Two years of living with a Jeep Wrangler

In 2022, for my 50th birthday I replaced my 20 year-old off road worthy Lexus GX 470 (that I'd been building since the start of the pandemic) with a brand new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe. This is a recap of the last two years of American car ownership and 40,000 miles driven in the Jeep.

Wait, what's your deal with off roading again?

Driving around the middle of nowhere isn't always a great idea, especially if there's tiny animals around, but I like to go off road on established trails in designated areas and I've been all over Oregon, California, and Utah trails. I also know that my brain needs to get out into the forests and deserts every few months and there's no more fun way to do it than driving over mountains and through canyons to the top of another mountain while enjoying amazing views along the way.

Why ditch the old Lexus for a new Jeep?

I was tired of getting stuck in my Lexus GX and whenever I went somewhere adventurous like Utah, I'd have to break out the winch and/or avoid half the trails because they were too gnarly for my rig. I'd pushed my Lexus as far as it could go with simple upgrades to the suspension and wheels/tires, but putting in new gearing and axle lockers or longer travel suspension was going to cost many thousands on top of the work I'd already done, so I figured it was time to sell and start over with something more capable.

I wanted a vehicle that could literally go anywhere and that's when I stumbled onto a YouTube channel called Colorado Mall Crawlers ("mall crawler" is a derogatory term for someone that never goes off road in their off road ready vehicle, the channel is using it as a self-deprecating goof).

On that channel, a guy in a stock Jeep drives pretty much every trail possible in Utah and Colorado, even stuff that you probably shouldn't try without a more modified Jeep and he does well on almost everything. He also drives a few trails I'd done before and barely made it or failed at in the Lexus, and he just easily crawls over everything. That channel's videos made me realize any Jeep is already way ahead of what I could ever do in my Lexus.

My other favorite thing about the Jeep world is that it's basically a car made out of LEGO. It's a reference platform that has been around for 80+ years largely unchanged so there are 10,000 companies making newer, stronger, and better parts to replace anything on a Jeep. Having a Lexus off roader meant my choice of parts was limited to only a handful of companies.

Taking delivery and making changes

I got the Jeep in late 2022 and put bigger 35" tires on it, then a 2" lift to make it more off-road capable. Then I switched out the bumpers and added a winch along with extra lights to use in the middle of nowhere. I started taking it on a lot of technical off road trails and coincidentally I also started breaking things.

What broke in those first two years?

I made a rule for myself that when anything broke on the Jeep, I'd replace it with something better and stronger. So far, here are the things I've broken on the jeep:

• Two windshields: The windshield is nearly vertical on a Jeep so it catches rocks and gravel that crack the glass and spread quickly. A new windshield is about $900 and I got one put in on the 1 year anniversary of buying the Jeep, but I already need to replace it again since I have a crack from this past summer. As a Jeep owner, I guess you should expect to lose one windshield per year of ownership
• Two steering stabilizers: The stock one got bashed by rocks on my Rubicon trip, totally destroying it. A new, better aftermarket one was mounted higher up near the frame to hide it from rocks but I destroyed that too on a recent Utah trip. Now I'm trying to decide whether to replace it with an even nicer version or switch to a heavy-duty hydraulic assist system (but that's a whole project)
• I bent control arms on my front suspension. The trip to the Rubicon Trail ended up bending two control arms that support the front axle, so I replaced it all with beefier units from Teraflex after a long, misaligned trip home
• I changed the gearing in the front and rear axles then needed to replace the rear gearing again. I re-geared to a lower ratio when I upgraded to 37" tires for better engine response and fuel economy. Then the rear diff cover leaked during a road trip and after it was low on gear oil it promptly wore out the gears and sheared teeth. I replaced the rear gear set a second time, and it's working thanks to locktite on the diff cover bolts this time around
• I destroyed the exhaust. The rear tailpipe opening got completely flattened and crushed on a boulder, and even after bending it back open again it still almost overheated the engine whenever I drove it. I swapped the exhaust with an overland system from Magnaflow, which places the pipes several inches higher, above the frame so it should never get damaged by rocks again
• The rear factory electronic axle lock sensor died. It costs $400 to replace from Jeep with the chance it may happen again, so I bought a $179 hack that bypasses the sensor forever and everything works again
• I replaced all flooring with Armorlite, a sound-deadening, waterproof liner that replaces all your carpeting and rubber mats inside the Jeep. I did it because on a Utah summer road trip with outside temps in the 100ºF+ range, the floor of my jeep became so hot to the touch that the heat was coming through the floor and through my flip-flops and scorching my toes. On the plus side, after the Armorlite was in, it's a much quieter and cooler cabin now
• I broke a rear taillight when it scraped against a boulder. The stock rear LED taillights extend beyond the body panels so they can catch on rocks and tree trunks. I also dented the rear quarter panel in the process. I ended up changing to Oracle taillights that are flush against the Jeep's body and don't stick out at all.

What did you improve?

I couldn't leave well enough alone, so these are non-broken things I replaced that let me enjoy the Jeep that much more:

• Method Wheels have worked amazing on the hardest trails. I've even slashed through the sidewall of a tire (why I upgraded from 35" tires to 37") and thanks to their bead-grip technology that holds tires on the rim, the mangled tire was still drivable with zero PSI in it, as the tire bead never fell off the rim (I switched to a spare soon after it blew out). I'm never running beadlock wheels when these work just as well
• Teraflex suspension lift with their Falcon shocks has given it more ground clearance and a smoother ride
• I enjoyed the AEV bumpers front and rear but I'm in the process of changing to smaller GenRight aluminum bumpers that will shave a few hundred pounds off the Jeep once I also ditch the giant spare tire on the back
• Visibility out the back window when you have a tall tire attached was abysmal, but the Wolfbox G900 rear video camera/mirror combo has been great. Amazing visibility that feels just like a normal mirror and there's never any obstructions (even works in driving rain)
• I just added a Front Runner Slimline II rack to the roof to give me more places to store things and mount extra antennas I need for being out in the middle of nowhere
• Lighting is better (without blinding other drivers) thanks to Diode Dynamics elite LED headlights, in addition to large spot/flood lights in the front, a-pillar ditch lights, and chase lights in the rear
• A plywood storage drawer system from SHW in the rear of the Jeep is a game-changer. I have one drawer filled with my recovery gear, ropes, winch controllers, shackles, and the other drawer is filled with tools along with room for camping equipment. You definitely need to carry tools when you break things on the trail

What is like owning a Jeep?

This is only the second American car I've ever owned (we bought a Ford Maverick pickup about six months before the Jeep in early 2022) and the biggest surprise is how many recall notices appear in our mailbox for the Jeep and our Ford. I swear a new notice shows up every month for either car and whenever I take one of them in for an oil change, they have to apply 3-4 recall fixes and end up keeping the cars for an extra day.

I've owned mostly Hondas and Toyotas all my life and I feel like I got one recall notice every five years at most with those car brands.

I knew going in that a Jeep was going to be loud, uncomfortable, and handle not-so-great on roads, but it was all in service of its off road capabilities. I was kind of surprised just how loud and generally uncomfortable the ride is in a solid front axle Jeep on normal roads, and even with corrected gearing, the best highway fuel economy I can get with large 37" tires is around 15mpg.

This Jeep is also a plugin hybrid, which is pretty strange, but kind of great. I have a level 2 charger in my garage that can recharge the small 17kW battery in about 90 minutes. I get about 15-17 miles off the battery alone which means I can drive it into town, run errands and drive home entirely on electricity. We also have solar panels at home and I usually charge during daylight hours, so we haven't seen any increases in energy bills.

The EV system adds about 500lbs to the jeep's total weight, which is a drag, but it's pretty cool to only buy gas when you leave town or go on long road trips, using it as an EV the rest of the time. Of the 40,000 miles currently on the odometer, probably 15k+ of those are pure EV miles that didn't wear out any engine parts.

What if I had to do it all over again?

The thing about modern Jeeps is they're not only expensive, but they break down often too. In addition to the trail damage I listed on mine, there were several times where the engine quit unexpectedly and went into "limp mode" or threw service engine lights or that time half of my electronics stopped working. New Jeeps end up in the shop a lot and it's probably been to the dealer a dozen times in two years.

I wanted to know what the latest and greatest Jeeps were like, but as much as they've tried to make them seem modern and comfortable, they're still rugged vehicles with rough edges and they're filled with so many electronics now that they break pretty regularly.

If I was going to sell this and start building a perfect off-roader for a third time, I'd probably go for an old 2004-2006 Jeep LJ Rubicon model as the base. That era of Jeep came with their last ultra-reliable motor (4.0 liter v6) and back then Jeeps hadn't yet made everything on the engine and chassis electronically controlled (and prone to failure). If I had one of those, I'd probably strip the Jeep down to the frame and rebuild everything with a long-arm coilover suspension from GenRight or Teraflex with new dana 60 axles on 40" tires. It'd be even more capable, cost less, and be more reliable. If the engine ever gave up, you could also swap in a Chevy LS motor that's also pretty reliable.

Overall, I'm glad I got this Jeep and I've had a ton of fun in it and I have lots of trips planned ahead. I'm also keeping it long term since it's completely personalized for how I use it and would be difficult to sell to anyone else.

But after owning it, I can also see why Dodge/Jeep is one of the poorest selling car brands in the US and why most people don't want a car that has to be in the shop constantly.

It's a Jeep—it's a pain—but it's fun.

That should probably be their motto.