TheDirtman

I just did one on a 2015.

jadmt

There have been a much lower numbers on other years but can happen on any year. I just read a post of a guy who just hit 300,000 miles on his jk. Heck face anything mechanical can have issues.

jadmt

Police cars when it is minus 20 they never get shut off.

TheDirtman

Really not building, just go buy a 2015+

Timm Jones

yes that would be ideal just don’t have the money for it. Realistically I was looking at an LJ rubicon as a base but with the family the 4 door is much more appealing. The reason I would want to start with the rubicon as a base is what is offered with them. I sold my tj mainly because I would have needed to buy a sye new driveshaft buy lockers wanted to swap out the front Dana 30 etc. all this was adding up really fast and used it as a weekend car. So trails wise for the tome being wouldn’t be using it for extremely crawling just some smaller not so difficult trails to get the family out of the house and enjoy the environment again. I know building aftermarket is always better than stock but the stock base of a 4 door rubicon sounds like it would ideally fit what I’m looking for for the time being

WaterRat72

2015 4-door Rubicon Hard Rock edition here. Purchased brand new stock. Then lifted, tires, bumpers etc. etc.

Here's my rundown at currently just over 90k miles:

• Replaced the left head at around 15k miles. (under warranty)
• Replaced the radiator at some point due to minor leak (under warranty)
• Replaced the clock spring (warranty was out but replaced free due to service bulletin)
• Replaced the oil cooler as it was cracked (out of pocket)
• Removed both heads and replaced blown head gasket (out of pocket... ouch) BTW, zero symptoms of a blown head gasket but if you're overheating and coolant isn't returning to the radiator from the overflow, this is most likely the reason! Just burp the system my ass!
• Still getting the intermittent P06DE code every now and then however the oil pressure fluctuated normally as it should so I just clear the code myself when it pops up. (It means the oil pressure sensor is stuck on high-pressure mode and it's located behind the upper and lower intake manifolds (PITA))
• Swapped out my worn ball joints for a set of heavy-duty Synergy (out of pocket)
• Battery replaced (out of pocket)

Aside from that, it's actually been a great vehicle and conquered the Rubicon with a 3" lift and stock axles and mostly stock components. The hardtop doesn't leak despite being taken off quite a few times in 90k miles. It still starts right up and purrs like day one off the lot. All in all, I don't regret a thing with this rig but it does have it's nuances. The 3.6 Pentastar leaves much to be desired but all in all it's not half bad.

If you can swing a diesel JL Sport and you aren't doing stuff that requires lockers etc., then I might consider that. Oodles of torque and much better mileage. Plus they are pretty inexpensive and have newer tech.

Timm Jones

thank you for that insight