Looper

A great drive we had yesterday and thanks to @Jeepie for leading us to and back from Faya. A big shout out to @Christopher Assal for handling the sweep duties in an excellent manner. I did had to do the double duties of being the 2nd lead as well as the Center Forward, and of the two I am not certain what I enjoyed more .

Without a lift and with stock plastic bumper - it scoops sand and breaks. Ask anyone and they will tell you that they have changed one bumper at least. I am running on my 4th. Now a Rubicon Steel bumper. That too scoops sand in it’s only plastic part the number plate holder.

For Jeep JL the first and must do upgrade or mod for desert driving is the rear bumper. Change to a AOR or cut off the rear bottom part and relocate the number place. Many a bumpers have been lost to the sand scooping.

my reditt discoveries.

Congratulations @Niki.

Congratulations @Kailas!

@Anish S please waitlist me for the 2nd drive of the week.

Congratulations Marshal @Lorenzo Candelpergher!

Congratulations @Islam Soliman.

I had back back 4 drives till last one in which @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil was also there. That’s another record in my stats book.

7 out of 10 in the drive currently were in the last week's intermediate drive with @Ale Vallecchi. Just the Support Staff Changed and One grey Jeep with another.

@Gaurav Soni Congratulations on your well deserved promotion.

As @Ilya mentioned you need the lift for if not fo the ground clearance - at least to accommodate larger tyres. I drove once without the lift but with larger 285 tyres. I faced few rubbing issues. @Kailas has been driving without a lift and 285s for months. He is an expert so he manages the rubbing issues a lot better than I could ever do, but they persist. Anything over those puny 245s will help. A 1.5" spacer lift kit for 285 or 2.5" for 305s will help a lot on the clearance without putting a lot of money into it. 305s perhaps are the sweet spot - to think of it with any lift other than the 1.5" spacer lifts. With my research, I definitely wasn't going anywhere, and my biggest fear is the "buyer's remorse" - and that meant sticking with agency stuff. Obviously there were stuff I got or tried to get done outside the agency but stuck with Mopar the lift kit at the end. And it was an easy way out for most of the way, there wasn't too many things to go wrong, except for the bank balance. with 2D JLs these tyres don't add any more weight than the engine can not accommodate with ease and the wider tyres more than compensate for their weight with more traction anyways.

uh oh my Jeep is in service center - while they said they will try to give it back to me by afternoon (today being half day) there is a chance that they might not. I have vacated my position in the drive as of now so that I do not become a no show tomorrow.

You can do it yourself, see this: Last month when I had the lift done I was asked to bring it again for a alignment- cost ~900. At this moment not sure what all they are going to do but I think they will reprogram the car as well. Today I have a service appointment and I’ll have more info on it. I’ll update in the afternoon

Totally agree. That’s why I mentioned the fact that I have been driving a lot and practiced, including keeping to line and a few more aspects. In every drive I pick up a driving skill to learn and practice doing it properly. One can drive without lift or wider tires but, having said that the wider tires and lift helps driving a lot.

I did mine from Jeep directly. I put spacers at Jeep(1550 outside 1100) but would have avoided if I could. I bought tires outside (750 ea) and Mopar 2” lift (~9.7k). Tomorrow I’ll have the alignment done at Jeep (~900). I’ll have reprogram the car for larger tires, tire pressure etc. Alternatively similar setups can be done outside approximately half cost. My Jeep ride quality is like stock set up now, and the wider tires and lift has tremendously helped my desert driving experience. I feel more confident in cross crossing and ridge riding. Before it used to scoop a lot of sand and loose momentum and fall off the ridges. I however used to loop back on track hence the name. The wider tires provide a lot more traction which helps me to get out of soon going to be tricky situations quickly. Having said that I have constantly focused on eliminating my trouble areas while driving. So a great deal of desert driving also helps.