If you’re wondering how overboard you can go modifying the new Jeep Wrangler, the answer is: extremely. To demonstrate this, Jeep has revealed its new Sandstorm concept, which has been turned into an absolute off-road monster thanks to crazy suspension mods.
The list of alterations done to this Wrangler JL is absurd. The front axle has been moved four inches forward, and is held to the frame via a heavy-duty four-link setup. The rear axle is two inches farther rearward, with a gorgeous triangulated trailing arm four-link design for high-speed stability. Just look at this madness:
That suspension, courtesy of Mel Wade from Off Road Evolution, utilizes custom coilovers and bypass shocks, which yield 14 inches of wheel travel up front and 18 in the rear. Speaking of coilovers, you can actually see them from the back un-upholstered seats!:
Here’s another look:
The axles, naturally, are also hard-core, ditching the Wrangler’s stockers for Dynatrac 60s with 5.68 axle ratios turning 39.50 inch BF Goodrich tires on 17-inch beadlock wheels.
And of course, to rotate all of that mass, there’s a bigger motor under the hood, namely a 6.4-liter Hemi V8 (which you can see through the wheel housing!) mated to a six-speed manual transmission from an old Dodge Dakota:
Jeep says it’s made some efforts on the lightweight-ing front, too, which is good, because those axles and that motor are basically lead weights. The high-mounted fender flares are carbon fiber, as is the hood, which contains some gigantic vents (as do the front fenders flares and fenders):
There’s tons of other cool stuff, like the bedlined interior floor, the custom tube bumpers, the round KC auxiliary lights up front, a flat-mounted spare tire carrier, a rear tailgate-delete and chopped rear doors, which still open:
There’s also onboard air, which accounts for one of the two ports on the rear of the vehicle (the other is fuel), and allows for the use of a tire pump or air tools for quick trail-fixes.
It’s a ridiculously beefy and overbuilt rig, but it’s awesome nonetheless, and I’m excited to drive it on trails in Moab that I’m sure are way below its limits.
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