2007 Jeep JK Wrangler Runaround - Suspension

No one has ever said we were easy on vehicles or too timid in our testing. In fact, we've been known to send the occasional vehicle or product to the scrap heap. But that should be expected with any respectable 4x4 magazine. Shouldn't we be the ones to put more of a hurt on a product than you ever would? After all, we'd hate for you to find a breaking point past what we did. Can you imagine something snapping 50 miles from the nearest road while you're by yourself? We do all this testing to make sure you don't have to. And this year's Wrangler Runaround was nothing but the norm, as we wheeled the fenders right off of eight '07 Jeep JK Wranglers.

In case you missed last year's Runaround ("Suspension Supertest," Jan. '07), this is officially the 2nd annual Runaround; a suspension program designed to find the best suspension system to fit your needs. We choose a vehicle and invite every suspension company that makes an eligible suspension kit for our test, and the ones who decide to participate come with us on a three-day trip to do more research and testing than they would likely be able to do in a year. We bring along our own panel of judges and photographers, and to make it truly legitimate, we invite the suspension manufacturers to judge each other. After all, who better to judge and test a suspension product than a suspension manufacturer?

When the new Jeep JK Wrangler hit the scene in late 2006, it seemed only a natural choice for the next Runaround suspension program. Jeep had not significantly changed the Wrangler design since the first TJ appeared in late 1996 (not counting the Unlimited). And with the arrival of this most recent evolutionary step, this new JK has already been found to be a much different type of animal than its predecessor. Gone are the short (lower front) 16-inch (TJ) arms, instead replaced with longer 23-inch (JK) arms. The fenderwell clearance has been hugely increased to fit 35s with only a couple of inches of lift. And to the dismay of some modifying owners, the new Wrangler comes with electronic babysitters and other potential electrical problems that its older brother, the TJ, never knew. Not only that, but we also kissed the very last 4.0L-laden Jeep goodbye. We definitely had a new breed of 4x4.