Abu Dhabi Off-Road Club Forums

After nearly 10 years I've recently gone rogue and traded my Xterra for a 2 door Wrangler 2016. (Boooo!)
Its got a 2 inch lift and rubicon bumpers installed by the dealer.
My questions are:
Are the front towing hooks on the rubicon bumbers safe and strong enough? And are the factory towing eyes at the back sufficient for dune bashing?
Whats the maximum size tyre I can accommodate on standard wheels with a 2 inch lift?
My kids are asking (promise!) what the best option for evil eyes without changing the front grill?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Phoenix,

The Rubicon bumper will have safe recovery hooks if it's a Mopar original Jeep bumper. The Chinese version, which is the one most people have, has inferior steel recovery hooks which bend and break easily, not safe. You can buy the proper hooks at Jeep for example, 600 AED per piece.

I have 35" tires with a 2" lift kit, larger than that will definitely not fit. I also have 1" wheel spacers to accommodate the larger tires (no rubbing when steering full left/right).

For the angry look I guess there are some possibilities on AliExpress. Cheers,
Geert

JKR

Phoenix,

Geert's setup is very good but bear in mind he is running on flat fenders, so if you are using the stock fenders 35" probably will rub.

also i highly recommend you reinforce your front axle. if its not bent already it will probably get bent and just to give you an idea. 2014 rubicon from right axle including fitting at dealer was AED15,000 including labour for me. so spend the money wisely and reinforce the axle.

Geert wrote:Hi Phoenix,

The Rubicon bumper will have safe recovery hooks if it's a Mopar original Jeep bumper. The Chinese version, which is the one most people have, has inferior steel recovery hooks which bend and break easily, not safe. You can buy the proper hooks at Jeep for example, 600 AED per piece.

I have 35" tires with a 2" lift kit, larger than that will definitely not fit. I also have 1" wheel spacers to accommodate the larger tires (no rubbing when steering full left/right).

For the angry look I guess there are some possibilities on AliExpress. Cheers,
Geert

JKR

Many thanks Geert,

They were installed at the Jeep dealership in Dubai so I assume their the good ones.

Standard fenders so will be a little constrained.

Cheers

scotchyl wrote:also i highly recommend you reinforce your front axle. if its not bent already it will probably get bent and just to give you an idea. 2014 rubicon from right axle including fitting at dealer was AED15,000 including labour for me. so spend the money wisely and reinforce the axle.

Thanks Scotchyl, how easy is it to bend a front axle? Are they expensive to reinforce?

I can tell you as well from personal experience that a bend axle is an expensive affair. It happened to me before I understood the need for reinforcement (also on a Rubicon). I have full cover insurance, but it is/was quite a hassle to get a claim accepted. In my case it was bend axle and housing, sets you back approximately 28.000 AED at WM. When my rig is fixed I will gladly spend a couple of thousand to reinforce the axle. I've heard quotes between 1500 to 4000 so far and it's mainly done in Dubai. Maybe other members have good tips on where to do it and the precise costs.

I would not just assume that your recovery points are safe, can you post a picture of the bumper? The Chinese bumper is easy to distinguish from the original. The original recovery point at the back is good.

Geert

The day I bought my Jeep, I did my axel reinforcement at Ramy 4x4 (Dubai).
They did a wonderful job, the brand is AOR comes with a 5 years warranty, as I remember it cost me around AED 2,500 (+/-) all in.
(they had an offer at that time, so I'm not quiet sure what is the normal price for it).