AZ Beach Town JK Build

ktreat

New member
Hello Everyone. Just joined here and would like to show you the build I'm working on. But first a bit of back story. Years ago, I had a 98 TJ that I kept stock as I was making a pretty long commute back in those days. Sold it way too soon in pursuit of better gas mileage and promised myself that one day I would rejoin the Jeep world and build my new one to match my idea of the perfect beach town Jeep. Although I live in the Arizona desert, my parents were originally from southern California, so all of our vacations were always to the great beach towns of the west coast. Last summer I picked up a new 2015 2 door Sport and began making small modifications in my attempt to build up my beach Jeep. Since my budget is small and this is also my daily driver, all mods will need to be kept on a pretty tight leash for the time being. That said, most of things I am doing are more about aesthetics than performance. Anyhow, I how you enjoy seeing my Jeep slowly transform. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


Here it is bone stock right after I drove it home.

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Swapped the chrome logo for a black one. Going for a black and white theme. The JK Sport comes with so much black plastic on it already that it seemed like a good direction to go.

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Nice. I finally decided that gas mileage could be damned. I'm going to enjoy my vehicle.
 
Neoprene seat covers to match the overall theme and to protect the seats from monsoon season here in the southwest.

Sorry for the sideways photo - still learning how to work with images.
 

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Went with the stubby antenna and since I am able to run with the doors off most of the time here, I went with the cowl body armor to help prevent idiot dimples!

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Pulled out the factory radio and installed a satellite capable head unit. I am amazed at how much better my JK sounds when compared to my old TJ. My TJ's sound bar was a tinnitus machine.

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Now for something fun: trail doors with shades. I love the look and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the fit.
 

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Simple tail light guards. Again, mostly for aesthetics, but once again I was pleasantly surprised by how tough they are.
 

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New stubby front bumper and D rings. Going to be adding a 20 inch LED light bar to the bumper later this week.
 

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New 16 inch wheels and 33 inch tires. I originally had dreams of 35s but needed to keep the cost down while also preserving as much of the factory ride as possible. These, along with the 2 inch leveling kit have given my Jeep a more aggressive stance without breaking the bank or forcing a whole other set of modifications. When I retire in a few years I might start looking to make some of the big mods that I've seen here on Wayalife. For now, I'll just have to drool over everyone's pictures!
 

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Here is where I'm at right now. Light bar for the front bumper on Friday and waiting for it to warm up just a bit to take off the top and put the trail doors back on. After that, my next target is going to be a new rear bumper, but that one's going to have to wait a while. Any suggestions of other ideas keeping my beach Jeep theme in mind? Thanks in advance for your thoughts and expertise.

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