Prepatory Upgrades to ensure Jeep can handle 120+ temperatures

ak49 · Feb 27, 2015

I'll be moving to the desert where temp's will be 120+ during the summer. Anyone with experience with their jeeps in this type of weather for a prolonged period of time? Any thing I will need to especially keep an eye on? Any upgrades you wish you would've done prior to being in that environment?

Jeep is a '13 Rubicon. 3.6 with a lot of armor, PR60/80, and 40's.

Christarp · Feb 27, 2015

Take it to the frigidaire factory and tell them to turn it into a fridge for you :icon_crazy:

Other than that I don't know if there is much you need to do? For probably a good week last summer it was about 105-110 degrees here and I had no noticeable issues, even sitting in traffic the stock radiator managed to keep my 3.8 cool. Granted the fan kicked into high a lot but still.

gingerchocolate · Feb 27, 2015

There is a product called water wetter. It'll help keep the engine cool.

With superchips you can change the temperature at which you fan turns on. You could have it start cooling a bit sooner. (I haven't actually tried that)

You can keep interior temps down with dark window tint and a windshield sun shade. That's probably obvious.

If you have a hardtop I would suggest getting some of the insulation pads.

jeeeep · Feb 27, 2015

ak49 said:
I'll be moving to the desert where temp's will be 120+ during the summer. Anyone with experience with their jeeps in this type of weather for a prolonged period of time? Any thing I will need to especially keep an eye on? Any upgrades you wish you would've done prior to being in that environment?

Jeep is a '13 Rubicon. 3.6 with a lot of armor, PR60/80, and 40's.

aluminum performance radiator, transmission cooler, oil cooler (they can be pricey) but if you plan on doing a lot of hard driving in those temps, I'd say worth it.

Jorge1004 · Feb 27, 2015

A good set of performance radiator fans and maybe a manual on and off switch so you can run them as long as you want for when your off-roading

RUBINOT · Feb 27, 2015

What about a vented hood, to allow the engine heat to escape.

doojer · Feb 27, 2015

I've had the JK in temps over 120 a few times and never had a mechanical issue. It spends lots of time in the Colorado Desert in the hot, dry sun and, other than the seats/roll bar fabric fading and the soft top getting brittle and worn out, I haven't noticed any negative effects.

ak49 · Feb 28, 2015

Thanks for all the suggestions.

It leads to a few other questions though. For anyone that's been in sand dunes (I only have experiences with the Midwest mud and Utah/New Mexico rocks), is the 3.6 enough? I don't want to spend money on upgraded fans, radiator, etc. if I will most likely be moving to a 6.4 hemi or 6.2 LS and have to replace these things anyway.

David1tontj · Feb 28, 2015

I'm not gonna lie- when I first saw this thread I thought someone was prepping to go 120+ mph in a jeep....

I would need a video of that! When I hit 90 in my Tj, it feels like 130!

As far as the sand goes- are you trying to just get around, or are you trying to be the fastest guy out there? I'm sure the pentastar will get you around just fine.. I can cruise all over dunes in my Tj when I just air down to 4psi. Most people don't go nearly low enough to get good flotation.

Mtbhjm · Feb 28, 2015

David1tontj said:
I'm not gonna lie- when I first saw this thread I thought someone was prepping to go 120+ mph in a jeep....

I would need a video of that! When I hit 90 in my Tj, it feels like 130!

I thought the same thing. I did somewhere north of 95(couldn't really look down) in my JK (which I found to be it's top speed) and was genuinely concerned for my safety. The fastest I've gone since was 85 and that still scares me very much. I don't recommend following my stupid...very stupid...footsteps.

As for temperatures, I am of no help, the hottest it gets where I live is 95-100 degrees.

ak49 · Feb 28, 2015

David1tontj said:
I'm not gonna lie- when I first saw this thread I thought someone was prepping to go 120+ mph in a jeep....

I would need a video of that! When I hit 90 in my Tj, it feels like 130!

As far as the sand goes- are you trying to just get around, or are you trying to be the fastest guy out there? I'm sure the pentastar will get you around just fine.. I can cruise all over dunes in my Tj when I just air down to 4psi. Most people don't go nearly low enough to get good flotation.

I'm not planning on doing any formal racing, but I anticipate a lot of high speed runs to get some use out of the DTD and evolever.

Christarp · Feb 28, 2015

ak49 said:
Thanks for all the suggestions.

It leads to a few other questions though. For anyone that's been in sand dunes (I only have experiences with the Midwest mud and Utah/New Mexico rocks), is the 3.6 enough? I don't want to spend money on upgraded fans, radiator, etc. if I will most likely be moving to a 6.4 hemi or 6.2 LS and have to replace these things anyway.

The 3.6 will get you around just fine. Air down a lot and you'll be golden. I usually go down to about 11psi because I don't have beadlocks, with them you can air down to like 4psi and rock it.

I have a completely stock 3.8 with the auto trans, and it works fine for me in 4 hi. You WILL have to use momentum to get up some stuff just FYI. With a 6.2LS you could power through some stuff probably, but with the 3.6 you'll have to make the most out of your momentum.

I also only have a rubicon express spring lift with bilstein 5100's, a fairly stiff ride, and it can fade over the fast bumps. I find myself limited by the suspension over the big whoops and bumps and stuff, and limited by the engine in the flats. Granted if you're on the beach you can get going quite fast because the sand is wet.

Here's a video of my stock 3.8 with auto going up some dunes. You need to get quite a run at them to make it up them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n0OovVqICc

David1tontj · Feb 28, 2015

ak49 said:
I'm not planning on doing any formal racing, but I anticipate a lot of high speed runs to get some use out of the DTD and evolever.

I'm not sure on engine power, but my air pressure comment before would not be good for high speed stuff. You will want a lot more air if you're planning on desert racing kind of stuff. I think I heard the KOH guys were running like 20psi because of all the high speed stuff they were doing.

When i think sand dunes, I don't think speed, I just think of being able to make it up and through deep sand.

Zstairlessone · Feb 28, 2015

I don't know about the 3.6, but when I used to get into the Mojave and up into Death Valley in the summer I never had a problem with the 3.8. Never saw temps go above the middle of the gauge though my fan ran constantly. The AC does have a hard time keeping up when it gets above 115° though

Ask me how I know....

Christarp · Feb 28, 2015

David1tontj said:
I'm not sure on engine power, but my air pressure comment before would not be good for high speed stuff. You will want a lot more air if you're planning on desert racing kind of stuff. I think I heard the KOH guys were running like 20psi because of all the high speed stuff they were doing.

When i think sand dunes, I don't think speed, I just think of being able to make it up and through deep sand.

That's a good point too.

Linebacker · Feb 28, 2015

I have a 2012 JKUR and just moved from the Phoenix area last May. Don't know how Jeep does it, but you won't have any problems with the 3.6 in the heat and/or sand. Same with the 3.8. Of course, when you go to the dunes, horsepower is king and the Hemi and LS tend to run hot. There are folks on the forum who have made the Hemi or LS conversion and have worked the heat gremlins out. Mostly.:yup:

jango · Mar 1, 2015

i could recommend a bullydog tuner. Its around 600$ I think. Its pretty neat. You can change your radiator's speed on demand. Make your engine rev higher automatically for winching. read engine codes, and many other things. Im all for an engine swap though haha

ak49 · Mar 1, 2015

jango said:
i could recommend a bullydog tuner. Its around 600$ I think. Its pretty neat. You can change your radiator's speed on demand. Make your engine rev higher automatically for winching. read engine codes, and many other things. Im all for an engine swap though haha

I've got a bulldog tuner, so I think I should be good. I knew about setting the rev limiter for winching, etc. however I didn't realize it could adjust when the fan turns on/off based on the thermostat temps. Good to know.

Only thing holding me back from a swap right now is that motech stated their new electronics package wouldn't be out till the end of summer. However, since I'm shipping my vehicle to either Qatar or UAE, I don't want to ship it over there, then ship it back for the swap and then have to pay to ship it back again. It almost has me leaning towards the 6.4 Hemi swap.

USMC Wrangler · Mar 1, 2015

I bought my '13 JKU July 9, 2013 in Michigan and moved to Brewster Co, TX Aug 2013. July and August here is in the 120's several days. There's no city, stop and go traffic, so mostly trail riding and highway time. I've towed my 5x8 v-nose enclosed trailer with zero issues. Nothing on the temp gauge even made me think for a minute there was an issue.

The vehicles we drive at work have vented hoods, but I put many more miles on those during these hot days than I do on the Jeep. My :twocents: fwiw

tuna · Mar 1, 2015

Not had any mechanical/engine problems in this kind of heat driving through the desert so I won't talk about that.

Cabin heat, though: My sports cage, despite being painted white, still absorbed a ton of heat and the entire thing was untouchable due to the heat it was holding (and filling up the cabin with that radiated heat), god knows what cage painted black would do in that kinda sunlight. If you are used to holding onto sports cage handles, you will need to insulate the handle area with padding or chord otherwise you will burn your hands. The black soft top also didn't help when it came to cabin temps (rest of the Jeep is white). You will end up with your aircon on full cold and you will be in stalemate vs the heat. Any coolness you get will leave 3 seconds after you open a door.

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