Ryan: In this episode of "Throttle Out," I have my built TJ and my Stock 2-liter JL out
on the trail, giving them a shakedown.
So we're out here in our local off-road park, Rausch Creek Off Road, which is one of my
favorite places to be in one of my favorite vehicles ever, and also a brand new addition
to my garage.
So I want to tell you a little bit about both of these vehicles.
Right here, this is my 98 TJ.
I've had this Jeep for 16 years, since I started driving.
It was my daily driver for a long time.
It's been through three different iterations of lift kits.
Currently, it's sitting on Dana 35, Dana 30 Chrome-Moly drive shafts, Detroit Truetrac
upfront, ARB Air Locker in the back.
It has Rock Krawler control arms, JKS track bars.
Pretty much everything from the bottom of the tub down has been replaced, including
the frame.
The whole idea behind this built was to have something that isn't flashy.
It's not over the top visually, but it just works really, really well.
I absolutely love this Jeep.
Every time I take it out here, just point it at whatever you want and it drives over
it.
But I'm even more excited to be out here in this.
This is my new 2-door, 2-liter JL.
This is a 2018 and for now, anyway, it is bone stock, but make sure you subscribe to
the YouTube channel because it's certainly not going to stay stock for a long.
What we're out here doing today is just having a good time wheeling both of these Jeeps.
It's certainly not going to be a battle between them because obviously, this is a purpose-built
off roader.
This one is still stock.
This is obviously going to be more capable, but there are going to be some things that
maybe this Jeep does do a little bit better.
So we're gonna come out here, we're gonna have a good time, run some trails, do a little
bit of a comparison, but really just have a lot of fun today.
Let's go hit the trails.
So where we are now is just running down a green trail.
This is the first little comparison that we're gonna be doing here, and of course, I'm in
the TJ now.
And this is going to allow us to get a little more speed up than we would on one of the
more rocky trails that we're going to run in just a second and really just compare how
the comfort level is in both of these vehicles.
So in the TJ because we had these really big 35 by 12.5-inch wide tires on a 15 by 8-inch
wheel and we have the aired down to 15 PSI, you almost have a second shock absorber on
the Jeep and it makes for a really comfortable ride.
I mean, I'm sitting in a 20-year-old interior here.
I have a radio that I installed when I used to work at Best Buy back in high school, so
the creature comforts certainly aren't there like they are in that JL, but from a performance
standpoint, this Jeep is really, really well set up.
I mean, it's always going to be a little bit bumpy, we're off-road, but you feel like you're
still very much in control just cruising along at 17 miles an hour.
Let's go ahead and hop in the JL and see how that one feels.
So now we'll go ahead and take a couple of passes down the same little green trail here
in the JL, and this isn't gonna be all that different.
Obviously, still very comfortable.
The tires aren't as large on this and even though they are aired down, they are not gonna
employ [SP] as much of that secondary shock absorber effect that you have with the big
35s on the TJ.
I think you feel it a little bit more but I think part of that is that the tires on
this Jeep are only aired down to 23 PSI.
I didn't want to go too low because it isn't a very wide tire on a also fairly narrow wheel
so you don't have as much natural sidewall pressure, and I certainly didn't want to roll
amid [SP], so a little more air pressure in here so you can feel it's a little bit more
jarring but nothing crazy, but it is still going to soak up the bumps pretty well even
going that same 15 to 17 miles an hour.
But the big difference that I am noticing especially on a day like today, as you can
see, snow on the ground, it's mid-30s with a windshield and I'm definitely enjoying the
heated seats and the heated steering wheel in this Jeep.
There is something about that bare bones, basic interior on the TJ that I love and will
always love, but it's undeniable that having some of the creature comforts that you get
on a new vehicle like this JL can be really, really nice and certainly does make this Jeep
a little bit more comfortable.
So after driving up and down what is pretty much just a dirt road, we're on a little bit
of a more aggressive trail here.
Still nothing crazy, this is still a green trail, but it is a little bit of a washout.
It's a little bit of a left to right downhill there.
A little bit of an S curve with a little bit of a rocky shelf.
So it's gonna give you a little bit of a better idea of what sort of articulation when you
get out of the TJ and out of the JL.
So I got the TJ here in four low, I'm in first gear in the auto transmission, which will
help to keep our speed nice and low.
One thing about having a very tall lifted Jeep is that when you do get a little off
camber, you certainly feel it.
So we are in a little bit of a deal here.
I know the limits of this Jeep very, very well.
So I'm certainly not worried about rolling over or anything like that, but it is definitely
going to be a little bit tippy coming down here.
So again, not a huge challenge for either the TJ or probably not the JL either, but
it does show you what this Jeep is capable of.
Now let's hop into JL and see how that handles everything.
All right, so here we go.
Same hill in the JL this time.
This first little upper section, I'm gonna go ahead and straddle the big washout in the
middle.
And that's a big part of wheeling really at any time, but especially when you have a stock
vehicle and is picking the proper line.
So we're gonna go ahead and straddle the washout that's going to keep us nice and level, and
then toward the bottom we'll drop into the wash out a little bit more and get a little
bit more off camber.
So, as you could hear probably there, a little bit of scraping, been doing that all day.
Just the lack of ride height.
That's what you get when you're wheeling a stock Jeep.
So it would be a good opportunity as well to use the downhill assist if we wanted to.
Check out our video on that as well, showing you exactly how you use that.
In this part of the hill, we're gonna go ahead and get a little bit more off camber.
Pretty much following the same line that we did with the TJ.
It definitely does feel a little bit more stable here with the factory tires, no lift.
A little bit of a stiffer suspension even in this off-camber spot here, it does feel
pretty stable.
So like I thought, no real problems coming down this.
It's a nice easy trail, but it does give you an idea of some of the articulation in a stock
Jeep versus when you have all that additional droop of a big lifted Jeep.
This next obstacle is going to be a little bit more difficult.
We're in the TJ, shouldn't have any problem walking up this in this Jeep.
We have a little bit of a rock garden.
Nothing huge, but it is gonna be fun, especially in the JL where it's going to be a little
more of a challenge.
Coming up to the first bit of the rocks here.
Just first gear.
Really no foot on either of the pedals, just cruising through nice and slow as the Jeep
pulls through.
The gearing in the big tires really make it so that you can just walk up stuff like this
no problem.
You can give it a little bit of throttle up at the top here just to get over the crest,
but for the most part, just walk straight through without any pedal input at all.
Just a couple more big boulders here in the middle of the trail.
Again, we'll just climb right through this no problem.
A little articulation there, and there we go.
Last little bit of this, where it's going to be a little more severe.
Still not too concerned about the TJ here, but the JL might struggle a little bit here.
As I suspected, the TJ just walked right up through that no problem.
Let's run back, grab the JL and see how it does.
All right, now we're in the JL.
Same trail.
Probably going to have to rely on my spotter a lot more here to keep from getting hung
up or at least to keep from dragging a lot of stuff over the rocks but we'll see how
it goes.
We're gonna be coming up on the rocks here in just a second.
I got Sage out front of me spotting, just keep a close eye on him telling me where to
go.
All right.
Pretty smooth.
No problem there.
I think it probably could have made it through without the spotter but with the spotter picking
the right line, that's a big part of wheeling in general, but especially wheeling a stock
Jeep that doesn't have a ton of ground clearance.
So we're gonna go ahead and continue on down the trail here, up to the thing that's a little
bit more gnarly up top.
A little bit of slip, these highway tires.
I know we're going to be dropping down on the bottom back right-hand side here.
Oh yeah.
And we're down to frame [SP] now, but it is to be expected.
Sage had me the whole way there.
Again, no problem.
It probably could have made it without the spotter, but it keeps a lot more paint on
the frame rails when you have a good spotter who knows what he's doing.
All right, now we're up to those last big couple of steps here that the TJ took on without
a problem.
I think it may have a little bit of approach angle problem here with the bumper and the
splash guard still installed on this JL, but we'll see.
So there you have it.
A stock JL is very, very capable, especially when you pick your line carefully, you have
a good spotter.
That was a blue trail, that was a pretty serious trail and we ran it without any sort of major
issues.
Of course, the TJ is always going to handle these things better.
It's a purpose-built off-roader, but it is nice to see how capable a stock JL is.
And I was sitting in here with my seat warmer on, my heated steering wheel, cruising around
out here on the trails having a great time.
You don't get that with the TJ.
So this is the third obstacle that we're gonna be hitting today.
This is the most intense.
It's not a long trail.
It's just one sort of standalone obstacle.
Over here in what's known as the competition course at Rausch Creek, so it's a pretty much
just a really big step that doesn't look like you should be able to drive the vehicle up
it.
I've taken the TJ up it a couple of times, I know it can run it.
It's really just a matter of getting just the right lines that you can get the proper
approach angle.
I don't know how the JL is gonna do on this, but it's going to be a lot of fun for me in
the TJ at least.
So here we go.
Stick to the right-hand side here so we can get that approach angle just right.
Front left tire up on the ledge, following the spotter closely.
I did use the rock slider on the right side a little bit, but walked up that really, really
nicely.
One of the things that I love about this Jeep, because of the way it's set up, it has that
RH 32 automatic transmission, the 3-speed transmission with the 456s and these tires,
you can pretty much point it at stuff and not have to do a lot with the pedal and it
just goes.
It just does what it's supposed to do.
So again, because it is such a sheer face, I don't know how the JL is going to do, but
let's hop in and give it a go.
So here we go.
We're gonna give it a go into the JL.
We're gonna try and pick the right angle that I can hopefully hop up on this without banging
things up.
If we can't make it, we can't make it.
I'm not going to damage the Jeep too bad, but I'm going to give it a go.
Sage: Stop.
A little here.
Go straight, now slowly.
Stop.
Ryan: I don't quite have it with these highway tires.
I'm going to give it a little bit of a bump here and again, with these smaller tires,
we're gonna have to get a little bit of a run at it here, see if we can make it up without
tearing things up too bad.
Here we go.
So we actually came a lot closer than I thought we would.
We got ourselves oh, so close to getting up over this obstacle, but we're in a situation
now where there's a rock pressing pretty well on the back driver's sidewall of the tire
and as I'm spinning the tires, working the steering wheel back and forth, trying to find
that little bit of grope we need to bump out of here, I'm worried that we're going to either
blow the bead, cut down the sidewall.
These are highway tires.
These are certainly not three-ply sidewall off-road tires.
So we're going to admit defeat on this obstacle.
Again, the little JL did a lot better than I thought it would.
Can't wait to come back to the same obstacle after this thing is lifted, but in the meantime,
we're gonna have to back off of this.
I wouldn't say we've really learned anything new here today.
Obviously, the TJ is a purpose-built off-roader.
This is a stock vehicle.
This performed a little bit better.
But I will say, I was very surprised and very impressed by how well the JL performed.
People are always saying, you can take a stock Jeep out on the trail.
You can have a good time.
You don't need 35s to enjoy a Jeep off-road, and that's absolutely true.
I think we've proved that here today.
With that being said, this Jeep is not going to be staying stock for all that long, so
make sure you comment below to let me know how you think I should be building this and
also make sure you subscribe to the YouTube Channel.
That's gonna be a very, very important so you can follow along with the build of this
Jeep.