Rugged Ridge | XHD Snorkel Kit | 17756.21 | Fits 2007-2018 Jeep Wrangler JK 3.6L/3.8L

My wife and I live in Fairbanks Alaska, we belong to an off road club, there are a lot of trips where there are deep water crossings, I installed the Rugged Ridge Snorkel on our 2016 Jeep Rubicon, it does work well but if I were the engineers on this project I would have designed the air box a little more user friendly. Due to the amount of trees and willows we travel through the design inside the fender works better here.It’s a little ridiculous to install and set up. Due to the amount of rain, water, snow and mud I turned the inlet on the snorkel backwards. The other issue I have is the amount of ice that builds up in the pocket between the windshield and wiper blade, we had to keep stopping to clear the ice out so the wipers could operate.Otherwise it kept my engine from hydro locking.

Easy install lifted jeep went from 11 mpg to 18 mpg . Live in the desert best upgrade I've done the drain set up is perfect never have to worry about if there's water in your snorkel just look at the clear drain hose.

I won't lie, this is a challenging install but with that said, I did mine in a day and a half and I did it without assistance. I have read reviews that say that this is a two person install and a second person would help but you can do this on your own. I am moderately mechanically inclined so this doesn't take expert knowledge, but rather a lot of patience. Here are the struggles that I ran into (or at least the ones I remember):- VERY IMPORTANT: Measure the cutout on the template to ensure it is correct. The one in the install manual was off by a full inch for me but the one I downloaded from Rugged Ridge's site was accurate. Measure it BEFORE you use it to cut your fender. I did my cut with a Dremel because I forgot that I needed a new cutting disk for my angle grinder but the Dremel worked fine.- On the fender cut, you will most likely have to cut back the plate for the antenna. This is in the instructions but be aware that you need to be careful on this cut as you could easily cut through the outer portion of your fender and ruin it. I took this very slow and careful. A second set of hands would be helpful here but again you can do it yourself just take it slow.- Drilling out the welds on the cowl was a bit difficult simply because the surface is flat and fairly slick so drill bit travel can make your pilot hole off. This happened to me on one of the weld and I used a putty knife to pry off the remaining portion of that weld. You will want to be careful here so as to preserve the cowl if you ever want to remove the snorkel and restore your Jeep back to its original appearance which Rugged Ridge gives you the ability and hardware to do.- I spent a lot of time beating back the heat shield to the point where it can't be bent back any more and it still vibrates when it is cold and at around 3,000 RPM so it is now a shift indicator. I am not happy with this but at least it is not constant. Beating back the heat shield took me the most time as it is not easy to do because of the location and limited work space. This step is probably where I did the most cussing as well. It sucks but take your time and get it back as far as you can.- Because the air box is now lower I can't reattach the main hose going to the engine. It simply won't reach but it doesn't move either. The manual will tell you to reattach it but mine won't. Maybe you will get lucky but again, if you can't it isn't a big deal the hose will not move.- You will have to bend the z bracket that goes in the cowl area and attaches to the snorkel. Lining up the screws is difficult and at first I didn't think it would align properly but it will. This is a bit of a struggle because of the location but with some work it will fit properly.- I spent a lot of time dry fitting and cutting the 90 degree hose until it fit right. This is on the air box side. I recommend taking your time here and getting it right.- DO NOT skip the step where you paint the cowl area with black paint or you will wish you had done it. I painted mine and it looks great. Unless your Jeep is black already you will notice the gap (even though it is small) between the snorkel and the cowl area as any color other than black will highlight the gap.- I had to fold back the area where the inside portion of the snorkel wraps around the fender area wall. Be sure to have some sort of touch up paint or clear coat to coat this area as the paint will chip off when you bend it.- They say you don't have to cut the inside fender but mine would not fit until I did. It is plastic and cuts easily and if you do it right it does look good.- Getting the metal tube to fit is a struggle but if you are patient (I am not) it will fit. Just take your time and step away if you need to. I did a fair amount of cussing here as well.- I had some trouble getting the metal tube mount to align with the brake line mount. It will take some work but it will align. I ended up taking the mount screw completely off (the instruction say to loosen it) and if you find you need to remove the mount screw be warned that getting it back on may be a bit of a struggle.- Check to make sure you have all your parts. I was missing the two plastic spacers for the high mount snorkel for the screws (there should be four). I contacted Rugged Ridge and they required proof of purchase (which I thought was strange for two parts that had to be less than a dollar combined). I sent them a screen capture of my Amazon purchase and that was all that was needed and they mailed me the parts. They may seem insignificant but they are vital to mounting your high mount snorkel with a water tight seal.- I noticed in a few reviews that the box arrives in bad shape and mine did as well. I am not sure why this is other than they do use a low quality cardboard box. I expect more from a product in this price range. It is nit picky but it does represent the quality of the company. This may have also been the reason for the two missing parts in my shipment.I know this seems like a long list but do not let it scare you off. Again I am not a professional mechanic and I would rate my skill as hobbyist to moderate so if you can identify the tools needed for this job you can do it yourself. My purpose here is to just let you know some of the issues that I had so that you know what you are getting into and are prepared before you get your Jeep apart. I would plan to do this project over a weekend and if you get it done in one day then you have a free day to take your Jeep out on the trails, but plan for at least a day and a half.In the end, with the exception of the vibration at 3,000 RPM off the heat shield, I am very happy with this product and I love that you can switch between high and low mount as I don't like the high mount look. I have received a lot of compliments on this snorkel both on the trails and on the road. I run the high mount only when on the trails and the low mount daily and am very happy with how the low mount looks. If it wasn't for the heat shield issue I would give this product five stars.

First things first yes this is a tedious mod. I'm just a 21 year old college student and not much experience with automotive work. That being said with any mod like this you need to research it, understand how it works and how it will be used, and finally you need to accept a mod like this has inherit risks. Any one that can read and follow instructions exactly will not have a problem at all. Though if you haven't researched, planned carefully and get frustrated easily you will find yourself lost and confused. Great product, great materials and can't say anything bad about it.

I like the quality. Everything fits well. It gives an aesthetic touch, more aggressive.I recommend it.

Good product but a few points missed in the instructions. You have to cut one of the fender flare snaps when reinstalling the fender or it will not go back in place. There is not enough room behind the inner fender for the aluminum snorkel tube. Be prepared to cut the inner fender to clear or it will not go back in place.This is the only snorkel kit I have found that doesn't protrude our the side of the vehicle. The concept is great but they could do better with making the kit better fit, especially for the cost. Probably wouldn't purchase this kit again but it gets the job done after additional work to get it to fit.

As a YouTube certified mechanic (sarcasm I have years of military and shad tree mechanics under my belt) I found this product a okay "do it yourself" kind of project. I would think for the price that there wouldn't be so much cutting but feel like out of the options this is the best for the money. Wish I would have done this when I had the battery box out....over all if a snorkel is something you will use I would recommend.Edit finally put the high mount on because was going to go do some trails and we'll clearly who every puts the piece on should be closely supervised. Idk for the money I would expect a higher quality.

Wow, this kit looked great out of the box. Good quality, decent directions... But from there it went downhill fast. Ten hours after starting kit is still not installed. Two guys installing it, one an actual mechanic. First a bolt was defective and a trip to Home Depot was required. Then the windshield wiper didn't clear. Then the snorkel piece, which should come off easily, didn't come off at all and another bolt stripped and had to be cut out (requiring another trip to Home Depot). Our 21 year old son was so excited... But either take the kit to a professional (essentially doubling the price) or be ready for a full and frustrating day. We just hope the jeep will run after its finally done. You move a lot of hoses, wires, etc. putting this thing on. Sigh