Bart's 2007 JKUR

Many of you know that I sold my beloved CYJ last week and started down a new path for wheeling. I've reached the point in life where I wanted something more comfortable to wheel and really wanted to drive a Jeep around town again. Also wanted to do some scenic stuff and have a trip to Silverton planned later this year. A friend made me a good deal on a fairly well built 2007 JK Rubicon and so it begins. It has 61,000 miles, a 3.5" Full Traction lift and sporting 35" BFGs for now. Also has a Ripp Supercharger, Kilby On Board Air plumbed front and rear, and a few other goodies. One thing I'll be removing this weekend is a 13 gallon auxiliary gas tank that is filled through the regular gas cap with a separate gauge and transfer pump. Cool idea and great for extra miles, but I don't need that kind of range.

Short term plans are upgrading to 37s and improving the ride a bit. Future plans include adding the Tera CRD60 I picked up from Davy, and then upgrading the front axle at some time. Way future is to transplant a 5.3 into it for better power and mpg. I don't want a power house, just something that can get me down the road at 80 without struggling.

 

[Hickey]

I'm excited to see what you do with it, Bart. Have you had a JK before? I can't remember.

 

[Jinx]

Very Cool Bart,
I have considered a similar route, for similar reasons.

I am just not ready, just yet...

 

[BlackSheep]

SWEET!!

 

[I Lean]

The auxiliary gas tank I added to my Cruiser is hands-down, the best mod I've done. I would 100% say don't remove yours, unless you really need the room for something else....

Even just driving around town, it's nice to not fill up as much. And when I follow @DAA around places, it's REALLY nice to not have to pack along an extra 4 fuel cans.

Other than that, nice bellybutton!

 

[SSR]

Very nice, sounds like it will be capable, comfortable, and fun!

I watched a supercharged JKU at Sand Hollow that was having a lot of fun in the sand. He could roll up to the bottom of the dune and then rip up it. Whereas my 5.3 I needed to carry some speed and have the rpm’s before hitting the dune. So when I hear supercharger I think fun power. What are the limitations of a supercharger that would make you consider a 5.3 swap?

 

[Bart]

The supercharger is fun for exactly the situations you mentioned. Spools up quick and provides good power. The drawback is the way Ripp tied it to the throttle and speed sensor, and the combination of the huge gear jump between 4th and overdrive on tranny with the 3.8. When you're on the freeway and using the cruise control it does great on flats or going downhill. When you go uphill it drops the huge gear which is jolt in itself, then when it reaches speed it shuts off, then on, then off, .... and cycles that way. It makes cruise virtually worthless, which is one thing I would like on trips to Death Valley and Baja, which is a reason I bought the Jeep for.

 

[pELYgroso]

Does a super charger improve or take away fuel economy? I drove to Moab a couple weekends ago and got 17.2 mpg's in my '09 JKU w/ 5.38's and 37's. I didn't believe the digital fuel display but I did the math and it was exactly correct. (and yes, I have the speedo calibrated to be exactly correct) On the way back I got about 16.5 mpg's. This is cruising at 70-75 most of the way and letting it get down to about 60 before I let it downshift and hold the speed up the bigger hills.

 

[Deleted member 12904]

When you're on the freeway and using the cruise control it does great on flats or going downhill. When you go uphill it drops the huge gear which is jolt in itself, then when it reaches speed it shuts off, then on, then off, .... and cycles that way. It makes cruise virtually worthless, which is one thing I would like on trips to Death Valley and Baja, which is a reason I bought the Jeep for.

I had a supercharged Tacoma that was like this. As soon as you put any kind of weight in it it would hate holding OD so drop a gear be in boost then up a gear. Never ending cycle that was annoying and all that time in boost killed fuel economy.

 

[carlojip]

Congrats! Sounds like you have a good plan for her.

 

[kmboren]

Nice bart. If your looking at longer trips like baja and CA maybe that extra tank will be useful. Does it take up a lot of cargo room?

 

[Bart]

Does a super charger improve or take away fuel economy? I drove to Moab a couple weekends ago and got 17.2 mpg's in my '09 JKU w/ 5.38's and 37's. I didn't believe the digital fuel display but I did the math and it was exactly correct. (and yes, I have the speedo calibrated to be exactly correct) On the way back I got about 16.5 mpg's. This is cruising at 70-75 most of the way and letting it get down to about 60 before I let it downshift and hold the speed up the bigger hills.

Not sure yet. The only highway driving I had was coming back from Laramie with a constant 25 mph head wind, and gusts to 60 mph. I got the low 14s with that weather. I'm guessing it actually hurts mpg plus I have to run high grade fuel.

Nice bart. If your looking at longer trips like baja and CA maybe that extra tank will be useful. Does it take up a lot of cargo room?

I hadn't thought of keeping it until you and Carl spoke up. The aux tank is where the muffler usually is, between the rear axle and rear bumper. I think I'll leave it in place for now and see how it goes.

 

[rholbrook]

I would like to see a picture of that fuel tank.

 

[Bart]

Did my first upgrade over the weekend. Found some limited edition stock Red Rock Jeep wheels and added some slightly used BFG KM3s. It already had spacers so they fit pretty decent. I just need to find a decent 37" spare for the 5th wheel. I'm also adding a pic of the auxiliary fuel tank skid that some have been asking about. I'll need to grab a pic of the filler neck so you can see how he incorporated the tank fill.

 

[mesha]

I love those wheels.

 

[zmotorsports]

Subscribed.

Looking forward to your build Bart. Mine started very similar as I wanted to be able to daily drive my Jeep as well as wheel it without issue. I love using mine as my daily driver/weekend wheeler as well as a toad behind our coach.

Mike

 

[Bart]

I made an attempt to keep the aux tank but I still haven't been able to pass emissions so the project last weekend was to pull the tank and put the Evap system back to stock. It was a pretty clever set up the PO had made putting 2 fill holes in the filler tube, and then plumbing the vent and transfer pump. After getting it out it was obvious where the leaks were, one in the sending unit and one in the vent line. Had to drop a rocker and the fuel tank to replace the vent line on the fuel tank. Glad that is over.

 

[Bart]

And so the fun begins. Picked up a TeraFlex Alpine long arm and bracket kit to go along with the CRD60 I picked up from Mesha a month ago. The old control arms had rubber frame side bushings and had degraded over the last 40k miles. Really excited to get this in before EJS.

 

[mesha]

are you going to put a 60 in the front too?

 

[Bart]

A lot has happened in the past month in preparation for EJS. We were not able to get new gears in the CRD 60 but will be fine for now with the 44. We did get the TeraFlex long arm and bracket kit in, and a 4 wheel alignment. Oh man, what a difference. I added a 1" puck each corner just to clear the 37s a bit better. Then I found a used Bestop Trek Top and got that on earlier this week.