You love your Jeep’s astounding capabilities. But if you want to improve your off-road experience, consider customizing your vehicle to your driving style and preferred trails.
Properly equip your rig so you can get more out of each ride; consider these six signs it’s time to upgrade your Jeep’s parts.
1. You Want Your Rig To Drive Over Taller Obstacles
It’s normal to have to drive around obstacles in your off-road path. Sometimes objects are just too large and might harm your vehicle’s undercarriage, causing scratches or even severe damage. If you find yourself wishing your Jeep could climb over larger obstacles, consider getting a lift kit.
A body lift raises the body of your vehicle from the frame—this will allow you to ride higher, which many people enjoy. The body lift itself won’t increase the distance between your undercarriage and the ground, but larger tires can give you a little additional clearance.
If you want to adjust your Jeep’s capabilities, add a suspension lift. This lift extends the suspension and raises the height of the frame. Rather than lifting only the body of your vehicle, the suspension lift raises the whole frame, giving you greater ground clearance.
Keep in mind that suspension lifts cost more than body lifts, but you’ll be able to drive over larger objects and improve your approach and departure angles with this modification.
2. You Feel Strange Vibrations After Getting a Lift Kit
To put it briefly, your vehicle’s drivetrain includes the transmission, driveshaft, axles, and wheels. The drivetrain system transmits power from the engine to move the wheels. The driveshaft delivers torque from the transmission to the differential, and the differential delivers the right amount of torque to individual wheels so that each wheel spins at the needed speed.
If you’ve added a lift kit and experience strange vibrations or hear a clunking sound, you might need to upgrade your factory driveshaft. If you’re planning to get a lift kit, think ahead and consider changing your driveshaft at the same time.
Larger tires and a lift kit can put added strain on your driveshaft. In fact, you can severely damage or even break your factory driveshaft if you force it to overwork. An upgraded driveshaft will be stronger and last longer to meet your added needs.
3. You Kick the Door Sill When You Enter and Exit
Riding high in your Jeep improves your line of sight whether you’re on- or off-road, but the door sill of a Jeep is higher than in most vehicles. When you enter and exit a Jeep, you’re more likely to step on this area. This repeated contact can scuff and scratch the paint on your door sill.
You can prevent your door sill from looking worn with a door sill guard. And if you already have scratches, the guard will cover the door sill to make it look new again.
Door sill guards are often made from sturdy vinyl, rubber, or stainless steel. You can purchase guards for only the front door entries, or include the back doors to protect your vehicle from passenger foot traffic. Reliable guards are easy to clean, water-resistant, and can withstand a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions. Plus, they’re easy to install, making this a no-hassle upgrade.
4. Your Front End Gets Hit With a Lot of Debris
While you enjoy the fresh breeze on your face as you drive through nature, your Jeep’s front end probably gets hit with a lot of debris. Even though sticks and stones won’t break your Jeep’s bones, you rely on your grille to prevent debris from striking or puncturing your radiator. If you frequently go off-road and kick up a lot of stones and other debris, upgrading your grille will offer the best protection for your radiator.
With this upgrade, you can even change the front-end look of your Jeep. Customizing your grille is an easy way to make a substantial change to your Jeep’s appearance, and you can install a new grille at home in under 20 minutes.
5. Your Night Rides Are Too Dark
One of the signs it’s time to upgrade your Jeep’s parts is that the road ahead is too dark. If you drive a Jeep manufactured prior to 2017, you might consider upgrading to LED lights to improve your illumination dramatically.
LEDs require less power and don’t produce as much heat, so you’ll get energy-efficient light from bulbs that last longer. LED headlights also have great lenses and reflectors built in, amplifying the bulb’s illumination.
Aftermarket lights are easy to install. Even if you drive a Jeep with factory LEDs, aftermarket LEDs can be an affordable way to increase the power of your lights while decreasing the amps.
Just as with changing your grille, upgrading your lights gives your vehicle a boost in style. There are a lot of options when it comes to LED headlights; for example, you can opt for a honeycomb headlight design for multiple points of circular light within a single headlight. Or you can get a half- or full-halo design for a bright rim of light around the headlight perimeter.
6. You Want To Drive With the Top Down
Your Jeep’s hardtop gives you the best overhead protection and creates a quiet ride. However, it can be a hassle to take off your Jeep’s hardtop, and you have to figure out where to store it when not in use.
If you want to feel closer to the great outdoors while off-roading, replace your hardtop with a soft top. Soft tops do require more care than hardtops, including protection from the sun’s rays and other environmental conditions.
But when it comes to taking off the top to enjoy the sunshine and a breeze, a soft top is the way to go. You can remove a soft top easily, then fold it up and store it in your vehicle. And if you need overhead protection immediately, you can reattach the soft top quickly.
Improve Your Jeep With AM Off-Road
If you want to make a stylish change to your Jeep, buy from a reliable source—get a superior aftermarket Jeep Wrangler JK grille from AM Off-Road.
We offer dozens of options to suit your taste and budget. Make a simple change for drastic results.
