Baystate Jeepers

Hello everyone. I just submitted my application. I recently purchased a stock 2015 black 2dr 6 speed Wrangler Sport. My mod list is probably typical lift, tires, wheels, control arms, regear, etc and it goes on. I bought this Jeep to have fun, meet people that wheel, and learn from their build experiences. Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated. I do have wheeling experience but compared to you guys I am a novice. Enjoy your weekend and I hope to meet everyone. I am having trouble posting a picture, when I figure that out I will post one.

Welcome to the forums!

Hi Mike, Welcome. There are a few of us in Northern Worcester County. I am in Ashburnham.

Fcgeek wrote:Hi Mike, Welcome. There are a few of us in Northern Worcester County. I am in Ashburnham.

I live in the Leominster area.

Just north of you in Pepperell. Welcome to the forum!

Just a little south in Enfield, Ct. Welcome and hope to meet ya soon. We have a great club and people. Ya cant be that new if you bought a lifted Jeep. I think you knew what you were gonna do with it. Did you do all the mods ? I just reread the post. Seat time is all thats needed to gain confidence . Hope you like camping as we have a couple weekends on the schedule . FjR68

Frank wrote:Just a little south in Enfield, Ct. Welcome and hope to meet ya soon. We have a great club and people. Ya cant be that new if you bought a lifted Jeep. I think you knew what you were gonna do with it. Did you do all the mods ? I just reread the post. Seat time is all thats needed to gain confidence . Hope you like camping as we have a couple weekends on the schedule . FjR68

I have not completed the mods yet. I have the list and very soon I will start ordering items, I am taking my time but hope to have the basics done before June. Save, spend, mod, repeat. The problems is the list keeps getting bigger lol. I read some of your posts about a locker and your support for the Detroit True Trac made the list. I should do the front and rear correct with those truetracs?

I cant tell you whats right for you. Our object is to help you understand in which order to do things so you dont spend twice. JK owners will have the best responses . My CJ is totaly different. In the world of lockers I can shed light on the subject. The problem is I dont know how you use your Jeep . A daily driver is mostly used on the street and a weekend in the woods. The second part of this would be how hard do you want to wheel . If you want to say wheel moderate to hard , Id say go with true lockers F&R. If you do a lot of road also , Id say a select-able lockers are the way to go. Being you dont have locking hubs in the front is where its tricky. I think for a newer person not choosing The harder trails right away , a True-Trac in the front is a viable solution to helping you off road without abusing your tires on road. It operates like an open diff and a limited slip off road. Its the strongest limited slip on the market and has gear drives Vs clutch packs. Any locker will have quirks to deal with on road , but you get used to them. Selectables are expensive but hands down give you the best of both worlds . Try to digest and reserch this , ask a lot of JK owners questions , and finally , Spend the cash once and get what you need instead of what you want . Good luck Bud. FjR68

Thanks Frank. I have been doing a lot of research on them and after I sent my question I realized that I did not include what I use my Jeep for. It is a daily driver (about 300 miles a week) during the colder months, I have a bike too. As far as wheeling I would like to be able to do handle moderate trails and maybe a tougher trail that is not insane. I am doing a regear in round one of mods so I thought this would be a great time to do lockers too.

Any JK owners that have a similar situation please jump in here your wisdom is valuable to me, thank you

Welcome to BSJ Eric, Check out Filthy Motorsports Diff Locker Comparison. It's about 30 mins. long but should help you understand lockers and how they work. The video will show you exactly how each type works. I live up the street from Frank and can attest to his savvy.

Since you are regearing and already investing in the labor, I would recommend spending the extra money and going with a selectable locker. I didn’t research much because I knew what I wanted, but I’ve heard that regular lockers can be a little qwerky in these newer vehicles with anti skid, abs and stuff like that. Just something worth looking into...

Skid plates and tires in my opinion are the first order of business. The under carriage of the JK is very exposed to rocks and such. Hard Rock makes a good set of bolt in skid plates. Rock sliders are also a very good investment. Also consider upgrading the factory cross member when you are doing the skids. The JK has a terrible cross member that easily gets mangled with moderate wheeling.

Good luck and hope to see you on the trail!

Personally I have a 2.5" lift with springs and shocks, 35" Nitto trail grapplers, rock hard transmission and engine skid and sliders. The Jeep does fairly well and still drives down the highway nicely. I also did a synergy tie rod upgrade as well and am fairly comfortable tackling most of the trails we can hit as a club.

Thanks guys for all the feedback and suggestions, it's all great information. My mod list keeps getting longer lol. If I choose to do lockers I believe selectables will be the right way to go after the amount of time I put into reading about them today. I would want something I can use wheeling but disengage while on road commuting.

Hoodoo I live not far from you, 20 minutes. My JK is a 2015 and I think I am looking at a very similar setup as you. Did you replace the crossmember? Did you do a locker? I would like to wheel moderate trails and some trails that are slightly above moderate but not insane.

Thanks guys. Keep the suggestions coming I really appreciate it.

If you get the skid plates before you trash the crossmember it will be protected. I didn’t get the skid plates right away and destroyed mine

RandyCarol wrote:If you get the skid plates before you trash the crossmember it will be protected. I didn’t get the skid plates right away and destroyed mine

Damn, tough lesson learned but a bunch of wisdom gained.