Day 3
The third and final day of our Runaround program would put the new JK suspensions in a terrain that they were not necessarily designed for. We found our way onto Parker's desert race course to flog these JK's shocks in a bit more heat-intensive way than standard rockcrawling. If any parts of these suspensions were not built absolutely bombproof, or any amount of travel was not measured correctly, we'd be finding out today. All the Wranglers departed onto a course that would rattle bolts out, break control arms off, and waste bushings in whoops, ruts, and washes that heated up shocks past the point of normal fading. We even found some weak points in the OEM metal and ripped factory track-bar brackets away from the axles due to the excessive stress put on by track-bar relocation brackets. But through all this, we never had one tire go flat or pull off the bead, and every single Wrangler drove back to town that day.
Thanks to the awesome assistance, patience, and skill of everyone involved (including our incredible photographers), the 2007 Wrangler Runaround was a success that will be tough to follow next year. Speaking of next year...what would you like to see tested? E-mail jerrod.jones@sourceinterlink.com and let us know what you think we should test. The suspensions don't necessarily have to be for a currently produced vehicle either. There are quite a few old 4x4 platforms out there that we would love to get our hands on.