Lord Al Sorna's 2014 JKUR Build Thread

[Lord Al Sorna]

Greetings fellow ExPo members! I would like to introduce my Jeep:


I purchased the Jeep July 18th, 2014 with 16 miles on the odometer. This is the first new vehicle I have owned, and has proven to be wonderfully fun and comfortable to cruise around in both on and off road. I look forward to making tasteful modifications to create my ultimate overland travel and 4x4 adventure vehicle. The series of considerations that brought me to this vehicle purchase are extensive and included an extravagant Excel sheet with many columns . The overarching idea is that I want to build a 4x4 that can do it all, and do it all well.

My previous vehicle, a fully outfitted 2001 Tacoma DC:

The Taco took my girlfriend Lauren and I to some of the most beautiful places in the West over my five years owning it. My passion for off-road adventure manifested into two branches over this time: overland travel AND technical 4x4 trails. I love them both and the Tacoma was exceptionally well suited to the former, but drivetrain strength and IFS limited the latter.

I decided the time was right to build the holy grail - a vehicle that was comfortable to travel in all day on the highway or on less technical roads and trails, be able to pull my off-road trailer, and still be capable of navigating the upper echelon of difficult 4x4 trails. Initial must-haves included a solid front axle, AC, enough room for four people and our two large dogs, best possible fuel economy, and good aftermarket support. Vehicles that fell into this category were already very limited, but the list was further boiled down to an 80 series Cruiser, or the JK Unlimited. Factors that helped me make the final decision included: low vs. high mileage, warranty, removable top (love), fuel economy, and the robust factory equipment package of the Rubicon.

So here I start. I never had a build page to look back on for my previous truck, and wished I had documented it. I have big plans for this rig and look forward to having this thread to log and share the progress. The initial focus of modifications will be on self-reliance/vehicle recovery, storage, and navigation. As time and budget allow, my intention for stage two is to get into the suspension, tires, and drivetrain modifications to run difficult trails. Thanks for checking out my rig ExPo!

Current Modifications:
Synergy 4" Coils F/R
Synergy Front Track Bar Bracket
Teraflex 1" Coil Spacers F/R
Teraflex Monster Front Track Bar
Synergy High-Steer
Fox 2.0 Remote Resi w/ Compression Adjusters - #70 Rebound Tune, Custom Compression Tune
Fox IFP hydraulic bumpstops
35 x 12.50 Cooper Discovery ST Maxx
Walker Evans Racing 15" Wheels
ARB front Stubby Bumper
Re-built Warn 9500HSi w/ custom paint - Smittybuilt Hybrid Line - Warn Hawse Fairlead
4.56 Nitro Gear R&P Swap
ARB Twin Compressor on MORE Mounting Bracket w/ Remote Line to Front Bumper
Welded ACE Engineering C-Gussets and LCA Skid Plates to front Dana 44
EVO Front Axle Truss
ARB Diff Covers F/R
Carolina Metal Masters JK Grab Bar
Infinity Front Tweeters / Dynamat in Speaker Enclosures
Angry Offroad Paracord Grab Handles
Daystar Hood Wranglers
Off Road Evolution Rockstar Skids
AEV Geometry Correction Brackets

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

The day I brought her home:


First Trip - Dinosaur National Monument:

 

[bluehash]

Awesome! Looking forward to your build!

 

[Comanche Scott]

Awesome! Looking forward to your build!

+1! :beer:

So how did you option out your Rubi? Anything you wished you'd gotten, or not gotten?
I just hit 1K on mine (all roads). While the "new-ness" has worn off, I'm still amazed at how civilized it is for how capable it is.

Holy "meca of off road" Batman! Just realized you live in God's country. OK, so will be looking forward to your build, interspersed with awesome landscape pictures.

Scott

 

[HRPINDC]

Nice! Welcome to the club. I couldn't love my Rubi more. I am looking forward to your improvements. Since I live in the city, I don't get out into the wilderness as often as I would like, so it's hard to justify some of the mods I would like to do. The stock Jeep has proven to be far more capable than necessary for my travels. But Utah......now that's a different story. I guess I'll live vicariously through folks like you for a while. Enjoy!

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Thanks guys!

So how did you option out your Rubi? Anything you wished you'd gotten, or not gotten?
I just hit 1K on mine (all roads). While the "new-ness" has worn off, I'm still amazed at how civilized it is for how capable it is.

I found this Jeep at Larry Miller Boise, and didn't order it. It had the option package I wanted to a T, however. Rubicon Package, Basic stereo w/ Alpine, Soft-Top, Leather Heated Seats, White (Doesn't show scratches, super easy to touch-up paint)... I would not have it any different, and I am up to 2,300 miles that we have gotten to know each other.

Nice! Welcome to the club. I couldn't love my Rubi more. I am looking forward to your improvements. Since I live in the city, I don't get out into the wilderness as often as I would like, so it's hard to justify some of the mods I would like to do. The stock Jeep has proven to be far more capable than necessary for my travels. But Utah......now that's a different story. I guess I'll live vicariously through folks like you for a while. Enjoy!

And a good club we find ourselves in... In stock form this thing has 90% of the capability my HEAVILY modified Tacoma did, and all off the showroom floor. That was a huge selling point for me, and what I learned recently is the ride quality of the stock JKUR is significantly nicer than my OME'd Taco. Hit the sway bar unlock and start cruising, and it feels like your driving a supple marshmallow... Mmm. Maybe its time you planned a trip to come out and visit us? :smiley_drive:

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Holy "meca of off road" Batman! Just realized you live in God's country. OK, so will be looking forward to your build, interspersed with awesome landscape pictures.

This put a huge grin on my face, thank you for that. Ask and you shall receive!


This was from yesterday, took a run up the Mary Ellen Gulch trail in American Fork Canyon. This area is just west of Midway, UT. It is an ultra cobbly/rocky trail that takes you WAY up high into the Wasatch mountains.

 

[Comanche Scott]

America the Beautiful!

Awesome! :beer:
What a great way to spend the day. :wings:

BTW: I added the mopar mud flaps up front to help keep the doors and hinges from getting beat up by rocks and trail grit.
Really happy with that.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

I have dug into a few easy initial modifications that are worth sharing at this point. Loving every minute of Jeep Life!

Audio:
Overall I was very pleased with the quality of the factory Alpine system in the Jeep, with one big exception: The front tweeters. To my ear, there was a brutally obvious cutoff at the top of the frequency range that really made things lackluster and dull. I elected to replace the factory tweeters with a pair of Infinity Reference 1031t's 2-ohm. Installation was very straightforward, and only required slight trimming with a dremel to fit the supplied escutcheon. After careful trimming, the mounting assembly popped right in the tombstone with a tight interference fit, and gave me a factory-quality final appearance. I tucked the supplied crossovers into the dash and connected to factory wires. High-range extension, vocals, and overall clarity were improved DRAMATICALLY with this install.


As an additional part to the audio system upgrade, I added Dynamat and polyfill to the insides of both the subwoofer and sound bar enclosures:



This upgrade was WELL worth it! Bass response is tighter and cleaner, with less "muddy" sounding midbass. It actually feels like there is a sub behind the rear seat now, and it got my mirrors shaking! When the time comes for me to get into the dash to get a power supply for the GPS, I will do this to the front speaker enclosures as well.
These two easy modifications completely transformed the clarity and richness of the stock system, and I am extremely pleased with the results.


We also found some custom paracord grab handles and zipper pulls at http://www.angryoffroad.com/ and I installed a full set. These are a fun and functional touch, and they are extremely well made!


Lastly, this came in the mail yesterday:

Billet Aluminum JK Grab Bar from Carolina Metal Masters. Provides a rigid 1" ball for use with RAM mounts, and I have installed in preparation for mounting up my GPS. This beast is gorgeous, and extremely sturdy.

 

[h20squirter]

Since you mentioned using the RAM mounts. Have you seen this? http://www.vectoroffroad.com/jke-dock-2011-full-width-p-86.html

 

[ROADTRIPN]

Nice Jeep! Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Since you mentioned using the RAM mounts. Have you seen this? http://www.vectoroffroad.com/jke-dock-2011-full-width-p-86.html

I had seen that option as well, and really liked it. If I had more than one thing to mount up I would be all over that, or the shorty version. I only intend on hard mounting the GPS at dash level, and really liked the placement and ridgidity of the grab bar, so I went with it. If I had foreseen a need to mount up multiple devices, the Jk Dock would have been the go-to for sure.

Nice Jeep! Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

Thanks! Me too! Just need to keep that monthly budget rolling for a while to get into the fun parts. I think shell be pretty well kitted up for next spring's season.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Some things have taken a fortunate turn, and have allowed the build up of my Jeep to happen in a more comprehensive initial push. :jumping:

Modifications since last post include:

Teraflex 2.5 Coil Lift
Teraflex Monster Front Track Bar
Fox 2.0 Remote Resi w/ Compression Adjusters
35 x 12.50 Goodyear MT/R's on Cragar Street Lock 15" Wheels
ARB front Stubby Bumper
Re-built Warn 9500HSi w/ custom paint job to match the rig - Smittybuilt Hybrid Line - Warn Hawse Fairlead
4.56 Nitro Gear R&P Swap
ARB Twin Compressor on MORE Mounting Bracket w/ Remote Line to Front Bumper
Welded C-Gussets and LCA Skid Plates to front Dana 44
Daystar Hood Wranglers - (stops adrenaline rush and terror resulting from rapid hood flap during high wind semi passes)

What a whirlwind of spinning wrenches it has been getting to this point! I would like to share some of my thought processes in parts selection, and initial impressions with the vehicle in its current state:

Wheel & Tire Package - I choose to go down to a 15" wheels for a few reasons, and I am very happy with the decision. First and most importantly, I wanted the most sidewall height I could get out of my given tire diameter (35") to promote tire flexibility and shock absorption when aired down. Secondly, the cost of tires for a 15" rim is close to $100 per tire less than any equivelant size on a 16" or 17", which made the cost of the tire AND wheel package roughly the same as just tires for a 17". This will also have a significant impact on the cost of new tire sets in the future. For wheels, I choose the black steel street locks based on cost, durability, and my liking of the appearance. Super utilitarian and a little old-school, but rugged as hell. The 35x12.50 MT/R's are big, wide tires with a huge footprint, and in the few trail days I have with them and the highway miles getting there I consider them the perfect choice. Highway manners and road noise are great with these tires, to a surprising degree. Coming from a tall/skinny package on my Tacoma I wasn't too sure how profound the effect would be of running rubber this big, but on the JK they are very much at home, and do not detract from the driving experience or handling at all. On the Moab trails, they blew my mind out my nose and all over the dash. It's like driving with marshmallows covered in fly paper strapped to your axles: plush and sticky.

Suspension -

From the start, I knew I wanted a high-end tunable shock on this truck with remote reservoirs for cooling and additional oil capacity. I do a lot of high-speed overland style driving in UT (my favorite example being the Hole in the Rock Road, outside of Escalante, UT - 60 miles of insane washboarding, dips, and drainage cuts/holes). I had experienced plenty of shock fade on my Tacoma through my travels and knew the upgrade would be worth it for me. I choose the Fox 2.0 shocks with with compression clickers for this application and now love them. In the beginning, however, I did not. The shock stiffness for my vehicle and driving style, amplified by the relatively stiff Teraflex springs, was never "harsh" but it was very, very "stiff". Out of the box these shocks are valved at 20/90 (listed as a percentage of available damping by design of the shock comp/reb.) The compression is set at the lowest possible because of the adjuster, but rebound was almost at the maximum. I knew this wasn't right for my application, so I got the parts and changed the rebound valve stacks to 45's in all four corners. Night and day.

With this change, the suspension was allowed to rebound faster to conform with the terrain. It was soaking up washboards/cobble/holes 100% better, and this is the terrain that I was tuning for because 80% of my off highway driving is higher speed on dirt roads. I was fully prepared to do multiple tuning changes on these shocks, but based on the improvement I do not think that will be necessary, especially with on-the-fly compression adjustability. Time will tell, and I am sure I will mess with tuning more in the future.

The Teraflex kit has proven to be a great choice, and the price was right. I like the strength and reinforcing design of the rear raised track bar mount, and the overall quality of hardware included. I choose to go with the adjustable front track bar as well, and am glad I did to properly center my axle. Out of the gate I can say the springs were very stiff, and even now this would be my main criticism. With some break in time, the added weight of the front bumper and winch, a full load for a 4x4 trip, and the heavy spare on the back things smooth out a whole lot and it is now apparent that the springs are designed for handling a lot of gear (which is good). The bumpstops are in the perfect spot for 35" tires and stock fenders, but really restrict uptravel in the front. I found it pretty easy to hit the stops on ledges/big street drainages/etc. To help this, I am going to install Teraflex 1" coil spacers on all four corners, with AEV front geometry correction brackets to eek out an extra inch of ride height and uptravel. This will put the suspension back to where it was before the springs settled, or slightly higher, but still work well in the range of my shocks and limits of factory components. A 3/4" shorter bumpstop extension is also avaliable from Teraflex, but this would require fender trimming or high-clearance fenders.

Other Thoughts
The 4.56 was the right choice for 35" tires and the 3.6L drivetrain.. It restored my RPMs close to the factory range, and made the Jeep super peppy to cruise around in again. Crawl ratio in 4-lo is akin to a farm implement, which I am enthusiastic about. They haven't been totally through the break-in yet so no fuel economy updates. (Was getitng 16 on the highway with stock 3.73 R&P and 35's).

I really like ARB's stubby bar. Its an ARB... enough said.

This is now the most fun vehicle I have ever owned, and already is meeting or exceeding all of the goals I started with. It drives down the highway with no drama, just like it did from the factory and rides great. I walked it up Moab Rim and Poison Spider Mesa last weekend on its first off-road test with surprising ease, which completely meets the trail difficulty goal. I am extremely happy with the base vehicle itself, and the modifications I have chosen for it have really amplified the driving experience.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

My next step is to get a carrier on the back. I dropped down a big ledge on Moab Rim with my spare, which made contact with the ground and tweaked the tailgate a little. Time for a more burly solution, and I was fortunate that the tailgate damage wasn't any worse.

The plan is to install an OR-Fab Jerrycan Carrier, and use my Frontrunner 5 Gal water can on one side with an ammo box on the other for carrying recovery gear/parts/and tools which I desperately need more room for. I want to go minimalist on the rear bumper and run and Off Road Evolution trim plate and D-ring ends on the bare frame. I am also going to work on getting the factory reciever hitch raised up because I was slamming it on the ground all over Moab. I am going to either A) french reciever up into exisitng crossmember B) Remove crossmember and replace entirely. Option A is the preferable path to raised trailer hitch zen at this point.

 

[MR.Ty]

Awesome JK. Where did you order your wheels and tires from? Ive been debating heavily over dropping down to a 15.