2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Recon

This is where all the magic began! A stock 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Recon, it may be a mouthful but it is well deserved. This thing is an off-road beast off the showroom floor with front and rear locking differentials, electric sway bar disconnect, and a beefed up Dana 44 front axle. Just because it is a formidable off road rig to start with doesn’t mean it can’t be improved on; read below to see our Jeep’s transformation into any overlanders dream.

For the rear bumper we went with AEV for the rear bumper, it is unique because it has a rear swing arm that takes the load off of the tailgate and instead puts in on the rear bumper; pair that with its pair of 2.5 gallon tanks on each side of the bumper and it is the Overlander’s dream of maximizing utility within the same footprint.

Never having enough lighting is common with us off-roaders, this one is geared to getting people’s attention who would otherwise test out the integrity of that back bumper.

The lift is as much of an important modification as it is expensive. Our Jeep get the AEV Dualsport XT 2.5 inch lift, making way for our 35 inch tires and the additional room to allow the suspension to go through its full range of motion without any collateral damage. The picture below is with the rear end lift in, showing the difference between stock and 2.5 inches of added altitude. All in all it is a very complete lift kit, with a new rear track bar and all new hardware where needed.

From the hours of online browsing we decided to add AEV geometry correction control arm drop brackets to help get our front end back to factory geometry. The two pictures below demonstrate the difference these make when installed and how they would be lifted and uncorrected. These are money well spent and really should be apart of any lift kit, once you figure out how they go together it is smooth sailing!

At the sacrifice of a little break over ground clearance we put the front end back where it belonged and increased control while minimizing added stress due to the lift.

Check out Garret's 2017 Tacoma Off-Road Build