Welll here it goes my Rubicon build from stock, to mild and soon to be wild. Figured I have the time and a little pacience so I'll give it a try. It all started with a 50 crash at some local jumps. I didn't thing much of it until I ended up in the hospital 4 months later with an infection from hell! I wasn't able to drive let alone get into my old CJ7 so i decided to sell it. This is a pic 6 hours after my crash....



From my nuts all the way down to my heel looked like that a week later... Anyways I sold my CJ.

About a year later I realized how much I missed having a jeep and decided it was time for another. I had no intentions on buying what I did but....... I got the Rubicon. I wasted no time and called Jensen telling him it was game on, I was really on because he recieved that very call from fordyce. I was there later that night.

Before the first payment was made the jeep was rolled and all fear of door dings was gone. Days later the bank (chrystler Financial) called and said that since I put 0 down on my loan and I couldn't prove my income that if I didn't come up with $2000 to put down they would have to take the jeep back. " LOL sucker I already rolled that bitch and if you plan to come get it you better bring something to un bury it from the mud"............. I never heard back from them and re-financed with Golden one. Good bye 10.9% APR , hello 3.9%.

Here are some shots dicken around at P. City when it was stock...



.

The hunt for 33's soon began.....

i soon found someone who wanted trade my stock wheels and tires for 33' MTR's on black steelies.


Out came the sawzall, Chopped the front fenders and threw in some CJ turn signals, also added some LED tail lights and a rack. I wheeled like this far at couple years at least. Heres some more pics....











Ok. What do you notice in the last pic? yeah I'm stuck but I din't mention adding a CJ tailgate yet. Well that was added because when we were at fordyce I got stuck in a mud hole on the way back from Wh3. T-carp was behind me and and I was holding up the show.. "just push me!" well ask and you shall receive, I was now "unstuck" and the tail gate was "unrepairable",lol.

the next set of photos are what brought the Rubicon to its next mod. A snorkle.

Here is a pic from when Travis was a monster truck driver.



Tilton was captain america...



And I was the guy that parked on everyones 40's...



At this point I think, hey this is pretty cool....



At this point I'm starting to change my mind.....



And at this point all I can think is the amount of water DUMPING over my door!!!



We made it across and up to the top. I opened the tailgate and water flooded out. I think I pissed my pants, but it didn't matter because they were aready wet lol.

So I wanted to a a snorkle but but didn't want to buy a $300 ARB one.

I had already smashed up every corner of the jeep and I'd probably just rip it off or smash it so why not run it in the cab? Well thats what I did and it only cost $25. It's been on FOREVER and I have no complaints or cares about any noise it makes.













SNORKLE DONE!

Well by now the hunt was on for the next step and Mods. decided I wanted to run 35's with only a 2 inch coil spacer and thats it, otherwise completly stock suspension. Those plance were brought to a hault when the Rubicon was involved in a accident. I T-boned someone in a parking lot as they ran a stop sign. I hit them and they spun me around. I was bummed.

















They basically replaced the entire front end and steering components, and they reused my hood. I decided to work a deal with the body shop it went to. I saved them money buy getting poision spyder tube fenders over the OEM's..."FREEBIE!" The accident was declared the other guys fault and I paid nothing out of pocket. THANKS DUDE!

Now back on track it was time to stuff the 35's under the still stock suspension. But 35's weren't enough. I had 5.13's installed and also decided to do a home brew highlined hood. I had done some reading on this but hadn't seen it done with tube fenders. The AVE highline kit was $2000 and still only included sheetmetal fenders.

This is were it all started....



Shortly after I had the fenders off



This braket was in the way and handled accordingly...



TA-Da!


Had to do some cutting to clear the headlights...



And removed the Poison spyder original gusset...

Now the so called problem I had read about was the stock airbox because it mounts to the fender and after being raised 3.5 inches it would hit the hood. Solution...... recess it into the fender.

Put it on


trace it up


cut-it-out!


Fender re-installed 3.5 higher than before.



air box installed in cutout



We have clearance!!




I got the drivers side buttoned up and it was time to chop my freshly painted hood!

Here it is sitting on the fenders at their new heigth.



Lay out my tape





GET SOME!!!!!!!



The result was worth the 2 days it took me to do! A highlined hood with tube fenders!! hell yeah.


Side view with 33's





BAM! Side view with 35's






You can see were the rock sliders used to be on the fenders...Not gonna cut the mustard!




So I turned these two pices of angle that were found in a field....




Into These...





This dude couldn't beleive his eye's! lol.

now it was time to test our results...










The fenders are the bump stops....... needs more trimming




Gotta love the extra 3.5 of clearance with no suspension lift! Room to spare!!!






After geting home decided to make a couple more things.

A decorative piece for our mantle



And I took the stock rock slider that I removed




And made a radiator skid out of it




Before:



After:



Figured it was put to good use since Kranker had just gotten me another new radiator (after the accident). I punctured the radiator labor day weekend at the Con. Kranker was with me and this is a picture from that trip.




HAHAHAHAHAHA! Good times!!!!

Now time for some punishment pics!!




WH3















But carnage was inevitable!!!!






Good thing I carry spare's we gotta drive this turd home!!!






Back in the game!!!!

Having seen Ian roll (from his passenger seat) figured I didn't want this to happen to my hood since I drive to and from the trail. He mangled the raditor and it over heated so bad it ran like a diesel and lock up on the drive home!





So I called up Trout and got me some Fishmouth Fab







THANKS DAN!!

That pretty much brings us up to date over the last 5-6 years. Sice I got married, I have installed a the RE long arm kit. (thanks for the hand and work space Mikey and AL for the kit!!) and now have upgraded to 36's. Next week I am ditching the dumb ass Currie steering I have in favor for a setup using all Chevy rodends. I got a few other goodies and now that were current in the progress of the heep I'll keep it updated.

Savage

fawkin sweet!!! When is it going to get to the axle build? get some!!!!!

Nice build thread. That jeep has come a long way! Its going to be sweet with 1 tons under it. Then you can definitely get some!

Decided to wait on the axles till its paid off, however the hunt for parts will continue. Since the weather is bad I wont be working on the 14 bolt this weekend but as soon as I do pics will be posted.

Here is the next batch of goodies waiting to go on. Will probably throw the cover on this weekend and the steering may be done next week. I threw some clear powder on the cover instead of black.

well poop! I bought all new hardware for the cover, new gear oil and some sealer all to find out that my tierod wont clear the new cover. Hmmm.. So Dakota threw the oldie back on since I was frustrated. I'll address the clearance issue with Phil next week.

Progress has been made I'll get some pics up soon. Thanks Phil for the SillyFab, I think it turned out sweet!

Great story man!!!!!!!

Well there it is...

Out with the old...




And in with the new!!!!



Way beefier than before! and Currie can suck my ass on a $50 rodend (EACH!), I paid just over $60 for all 4 of these. Raised up the tierod about 3 inches higher than it was before. Notice the dff cover is now able to be used plenty of clearance and no binding. Getting it aligned in 3 hours.


So whens the next wheeling trip??


Next project....Fuel cell. Stay tuned!

yep... you need that little rubicon panhard drop bracket. I should have one in a week or so and you can have it. .... then it'll be double shear up top too.

actually you probably have one from your kit.

we'll be in touch

looks good I like the clear on the diff cover.... where did you get the TRE's from?

Thansk! Pretty sure my cousin ordered them from napa, they have an account with them.

OK so I got the new cage, so out with the old...










And in with the new!!!!!











Next project......FUEL CELL!

Looks great!! Lets wheel!

So a few new things over the last couple weeks. Got a sick wrap from Mikey, rear seat went back in as well as seat belts for the kid's, door surrounds fitted to the new cage, some tower speakers and a sweet new car seat for Dallon. Here a couple pics of the wrap and I'll get more pics as soon as some more stuff goes down.

The wrap looks sick in person!!

yeah, those pics don't do it justice. More to come!!!

ok, update! I aquired another 14 bolt that is 100% complete and staying that way until its under the jeep. I just got all of the shock mounts and spring perches cut off, powder coated a set of hubs that will be getting disc's and also just got a set of 8 lug wheels. I already have the rear links from a LJ that will take my wheelbase 10 inches longer. I'll post up some pics later tonight but I'm hoping to get the ball rolling on this pretty damn soon, more details on that to follow as well.....

So here is the new rear axle, I still need to finish grind the spring perches and shock mounts followed by the wire wheel. Hopefully I'll get to it this weekend.




Here are the powder coated hubs. As soon as I can I'll fit them up with some discs and new wheels studs.




And the new wheels. These will be getting fitted up with some Ruff Stuff rings. I'll also be getting the disc brake brackets from them as well as some other things





So as of now I'm almost ready to get the rear axle swapped. Once the rear is at least in and rolling then I'll start looking for a front 60. So my goal for now is to get this thing sitting as a roller with the new axles, then from there I can build up the axles, get driveshafts and full hydro steering. I keep my progress updated, like I said I'm hoping to get the ball rolling really soon!

Ok, so I got the brackets and perches all ground down and wire wheeled it up. Just for fun I threw the wheels on it. It looks Waaaaay wider than it really is, some big meats will help even it out.


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Looks like that black widow is going to steal ur grinda'....

oh btw are you going to use that paint?

I'm gonna weld that spider to the diff !cover and then powder coat it. As far as the paint if you want some I have plenty! hahaha

I think those wheels used to be mine. I used to have them on big red, I can tell by the valve stems.

Maybe? I got them from Austin.

Today at work I threw some powder on my diff cover. I'm amazed at how well some things clean up.




Moew to come.

Well slight change of plans but it will be for the better..... I hope lol. Gonna keep the Heep Streetable. My main focus is getting it smogged, I just reinstalled all the smog crap and rewired it. The only things I need are a LDP air filter, and I am going to replace the fuel fillerneck with a unmolested one and a new hose to the tank. As of right now I have no C.E.L. but that means nothing for at least a week of it being gone. Mike and I threw in a new heater core so now it's warm for the kids during these cold months and as soon as its smogged I need to address the steering and maybe replace the front axle housing, we'll see. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Not having a car payment is pretty sweet so driving the jeep keeps some extra cash in the pocket for making the jeep a bad ass driver that can hit the trail hard. I think I may just slowly peice together a bad ass front axle and work my way back. Anyways it will still get all the goodies I wanted, but I will just make it so its still drivable. Also trying to get into a house with a garage. I hope good things really come to those who wait!