Will It Rub? Testing New Jeep Wrangler Diesel Lift, Wheels & Tires

well i've added a new lift kit new wheels and tires to the jeep wrangler diesel and today in this video i'm gonna show you what i got why i chose it and then my son and i are out here and we're gonna go hit the trail get a little flexi see if we have any rubbing or clearance issues fingers crossed we don't rip off any fenders this should be a lot of fun today stay tuned [Music] welcome to trail recon i'm brad and what a beautiful day my son and i are out here at one of our favorite local trails and i'm gonna go test out the new suspension wheels and tires that i recently put on the jeep wrangler diesel i'm super excited about this and we're going to share with you how well it performs off-road now before i tell you what suspension i chose just want to explain really quick that a lot of people were asking me after doing that suspension comparison video if i'd be choosing the winning suspension and putting that on my jeep and the answer is no not right now i wanted a suspension that was tuned and dialed in for the extra 400 pounds that that diesel adds to this vehicle and so i went with something a little different actually not one that was involved in that comparison now will i switch it up in the future possibly if a manufacturer comes out with a lift kit that is tuned and dialed for the diesel we'll see but for right now let's go hit the trail and let's see how well this performs i'll explain why i got it and what i think about it so far we are out here today at one of my favorite local trails that will help give me a good idea how well this suspension performs on some washboard road sections rough terrain and i can flex it out and see if we'll have any clearance issues with these larger tires so while this is a component shakedown run it's still nice to be out wheeling with my son on the trail and this is actually the first time we've had both wranglers out together i think there will be lots more adventures in the future with this jeep tandem okay now let's talk about the suspension that i selected and because there are so few manufacturers making diesel specific lift kits my options were limited at the time of buying this some lift kit manufacturers are stating that their suspension is within the level of acceptable performance and they're not making any changes for the diesel others are saying just adding spacers i'm not okay with either one of those options so hopefully more manufacturers will come out with diesel specific lift kits here soon i purchased the jeep performance two inch lift kit for a four door diesel engine wrangler this kit includes 2.5 inch aluminum body fox shocks new springs with isolators front and rear sway bar end links bump stops and larger front control arms to help maintain the stock geometry and the kit does come with a pretty cool jeep box which is a great place to keep your old suspension components which in my experience is always a good idea to hang onto them because you never know when you might need one of these pieces this kit retails for 1 495 which is really on the upper end for what you get with these few components but i did have it installed at the dealership and while i could have installed this in an afternoon in my garage because this is a mopar kit and it's dealer installed it actually won't affect my warranty which for the time being is something i'd like to keep intact i think down the road i'll be adding a taller lift kit and some adjustable shocks but this should serve me well for a while now jeep doesn't say what tire size you can run with this kit it just says larger tires but in my experience two inches of lift should be more than enough on the jl platform to comfortably run 37 inch tires with no major issues so how does it perform well on road it's excellent the ride is smooth not too soft and squishy not too firm and harsh just perfect enough to soak up the bumps on those long road trips the steering is tight and it doesn't feel any different than stock even in managing these larger and heavier tires which sometimes when you put a lift kit on your steering definitely has a different feel to it i didn't notice that with this lift kit so what about off-road well there is no doubt that mopar did their homework and dialed in this suspension it's a true pleasure to drive on the rough terrain it soaked up everything i threw at it but while i didn't really notice it while driving looking on from the outside the jeep it did seem to have a little bit more body roll than i would have liked it's not really a concern today but if i was to throw a rooftop tent on the roof rack or some heavy cargo up there it's something i would want to be mindful of on the washboard sections of trail it glided with ease i never felt like i was being tossed around and the shocks and the springs soaked up the bumps while still maintaining good firm stability but how about that flex well i didn't expect anything crazy here it's only a two inch lift after all but all in all the down travel was good and helped keep the tires planted through some of these rutted out sections i give this suspension high marks both on and off road and i'd rate it up there with some of the better suspensions i've tested in the past alright now let's talk wheels and tires and let's check for any rubbing or clearance issues now let's take a minute and talk about why i chose these wheels and tires because neither of these have i run before these are the jeep performance they're basically mopar wheels and they're a 17 by eight and a half and they have a 5.2 inch backspacing and a 12 millimeter offset so they're definitely not like a stock oem wheel they're made to handle a larger tire but what i really wanted for this build is i didn't want the tire sticking way out and so by having a wheel with that offset and that back spacing tucks them up underneath the fender a little bit and that's going to help with a couple things one it's going to help with the scrub radius two it's going to keep mud from flying all over my jeep quite so much they make these fenders actually do their job and two of the handling and steering should be a little bit closer to stock now they're still pushed out a little bit more than the standard ones but they're not way out like a four and a half or three and a half inch backspacing and i like the you know it comes with a jeep emblem and they're a good stock look pretty happy with these wheels and i like so far how well they're tucking up underneath the fenders now let's talk about these tires these are the nitto trail grapplers and these are a 37 12.5 r17 and i've never ran a trail grappler before but many of you guys have said brad you really got to try these tires now i ran the ridge grapplers on the gladiator for a little while and i like those a lot but not a really aggressive tire i definitely wanted a mud terrain tire something more aggressive i was really considering going with the bfg mud terrains that are on my son's wrangler i really like those tires these tires are nice they're aggressive but there are some downsides one they are actually six pounds heavier than those bfgs now they do run almost a full 37 inch tire and they're definitely squared off and they look aggressive but there is something to be said about having a little bit lighter weight on here i mean if i could put the bfg mud terrain on here i drop about six pounds per tire that's rotating mass that would make a significant difference i mean when you start pushing your wheels out further and you start adding heavier tires you're going to put a lot of stress on your ball joints your tie rod ends your suspension in general a lot of your control arm and track bar links all that kind of stuff is going to get fatigued over time and so we'll run these tires for a while we'll see how they go so far so good i've only got maybe about 300 or 400 miles on them so the verdict's still out they're quiet on road they've been good off-road but we'll see how much that weight comes into play down the road and maybe i'll swap them out maybe not maybe you guys are right and these are the tires i need to run now whether i continue running these tires or go with something lighter in the immediate future for just a little bit more peace of mind and some extra insurance to handle the heavier tires i'll be beefing up the suspension with some chromoly axle shafts aftermarket ball joints and some more stout steering linkage while the stock setup will be fine for daily driving and easy to moderate trails in the short term i like the peace of mind knowing i won't have any component failures when i'm out in the middle of nowhere so more to come on suspension upgrades so how does this lift kit wheel and tire combination all pair together well it's not perfect but it's pretty close i stuffed these tires up through several sections of trail to inspect the different up and down travel of each tire and i rotated the steering back and forth to check any clearance with the control arms or the sway bars well i had a little rubbing on the front the tire just kissed the inner fender which i'm okay with that's not a big deal in the rear however there was plenty of rubbing all around on both sides it was mostly just plastic but enough that it started to bend and twist a little bit in the rear now my jeep is in stock i've got the storage system in the rear a fridge the roof rack so there's probably a small degree of suspension sag from all these items and i'm sure if i was to remove them i'd probably would be rub free or just slightly rubbing so i think adding a small spacer to the rear part of the suspension should help resolve any rubbing issues the good news is that the rubbing didn't impede me from doing anything i wanted to do today we had a great time out here on the trail well jordan and i have had a blast out here on the trail and this was a great opportunity to just get a good feel for how the new wheels and tires of suspension were going to behave and of course we've got some rubbing on the plastic a lot more rubbing on the rear but i have to take into consideration that i have that roof rack i've got the goose gear storage and plate system so i've got a little more weight in the rear might benefit from either a half inch spacer or maybe getting the heat gun out and kind of remolding some of that plastic but all in all everything is looking good i mean we don't have any rubbing with the shocks we don't have any rubbing with the sway bar and so that's all good news now will i upgrade this lift kit down the road perhaps but right now my warranty is intact and this is really going to work well i think in the interim so that's it for now guys i think this is something that everybody should do when you put on new wheels tires suspensions get out here take a time and just really see where your needs are make sure you don't have any rubbing issues don't wait until you're out on the rubicon trail to figure it out just go have a good test day it's always good to do a shakedown so our shakedown is complete a little more work to do but we're going to be hitting the trail here soon i hope you've enjoyed hanging out with us today thanks for watching

Channel: TrailRecon

Views: 106,908

Rating: 4.9474068 out of 5

Keywords: Jeep Wrangler diesel, Jeep Wrangler lift kit, lifted jeep wrangler, Jeep Wrangler build, jeep wrangler 37, 37 inch tires, Mopar lift kit, nitto trail grappler, Jeep Wrangler jlu, Jeep Wrangler rubicon, suspension test, suspension review

Id: aVy76xYOLSI

Length: 10min 38sec (638 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 28 2020