The Big O JKUR build thread

[MTSN]

So I've been a part of online forums virtually since they started and have built over a dozen off road vehicles, cars and motorcycles, yet I don't recall ever posting a build thread. My first Jeep build was in high school, and it was a 4 year old shiny 95 XJ which went from a budget booster to 3" lift to 6" lift with Super Swampers in 2 years. It's still one of my favorite all time vehicles and took me all over the Southwest. While in college, I picked up several other Jeeps and modified them including 2 more XJs, a ZJ, and a CJ5. The CJ5 was a blast with welded spider gears, no power steering, no power brakes, no heater, no working windshield wipers, 3 speed manual on 35s. If you could drive that well, you were pretty much set to drive anything.

I eventually got away from the off roading scene and started down the path of modding cars - Audis, classic VWs, a Volvo, a Honda S2000, etc. I eventually bought a BMW X5 which I loved for about 7 years before I got back into offroading. I decided to go with one of the most capable and dependable rides around - the 100 series Land Cruiser. I modded it to be a great trail vehicle while also maintaining its extreme comfort for daily driving, but after time I was hoping for something a little more...hip? I'm still relatively young with no kids, and I wanted to run more difficult trails which led me to the current day ultimate out of the box wheeler which is the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon.

I almost bought a new one, but then I found a fantastic deal on a used one locally with all the options I wanted. Initially I didn't care for the color as I wanted white to match the J30 topper, but I'll be honest after a couple of months I changed my opinion and now love the Orange Crush paint. It has 4.10 gears, hard top, power windows/locks, heated seats, remote start and best of all was a certified used Jeep with 65k miles left on the warranty. I initially wanted to keep it stock and add an Ursa Minor J30, but some huge expenses popped up in my personal life (bought a ring, bought a house, put new flooring in new house, bought a new Ducati for my rental business) all of which occurred in about a 60 day time period. I decided to put the J30 on hold for a little and only do minor mods for the time being.

The minor part didn't stay that way for long, but I had my fiancee's blessing to do a few things to it. This was the order I decided to do things:

- Weathertech mats the day I bought it
- JW Speaker Evo2 headlights
- clear turn signals and side marker lights with yellow LED bulbs
- MORE dead pedal
- AEV 3.5" lift
- 315/70/17 Duratracs on 2014+ Rubicon wheels with 1.5" Spidertrax spacers
- ARB "hoopless" bull bar part number 3950200
- Superwinch Synthetic Tiger Shark TS9500SR Winch
- JW Speaker 6145 fog lights
- Teraflex HD tire carrier
- Outback Adventures Trailgater
- Trasharoo
- added horizontal adjustment screws to the headlights
- replaced Headlight Revolution anti flicker harnesses with Truck Lite harnesses
- JW Speaker 279 J tail lights
- AEV rear diff cover

The big jobs I had installed by a professional local shop for lack of time and to have piece of mind they were done professionally, and I did the small ones myself like the lights. I've turned enough wrenches in the past to know while I enjoy it there is comfort knowing a legitimate expert installed something exactly the way it's supposed to be done.

I've tried to build this Jeep into something that could pass for a factory vehicle to the uninitiated and tried to keep things looking as stock as possible. I also wanted to give it some updates to look and function more modern as well. I intend to daily drive the Jeep, do annual trips to Moab, and the occasional weekend wheeling runs to trails ranking on the 5-7 rating (scale of 10). We'll also likely be using it as a ski vehicle in the winter too. So far I'm extremely pleased with how cohesive the Jeep is, and I'm beyond excited with how well it performs dd duties compared to the other Jeeps I've had with 35s. The interior is remarkably quiet and comfortable, the power is more than adequate, and mpg has not been bad at all at ~15-18 mpg almost all city driving.

Well enough with the talk, here are some pictures. I'll update the thread with new projects as they come along, but I should be ok for a while. Some future stuff will likely include front and rear lighting, LED interior lighting, camping solutions (fridge, storage), and hopefully a J30 next spring.

The night I brought it home:

Completely stock:

The best floormats ever:

Takeoffs from a newer Rubicon:

JW Speaker Evo2 (painted headlight trim rings) with clear lenses and LEDs

After the lift:

After the bumper, winch and foglights:

6145s up close:

Teraflex HD tire carrier:

 

[MTSN]

From the earlier years:

First XJ:

CJ5:

Yes I even wheeled the X5 (and put Range Rover wheels on it)

The 100:

 

[MTSN]

Received the Outback Adventures Trailgater last night, and it really did only take about 10 minutes to install. It was helpful to have someone hold up the backsplash when I was lining up the screws, but it's as simple as can be. It feels extremely sturdy and well made also, so I'm looking forward to using it this weekend.

 

[MTSN]

Surprised so many views so far with no replies. Anyways, I finally got to try out the upgrades on a camping trip this last weekend. It was also the first time I've driven a stretch of freeway for more than 5 miles, so I was able to get an accurate highway mpg rating (it was shocking - see below). I was very impressed with how well the Jeep drives at 65 mph for an extended period of time with the lift, bumper, winch, spare, 35s, and fairly loaded with weight. The handling and steering is neutral and driving it was not exhausting at all. I'm still impressed with how quiet the interior is and how good of a daily driver the JKUR is.

The 315/70/17 Duratracs paired with the AEV lift and programmed with the Procal module felt completely competent with the factory 4.10 gears and automatic. On flat surfaces, the rpms were in the mid 2ks in 5th gear, and up steep hills it usually only needed to kick down to 4th with the occasional 3rd gear downshift when it was really steep. We went from ~5k to 10k to 7k up to 12k elevation from Denver to our campsite outside Buena Vista, so it was definitely a workout of a drive for most vehicles. Here's where it gets very interesting (and awesome). I left Denver with a full tank of gas, and it seemed to be getting over 20mpg the whole way down to where we were going. I didn't fill up when we arrived, and we drove around and went off road with deflated tires for the next 2 days which obviously lowered our mileage. I filled up and measured 16.9mpg which I felt was pretty good, but not outstanding. For the drive home, I filled the tires to 33 psi, filled up with the usual midgrade, set the cruise control at 62 mph, rolled the windows up with the AC on for about 30% of the trip, and sat back for the trip home. We didn't hit any traffic and literally never stopped until we got into town. Just for kicks, I decided to fill up immediately upon arriving home to check mpg. I was and still am shocked to see I got 23.6 mpg!! Keep in mind, this was a pretty controlled environment, and I was consciously driving to maximize efficiency and was only over approximately 130 miles. I also had the gps going, and the trip meter matched precisely as I've taken dialing in the Procal to nerd levels and have chalk tested the air pressure over 10 times in the last 3 weeks.

The actual trip was great, and to be honest our two favorite mods were the Trasharoo and Trailgater. They're both extremely useful for camping and make the process more enjoyable without a doubt. The only "complaint" I have about the Trailgater was that the camping style propane tank on my portable Weber grill made it just too wide to sit safely on the table surface. You can get three legs of it on there, but the fourth can't sit flush because the tank pushes it barely too far forward. That's not a problem as much as it is a mismatch in camping solutions. I've been wanting to get something more specific for camp cooking for a while, so this will be my catalyst for making it happen. All the other equipment worked flawlessly, and I used the Procal to set my 6145 foglights as DRLs which I think is a wise idea for safety - and it looks cool :sombrero:.

And the best way to end the day / start the evening around the campfire:

 

[Comanche Scott]

Well then, I'm honored to be the first to reply.

First, the pictures are epic! :beer:

Second the mods on the Jeep looks great. Digging the front bumper choice, and I'm with you on the stock wheels (done the pretty much the same thing).
Seeing the pictures has me amped to get up into the Sierras soon!

 

[jforse]

Great pictures! Nice jeep. I really like the tailgate table.

 

[MTSN]

Well then, I'm honored to be the first to reply.

First, the pictures are epic! :beer:

Second the mods on the Jeep looks great. Digging the front bumper choice, and I'm with you on the stock wheels (done the pretty much the same thing).
Seeing the pictures has me amped to get up into the Sierras soon!

Thanks! I like the stock wheels too - I know it's a love or hate thing with them, but the more stock looking the better I think. It's also why I went with the new textured ARB bumper. My fiancee actually thought it was plastic like my fender flares because it lines up and matches so well

Great pictures! Nice jeep. I really like the tailgate table.

Thank you! The table is extremely well thought out and useful. It doesn't rattle is very solid, and because of the way the pins and latches are designed you can even close it with one hand which is awesome!

 

[EMrider]

Looks like a beautiful area you were exploring.

Your idea of trying to retain somewhat of a stock look is what I am going to try with my Jeep. Last week I ordered a 2015 JKUR in tank green. My goals are to try and optimize comfort, load capacity and cargo room. I do not anticipate any rock crawling.

I am going to read a lot about other builds and try to proceed slowly. You have given me some good ideas.

R

 

[MTSN]

Looks like a beautiful area you were exploring.

Your idea of trying to retain somewhat of a stock look is what I am going to try with my Jeep. Last week I ordered a 2015 JKUR in tank green. My goals are to try and optimize comfort, load capacity and cargo room. I do not anticipate any rock crawling.

I am going to read a lot about other builds and try to proceed slowly. You have given me some good ideas.

R

Sounds like a nice Jeep. I looked at all the lifts available, and for me having the best on road quality was paramount which is why I went with AEV. I think for your needs it would work well too, though I'd encourage you to still look at the other options and decide for yourself. There is a massive amount of data out there on all the options almost to the point of being too much to sort through! As an FYI, driving around with the AEV 3.5" with no load, no bumpers, and no spare definitely wasn't nearly as comfortable as it is now with the bumpers and spare and medium load. It seems to be designed for weight and doesn't perform optimally without it.

 

[EMrider]

Sounds like a nice Jeep. I looked at all the lifts available, and for me having the best on road quality was paramount which is why I went with AEV. I think for your needs it would work well too, though I'd encourage you to still look at the other options and decide for yourself. There is a massive amount of data out there on all the options almost to the point of being too much to sort through! As an FYI, driving around with the AEV 3.5" with no load, no bumpers, and no spare definitely wasn't nearly as comfortable as it is now with the bumpers and spare and medium load. It seems to be designed for weight and doesn't perform optimally without it.

Thanks for that info.

I have been reading a lot, and recently sit the saturation point where the signal to noise ratio of new information starts falling rapidly. The number of choices is staggering.

At this point, the AEV 2.5 and Metalcloak ARB 2.5 kits look promising. I do not want the Jeep too high and ideally would end up with a net gain of 2-2.5 inches. But all these kits seem to assume the addition of front and rear bumpers which I doubt that I need.

For sure I want an interior rear shelf, a cargo slide out and probably a dual battery system to run my fridge.

That is the extent of my list today.

My guess is that my needs could probably be met with just a leveling kit and 33" tires. If the stock springs are not too soft with a full cargo load, I may go that route initially instead of a full lift kit.

I have about 6-8 weeks to get a plan together.


Please keep your build updates coming.

R

 

[MTSN]

My bro in law and I went up to test out the suspension since the last weekend's trip was pretty mellow. We did Twin Cone which is rated at a 7 on the higher end of the scale (out of 10), and we took the hard line at every junction. I was satisfied with the performance, but it is clear that the suspension does not flex like a rock crawler type setup which we all know is not the forte or purpose of this lift. My last XJ used johnny and heim joints everywhere and flexed like crazy, but the tradeoff was much higher joint maintenance and reduced driveability on the freeway. I ran without swaybars and carried a heavy load on the roof back then too, so my preferences have changed (a tire blowout at 75mph with said Jeep fully loaded way over GVWR with a motorcycle hanging off the hitch will do that to you!) and the tradeoff is worth it to me now.

No real technical updates here, just some pictures of the trail and the Jeep. Twin Cone is a great trail and has plenty of obstacles to play on which are still easy to avoid them if that's your speed.

This was the later/easier part of the trail's rocky sections. I didn't get a pic of the earlier part.

 

[MTSN]

Thanks for that info.

I have been reading a lot, and recently sit the saturation point where the signal to noise ratio of new information starts falling rapidly. The number of choices is staggering.

At this point, the AEV 2.5 and Metalcloak ARB 2.5 kits look promising. I do not want the Jeep too high and ideally would end up with a net gain of 2-2.5 inches. But all these kits seem to assume the addition of front and rear bumpers which I doubt that I need.

For sure I want an interior rear shelf, a cargo slide out and probably a dual battery system to run my fridge.

That is the extent of my list today.

My guess is that my needs could probably be met with just a leveling kit and 33" tires. If the stock springs are not too soft with a full cargo load, I may go that route initially instead of a full lift kit.

I have about 6-8 weeks to get a plan together.


Please keep your build updates coming.

R

I personally doubt the stock springs/shocks will be sufficient for your needs with a spacer kit. My suspension only had 36k on it when it was removed, and the shocks would not rebound on their own when I compressed them by hand. I think the AEV 2.5" kit for less than $1k with new springs and shocks is a great way to go, and the nice thing about the new Mopar high flares is that you could add those later to go with a much bigger tire and still keep it stock looking. I don't know a ton about Metalcloak's lifts, but they look nice on the website but seem a bit more expensive. Let us know what you decide to go with when the time comes.

 

[Comanche Scott]

My bro in law and I went up to test out the suspension since the last weekend's trip was pretty mellow. We did Twin Cone which is rated at a 7 on the higher end of the scale (out of 10), and we took the hard line at every junction. I was satisfied with the performance, but it is clear that the suspension does not flex like a rock crawler type setup which we all know is not the forte or purpose of this lift. My last XJ used johnny and heim joints everywhere and flexed like crazy, but the tradeoff was much higher joint maintenance and reduced driveability on the freeway. I ran without swaybars and carried a heavy load on the roof back then too, so my preferences have changed (a tire blowout at 75mph with said Jeep fully loaded way over GVWR with a motorcycle hanging off the hitch will do that to you!) and the tradeoff is worth it to me now.

No real technical updates here, just some pictures of the trail and the Jeep. Twin Cone is a great trail and has plenty of obstacles to play on which are still easy to avoid them if that's your speed.

This was the later/easier part of the trail's rocky sections. I didn't get a pic of the earlier part.

Awesome trail pics! :beer:

Looks like you guys had a great day of wheeling.

 

[rino]

Beautiful Jeep and nice choice of parts. Really digging the build! :beer:

 

[EMrider]

I personally doubt the stock springs/shocks will be sufficient for your needs with a spacer kit. My suspension only had 36k on it when it was removed, and the shocks would not rebound on their own when I compressed them by hand. I think the AEV 2.5" kit for less than $1k with new springs and shocks is a great way to go, and the nice thing about the new Mopar high flares is that you could add those later to go with a much bigger tire and still keep it stock looking. I don't know a ton about Metalcloak's lifts, but they look nice on the website but seem a bit more expensive. Let us know what you decide to go with when the time comes.

Thanks for the input.

I am in wait mode now. Will update asap when I take delivery and begin the journey.

R