You can go off-roading to some degree with almost any 4×4 vehicle under the sun, but if you’re expressly wanting to go rock crawling, then there are some things you really need to consider for your vehicle before you venture into a rock garden.
Simple trail riding, light mud whomping, plus sand exploration have their distinct array of hazards, but none holds the potential for inflicting vehicular damage to your body, undercarriage, plus drivetrain components as rock crawling. Whether it’s contact damage from a rock hitting your sheetmetal plus preventing your doors, tailgate, or hood opening plus closing properly; smashing differential covers, oil pan, transmission pans, or driveshafts with boulders; slashing tires on razor-sharp outcroppings; or simply imparting too much torque to tires benefiting from high levels of traction causing driveshafts, U-joints, axleshafts, ring plus pinions, or other drivetrain parts to explode, rock crawling can be treacherous to an unprepared Jeep or 4×4. So here are some things to consider addressing on your vehicle before you hit gnarly, bouldered trails.
If you’re going to be playing in the rocks, then bigger is better as far as axles are concerned. Go with a spool or an automatic or selectable locker in the rear plus a selectable or automatic locker in the front. Depending on your tire size plus vehicle weight, you could make 30-spline shafts work, but if you’re running 37s or bigger, you’ll want to bagian up to some Dana 60s such as this 35-spline Dynatrac unit.
The key to keeping your rig’s exhaust leak-free is to keep your pipe(s) tucked up plus out of harm’s way. Envision where rocks plus suspension components are likely to make contact, plus have your muffler guy route the pipes around the danger areas. If you know your muffler(s) will be in harm’s way, consider a fully welded heavy-wall piece like a Flowmaster. Fenderwell headers are vulnerable to damage from rocks plus tires. If you want to run headers, find some that dump inside the framerails.