A lot of you gave me great advice in the "Need Help with a JK Unlimited Build" thread I posted a few weeks back. Well my Rubicon arrived yesterday and a lot of the parts are in (although the Mopar lift won't be here for about 3 weeks so it'll have to be one of the last things done). I am going to try to get good pics of each stage along with measurements of actual lift amounts front and rear so I be able to see the before, during, and after stages.
So here we go.
Day 2...
Bone stock.
Yesterday, I drove to the train depot and picked the rig up myself. The odometer read "1". I thought that was pretty cool. I drove it the 8 miles back to the dealership, drove it in to the shop, let the guys do the PDI, and I took the front tops off and drove it home. You know, I've been in the car business for 10 years, I've personally owned just shy of 70 vehicles, and I still made about 10 trips out to the garage last night to play around with the new Jeep. What a cool rig. Watching this thing change over the next 3 or 4 weeks is going to be a blast!
Here's the first few pics at the trainyard and the first few back at the house:
Hey, congrats! Rescue Green is definately the best color!
Here's a pic of mine so you can see some mods. The River Raider Snorkel is a must in my opinion, but that's just my opinion. But I've got no lift, but you can see fire extinguisher(red straps), mopar bumper, superwinch w/ included roller fairlead, in the back is a mopar rear bumper, CB antenna, and of course my Hi-Lift Jack/Shovel mounted to the stock spare tire carrier.
I imagine you're going to dwarf mine, but I figured you might want to see some things on a Jeep of the same color.
The first night I had my Jeep, I laid in bed and could not sleep.... I felt like Ralphie and his Red Rider BB Gun.... I crawled out of bed at 6 am and dropped the top and went cruising... Man, what a great feeling it is getting a new Wrangler... I've had a bunch of new cars as well, but nothing has compared to the fun and excitement the Wrangler brought... Enjoy it bro!!
I am pretty stoked to see your rig come together. I've had mine a year now and the mods still continue, of course I don't as many mods done as what you had listed on your previous threads. So that means I still have another year or so to build. :2thumbsup: Good times to come.
Yeah, definitely post pics as you progress and keeping track of dimensions will be very informative as well. Are you gonna keep track of drops from added weights as well? Such as how much your front bumper drops ya, rear bumper, winch(?), and so forth? As well as actual lift heights I guess.
Looking forward to hearing about the long arm install and flexability as well. Let us know about the complexity if possible. And show us some possible flexing poses too.
Partly because I work at a Chrysler/Jeep dealership and partly because I know the odds of me getting things covered when they break are going to be better with the Mopar kit.
Congrats on that seriously fast delivery! I feel kinda bad when I doubted that one dealer could get my jeep ordered and delivered in 30 days. But since I found it 60 miles away at another dealership and its sitting outside smiling at me, I don't feel so bad. I would still have 3 more weeks to wait for the ordered one. And I don't care what ANYONE says, that Rescue Green is the best color! It looks good in any weather! I look forward to watching your build. I'll live vicariously through you! I may have to take my portion of the Economic Stimulus Payment and get a lift or at least some Rubicon tires!
I received my Mopar longarm kit today and you know what? It's not a rebadged Rubicon Express lift! No. There's nothing rebadged about it! The huge box it came in says M on it, but once you open it up you see that every actual box that holds a part still says "Rubicon Express". And you wanna know the worst part? The only part that's REALLY noticable, the SHOCK, still says Rubicon Express. Basically, if I take all the small boxes out of the big box, there is no way you could tell the difference between the two.
It just seems to me that for the extra dough, Chrysler could have at least put an "M" on the shock or something.
I received my Mopar longarm kit today and you know what? It's not a rebadged Rubicon Express lift! No. There's nothing rebadged about it! The huge box it came in says M on it, but once you open it up you see that every actual box that holds a part still says "Rubicon Express". And you wanna know the worst part? The only part that's REALLY noticable, the SHOCK, still says Rubicon Express. Basically, if I take all the small boxes out of the big box, there is no way you could tell the difference between the two.
It just seems to me that for the extra dough, Chrysler could have at least put an "M" on the shock or something.
That really sucks, I'm dissappointed to hear that. I was always planning on going with an Old Man Emu lift(eventually...) but still, another example of the new way Jeep is run... I'm just shaking my head.
A lot of you gave me great advice in the "Need Help with a JK Unlimited Build" thread I posted a few weeks back. Well my Rubicon arrived yesterday and a lot of the parts are in (although the Mopar lift won't be here for about 3 weeks so it'll have to be one of the last things done). I am going to try to get good pics of each stage along with measurements of actual lift amounts front and rear so I be able to see the before, during, and after stages.
So here we go.
Day 2...
Bone stock.
Yesterday, I drove to the train depot and picked the rig up myself. The odometer read "1". I thought that was pretty cool. I drove it the 8 miles back to the dealership, drove it in to the shop, let the guys do the PDI, and I took the front tops off and drove it home. You know, I've been in the car business for 10 years, I've personally owned just shy of 70 vehicles, and I still made about 10 trips out to the garage last night to play around with the new Jeep. What a cool rig. Watching this thing change over the next 3 or 4 weeks is going to be a blast!
Here's the first few pics at the trainyard and the first few back at the house:
A few days got away from me without doing anything and today's mods are pretty dull but since they're the first ones, I figured I'd mention em:
Installed MyGig today (What a cool system! I already downloaded a couple cds onto it)
Put my hitch mount cargo rack on (pic of the product below, pic on the rig coming tomorrow)
I also loaded some gear up today (Powertank CO2 in soft bag, ARB recovery gear, misc tools).
It's not much, but it already feels a lot more like MY rig than just A rig. I also gave my Jeep trailer (you can see it in the last pic above) to a buddy who is welding a steel basket onto the front of it for me, installing some flares, and fitting black diamond plating to the exterior. It should turn out pretty cool.
Time is really getting away from me. I should still be able to get it done in 30, but the first third of the time has been almost entirely wasted being busy with other garbage.
Yesterday I installed the Mopar subwoofer. The amplifier mounts under the steering column and the sub box has these 2 cool little hooks that latch onto the bottom of the rear seat back. So basically you just unlatch the rear seatback, push the box up against the back of the seat, and lock the seat back. It holds the box in place so it isn't moving all over when you are offroad. When you want to remove it for space, just disconnect one little plug, fold the seat forward a few inches, and lift it out.
The sound is way better than it was and it looks cool. I am actually not going to do the Mopar (Kicker) factory speaker replacements now. With the sub the sound is as good as I need it to be so I'm going to save the dough for something else.
ps. I really am taking pics these mods, I am just too dim to be able to get them from the camera to the computer so I have to wait for my wife to do it for me. It will be up by the end of the weekend for sure.
ps. I really am taking pics these mods, I am just too dim to be able to get them from the camera to the computer so I have to wait for my wife to do it for me. It will be up by the end of the weekend for sure.
Dude...you can't get pics from a camera to the computer? That's a copout if I ever saw one! I think your man card should be suspended until you figure it out! :nono:
Ok, finally got into the good stuff today! Got the AEV front bumper and skid installed with the Warn 9.5ti winch stuffed inside. I removed the cable from the winch and wound the Viking synthetic line with Crushproof eye and Excel hook. I love the way this bumper looks! I think it looks better in person than it does online.
I do have a question I'd like to get some opinions on. On the bumper there are a couple pieces of metal mesh. They are currently unpained and they look good in the silver tone, but I am going to be installing the AEV hood next week and it has the same silver mesh in a few areas. If I leave them both, they will mesh and look good, but I am thinking about maybe painting them all black since there is really no other silver on the rig outside of a few bolt heads. Whaddya think?
Anyways, I'd say paint the mesh black. I think it would look good... well if it was noticable after painting that is. If it's bare metal now, then worst case you can always scrub the paint off.
Yesterday I got the IPF lights on the front bumper
Got the windshield mount brackets painted and put on
Got the windshield lights mounted (but not wired up yet ) and changed the angle of the antenna so it wouldn't hit the light (I didn't like the look of the antenna spacer)
Starting on the lift today so hopefully I'll have some cool pics tomorrow... :2thumbsup:
Looking OUTSTANDING!!! If it were me, I'd paint the mesh either black, or green, but wouldn't leave them silver.
That bumper is just killer! I have the same hook (though I painted mine blue) and have people comment on it a lot. Not sure why-- but maybe becuase it's slightly bigger than most stock hooks you see.
Looking OUTSTANDING!!! If it were me, I'd paint the mesh either black, or green, but wouldn't leave them silver.
That bumper is just killer! I have the same hook (though I painted mine blue) and have people comment on it a lot. Not sure why-- but maybe becuase it's slightly bigger than most stock hooks you see.
I am interested in having the AEV front bumper installed with a winch when I get my jeep. Did you have a local garage,dealership or did AEV install it. Also what is the cost to install?
I am interested in having the AEV front bumper installed with a winch when I get my jeep. Did you have a local garage,dealership or did AEV install it. Also what is the cost to install?
I'm not the best one to answer this one. (See below my name)
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They tend to give me a better deal than most and I am an authorized AEV dealer. :2thumbsup: (GREAT company to work with by the way)
Anyone else with an AEV bumper want to field this one?
I don't necessarily like some of the mods you've done to your vehicle, but it's refreshing to know that you're modding it out to your own tastes and desires.
Being a dealer, I'm always building what I think everyone will like. This time I'm building what I like. I think the finished product will be pretty cool.
Holy mackeral. Halfway to the 30 day mark already. I don't have any pics today. The front half of the lift is done, but the rear is not. My exhaust and gas tank are on the ground and the interior looks like a war zone.
On a positive note, the lights are all wired and they are BRIGHT when I turn them all on. I'll get pics soon. And I ended up going with a M.O.R.E. rear bumper with tire carrier (just about gave myself a hernia trying to lift the pig) so it's in the body shop getting finished to match the AEV front (or as close as possible anyways).
Barring any major setbacks, I should have some really great pics early next week. :thumbsup:
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