Baystate Jeepers

Hi everyone,

Just accepted as a member and looking forward to meeting people and hitting some trails. Have owned a couple of Grand Cherokees over the years, and this is my first Wrangler! Had been looking for a long time, and my wife finally pushed me to buy one. 2017 JKU Sport S Package 24S and 265/70/17 BFG KO2 ATs.

No major mods yet: Side step rails, synthetic air filter, bolt in front grab bars, rear seat recline.
Future mod wishes: lift and larger tires, front bumper with winch, tube doors.

Have some off-roading experience, beach driving and hill climbing when younger in a self modified baja bug. Does anyone remember the Assonet sand pits in the late 70s/early 80s? (houses there now)

Welcome to the club, hope to see you at some of our events this year.

Welcome Dude In the way of mods , may I suggest you talk to other 4 door JKs first. Which ones you do first can save money when you get to 3 & 4. Even a 2 door needs are different than yours. Simple things like a lift kit , some come with everything , some you add other parts from other brands or used from someone. Can save money but sometimes cost more in the long run. When you say larger tires , This my friend opens a huge can-O worms. Is yours stick or auto ? It is a necessary and expensive combo of jobs to be done. The gear ratios have to be change when you get much bigger tires or it cost you in performance and gas mileage. Speak to other JK guys , look back in the web history. Good luck with your build , hope to see ya at the spring meeting and on a trail. FjR68

Welcome! You made a great choice joining BSJ! I have only been with the club for 1 year but have attended the 101 and a few class VI runs with my stock 2014 4dr Sahara. It looks like your KO2s have plenty of tread so I would hold off on a lift and bigger tires and wheel it as is for a while. Just look for the BSJ runs that are stock friendly. There are many of them. You may need to be a little more careful picking your lines, but that will also make you a better driver off road. Once you’ve been out a few times, you can then decide if you want a 2” lift and 33’s or if you want to go bigger. As Frank said, going bigger opens a huge can of worms and a huge whole in the wallet. Skids are great 1st off road investment. I added the Rock Hard Oil/Tranny skid. The factory gas tank and transfer case skids have held up so far. You may need to rethink your side step. Not sure if that is aluminum or steel but that could take some hits.

Thanks for the great advice! There's so much to learn going forward. I definitely want to proceed cautiously. The KO2s have 2,000 miles on them, so seems almost foolish to toss them already. Given this is not a Rubi with the Dana44 up front, I have heard that running 35's can be a risk. I understand about the gearing and other changes a lift and larger tires would require, so not something I will rush into. And yes, those are aluminum side steps, bought more for inexpensive "look" than function. Hmmm, may rethink them. Skids would be a great investment too. Thanks again! Hope to see you on the trails!

Welcome to Baystate

Any of roading you do , even with 33s can damage the front axle on a JK. There are a couple fixes for it that can be done without putting you in the poor house right off the bat. Sleeving , and or the inner -C- gusset kits, a truss, will be a great way to start so when your ready to do more you can. Asking questions is the best way to find out what other JK owners have done to beef them up. FjR68

Gary, enjoyed meeting you at Jeeping 101. It was fun to follow you down the trail too.

Welcome to BSJ.

Bob & Donna, Great meeting you at the 101 as well. Thanks again for the video you took! Hope to see you around town for a wave. Keep in touch with other trail rides you are thinking of doing.

Welcome...

tunatoo wrote:Bob & Donna, Great meeting you at the 101 as well. Thanks again for the video you took! Hope to see you around town for a wave. Keep in touch with other trail rides you are thinking of doing.

Yeah, we're trying to figure out what's next. Trying to stay with "stock friendly" runs for a while.

Have you considered the **** ** run at the end of April?

I saw that was an instructional/newbie run. I agree I'd like to stick to stock friendly with a little less rock scraping lol for a while. Has anyone received the evite for this weekends run? I'm wondering if evites with more info usually come out sooner than later to give time to make decisions.

Evites come out atleast 2 weeks before but usually 3. Check your spam box if didn't get it. Just to be clear the 101 rock scraping was about as mild as it gets. Even class 6 roads have rocks on them.