New JL - Rubi vs Sport for basic Overland travel

[kerouac]

We are currently in a very well put together 2wd Vanagon (LSD, lift springs, AT tires) but desire true 4wd and something newer/more reliable. We are thinking the new JL with an Ursa Minor Pop top would be a serious consideration. My question is...for general overlanding, where you want to explore Fire Service roads and find unique off the grid camping spots, do you really need a Rubicon? Will the 4wd drive capability in the standard Sport model suffice?

We know the living space will not be the same as the Vanagon but our belief is the stock 4wd JL will get us into spots (and back home....lol) that our van simply can't.

Any thoughts or input is appreciated

 

[Captain Texas]

If you're not doing serious rock crawling, meaning not going to use lockers or use the swaybar discos a lot, then a sport should work just fine.

Of course, it's a Jeep meaning you can build it to pretty much surpass a Rubicon if you wanted. Wranglers in any trim are the most offroad capable vehicles from the factory on the market IMO.

 

[Buliwyf]

The Rubi has dfferent axles, 4.0 low range, and at least an extra inch of clearance. Rubi is $5k more, but you'll dump $3k into wheels/tires on the sport. I'd just get the Rubi and be done with it.

No idea if the sport axles are any good,and lockable. My yj was ok with open diffs, but I got rid of it before I could put locked 44's in. It was pathetic in slippery, muddy conditions. In the dry, it was fine.

 

[GB_Willys_2014]

The only Rubicon feature I would like on my Willys is the transfer case.

Otherwise, I agree that the non-Rubicon is plenty capable, especially if you are going to modify it anyhow.

For example, if you want to change the differential gear to a higher numerical (lower) gear, then I think the cost premium of the Rubicon is questionable.

FWIW, my best mod was 4.56 gears.

 

[shortbus4x4]

If you are going to keep it stock then get the Rubicon. If you want to modify it then start with the sport.

 

[ratled]

If you are going to keep it stock then get the Rubicon. If you want to modify it then start with the sport.

^^^^^ THIS^^^^

Any rig can do a fire service road under the best conditions. Where Jeeps, any model, comes into play - and what I am reading into your questions - is that when things don't go as planned you have the Jeep to to get you back to the plan. ie you have a nice trip planned to "that spot" and you wake up to the unexpected snow, or the rain didn't seem that bad but now the not too bad fire service road is heavily rutted and washed out a little. As stated, a Sport model if you want to do a bunch of mods, a Rubi if you want to load and go. The upside to the Rubi is right out of the box it comes with an Easy button (lockers) to make a quite a few problems just go away

ratled

 

[STREGA]

Maybe get a JK instead of the JL, sounds like there is some bad weld issues with the JL. Save some $$$ that could cover the Sport/Rubi price difference.

 

[American Jeeper]

I have been building my JL Unlimited Rubicon for the last several months for wheeling but also longer camping/overlanding trips. You would be just fine with a Sport in most cases, but if you think you might need lockers or want larger tires the Rubi may be the way to go. They are really price gouging on the Rubi’s right now because of the demand, so if I did it again it would be tough. I had three JK’s (2 Rubi, 1 sport) and it’s tough to go wrong with a Jeep Wrangler.

The welds are an issue but you just need to check them before you take delivery. Here is a little overview video I posted a while back that could help you decide on JK vs. JL and another on some gear I take currently. I have some other JL vids too:

 

[bdog1]

Even if your not pushing it to the max I’d rather grow into the rubi than grow out of the sport. Resale will pay back a portion of that 5k


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[vtsoundman]

Rubicon everytime: unlock front swaybar, lockers, transfer case, stronger axles, ground clearance. All of this from the factory with factory engineering for a few k more? No brainer. I own an 07 JKU Rubicon, and i have NEVER once wished for a lesser crawl ratio, weaker axles, manual sway bar disconnects, etc. Am Ursa Minor plus all the gear with overlanding means a heavy jeep. Keep it strong, keep it overbuilt...less worry & issues with it over the long term.

The "If you are going to keep it stock then get the Rubicon. If you want to modify it then start with the sport." is something I used to say...but no longer. That mantra really only applies to people going to deep into the hobby (ex: 37/40 or larger, rock crawling or desert speeds). Swapping out axles is very very expensive and is necessary for a small subset of the sport...same applies to transfer cases....A lightly to moderately modified Rubicon is a damn capable machine. If you can get the stronger axles, a rear locker, and the better crawl ration for less than $5k, then by all means get a Sport. But the math doesn't hold.

Forest service roads are getting worse. Period. The government is spending more on pensions and random environmental remediation than it is on basic maintenance of service roads and forest maintenance in general. Spend much time out west? How about the Sierras? There are some forest service roads that should be called trails and assigned a difficulty. I once drove many many miles on a 'primary' service road denting skid plates, in & out of lockers, and constantly in 4lo...I then came to a better cared for road, barely needed 4hi, and didn't touch the lockers or skids. ...the better cared for road? An OHV trail...

 

[Bobzdar]

All JL's have BLD (brake locking diff) so can do 90% of what a rubicon can do. Most people never need that last 10%, so a sport or sahara is perfectly adequate. Most that buy a Rubicon do it for looks anyway.

A good set of mud terrain tires will allow a sport or sahara to out do a stock Rubicon on it's BFG a/t's, even with all it's fancy gizmos. Of course that last 10% is what gets you stuck, but you have to be realistic about whether you'll actually get into that kind of thing. Also, contrary to what many say, the lockers and sway bar disco on a Rubicon are helpful for more than just rocks. The lockers are handy in mud, the sway bar disco really helps traversing ditches and washouts etc. The extra clearance of a stock rubi helps a little as well. But good tires will help more than all that together.

Fwiw, I have a JL Rubicon and got it nice and stuck, despite the lockers, sway bar disconnect and all it's other fancy stuff. I pulled it out with my '83 land rover 109 that has nothing fancy anywhere on it, leaf springs, open diffs but some heavy duty mud terrains and a winch. Not the fault of the rubi so much as me traversing a muddy area in the dark and not paying close enough attention and sinking in where those BFG's don't really work well. Point remains though, good tires for the conditions will beat all that fancy stuff with mediocre ones.

 

[Happy Joe]

Here is another vote for the Rubi (especially if you intend to go off road)... for road trips any vehicle works.
The biggest advantages of the Rubicons are the better axles (and better axle gear ratios) along with the factory lockers (lockers make up for many sins/deficiencies off road, especially for the inexperienced).
IMO, 4:1 transfer cases are a waste of effort for most folks (non extreme off roaders) especially with automatic transmissions (as on my current Rubi) they have a place though, if attached to some old timey four speeds (did one behind a T-176 with fair to good results; used it in first gear maybe 2% of the time; and only when doing; vehicle damage almost certain trails).

There is nothing magic about 4WD vehicles some folks can get anything stuck... and conversely some incredible drivers can drive around them, in 2wd (sometimes).
As noted by Bobzdar traction starts (and often ends) with the tires and driver.

Enjoy!

 

[ivers]

I went with a sport for the JK, if you want to keep a JL stock (wich is impossible) the rubicon can fit 35.

 

[Buliwyf]

A jeep, just isn't a jeep without lockers anymore. It's a shame the Rubi lockers aren't available in all of the models.

 

[Blue Baby Sound]

For your stated purpose we chose the Sport, I prefer the 2.72 t-case over the 4:1 for overlanding.
My Rubi has the 4:1 and I prefer it for rock crawling.

Good luck!