Is Re-Gearing & Upgrading Brakes Worth It? We Test It On Our Jeep Wrangler JLU Rubicon! 

biz4two biz4 on the JL and the JK if you don’t reprogram when you do gears the Jeep won’t even move

@@boughtnotbuiltoffroad7784 ... thank you for the reply. I didn't realize you were using the Tazer JL. Very nice!!

Kevin Williams Modulating the brake pedal when equipped with ABS doesn’t make stopping distances shorter it makes them longer. It’s not an argument of ABS vs non ABS it’s about you confusing the ABS system on the vehicle by modulating brakes in this type of test. If you have ABS you just mash the pedal for quickest stop. It’s like this by design. Don’t let your experience with non ABS vehicles blind you. This is especially true if your vehicle is sliding on snow or ice you don’t pump/modulate ABS brakes it actually makes them less effective. Try for yourself though don’t take my word for it.

Kevin Williams I am familiar with what you mean about threshold braking. Threshold braking is for non ABS brakes and it is the practice of not mashing the brakes and optimally stopping on the verge of traction. In this case with ABS I’m suggesting you didn’t do your stopping distance any favors with this technique. If you didn’t get a little bit of ABS reaction I’d assume the brakes weren’t used to their capacity. Every ABS vehicle I’ve ever driven stops faster by using constant force. Only time I modulate is normal slowing down but I don’t need everything from the brakes then. I drove non-ABS vehicles for years and I get that you formed a habit but that doesn't mean it's right for the situation. Hopefully in an emergency you just mash the brakes. Either way the brake upgrade will be a very good idea. If you think you’re doing right then by all means brother keep on doing you. Give the two a try though. ✌️

Kevin, Watch your video. RUBITRON'S braking system has not locked his tires. It has brought the system to the MAXIMUM BRAKING EFFICIENCY and maintained it there. That is why you hear his tires starting to make noise against the asphalt. They are still rotating and steering. The MAXIMUM braking power occurs just before the tires lock up. It is the job of the ABS to bring each tire INDIVIDUALLY to that point and prevent the brake pedal from placing any more pressure on the pads causing lock up and loss of control. IF you are applying just enough pressure to stop your vehicle without getting to the point of ALMOST locking up the tires, then there is still some stopping power left in your system. To do a FAIR COMPARISON, you need to allow your ABS system to do it's job and THEN COMPARE!! You are giving yourself too much credit for your ability to out perform the ABS system which modulates each brake individually with your foot pressure on ONE PEDAL. You still had more braking power left vs. if you had let the ABS do it's job. Believe me, I have seen the difference from an EXPERTS trying to out think the ABS system and letting the system do the job it does so very well. TEST IT SOLO with just your vehicle and another video..

Kevin, Scenario: You are in a race going through a long sweeping right hand turn. Your vehicle is leaning to the left and loading more weight on the left tires and less weight on the right due to the physics of the turn. How are you going to make a maximum breaking application with only one pedal that you can push. All you can do is press/feather it enough to NOT lock up the right tires. Correct? The ABS system monitors each of the 4 tires individually and allows enough brake fluid pressure to get to the pistons of the caliper and bring it to the brink of locking up but not beyond. Each tire should be starting to lock up and then releasing, locking up and releasing approx. 20 times per second. There is no way that a vehicle which has ABS braking system can stop faster with someone feathering the brakes to prevent the ABS from kicking in, vs allowing the ABS system to work as designed. I realize that you have extensive racing experience without ABS and with ABS, but you obviously have not had the experience of having an ABS expert show you (prove to you) how dangerous an extra 20-30 feet of stopping distance in a panic stop can be. Please, for the safety of your subscribers, do a video comparison on Step Child so the people who follow your channel can make up their own mind whether they are going to feather their brakes and emulate you, or they are going to allow the ABS system do it's job.

@@Rocscrawler If you look up Threshold braking, it's supposed to be a better braking method than letting your ABS kicks in, provide. you know you car/brake/tires enough to max. out it's braking ability. I was able to do that pretty well when I was pushed braking to it's limit when I had my STi & Carrera with summer tires, but not so much with my Jeep JLU so far.

No change necessary with Alcon kit. My abs works fine in situations it comes in play

For us nerdy people, the difference ended up being about 1.2 MPG between the two rigs. Interesting that the gas lights came on at the same time for both rigs w/ 1.3 gallons difference in tank level. Good stuff, you guys.

A trailer however, with more drag from the trailer tires will definitely cause a significant reduction in gas mileage, more wear & tear on the transmission too. Yeah, get some carbon fiber brakes to help with stopping.

RobDTom unless you lose your last 1-2 gears entirely. Go uphill and it just screams all the way up..

agreed, basically rpms in the low on freeway is the ticket. City driving would be different

@@MoonyJohn Exactly

RobDTom In a perfect world and on paper. Like Ryan said though, the real world factor you’re missing is that Kevin and I no longer hit 8th, or sometimes even 7th, gear. Whereas Michael does.

@@LiteBrite Overall the numbers arent huge in difference but add city driving and then more load on the tranny over the life of the jeep youll burn yours up faster. Plus, your 1st gear crawling ratio would be ever better ;)

So true, older automatic jeeps came with 3.73's (I think) and the manuals had 4.10's, so the jump from 3.73 to 5.11 makes a HUGE difference, especially when you literally only have half of the gears (4 vs 8), and you go from 28in tires to 38s (vs 33s to 38s)

Truth. When I changed my 96' Chevy 1500 gears from 3.73 to 4.58 I actually increased my mileage because I made it easier for the engine to push the truck with the 35"s and stock 4 speed Auto. That is until I got up to 75MPH, then my mileage went down because the engine was turning so much faster.

OFFRD I think someone actually did the math in one of the comments! Haha

Grumpy ol' Boot Yup yup. At 75mph, we’re in 7th gear and Michael is in 8th, both at around 2500rpm

@@LiteBrite Yup yup, and at that point, the jeeps aero dynamic properties (which worse than a brick! ), is what burns all the fuel. 😁

Blacktailbowhunter 01 We’ve got about 17k on them now, with about 60% tread left (although we’ve been hardcore slacking on the rotations)

Lite Brite Ok thanks! Im guessing they must wear down faster because of the soft rubber. Im trying to decide if I should put them on my 94 toyota pickup. Hoping if I do I might get a bit longer life out of them due to the lighter weight truck.

Thanks for the reply I just installed a set of 35s on my jk hoping to get 30k plus on mine

Bobby Ratliff Just make sure to keep up with rotations! 😊

a floor jack with a raised lifting point would be even better. theres kits to make the harbor freight ones have a skid plate so itll work in sand and dirt and it also helps it securely mount in your vehicle