies for not being able to reply earlier, and thank you for the input.

Thanks for the tip about the transmission cooler, I'll look into it.
I'll be looking to conserve weight where I can, while still being cost efficient. Don't think aluminum is an option right now. So will have to conserve weight as best I can. Still haven't figured out why it keeps saying my pics fail to load, will post some when I get it figured out.

 

[Ursusvitae]

I like the shelf, am looking at that myself. How many inches from the floor to the bottom of the shelf? I need to take some measurements, but am trying to see if i built a sleeping platform that would raise it about 3" to create a flat surface, if the shelf would still be high enough to allow foot movement without kicking metal all night.

 

[Blue Baby Sound]

I like the shelf, am looking at that myself. How many inches from the floor to the bottom of the shelf? I need to take some measurements, but am trying to see if i built a sleeping platform that would raise it about 3" to create a flat surface, if the shelf would still be high enough to allow foot movement without kicking metal all night.

I don't have measurements, but I'll get some when I head to lunch. The TF shelf is adjustable, mine's adjusted to give max space underneath while still fitting the action packers on top.
The pic above is with a 6" air mattress.

 

[seansheds]

Depending on how much extra weight you have you might consider rear axle shafts, that's one of the first things that failed for me. Bent flanges.
As far as armor, IMO diff covers front/rear and a engine/trans cover will get you 99% of the way there. The Rubi rails aren't very strong, I'd upgrade those when you have a chance.
Once lifted relocate your rear EVAP towards the drivers side to keep from tearing your boot under flex. Teraflex has a good video for that.
BRAKES, once you're heavier and have larger/heavier wheels & tires you should consider some sort of brake upgrade.

Good luck! At 5'8" I have no trouble sleeping in back, at 6'3" I'd imagine that's a challenge

What diff covers do you have? I've been looking at them and reading a lot of them have clearance issues with a lift.

 

[Blue Baby Sound]

What diff covers do you have? I've been looking at them and reading a lot of them have clearance issues with a lift.

Mine are the Teraflex https://teraflex.com/shop_items/528ffa7fead962f416e72f0c
Had them on for a couple of years with zero issues.

 

[seansheds]

Mine are the Teraflex

Awesome, thanks!


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