JL Rubicon Discoveries

dakine

dakine

I wrote a book a few years back and had a bit of fun poking at the Rubicon. Just an upgrade in stickers or something equally idiotic. Now having bought a Rubicon, I can say with certainty the statement was made out of pure ignorance. Besides the new Dana 44s front and rear, my jeep has electronic differential lockers, sway bar disconnect, longer control arms, beefier shocks and springs. R3 made an insightful statement about how equally important it is to learn the use all these refinements as it is when not to use them.

I couldn't keep my eyes off the Galactica during the September Club meeting. Work of art! Galactica has manual locking front hubs and I had to ponder the purpose. There is also an addition to my Dana 44 Front axle called a Front Axle Disconnect (FAD). New discoveries everyday. Not many solid answers on how the FAD works except it acts similar to locking hubs. From what I have gathered so far, the transfer case in 2H only stops engine power being transferred to the front axle via driveshaft. Without FAD or by unlocking the front hubs, power is still being transferred to the front differential by wheel rotation leading to extra gear wear and fuel consumption. How does FAD really work and why don't all Wranglers have it?
 
dakine929 said:
I wrote a book a few years back and had a bit of fun poking at the Rubicon. Just an upgrade in stickers or something equally idiotic. Now having bought a Rubicon, I can say with certainty the statement was made out of pure ignorance. Besides the new Dana 44s front and rear, my jeep has electronic differential lockers, sway bar disconnect, longer control arms, beefier shocks and springs. R3 made an insightful statement about how equally important it is to learn the use all these refinements as it is when not to use them.

I couldn't keep my eyes off the Galactica during the September Club meeting. Work of art! Galactica has manual locking front hubs and I had to ponder the purpose. There is also an addition to my Dana 44 Front axle called a Front Axle Disconnect (FAD). New discoveries everyday. Not many solid answers on how the FAD works except it acts similar to locking hubs. From what I have gathered so far, the transfer case in 2H only stops engine power being transferred to the front axle via driveshaft. Without FAD or by unlocking the front hubs, power is still being transferred to the front differential by wheel rotation leading to extra gear wear and fuel consumption. How does FAD really work and why don't all Wranglers have it?
Click to expand...
Wow. So fancy. You should get a ride in my Scrambler or CJ3a. Those are archaic in comparison.
 
Besides actuation method, this is the exact same design as YJs, early XJs, and other late 90s to early 2000s Dodge/Chrysler vehicles. I'm guessing Jeep avoided using CAD terminology in favor of FAD to avoid connotation with the problematic vacuum-driven operation in previous vintages.

Call me old school, but it's amazing how we've traded reliability and simplicity for convenience. Desire for shift on the fly convenience has resulted in increased complexity, more points of failure, and repair cost. Best implementation of simplicity, reliability, and driveline optimization is manual hubs.
 
Gr8Dain said:
Wow. So fancy. You should get a ride in my Scrambler or CJ3a. Those are archaic in comparison.
Click to expand...
Not too mention much, MUCH simpler to work on/repair, too!

if Jeep offered brand-new JK or JL 4 door bodies with the engine and all the running gear from an 80’s CJ and none of the computer management or creature comfort stuff from a modern Jeep, and sold it alongside current Jeeps, I‘d pay a big premium for that vehicle over one with modern tech. Obviously they’d never in a million years do such a thing - or even be allowed to because of emissions laws and safety stuff… but if in some alternate universe they did, I’d buy that in a heartbeat.

I’m thinking about a future project (when I’m retired and nothing to do, lolz) that involves grafting a Unlimited body tub onto an 80’s-era CJ VIN-plate frame build. That would be the best of both worlds for what I’d want. Modern looking with 4 doors, but essentially dirt-simple CJ-era running gear underneath.


(except for the leaf springs. I’d still want coils... cause you know - leaf springs are for poor people, right?!?! )
 
majestek12 said:
Besides actuation method, this is the exact same design as YJs, early XJs, and other late 90s to early 2000s Dodge/Chrysler vehicles. I'm guessing Jeep avoided using CAD terminology in favor of FAD to avoid connotation with the problematic vacuum-driven operation in previous vintages.

Call me old school, but it's amazing how we've traded reliability and simplicity for convenience. Desire for shift on the fly convenience has resulted in increased complexity, more points of failure, and repair cost. Best implementation of simplicity, reliability, and driveline optimization is manual hubs.
Click to expand...
Nailed it.
 
Not all who WANT to drive a CJ3a should drive CJ3a! Case in point! :ROFLMAO: 🤪 :ROFLMAO:

ebc6133825892006119b1e552a0395df.jpg


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Diving into the forums a bit deeper I noticed a couple years of the JT had problems with the FAD. First time I considered buying a Jeep was in 1980. I checked out a new CJ-5 on the lot in Connecticut and it had rust on the "Iron Duke" engine block. 87 HP stock. Considering my current daily driving conditions, that wouldn't work out.

With the JL, I'm more concerned with which App that gets hacked first. Won't be long before vehicles get remotely disabled on freeways at speed. Maybe airbags get deployed remotely... The jeep manual has several cyber security warnings including a disclaimer for third party app vulnerabilities. Pg. 222 indicates FCA is trying to keep pace with vulnerabilities like everyone else.

As far as "innovation", I draw the line at EVs. Do they make an EV fire extinguisher yet? Nope. Current advice is to hit EV fire from a distance with firehose. 1st Responder Procedures.
 
Last edited:
Another discovery this week. In general, there are two types of USB ports on the JL. Media ports and power ports. Media ports are for data sync and charging while power ports can only charge. Same for USB cables. You need a data cable to sync data. The JL has three media ports on the dash (USB-A, USB-C, AUX) and a media port (USB-A) in the console. I bought a new 256GB Flash drive, did a full NTFS format on the drive, loaded my MP3 music from my laptop. Plugged the drive into the console port and am good-to-go.
 
Mudskipper said:
Not too mention much, MUCH simpler to work on/repair, too!

if Jeep offered brand-new JK or JL 4 door bodies with the engine and all the running gear from an 80’s CJ and none of the computer management or creature comfort stuff from a modern Jeep, and sold it alongside current Jeeps, I‘d pay a big premium for that vehicle over one with modern tech. Obviously they’d never in a million years do such a thing - or even be allowed to because of emissions laws and safety stuff… but if in some alternate universe they did, I’d buy that in a heartbeat.

I’m thinking about a future project (when I’m retired and nothing to do, lolz) that involves grafting a Unlimited body tub onto an 80’s-era CJ VIN-plate frame build. That would be the best of both worlds for what I’d want. Modern looking with 4 doors, but essentially dirt-simple CJ-era running gear underneath.


(except for the leaf springs. I’d still want coils... cause you know - leaf springs are for poor people, right?!?! )
Click to expand...
Yes sir. Leaf springs are for poor people. I have the shirts and stickers to prove it.
 
Gr8Dain said:
Yes sir. Leaf springs are for poor people. I have the shirts and stickers to prove it.
Click to expand...
Nice to have a community willing to share information. Met a lot of folks at the last meeting willing to help out. That attitude is what keeps a community vibrant. An old cowboy on King Ranch helped me on horseback riding. He's the one that taught me never to criticize another man's horse.
 
dakine929 said:
Nice to have a community willing to share information. Met a lot of folks at the last meeting willing to help out. That attitude is what keeps a community vibrant. An old cowboy on King Ranch helped me on horseback riding. He's the one that taught me never to criticize another man's horse.
Click to expand...
People get a confused look on their face when they see the sticker or my shirt that says that phrase and see that all of my Jeeps are leef sprung. It is a joke about that phrase being said on the trails to a friend of kine who has a YJ. So he made the stickers and shirts as a way to poke fun at the idiot who said it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
  • Officers
    President: TheGuardianJLU (Hiam)
    Vice-President: The_Rock (Lucas)
    Member at Large: CranCherokee (Chris)
    Secretary: Sticksout (Robyn)
    Treasurer: TJ Girl (Danille)

    BOD
    Gr8Dain (Dain W.)
    HAWAIICJ (Dave P.)
    Jeep Freak (Aaron T.)
    jwilson2598 (Jeff W.)

  • Quick navigation
  • User menu
Back
Top