Rubicon Trail Brief Review and Battle Scar Reports

[Geoarch]

Not at all. I started with Next Venture Motorsports diff skids front and rear. They’re way stronger than covers, but they sell covers if you prefer. I liked the skids better and they work with the OE covers. The skids cover the diff so well aftermarket covers aren’t necessary imo. I then added a full aluminum belly skid with added UHMW 1/2” plastic, also from NVM. Then I have Rock Hard 4x4 skids for all LCA’s, both axle and frame sides. Then Rock hard rear shock mount skids. I have the rock slide engineering steps, but added the extra armor before this trip. It was necessary. They held up great with only one cosmetic dent. No problems with functionality. I sat the Jeep on them, not gently, many times. I’ll be underneath it sanding and repainting skids and LCA’s, but had no actual damage.

That was a bit of hike from CO. I think I mentioned that I did the Rubicon in the 70s with my AMC 73 CJ5. I did have larger tires probably not radials and a full skid plate - young and stupid. On my JTR I have a similar set up as you with mostly Rancho diff glide sliders and rear shock sliders and Rock Hard for the LCAs and already banged them up here in NM, but I’m on 35s and happy with that. I’m not doing Rubicon again.

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[WILDHOBO]

That was a bit of hike from CO. I think I mentioned that I did the Rubicon in the 70s with my AMC 73 CJ5. I did have larger tires probably not radials and a full skid plate - young and stupid. On my JTR I have a similar set up as you with mostly Rancho diff glide sliders and rear shock sliders and Rock Hard for the LCAs and already banged them up here in NM, but I’m on 35s and happy with that. I’m not doing Rubicon again.

It wasn’t bad. 15-16 hours. I stopped in SLC on the way and Ely NV on the way back. So not crazy long days. It was really great. I agree though. Doing it over and over is asking for broken parts. Expensive broken parts. I won’t say I’ll never do it again, but it certainly won’t be an annual trip.

 

[Geoarch]

It wasn’t bad. 15-16 hours. I stopped in SLC on the way and Ely NV on the way back. So not crazy long days. It was really great. I agree though. Doing it over and over is asking for broken parts. Expensive broken parts. I won’t say I’ll never do it again, but it certainly won’t be an annual trip.

I was just up to Great Sands and did that trail up to the ridge top. With the monsoon there were some mud holes right at the 31+” maximum. We don’t get many water crossings down here.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I was just up to Great Sands and did that trail up to the ridge top. With the monsoon there were some mud holes right at the 31+” maximum. We don’t get many water crossings down here.

I haven’t done sand dunes yet, but really want to.

 

[Geoarch]

I haven’t done sand dunes yet, but really want to.

And that trail up the canyon is great. Easy drive for you.

 

[HjStrater]

They are .. they are LOD ArmorLite aluminum sliders with the steel skins. They are actually really nice sliders. The steel skins held up really well but aluminum is probably not the best choice for sliders that need to deal with heavy drops since aluminum doesn't really bounce back like steel does.

To be fair, they had survived a fair bit of wheeling and a lot of scraping and I had no issues until I dropped the Gladiator on them HARD......

I am still holding out hope that LOD brings the signature series sliders to the gladiator, since this was exactly what I was worried about going with the armorlite series.

Love my LOD front bumper and want to go with them all the way around if the parts are up to the task.

 

[jeep1]

I am still holding out hope that LOD brings the signature series sliders to the gladiator, since this was exactly what I was worried about going with the armorlite series.

Love my LOD front bumper and want to go with them all the way around if the parts are up to the task.

It looks like there is a "Destroyer" series slider "coming soon". From the pictures, it looks like a heavy steel version of the Armor Lite .. so that's promising. The one thing I really do like about the Amor Lite (and in theory the Destroyer) is they have heavy brackets that mount to the frame and not just the pinch seams and the body mounts like some others do.

 

[WILDHOBO]

It looks like there is a "Destroyer" series slider "coming soon". From the pictures, it looks like a heavy steel version of the Armor Lite .. so that's promising. The one thing I really do like about the Amor Lite (and in theory the Destroyer) is they have heavy brackets that mount to the frame and not just the pinch seams and the body mounts like some others do.

I understand the argument about the pinch seam mounting, but I consider the use of the body mount bolts to be frame mounts. My brackets go underneath the body mount brackets, which are welded to the frame. I consider that a bolt on method to get a frame mount without going to the frame rail. That in my opinion reduces the risk of conflict with things like belly skid mounts. I don’t particularly like pinch seam-only mounts, but when the pinch seam is combined with frame mounts, I think that strengthens the connection. Mine mount to both the body mount frame brackets and the pinch seam. I sat them down on rocks really hard and there is no damage to the body whatsoever. But that’s my experience. Others may have different experiences. Mine are also solid steel, so that has pluses and minuses. The minus is obviously the weight. I would guess that my sliders add around 260lbs. Of course I’d need to subtract the weight of the rubicon rails I removed. They’re reasonably heavy, but probably not more than 100lbs. So I probably netted around 160lbs.

 

[mx5red]

I understand the argument about the pinch seam mounting, but I consider the use of the body mount bolts to be frame mounts. My brackets go underneath the body mount brackets, which are welded to the frame. I consider that a bolt on method to get a frame mount without going to the frame rail. That in my opinion reduces the risk of conflict with things like belly skid mounts. I don’t particularly like pinch seam-only mounts, but when the pinch seam is combined with frame mounts, I think that strengthens the connection. Mine mount to both the body mount frame brackets and the pinch seam. I sat them down on rocks really hard and there is no damage to the body whatsoever. But that’s my experience. Others may have different experiences. Mine are also solid steel, so that has pluses and minuses. The minus is obviously the weight. I would guess that my sliders add around 260lbs. Of course I’d need to subtract the weight of the rubicon rails I removed. They’re reasonably heavy, but probably not more than 100lbs. So I probably netted around 160lbs.

Didn’t know RSE mounted to body/pinch seam, but Rock Hard sliders do and I don’t think I’ve read a single person say they bent them.
People poo-poo the combined mount but I bet it’s the strongest method.

My frame mounted ones (TNT) required a bunch of drilling into the hardened steel frame, which is super thin, couple bolts stripped. Made me less confident about the strength of that method on these modern Jeeps.

 

[PlayfulBird]

@Summitdan do you have a build up thread of your truck?

 

[WILDHOBO]

Didn’t know RSE mounted to body/pinch seam, but Rock Hard sliders do and I don’t think I’ve read a single person say they bent them.
People poo-poo the combined mount but I bet it’s the strongest method.

My frame mounted ones (TNT) required a bunch of drilling into the hardened steel frame, which is super thin, couple bolts stripped. Made me less confident about the strength of that method on these modern Jeeps.

I agree, but hesitate to say what’s best, since my opinion is largely based on my experiences. I did bend mine cosmetically in one spot where I REALLY sat it down on a boulder, but no damage to the Jeep, and the steps continue to function perfectly.

 

[WILDHOBO]

@Summitdan do you have a build up thread of your truck?

I don’t have a formal build thread, but will happily run through everything from beginning til now any time. Anyone is always welcome to PM me and I’ll provide contact info. It’s faster for me to run down the setup verbally. I’ll happily share what has worked well, and what I might do differently, but for the most part I’m very happy with how it performs. Anyone in CO or passing through, I’d happily meet for a beverage to talk Jeeps. Any excuse to nerd out.

 

[PlayfulBird]

I don’t have a formal build thread, but will happily run through everything from beginning til now any time. Anyone is always welcome to PM me and I’ll provide contact info. It’s faster for me to run down the setup verbally. I’ll happily share what has worked well, and what I might do differently, but for the most part I’m very happy with how it performs. Anyone in CO or passing through, I’d happily meet for a beverage to talk Jeeps. Any excuse to nerd out.

Thanks a lot
Will definitely send you a PM, and would prefer to go for a drink, nerd out, but it is a bit far from Germany. But you never know what the future holds. Carly and I keep mulling it over.

 

[Rusty PW]

I don’t have a formal build thread, but will happily run through everything from beginning til now any time. Anyone is always welcome to PM me and I’ll provide contact info. It’s faster for me to run down the setup verbally. I’ll happily share what has worked well, and what I might do differently, but for the most part I’m very happy with how it performs. Anyone in CO or passing through, I’d happily meet for a beverage to talk Jeeps. Any excuse to nerd out.

I may hit you up on that. Have 2 boys in Co. One outside of Bailey, the other outside of Parker. See them about 2 twice a year.

I have the White Knuckle sliders. Love them. I dropped about 3ft on to a rock with no damage. They are frame mounted. From looking at your belly pan pictures. I'm going to have a problem mounting both the sliders and NV pan.

 

[rdubb1031]

I am still holding out hope that LOD brings the signature series sliders to the gladiator, since this was exactly what I was worried about going with the armorlite series.

Love my LOD front bumper and want to go with them all the way around if the parts are up to the task.

Just a heads up.. these came out last week. Put some on order and should be here in a month or less is what I’m told..

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