JT testing on the RUBICON

Cool

 

Sweet!!!

 

by the looks of the damage to the camo the worries people have about the break over & departure angles might be justified

 

I agree. Looks way off but judging by the 2nd photo the interior dash and vent looks like a jk. Hopefully it's not final!!

 

Adding another shot I found. By the looks of the rocker and the bed these mules were seriously put through hell. Definitely a concern for those who plan to wheel them with that rear overhang. Good to see them testing but that damage is serious. The rear end looks pretty mangled in the attached image.

 

In think some rear armor should come quick to the market. What's interesting is it still has the lower nonrubicon flares. I hope that they end up including the raised flares on the "off road" edition JT.

 

They have to crush the mules when done so I guess they are really seeing what it can do.

This confirms that's a real JT chassis underneath the camo. And these have the Diesel engine so they must be putting it through its paces too. Why else beat them on the trail?

If you want great breakover or departure angles click over to the 2 door JL forum.

I'm fully expecting to partially solve the angles with taller tires. But if you really want to rock crawl you'll need full length belly pans...rocker sliders...wrap-around rear bumper with sliders...gas tank skid. AEV's Brute had tires, sliders, and rear bumpers.

 

Tail lights appear to go over the sides like the JL.

 

I agree that overhand looks a lot longer than other midsized trucks. Which is concerning.
The cabin room looks bigger than other midsized trucks though (which will be a big factor for the wife).
The other slightly concering thing I noticed, is that those rear wheel wells look smaller than I thought (JL). I hope I can stuff a 35" stock and 37 with 2" lift.
I also noticed that they swapped tires for this mule compared to the one posted earlier this month. I wonder if it's a totally separate mule, or if they just switched tires for this test. I'm leaning to a separate mule than the previous post as the tires look like they've been worn down quite a bit

 

it's hard to tell how much is real damage vs the folds in the covering. I really hope it comes with factory rear bed sliders just like the normal rocker panel sliders.

 

The bumper does appear like it was caught on a rock.

Or someone tried to stop it by grabbing the bumper.

 

Could simply be the cladding drooping and falling off. I’m ok if the cladding isn’t “trail rated”.

 

Looking at the first and second pictures. I think they may be two different mules. Possibly different engines or one Rubicon version? The tires are different and the camo wrap looks much dirtier and looser fitting around the bed on the first than the second one. The driver front door wrap has some sort of white pattern as well on the second one that's not on the first.

 

Well, one has a DOT number on the side and the other doesn't.

 

They used it to tow out a Hummer

 

JK interior still.

 

I've gotta say those images are disheartening...especially the tub and rear overhang/departure.
That "appears" terrible, I would go so far to say if it came to market like that in Aust, it would probably rank worst in class for that spec....which would go 100% against the market they would be trying to attain here!