What is going to break on my Rubicon Trip? (Revised, trip complete!)

I’m assuming you are not doing this solo. Be sure there’s at least one other vehicle accompanying you and a couple other people who know what they are doing.
I did the Rubicon once as a passenger with a friend in his Jeep. Holy shit what an experience. Good luck, report back with pics.

 

Bucket list item since I was about 12 years old is complete. Did the trail between 10/1 - 10/6. Loon lake to Tahoe. Took an extra day in the middle to camp/fish/hike at Buck Lake. Had the trail almost completely to ourselves. Awesome.

As far as breakage: Zero! No parts broken. Rear spring hanger bent. Zero body damage. TONS of dents, bangs, scrapes, gouges, etc. on all the bumpers, sliders and armor. Would not have been pretty without them. Same deal for the other two rigs that went with me. All were IFS with no bigger tires than mine.

I will post some pictures here or elsewhere once I get them sorted out a bit.

 

Glad to hear it went well and you didn't have to do any repairs on the trail!

 

Lets see this awesome wheeling adventure, so cool, excellent.

 

Here is a small start... One is obviously not the 3rd gen but is my incredible spotter Son. His spotting got me thru and unscathed. Thanks Boy!

 

Brought my old FJ up there a number of years ago and torn up a bunch of parts. Looks like you got most of it covered. Good luck!!

 

I know this is old but wanted to add my 2 cents in case somebody was looking to do this trail since it’s that time of the year. Aside from what’s been said already about driveshafts, skids, cv’s, 35mm socket, tie rods, etc. here’s a few tips from my experience bringing a 3rd gen last year:

1) when you do the water crossing, make sure you let your drum brakes air out all that water. Don’t use the e-brake when you have it parked at night. Avoid trying to use your e-brake as much as you can.

2) Bring not 1, but at least 2 vise grips! (Brakes is the theme here so far)

3) Watch out for your u joint that goes in to your rear diff. I suggest a skid plate that covers that area like the one BAMF makes.

good luck out there!

 

I second to not use your e brake after going through water. Ask me how I know

 

Thanks for all the tips fellas, this is on my list as well. After spending a day at Sand Hollow doing Double Sami Trail, I could really see where the truck was lacking. We had some locals that we meet at the trail guide us through. Rolling with the locals made us a bit more confident, they were great, spotting was dead on. The more challenging trails really put the build into perspective. I carry everything already mentioned on long trips. One addition I would say is at least one complete hub. Our road trips out there have been interesting some times since we have to drive 2300 miles plus to get out there with a bunch of camping, wheeling in between.

A couple issues we've had along the way are a soaked air filter, so I carry a spare now, we blew a rear diff seal so now we all carry a seal removal tool, a hub went on a GX, so we got hubs now. As mentioned before, the double vise grips are clutch. Add duct tape to the list also.

We are heading out west in late 2025, maybe I'll finally get to hit the Rubicon, might be a little to west for us. We usually stay in the Utah/Colorado/Arizona area.