jeep rubicon

[Lloyd Smale]

Im going to be buying a jeep for a retirement present soon. Not a new one but a newer one with low miles. Im thinking on a rubicon and was wondering if anyone here has owned a standard one and a rubicon and what they thought of the advantages and disadvantages. I guess what really makes me want one is the air lockers and the dana 44 front end. I guess what im more neverous about then anything is gas milage. How much does the 410 gears hurt in that aspect.

[R.W.Dale]

Im going to be buying a jeep for a retirement present soon. Not a new one but a newer one with low miles. Im thinking on a rubicon and was wondering if anyone here has owned a standard one and a rubicon and what they thought of the advantages and disadvantages. I guess what really makes me want one is the air lockers and the dana 44 front end. I guess what im more neverous about then anything is gas milage. How much does the 410 gears hurt in that aspect.

 If you're worried about at all MPG then simply DON'T buy a jeep PERIOD.

 I have a much lighter 91 model YJ with a 4.0 4 speed and 4.10 gears. Running fairly lightweight 265 tires I'll be doing outstanding if I average 18mpg, that's drivin like grandpa. NOW that being said my jeep actually gets better mileage with 4.10 gears than it did with the retardedly high 3.08's it came with originally. But I almost never go faster than 60mph either

 Air lockers are nice but unless you plan on hardcore offroading and rock crawlin you don't need them and won't miss them.

[Hairtrigger]

How many miles do you drive?
at 40000 miles a year the mileage is much more important than if you drive it only as a hunting vehicle and or in bad weather.

[STUMPJMPR]

Jeeps aren't known for Gas mileage...I have a 97 with a 4cyl. with 30x 9.50's and it only gets about 16mpg

[Lloyd Smale]

this vehicle will be basicaly a toy. Ive got a truck and a car so i wont be using it for everyday transportation but would like it to get 15 mpg anyway. Longest trip id need to take in it is the 45 mile run to camp. I was just conserned with the 410 gears that it would even get that good of milage. I dont need a 10 mpg vehicle.

[STUMPJMPR]

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calculatorSelectYear.jsp
I did it and it said 14-18

[GatCat]

I don't any experience with Jeeps, but I have read of quite a few folks who are not real happy after buying the Rubicon, the main problem with those folks is the very low low-range in the transfer case. It is really good for rock crawling, but it is too low for moving through sand, mud, etc. The Dana 44's seem like a great deal, and the air lockers engage only a low speed, but that can be bypassed.
Enjoy!
Mark

[BlkHawk73]

  Having a 98 TJ I'll add my 2 cents.  For most folks the Rubicon's extras will never be needed.   I've gone a LOT of places without 44's and without lockers.  I've yet to see anyone owning a Rubi that really needs those extras.  Heck, even 410's aren't a gotta have.  More driver sometimes than machine.  You'd be darn surprised what a reg TJ can accomplish.   Those Rubi extras will just cost you a bit more to buy and register as well as fix when that locker system goes down.

[j104wd]

the rubicon package is well worth the money if you ever decide to upgrade to lockers. they also have a small lift and sway bar disconnects that the regular tjs dont. as far as the 4low goes I rarely use it unless in hills. the good news is many of the people that bought them were just for looks so finding a good used on should be fairly easy

[Lloyd Smale]

i ended up buying a non rubicon. As a matter of fact its only a 4 cyl jeep. I got a deal i couldnt pass. My days of serious off roading are over now anyway but ill argue the point of the lockers not being a great thing. Ive done enough very serious off roading when i was young. I was in a 4x4 club and we went on some very hairy rides. One thing that was about manditory for making these trecks was a posi in both the front and rear of your vehicle. It makes a BIG diffence in the real bad stuff. I can also see where the sway bar disconect would come in handy. As to the low gears in the transfer case i doubt for most people its an advantage as with 410 gears and the standard low range you can go about anywhere and sometimes you need a burst of speed to make it though things and it would limit that. Im sure it would be great for rock climbing and an advantage if you go to a big lift and real big tires but in that case a guy is probably going to switch to 488 gears anyway. We ddnt do alot of rock crawling and when we did I still had plenty of power. Now that sway bar disconect would have been great as many times i hung a couple wheels in the air that would have been on the ground if i had something like that. I didnt run jeeps back then i ran lifted chev shortboxes with big lifts and 40-44 inch tires as like i said we mostly did mud. Best two vechicles in our group in the real rough stuff were a landcruiser and a jeep. Both had v8s in them and both had the front axle locked solid and detroit lockers in the rear. they were both amazing as to where they could go and never ceased to amaze me. If you used a 4x4 enough youve been stuck and its a royal pain in the ass and anything i could have to prevent it is a real good thing. Ill never put a posi in the front of this little jeep as i just dont want to spend the money and dont feel i need it anymore but sure wish the guy that had it before me would have put one in. Most of your traction in a 4x4 comes from your front wheels and two of them pulling sure makes a BIG difference in ANY vechicle.

[STUMPJMPR]

The little 4 cylinder does fine I have been in some pretty bad bogs with mine and walked right through them.....I bought an 8000lb smitty winch and put on mine....Its just a chinese...It was only $300 shipped....I have never used it to get myself out but its a little extra piece of mind....The added weight did make my front end sag about 2 inches so i'm going to add some coil spring spacers to level it out....

[j104wd]

the bad thing about a front posi or locker in that type of jeep is they dont have hubs to unlock so your front driveshaft may spin and cause a high speed vibration. unless you spring for an exspensive selectable locker. congradulations on your purchase throw some mud tires on it and go have fun.

[R.W.Dale]

 The front drive shaft spins on any solid axle Jeep without a Center Axle Disconnect or CAD. Locker, limited slip or Open diff. So it's really a non issue

[Lloyd Smale]

the front posi in a jeep is a limited slip not a true locker. They dont enguage until they sense a wheel spin.  I ran limited slip front posis in the day on full time four wheel drive chev trucks and you didnt even know they were there till you needed them. Now im sure a detroit locker woud give the symtoms your talking about. The rubicon has an air locker in the front and is a open system until you enguage it. Its either totaly on or totatly off.