Photo: Dakota Customs
We bet some of you out there totally forgot Jeep still built a true-to-form, two-door Jeep Wrangler. Over 90 percent of all new Wranglers sold these days are four-door models, so it's no great shame on anyone's part if their jaw drops when they see a rare two-door in their rear-view. But thanks to Dakota Customs of Summerset, South Dakota, you're bound to go gaga about what's under the hood of this particular Wrangler. That's right, folks. See that big supercharger? It should tell you exactly what we're talking about.
Where there was once an anemic 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 known more for being a better magnet for lawsuits than it was a reliable engine now sits a 6.2-liter HEMI V8 with an SRT Hellcat Redeye supercharger for more boost than most people know what to do with. The new engine was expertly installed on account of Dakota Custom's specialty for swapping powertrains out of late-model Wranglers and Gladiator pickups with the beefiest engines a Chrysler brand has ever managed to sneak past the accountants in upper management.
The company can custom cater the specs of their products to the exact tastes of the customer. The option to add a ZF 8HP75 eight-speed automatic transmission to vehicles sporting a manual transmission from the factory might seem counter-intuitive, but we hazard to guess the added torque converter would do some good in tricky 4x4 environments. If you're so inclined, you could even keep the standard Pentastar V6 while Dakota Customs swaps the transmission for you. But come on, why go through the trouble of sending your Jeep to North Dakota to not have it come home with a Hellcat motor?
The additional Rock-Trac dual-range transfer case backed up by Tru-Lok 4.10 ratioed Dana axles front and rear means all the torque and horsepower this menacing engine cranks out is transferred to loose gravel, sand, mud, and other woodland terrains with an absolute minimum of fuss or difficulty. As for suspension, a set of Fox Performance shock absorbers add at least a couple of inches to the ride height of this Jeep. Or, at the very least, the set of 285/70 BFGoodrich HD-Terrain T/A KT tires riding on Black Rhino 17-inch black rims gives the illusion this Jeep is lifted.
Perhaps these black wheels are the most prominent indicator this Wrangler Rubicon is packing something insane under the hood. Of course, the winch and the beefier front lighting arrangement might also clue you in. But it's a fact this Jeep can blend into a parking lot before scaring everyone inside it half to death with its exhaust, which is what's so irresistible to those among us with a soft spot in our hearts for sleeper builds.
The company can custom cater the specs of their products to the exact tastes of the customer. The option to add a ZF 8HP75 eight-speed automatic transmission to vehicles sporting a manual transmission from the factory might seem counter-intuitive, but we hazard to guess the added torque converter would do some good in tricky 4x4 environments. If you're so inclined, you could even keep the standard Pentastar V6 while Dakota Customs swaps the transmission for you. But come on, why go through the trouble of sending your Jeep to North Dakota to not have it come home with a Hellcat motor?
The additional Rock-Trac dual-range transfer case backed up by Tru-Lok 4.10 ratioed Dana axles front and rear means all the torque and horsepower this menacing engine cranks out is transferred to loose gravel, sand, mud, and other woodland terrains with an absolute minimum of fuss or difficulty. As for suspension, a set of Fox Performance shock absorbers add at least a couple of inches to the ride height of this Jeep. Or, at the very least, the set of 285/70 BFGoodrich HD-Terrain T/A KT tires riding on Black Rhino 17-inch black rims gives the illusion this Jeep is lifted.
Perhaps these black wheels are the most prominent indicator this Wrangler Rubicon is packing something insane under the hood. Of course, the winch and the beefier front lighting arrangement might also clue you in. But it's a fact this Jeep can blend into a parking lot before scaring everyone inside it half to death with its exhaust, which is what's so irresistible to those among us with a soft spot in our hearts for sleeper builds.
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