[OB1375] 2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Hard Rock - The Rube Goldberg Machine

[ovrlndr]

Great read! May I ask why you ended up with a sprinter? My wife and I have been going back and forth on vetting a sprinter or a truck. We love the idea of the sprinter but also want to do a little more off roading than I think the Sprinter can handle.

I've been jonesing for a Sprinter for a few years. I've got the Jeep for the moderate to heavy stuff off-road. To me, the Sprinter is not a replacement for the Jeep and vice versa.

I got the Sprinter because I am looking to use it as a mountain biking / hiking / snowboarding base camp, and for that purpose its more versatile than the Jeep (e.g. I can leave the mountain bikes / snowboards locked inside the van when not in use, the van will sleep more comfortably than my RTT and doesn't require any setup... just park it and camp is setup).

 

[ovrlndr]

Picking up where I left off, I limped back to Denver with a vehicle escort from our group. The QuikSteel patch held nicely. Frankly, given that it held all the way back to Denver, it likely would have held forever. If QuikSteel is not in your recovery kit, I suggest that you change that.

Anyway, when I got back to Denver, I had a Rally Point invite from @Corrie - Apparently they were rolling through Denver and were organizing a meet at Copper Kettle Brewing Company. I was pretty down about having to leave the expedition in progress, so this seemed like a good opportunity to make lemonade from lemons.

I rolled over to Copper Kettle Brewing Company, keeping an eye on the oil pressure gauge the whole way. I had few beers and had some good conversation with fellow Overland Bound members. It was also nice to get to meet @Michael and Corrie in person.

Michael also got this sweet picture of Rube with the OB rig. Was pretty cool getting featured on the OB Instagram!

 

[ovrlndr]

Fast forward a few days, and the dealer replaced my oil pan. After that, I reinstalled the motor / engine oil pan skid plate with the new, redesigned brackets (which arrived 2 days after I placed the call to MetalCloak about the issue). I checked the clearances of both brackets this time and was relieved to see quite a bit more clearance afforded, while not sacrificing clearance for the driveshaft during articulation.

A few days after that, I had a check from MetalCloak in hand for the oil pan replacement.

I ended up getting some good use out of the RTT this summer, despite the trip setback.

Here's a little summer / fall photo recap....

Out with my buddy and his two boys, teaching them that adventure is necessary.

 

[Fellow Jeeper]

After your experience with the oil pan and trip with the rtt, how do you like it over the rear of the Jeep?

 

[ovrlndr]

After your experience with the oil pan and trip with the rtt, how do you like it over the rear of the Jeep?

For a soft shell RTT... I like it, granted, I haven’t used the annex that came with it yet, but based on some “calculations” I did, it should work fine with the orientation over the back.

If I was doing the build completely over again? I would go Ursa Minor J30... and I still might do that at some point. If I end up building a JLU down the line, Ursa Minor for sure.

 

[ovrlndr]

We're almost caught up to present! Wow.

After the adventures of this summer, fall was upon us. But, before the Fall Equinox, we decided to send off summer properly - without doors!

We rode over Kingston Peak trail, starting in the mid-afternoon, to catch the sunset at ~12,000 feet. We descended into St. Marys / Alice in twilight / darkness and shot over to Blackhawk for dinner. Then, we turned around and came back over Kingston Peak in the dark, catching the stars under a clear night sky.

Before the trip pics, here's a look at the command center with my new Garmin InReach Explorer+ mounted (with power)

Those of you with eagle eyes will notice a very minor modification in the pictures below

A poor attempt at the Milky Way... I've nailed a few Milky Way shots in the past, but having the Jeep in the foreground and trying to light it added an additional layer of complexity that the larger group didn't have patience for On the camera screen, it looked like a solid capture, but the Jeep is out of focus. Try, try again.

 

[r2fasani]

We're almost caught up to present! Wow.

....

Those of you with eagle eyes will notice a very minor modification in the pictures below

Nice custom plate! [emoji1360]

 

[ovrlndr]

Nice custom plate! [emoji1360]

Eagle eye!

 

[ovrlndr]

Alright... So, finally... to catch us up to present, and probably the last Jeep trip post until spring (spring is when I take my big annual trip and usually do some modifications). Until then, if you want more build goodness or adventure reports from me... check out my van build thread... big things coming there soon!

I took a solo trip up to the famed Crystal Mill that sits right next to the (ghost?) town of Crystal to see the Aspens in blaze. The mill was built in 1892... and given how it's perched on a rocky outcropping, it's astonishing that it's still standing. People still live up there all year, so it's kind of hard to call it a ghost town, but it sure is a shadow of its former size. While up there, I met the property owner who's doing his best to keep the mill upright and out of the river, but it's hard to do as a single individual. You can make a donation to help preserve the mill in the town shop, which is open for business (I did just that), which allows you to walk down into the river (after signing a liability waiver). The property owner is trying to rejuvenate the little town and is fixing up some of the old historic cabins for AirBnB rentals, as well as allowing tent / vehicle camping on the property (also through AirBnb). He's also working on getting the old saloon opened back up, hopefully next summer.

Anyway, here's some pics!

 

[gabe]

Alright... So, finally... to catch us up to present, and probably the last Jeep trip post until spring (spring is when I take my big annual trip and usually do some modifications). Until then, if you want more build goodness or adventure reports from me... check out my van build thread... big things coming there soon!

I took a solo trip up to the famed Crystal Mill that sits right next to the (ghost?) town of Crystal to see the Aspens in blaze. The mill was built in 1892... and given how it's perched on a rocky outcropping, it's astonishing that it's still standing. People still live up there all year, so it's kind of hard to call it a ghost town, but it sure is a shadow of its former size. While up there, I met the property owner who's doing his best to keep the mill upright and out of the river, but it's hard to do as a single individual. You can make a donation to help preserve the mill in the town shop, which is open for business (I did just that), which allows you to walk down into the river (after signing a liability waiver). The property owner is trying to rejuvenate the little town and is fixing up some of the old historic cabins for AirBnB rentals, as well as allowing tent / vehicle camping on the property (also through AirBnb). He's also working on getting the old saloon opened back up, hopefully next summer.

Anyway, here's some pics!

Beautiful spot.

 

[gabe]

Alright... So, finally... to catch us up to present, and probably the last Jeep trip post until spring (spring is when I take my big annual trip and usually do some modifications). Until then, if you want more build goodness or adventure reports from me... check out my van build thread... big things coming there soon!

I took a solo trip up to the famed Crystal Mill that sits right next to the (ghost?) town of Crystal to see the Aspens in blaze. The mill was built in 1892... and given how it's perched on a rocky outcropping, it's astonishing that it's still standing. People still live up there all year, so it's kind of hard to call it a ghost town, but it sure is a shadow of its former size. While up there, I met the property owner who's doing his best to keep the mill upright and out of the river, but it's hard to do as a single individual. You can make a donation to help preserve the mill in the town shop, which is open for business (I did just that), which allows you to walk down into the river (after signing a liability waiver). The property owner is trying to rejuvenate the little town and is fixing up some of the old historic cabins for AirBnB rentals, as well as allowing tent / vehicle camping on the property (also through AirBnb). He's also working on getting the old saloon opened back up, hopefully next summer.

Anyway, here's some pics!

Beautiful spot.

 

[Justin Lackey]

So how have you lived the RTT? Was it worth it and had it really affected the capability offroad at all? Also how has the metalcloak lift handled being fully loaded with the tent and gear? The jeep looks awesome and is very similar to how I plan on setting mine up. Oh and your pictures make me miss colorado!

 

[ovrlndr]

So how have you lived the RTT? Was it worth it and had it really affected the capability offroad at all? Also how has the metalcloak lift handled being fully loaded with the tent and gear? The jeep looks awesome and is very similar to how I plan on setting mine up. Oh and your pictures make me miss colorado!

Well, if I had to do it all over again (and I might), I would go with the Ursa Minor J30 (but it's about twice the cost of my current setup). Capability off-road so far hasn't been impacted, but I haven't gone back to Moab with the tent setup, so who knows how it will do there.

The MetalCloak lift has handled everything with aplomb.

 

[ovrlndr]

Alright, I've been on a bit of a Jeep hiatus as I started to focus on the Sprinter build (which I also need to update). However, the Jeep needed a little work to get in shape for our yearly guys' overlanding trip. I hadn't been driving the Jeep much, just around town really, and I had been putting most of my road miles on the Sprinter, going up to snowboard over the winter, but I started to feel the early symptoms of death wobble. I had planned on doing some steering upgrades anyway, so now seemed as good a time as any. I suspected it was my balljoints wearing out, but I also noticed my tie rod was bent, to that was likely contributing to the issue).

I had a local shop (The Edge 4x4) do a shakedown on the rig's suspension and steering. The shakedown found that the balljoints were wearing out, so I added those to the list of steering upgrades, and the work began.

For the ball joints, I was going to go with the Dynatrac ball joints, but because I plan on putting a ProRock44 under the front end at some point, I decided to go with a more economical option, for now. The Edge advocated for the Moog Parts ball joints, which are the only other ball joints that Dynatrac puts in their axle housings. I asked the awesome crew at The Edge to replace the drag link and tie rod with the Steer Smarts YETI XD tie rod and top-mount drag link, and add the Steer Smarts YETI XD track bar relocation bracket to accommodate for the top-mount drag link and provide for a high-steer setup. Because almost everything else in the steering was being replaced, I decided to put a nicer steering stabilizer on, to replace the OEM stabilizer. I decided on the Fox Factory Race Series 2.0 ATS stabilizer.

The Jeep's tracking is now smooth as butter, and the steering is tight. Bump steer is (almost) a thing of the past. With a live front axle, it's impossible to completely eradicate it, but it's very much minimized.

I'll stop babbling on and show you all some pictures now:

Moog Ball Joints in, new axle seals, and a front differential service

Steer Smarts YETI XD track bar relocation bracket for high-steer setups

BEEF.

Those steering angles looking beautiful.

I'm a happy camper.