I went on my first rock crawling trail thanks to the great guys in the Black Hills Jeeps club in South Dakota. They hosted their 10th Annual Jeep Camp 19-21 Jun. I had a great time and there are some great trails in the Black Hills. I only saw a couple of them but the ones I went on were fantastic. I want to give you my impressions on the fantastic rocky trail (Iceman to be more specific) as a first time crawler.
First my Jeep:
2013 JK Unlimited (Daily Driver)
2.5 Terra Flex Lift, AEV Geometry Correction Front Control Arm Drop Brackets, Custom Steering Stabilizer Relocation, Rancho RS9000XL Shocks, Synergy Rear Lower Shock Mounts, Custom Front and Rear Lower Control Arm Skids, Four X Doctor Front Diff Guard, Custom Front Spring Retainers, Custom Evap. Canister Skid, factory rock rails, 35in Duratrac Tires on 17in Pro-Comp Xtreme Wheels, Bushwacker Flat Flares, Stubby AEV Front bumper, and an Engo 10k winch.
Other than the above items, it’s stock. Automatic Trans, Dana44 limited slip rear diff., Dana30 open front diff. 3.21 gear ratio.
Here’s what I learned from the experience:
Before we hit the rocks, I lowered the air pressure on the Duratracs to 10 psi. This proved to be too soft so I went back up to 15 psi which was about perfect. The Duratrac tires are a lot mushier you’re your average mud tire. I was satisfied with the performance of my Jeep. I got where I needed to go but as always it could have been better. A 4 inch lift would have been better than a 2.5 as would 37 inch tires. I’m sure it would have cut down the number of times I heard my jeep bottom out. Locking diffs. would have helped also but not as much as I thought they might. I was only high centered once and I know if I had a locker or 2, I would have probably kept going. I can definitely see the advantage of lower gear ratios now. It isn’t a lack of power but the ability to maneuver without surging the engine to go over obstacles. It is easy to go too far over an obstacle and into the next one. Lower gears would provide much more control. I wouldn’t want to go too extreme because I still drive this every day. Perhaps 4.54 or 4.88. I now know where I need to add skid plates. The factory fuel tank skid took a beating. I will definitely add one there. I also will be adding a skid for the rear diff. One that protects the entire bottom all the way to the CV joint on the drive shaft. The factory transfer case skid seemed to hold up just fine. I may add an engine skid also even though I don’t think it was needed for this trip. When funds allow, I want to replace the Dana30 with an aftermarket axle assembly. I was ok for this trip but I feel that I was pressing my luck a bit. Probably try a Dynatrac ProRock 44 or something like it.
I know there are many more things I can do to my Jeep to make it better, but keep in mind that this is still a daily driver. I need to try to keep it street legal (mostly anyway). This is just my very limited impressions on my trip so you professional rock crawlers try not to be too hard on me.
Here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what it was like. Believe me…there were some much rockier sections to the trail.
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First my Jeep:
2013 JK Unlimited (Daily Driver)
2.5 Terra Flex Lift, AEV Geometry Correction Front Control Arm Drop Brackets, Custom Steering Stabilizer Relocation, Rancho RS9000XL Shocks, Synergy Rear Lower Shock Mounts, Custom Front and Rear Lower Control Arm Skids, Four X Doctor Front Diff Guard, Custom Front Spring Retainers, Custom Evap. Canister Skid, factory rock rails, 35in Duratrac Tires on 17in Pro-Comp Xtreme Wheels, Bushwacker Flat Flares, Stubby AEV Front bumper, and an Engo 10k winch.
Other than the above items, it’s stock. Automatic Trans, Dana44 limited slip rear diff., Dana30 open front diff. 3.21 gear ratio.
Here’s what I learned from the experience:
Before we hit the rocks, I lowered the air pressure on the Duratracs to 10 psi. This proved to be too soft so I went back up to 15 psi which was about perfect. The Duratrac tires are a lot mushier you’re your average mud tire. I was satisfied with the performance of my Jeep. I got where I needed to go but as always it could have been better. A 4 inch lift would have been better than a 2.5 as would 37 inch tires. I’m sure it would have cut down the number of times I heard my jeep bottom out. Locking diffs. would have helped also but not as much as I thought they might. I was only high centered once and I know if I had a locker or 2, I would have probably kept going. I can definitely see the advantage of lower gear ratios now. It isn’t a lack of power but the ability to maneuver without surging the engine to go over obstacles. It is easy to go too far over an obstacle and into the next one. Lower gears would provide much more control. I wouldn’t want to go too extreme because I still drive this every day. Perhaps 4.54 or 4.88. I now know where I need to add skid plates. The factory fuel tank skid took a beating. I will definitely add one there. I also will be adding a skid for the rear diff. One that protects the entire bottom all the way to the CV joint on the drive shaft. The factory transfer case skid seemed to hold up just fine. I may add an engine skid also even though I don’t think it was needed for this trip. When funds allow, I want to replace the Dana30 with an aftermarket axle assembly. I was ok for this trip but I feel that I was pressing my luck a bit. Probably try a Dynatrac ProRock 44 or something like it.
I know there are many more things I can do to my Jeep to make it better, but keep in mind that this is still a daily driver. I need to try to keep it street legal (mostly anyway). This is just my very limited impressions on my trip so you professional rock crawlers try not to be too hard on me.
Here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what it was like. Believe me…there were some much rockier sections to the trail.
