Rock Hands

I 've got an 08 sahara 2-door. Pretty much stock. About to get my PSC front bumper and sliders from the powder coaters soon (Could they go any slower?)

Anyway, I'm trying to decide if I should build this rig, or trade to a 2-door Rubi . If I do the latter, I'd like to see what 2012 brings in the engine department.

My goal is to put an OME LT, 5:13 (Sahara) or 5:38 (Rubi), add lockers to the Sahara, 35's, and some armor and call it good. If I swap the front axle in my Sahara and regear the rear, I'm looking at 6k locked + install. More like 1500 if I regeared a rubi? Also would have to go with a salvage nv241or (900) or ball up and pull the trigger on a rubicrawler (1700) if I keep the sahara.

My local dealer is lukewarm on modding my current rig as I bought it in another state and they want to sell me a new one of course. However, they are lift/mod friendly and are known to stand behind their lifts after the sale... They offer their own limited lifetime warranty and folks seem happy with the service. I don't want to get lost in the warranty issue, but I plan to build and keep whatever rig I start shoveling cash into...

I've managed to read myself into utter confusion on the subject. Although, I've picked out the hardware, the trade to a rubi question lingers... Any opinions on this?

smuhhh

Hard choice. If you have the money to modify your Sahara, I think you'd be much happier with the end result, but the 2012 looks like a nice unit too.

JayKay69

I say you keep the one you have and mod it the way that you want

L1Star

Build up the Sahara

Sahara is a great loaded platform to start from, I may bee in the minority here, but I love my painted fenders...had to replace the stock and bushwacker fenders on my TJ when the sun had its way with them over the years.

Like the other posters have said though, depends on the amount you plan to build up.
I couldnt decide on the Rubi or Sahara when buying mine, came down to the sahara was blue, rubi was green (my bro has a green one so that was out), and sahara had mygig, remote start, pretty much everything. I knew I wasnt interested in re-gearing, new axels, etc. I wanted to choose the lockers as well.

My new sahara will be getting 33s (on 17s), 2" lift, AEV bumper, gobi ranger rack and lights and lockers and thats about it...I have and plan to take it on a lot of trails, but I have been wheeling since I was 16 and have never needed anything beefier than that....Much props to the rock crawler crowd, those rigs are sick, just not my speed.

Matador

The amount of money you will lose trading in your JK now will not be worth it. You could use the money that you would have lost and build yourself a sweet Jeep.


keep the Sahara and build it!

jeep2007

Build it! I love new too, but yours still is new.

Wolf Moon

Lots of good input so far. I'll echo the fact that the economy sucks and rather than losing money on the trade-in, spend it on mods. The Sahara is very capable. I also have an '08 2-door Sahara, and I've been modding the crap out of it for a little less than a year. I couldn't be happier. In the long run, whether it's an X, Sahara, or Rubicon, they all mod the same. Build yours according to how you want it to perform for you.

GreenJK07

I agree. Build the sahara.

JCKnauer22

Stick with the Sahara. You'll save money in the long run. Build it to what you want and be happy with the results. You will save money in the long run and you'll love your Sahara that much more. For what you lose in the trade you'll be much happier spending that money on mods.

RescueGreen#3

X3 on the sahara.

I'd just put in an ARB locker and get knobby 32" meats on there and call it good. VERY capable.