Where to begin?

So you came here to get your rig in condition to hit those crazy trails you’ve been eyeing up right? Well there is a good chance you have a solid background on basics of building your rig and so you may want to move to the next post. But if you want a refresher, this is the spot for you!

Overall, there are a few major factors that contribute to your rig’s capabilities: EXPERIENCE, tires, suspension, traction devices, armor, recovery gear. Armor and recovery gear don’t exactly affect capability but are equally important as the rest of the list, which will be explained later.

Experience is the number one factor on how far you can get down a trail, as it is the most important factor for anything you do in life. So of course the more times you get out on the trail and learn how to wheel, the more comfortable you will be.

Now…tires are, in our opinion, the single most important part on your rig to affect capability. In general, larger tires help allow your vehicle to roll over obstacles easier. Sometimes with smaller tires, you literally can not get over a large rock or obstacle. Most people these days aim to run 37s or 40s on their offroad rig, however you do not need to get tires this big to have fun. It really just comes down to the difficulty of trails you want to run. Your tires should really have good tread left, and be at least an aggressive all-terrain tire, or a mud tire (which there are many different kinds of too). The problem with putting bigger tires on your rig is that you start to push the limits of the factory axles. That is where our axle swaps come in to play!

Suspension can be a bit of a complicated topic if you want all the details, but we’ll try to keep it simple. There are different suspension types like leaf springs, 3 links, 4 links, 4 links with panhard bar (track bar). Typically leaf sprung suspensions have less articulation (AKA flex). Most stock Jeeps have 4 link with panhard bars which is a great setup but not so much when you’re looking for a ton of suspension travel because the axle does not stay centered under the body, so people often look to move to a true 4 link setup.

Traction devices are always fun. This usually means some sort of differential locker and there are many options- spool/lincoln, electric actuated, air actuated, cable actuated, automatic/lunchbox lockers. Each has benefits and drawbacks but all are excellent because they ensure that BOTH wheels on one axle have power to them. With standard open differentials, only one wheel gets power and that is the one with the least amount of traction, which means you aren’t going very far on a slippery surface or with a wheel in the air.

Armor won’t directly get you further down the trail, but you will go a lot further without a hole in your gas tank, transfer case, oil pain or transmission! The front, back, and sides of your rig will be happy to have some thick steel protecting them.

Recovery gear is a whole post in itself, but a winch and straps are critical if you want to do serious wheeling. Don’t forget about a roll cage too. You’ll wish you had it (and a diaper) when you’re standing with 2 feet on the brake pedal since your jeep stalled out and is sideways at the top of a hill climb….ask how I know.

Insert soiled pants here.