08/10/2026
John brought us his JLU as a stock Rubicon, but we worked our magic and transformed his rig into a certified Trail Beast!
We started with a Rock Krawler Suspension 3.5" Adventure X2 Long Arm that converts the rear to an independent 3-link configuration (2 lower and 1 upper control arms), so that that you gain 4.5" of ground clearance compared to a stock configuration, while also increasing off-road articulation. RK's rear truss system also beefs up the axle while converting it to a 3-link.
This was all paired with front Race Bump stop kit and their 2.5" Triple Bypass Reservoir Racing shocks.
The front axle also received an ARTEC Industries front weld-on axle truss, lower control arm skids and c-gussets for increased strength, while turning the new 37" Nitto Tire USA Trail Grapplers on 17" KMC Wheels beadlocks.
We also re-geared the axles with a set of Revolution Axle 5.13 gears and their rear chromoly axle shafts, along with a set of RCV Performance front CV axle shafts. A pair of Currie Differential covers capped the new gear set off with a pop of red.
For steering, our Doetsch Off-Road 2.5 TON 7075 Aluminum steering kit was added, along with a PSC Performance hydro-assist steering ram kit.
Moving on to armor, we chose a suite from MotoBilt that included their front &rear Crusher Series bumpers, weld-on frame mounted Rock Sliders, front & rear innder fender liners and rear HD tire carrier with license plate relocation kit. We stuffed some great usable lighting inside the front bumper via a pair of Baja Designs XL LED lights and SAE amber fog lights. A set of GateKeeper Off-Road knuckle light brackets were also mounted up and paired with Baja Designs S1 trail lights. On the a-pillar we added an additional pair of XL lights and our back, the rear bumper received a pair of Rigid Industries LED diffused back-up lights. A set of eight Baja Designs white LED rock lights rounded out the lighting mods.
Inside the Jeep, we installed a Rock Hard 4x4 Sport cage kit that was powder coated to match the exterior paint, while a Wolfbox 3-channel rear view mirror kit added a new front & rear trail camera system as well as a dashcam. We also added a pair of XG Cargo Gamma Adventure bags so that John could carry trail gear in the unused space along the rear roll bars.
And last but not least, under the Jeep, we installed a Magnaflow Rock Crawler cat-back exhaust system, as well as a set of Artec aluminum underbelly skid plates.