Planned Upgrades to my 2012 JKU Rubicon

[ChrisL]

Randy: Impressive! I am not so sure that my jeep saw much offroading before I owned it.

How do I protect my front and rear diffs? Should I buy cast iron covers? Metal Cloak makes a rear diff skid, but does not seem to make a front skid.

Chris

[KenCal]

Check out Poison Spyder diff covers, {bomb proof}. Their commercial was two guys with a 15lb sludge hammer taking turns beating on one of the PS diff covers for 20 mins. or so. Impressive and is why purchased them for my jeep almost 4yrs ago. Plus they are not as expensive as others.

[BlackKnight]

I Concur with KenCal...

I have the Bombshells on both the front and rear Diffs of my JKU, installed with Lubelocker gaskets and have not a single regret or issue...

[BlackNBlue-ISH]

I've been running SOLID diff covers for years. Zero issues and I was running just 31's for a long time (I didn't drive past a rock without smacking a diff).

[ChrisL]

The Poison Spider covers are hard to beat for the price. Any issues with my elockers or the stock trackbars I should be aware of?

The styling of the SOLID covers is more to my liking.

I really like the ballistic covers as well, but their pricing is very high.

ballisticfabrication.com/collections/differential-covers/products/jeep-rubicon-dana-44-differential-cover

Thanks,
Chris

[BlackNBlue-ISH]

not sure about your JK, but i get within 1/8" of my cover with my stock steering tie rod on my TJ.

[BlackKnight]

Haven't noticed anything with the OEM tie rod and the JKU Dana 30 front Bomber diff cover. No scratching, not rubbing (yet?).

[ChrisL]

Thanks, Poison Spider diff covers ordered! Looks like the sorted out clearance issues plus fill level issues with stock diffs.

Now I have to figure out a rear tire carrier which I see there are plenty of threads on. I want something that will hold my hi lift jack.

Where are you guys ordering your snatchblocks and other recovery gear? I looked at the Warn snatchblock and it is nice that it is greasable, but still looks pretty cheap. I have seen a few folks refer to a cheap synthetic winch line on Amazon, I know a wire cable can store a ton of energy, should I swap out the cable now? The current wire cable is in good shape and is properly tensioned on my winch.

Chris

[Hoodoo Man]

I got about 5-6 years out of my synthetic winch line and paid about 100-150 bucks for it back then. For the most part, my winch was not covered, so it got photobleached over the years and did fail under winching at my camp in Maine this winter I tied the cable in a knot and kept going to get out of the stuck and the rest of the pull was fine. I know some old-timers prefer steel cable and my original steel cable or the unused steel cable will be good in another ten years but I plan to go synthetic again. Unless you spend a lot of time in rocks synthetic is very durable.

I did have an issue with my steel cable breaking once, I was at one of those "offroad parks" in NH that will go nameless wheeling with the people that were there (not the club) and some dope wrapped the steel line around a leaf spring cutting the cable neatly near the end. It was only a matter of unbolting the hook and re-attaching it with a shorter length after cutting back from the frayed end. No harm was done as it was early in the pull and I made all the bystanders go behind trees etc. and I had put a weight on the line. Sadly I could not see what they were attaching to over the berm of the hill so...

My biggest issue with the winch being uncovered and exposed is in winter wheeling the synthetic winch line can freeze to the drum and there is no easy way to get it unstuck aside pulling like hell.

[KenCal]

I have a cover on my winch when not wheeling, it protects the line from UV rays, dirt, bugs you name it. Also it is recommended, especially with synthetic, to pull out most of the line every 3 - 6 months to inspect, clean if necessary and respool with proper tension. As far as recovery equipment Chris check out Quadratec's winching recovery kit, tree saver, recovery strap, 2 d-rings,snatch, line dampener and gloves all in a heavy duty bag[$100 and free shipping].

[MDSRACING398]

Or buy from a company that makes stuff in the USA. Most of the time saving .5 cents is taking another american job away.

[ChrisL]

Or buy from a company that makes stuff in the USA. Most of the time saving .5 cents is taking another american job away.

That was my point about the Warn stuff, looked imported as well. Who do you suggest for American-made recovery gear?

Ken, I'll check out that kit too, thanks!

Jeff, I work from home and my jeep lives in a garage, so UV damage is not likely. From a safety perspective is it a "no-brainer?"

Chris

[ChrisL]

Well went ahead and ordered the Poison Spider shackles.

Got this upgrade over the weekend, now I can't wait until my rims come off their slow boat from China.

My Poison Spider diff covers came today. Sort of mad since I just replaced my diff oil last year.

My diffs are pretty scratched up, does it make sense to order the MetalCloak rear diff skid?

Chris

[BlackKnight]

Rear diffs are a matter of opinion, It's likely that you will not impact it As 90% of the time the object is to move forward. That said though If you have to throw it in reverse at any time you could. I did both of my Diffs at the same time with the Poison Spyder Bombshells, as I figured it's better to cover them both, as they (and the Diff Fluid for them) are cheaper than damaging/losing a diff on the trail due to damage. Not to mention I did all my armoring first, before lift and tires, so I did a lot of belly crawling the first year or so in the club.

[ChrisL]

I did both of my Diffs at the same time with the Poison Spyder Bombshells, as I figured it's better to cover them both, as they (and the Diff Fluid for them) are cheaper than damaging/losing a diff on the trail due to damage.

Bob, same here, I bought both front and rear diff covers. I am wondering if I should buy this as well just for the rear:

https://metalcloak.com/jk-wrangler-rear ... e-dsp.html

Chris