Project Crusader

Their 2008 2-door JK Rubicon was cursed with a 3.8L fit for a minivan. While most quickly pull it in favor a Hemi, they called their friends at RIPP Superchargers instead. The kit promises 260 rear wheel horsepower, but because JCR wanted more, they also run their stainless long tube headers and a full stainless MagnaFlow Street Series exhaust. The Jeep makes plenty of power, and a full exhaust means it starts earlier in the RPM range. It lugs from idle just like a proper rock crawler and screams all the way to redline, sounding amazing the whole time. The suspension started with a BDS 3″ long arm and Fox 2.0 remote reservoir shocks. The front portion is largely unmodified, but in the rear they wanted some extra stability, so they moved the axle back 4″. The Jeep is rock solid stable off-road, crawling or hauling.

Since the JCR team drives this Jeep on the highway as well, they choose some Toyo MT’s in the 40 x 13.5″ flavor, and a set of color matched 17” Trail-Gear beadlocks. Yes, you read that right; they are running 40″ tires with 3″ of lift. To accomplish that, they busted out the sawzall and started trimming sheet metal, and once they had enough room to flex all the way to the bump stops, the guys built custom upper quarter panel armor. JCR wanted this armor to not only match the arch and gap of the front fender flares (which are trimmed stock units) but they installed their own Mauler Series with a Warn Zeon 8s pulling recovery duty up front. For sliders, their Crusader Series for extra body protection, and of course a set of JCR skids underneath. They built this Jeep with Moab crawling in mind but have had a blast wheeling it all over the Midwest and East Coast.