Yep what he said...I did the same thing!Purchased only planning mild Mods, now sitting on 37s with coilovers Also Welcome to the Forum. Where are you in Cali?

If I had to do over knowing what I know now. I would have purchased the Rubi from the start. This would have saved me $ in the long run for lockers, Sleeves for the D30. Also with the Rubi I would of had the added benefit of the better transfer case and E-disco...Also I most likely would have ran the stock Rubi sliders for a while before putting $ out for replacements for the plastic running boards. Same is true for the stock Rubi suspension and wheels/Tires. Thats all $ that I could have put elsewhere but... you know what they say about hindsight ...Bottom line is, decide what you may potentially do with your Jeep and how long you plan on owning it...might be better to either get an X and build it up just how you want or get the Rubi and not have to do as much to it later...My Sahara is my DD, and I love all the mods and how she has turned out so far...
..reminds me I need some updated pics with the new front bumper, but you get the idea...


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My friends X's have gone everywhere my Rubicon has.. just took them a bit more effort.

I enjoy having the 4:1 low range more than any other rubicon feature.

 

Wooooaah hang on a second - all the rubicon from 07 to 12 have the SAME equipement: Front D44, electric sway bar disconnects, 4:10 gears, lockers and rubi sliders. Where things changes is the 10 has a new soft top which is easier to get up and down, then the 11 gets the new interior AND can not be tuner via a superchip or similar untill they crack the computer. Finally, the 12 gets the new 3.6 pentastar (which is a night and day difference between my 09 and my new 12) and also get the new soft top and can not be tuned either. The new 13 gets some new rims (which in my oppinion are horrible) and some useless led interior lighting along with new seats from the GC. Needless to say it also have the same equipement as the 12.

 

A sport with 28" tires will get you over 99.9% of trails!

Like others have said make a list.

Or if you know you will wheel with the big boys get a rubi.

We loved the interior so we went 11 vs 10 and did not want to wait for 12.

Underpowered. Yes. Can I mod the engine? No.

Regeared it anyhow and it's fine now. It's a Jeep not a sports car.

 

I have found that 100% of the time that having lockers makes any trail easier and hard trails more achievale.

When u get on the rocks and see a jeep cross twisted and the drivers front and the passenger rear have little to no weight they gotta be winched unless u got lockers or posi.
Guys without lockers always say its the line u take. What if that is the only line to take. Well either they back out and go around, or floorboard and fly through it and pray nothing breaks(these are the same guys with awesome i broke my axle shaft stories)
With lockers u can have slow control instead of desperate wheel spin.

The flip side of the arguement is this. Cost.
Are u gonna wheel enough to justify the additional cost of the factory upgrade? Lockers are another thing that will fail over time.

I understand both sides of the choice. I want lockers in my rig as a safety net but in the end, driver skill is the most important part of wheeling, the other stuff like lockers and swaybar disconnects just make it easier and selectable. U can have it and if not needed, dont turn it on. But its nice to know its there in a bad moment.

 

3 months ago I bought a 2011 Sahara with all options except the navigation. It was perfect condition with only 1800 miles on it. After doing some major studying on this forum and a few other sources I decided to save money in the long run to go ahead and trade up for a 2012 rubicon. Go pick it up tomorrow. The Sahara took me through trails that made me say "no way in hell in im going to make it through". But the 2012 rubi has the vvt 3.6, more horsepower and torque, slightly better mpg, 4.10 gears, electronic swaybar disconnect, Dana 44 up front, better stock tires, lockers, and 4:1 transfer case. The main reason I decided to abandon the Sahara is many people here say if you want 37s+ need a Dana 44 at minimum though some have had good luck without. I felt that I would save a little money in the long run and go with the rubi. Damn just realized tomorrow is the last day I will drive my first jeep!

 

Rubi no doubt

 

Depends on how much money you plan on sinking into the Jeep in the future... if you know you are going to go to 37's eventually then obviously start with the rubi for the stronger front axle... If you want to keep the entire rig under a certain price (Jeep plus Mods) starting out with Sport or Sahara might free up more cash for lift and tires.

When I bought my Sport I thought about Rubi but it would have cost me $6k more and I would have had to order it, all the rubis on the lot had tons of options that took the price to +8-10k over the sport I went with.

For 6k the Rubi package is an absolute steal and if I ever buy a wrangler again I will seriously consider it. (Maybe a 100th anniversary Jeep in 2041)

That said, I have less than $5k into my jeep and its sitting on a lift and 35 inch tires, rock sliders, skid plates, etc. So if I was on a limited budget I could have a stock Rubi, or a Sport on 35's... There are trails the stock Rubi could do a lifted Sport couldn't b/c of lockers, but there are trails my sport would do easier than a stock rubi b/c of ground clearance.

Bottom line is I wouldn't trade my Sport as it sits right now for a stock Rubi so if you think about how much you save by not getting the Rubi and putting that money towards mods then you might enjoy that Jeep better.

 

If you want a battle on your hands just to get warranty work, with all means, fire away.

 

X with lift/large tires > stock Rubicon