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Black is the New Black?

8K views 41 replies 13 participants last post by  Fischey 
#1 ·
What's up JF, just bought my Premium Membership and finally changed my name from "lolvtak" to this and I'm feeling frisky so I decided to make a thread. A little boring background on me is I'm from Long Island, NY the capital of no good legal wheeling unless you love sand which I don't. I'm moving to Dover, PA in 2 weeks with my girlfriend to start a new degree (teaching) and to be close to Rausch Creek and the annual Jeep show in York.

I bought my 2002 TJ on February 11 of 2009 and this was the first day when I brought her home.



Obviously completely stock at the time, the first thing I did after looking through JF was paint the headlight bezels black, remove the bumper endcaps, paint the stock wheels black (they were rusting), and take it to the beach for some mild fun.





Next step was to cut the fender flares because I found a great deal on some crappy 33's and wheels.





The tires I got were some random brand 33" AT that had dry rot all over the them but I got 4 of them for 100 bucks. A few weeks later one of them stopped holding air completely so I just got 2 BFG AT for the rear and went wheeling upstate. (Sorry I have no wheeling pics, I have too much fun while doing it and forget.)



Then went to the Hamptons for some more beach action.



Next thing I did was fall in love with Rugged Ridge's XHD Modular front bumper and stinger combo so I bought it.

Snapped this picture after tugging out my buddy's bushes for him.



My next step was to buy Rough Country's 2.5" lift but winter hit before I could install it.



Had a lot of fun all winter helping people out of the snow.

Finally spring came and I installed my lift with a friend.



Couldn't have been happier with the quality of the ride and the price was great.

While doing the lift we had to throw away my old sway bar links and I decided to get new links, a steering stabilizer and I later found a good deal on a steering box skid here on JF, this is a good pic of all 3 of those. I also finally got another two BFG AT to replace the front two crappy tires.



I also decided I hated my carpet and ripped it out, followed by a good day of Raptor Lining and eventually Iggee seat covers. My interior really came together after that and the few misc things I had thrown in previously. Love the Raptor Liner its holding up VERY well except for a few small spots which I prepped poorly. For those wondering I feel like it's best to prep by grinding down to the bare metal then scuffing with a Scotch Brite pad and finally wiping down with acetone.







The Iggee seat covers fit quite well but since I'm picky I was thinking of having them permanently sewn into the seats for that ultimate fit.

The latest idiocy I've gotten into is giving my friend my front fender flares a little to test out my grinder's cutting power and hopefully order some flat fenders soon. I also recently ordered an XRC-8 winch from Quadratec. Started to get the surface rust off my frame and paint that as well as paint my wheels black.

Some flexinnnn and my favorite beach.





That's all for now while I save money for my move to PA. Once I'm down there I'll be getting flat fenders, new axles, more lift and 35" BFG KM in preparation to do some real wheeling. I'm always looking for more friends and Jeepers are some of the nicest people I've ever met in the car world especially coming from the import tuner scene.
 
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#5 ·
Just installed my XRC-8 winch yesterday and got to use it a few hours later! Went to the beach at night with some friends to have a fire and hang out, before we left I started driving around the dunes and ended up stuck in some really fluffy sand, tied my winch line around a huge log and pulled myself out. This thing rocks picture will be up tomorrow after I do some more cutting to my fenders.
 
#6 ·
Looks great! Especially the Raptor liner!

You DO know that PA has very strict fender laws? ZERO tire is allowed to stick out or you get slapped on the pee-pee:(
 
#11 ·
Welcome to Dover!!! Get to know Mike and the guys at Mt Zion on Rte 74 N of the square in Dover. Good guys with lotsa Jeep know how! They do a monthly pilgrimage to Rausch. The next one is on Halloween weekend. Check their website out too.....mtzionoffroad.com

My 35 1250s stick out one solid inch from my flares. No cops have stopped me yet. Local boys are the NYRPD...Northern York Regional Police Dept. They will give you grief for no doors before tires sticking out.
 
#12 ·
I haven't updated this in forever, been so busy settling into PA and everything I haven't had much time for the Jeep, I finally went to Rausch Creek a few weeks back though and here are some pictures, finally some pictures of my XRC-8 as well.









For those of you who aren't tired of hearing how great the Rough Country 2.5 is here is a great flex shot.



Got to use my stinger a little here.



Overall I had a blast and my TJ performed well above my expectations, I thought my tires would hold me back. They didn't, I did fine in everything and didn't even have too much trouble through mud. Of course I still want some MT in the future but I've settled down about my tires and learned to love them for their all around comfort on the road and performance off-road. I had some clearance issues with my t-case skid but that's to be expected. I'll be taking out the skid drop because I found out it wasn't really necessary on my 2.5" lift.

Though I don't have much income down here to do mods I will be working towards some things slowly so the progress will come.
 
#17 ·
I've been putting off any mods for a long long while now due to saving up for a house. Well I just got pre-approved for a mortgage and decided to reward myself. I ordered UCF's no body-lift t-case skid after getting hung up on my stock skid every time I went wheeling. With the skid I ordered a low-pro tranny mount and a 1" MML. I'm super pumped for it to arrive and I'll surely be posting up pictures.

Edit: and here are some fairly recent pictures, I cut my fenders a bit more so I wouldn't need to extend my bumpstops.

Here I am hung up on my t-case skid at Rausch Creek.


And again hung up the damn t-case skid.





It seems like all the pictures I have are of me stuck but I guess that's the only time anyone is out of their vehicle.
 
#23 ·
Thanks, its the Rugged Ridge XHD winch bumper with the stinger add-on. Its a nice setup because I can unbolt the stinger in a few minutes if I want to and the winch sits nicely inside the bumper. I've beat the stinger up a lot and it only has one dent on the bottom where it curves up from the bumper on the passenger side from dropping down really hard on some rocks. I'd recommend it if you have the money.
 
#24 ·
Oh yeah! Installed the UCF no body-lift skid today with lo-pro trans mount and 1" MML.



Goodbye old skid!



I was warned I would have to move my cat forward to clear the trans mount but I didn't and it fits fine anyway except that it is jammed up against the cat and makes a muffle rattling noise at idle. Not a big deal for me.

Can't wait to test it out at Rausch Creek!
 
#26 ·
I'd say about two inches, now I'm a pretentious member of the belly-up crew. Whenever I see another TJ I immediately look for the stock belly pan and then smile to myself.



Next step is to break it in next month at Rausch Creek. See how many rocks I can bang over.
 
#30 ·
No you don't need anything other than the MML for the "UCF no body-lift" skid. The only exception are 03-06 TJ's for whatever reason. Of course I'm planning on all those mods in the future but the belly pan is what I really need.

Did some wheeling at trails road tonight, no pictures because it was pouring cats and dogs but I had a blast. I got a nice compliment from another guy I went with who told me, "sweet run" and asked me if I had lockers after taking a pretty tough line up a huge rock and through a bumpy creek. I owe it to the extra clearance underneath and a steady foot. I'm continuously amazed at what my small (to me) TJ is capable of on just BFG ATs and a 2.5" lift.

Probably going to be fabbing up some tube fenders soon with a buddy of mine I'll be sure to post that up.
 
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