ORR Jeep Blog

Amid the torn wrapping paper, empty boxes and plastic packaging, i found a minute to post during my Christmas break. The subject was sparked by a gift my 3-year-old received. It was a remote control Jeep Commander with what looks like a gnarly set of 60″ tires.

The toy was a bit out of proportion, but it got me thinking about how cool a real Commander would look with a lift and some big meats. After a bit of research here are some different options I came up with:

Superlift makes a 4″ lift kit for the 2005 & 2006 Commander 2WD & 4WD models. The Superlift kit will kit will clear 33″ to 34″ x 12.50″ tires on 8.5″ wheels with 5.5″ backspacing.

Rocky Road makes a 2.25″ kit. You can get a kit with shocks or one without. On the kit without shocks you can use your stock shocks, but they don’t recommend it. The Rocky Road kit will easily fit 265/70/17 tires with no backspacing.

Revtek offers a 2″ budget boost system comprised of polyurethane spacers. Stock shock and steering geometry are retained with this system. It’s an economical solution at around $250.

Daystar offers a kit similar to the Revtek system. It’s a 2″ kit that uses poly spacers and strut plates. The Daystar kit uses stock shocks and also runs about $250.

Yet another budget boost comes courtesy of Skyjacker. Their 2″ kit is much the same as the Revtek and Daystar, but costs around $290.

One of the tallest lift kits I’ve seen comes from Rusty’s Off-Road. Their 4.5″ XK kit will clear 35″ meats. I couldn’t find a price on this one, in fact I couldn’t even figure out how to order it from their website. Rusty’s also makes a 2″ budget boost kit for around $250. The big difference between this kit and the other budge boosters is the Rusty’s kit includes two extended gas shocks.

I got an email from Quadratec this morning…thought I’d pass it along. They’re offering $100 gift certificates for $80. Here’s a link to the promo: http://www.quadratec.com/products/product.php?id=GIFT80&sgsc=QNEWSLET1206C

It’s a fact of life: Jeep seats take a beating. Whether it’s sun damage, rain damage, mud damage, dog damage or usually a combination of all the above, the seats in your Jeep are going to get hammered sooner or later. A quick and cost effective way to prevent damage to your seats or cover up existing damage is by throwing on a set of seat covers.

Today’s seat covers aren’t simply coverups either. You don’t have to settle for the old saddle blanket style your grandpa had in his Ford pickup. Depending on your application, you can get a seat covers in just about any style, color combination and pattern, including camouflage, animal prints, tropical patters and more.

A popular choice among Jeepers are neoprene seat covers. Made of material similar to wetsuits, these seat covers are well liked because they are extremely water resistant and if they do get wet will dry out very quickly.

If you plan on driving your Jeep on the street at all, you’ve got to have insurance. But for many Jeepers, their rig isn’t a daily driver. Some of us only pull our rides out of the garage in the summer months. So what’s the best choice for insurance?

Obviously you don’t want to insure your vehicle full time if you’re not going to be driving it full time. So make sure to check with your insurance agent for other cost effective options they might have for part time use vehicles. In my case, my insurance company offered insurance specifically for hobby/recreational vehicles. This costs me about $10 a month and is well worth it.

Other insurance options include seasonal insurance for a time frame you specify. For example, you can insure your Jeep for just spring and summer rather than spending the dough to insure it all year.

Whatever the case, make sure you do insure your vehicle. If you get caught driving while uninsured the penalties are stiff and could result in you losing your license. Not to mention, if you get in a wreck the other motorist could sue you for damages.