Birth of Phoenix

[BABOOZLE]

My story begins in 2013 with the purchase of a 1988 XJ. It was my first jeep. I loved building it and taking it off the beaten path was exciting. I then traded it for a 1995 YJ. I've spent the last year building that jeep from parts off of Craigslist. It's been a blast. But I've always wanted a JK after watching and getting hooked on all the JKX videos. After months of persuasion, I finally convinced my wife to trade in her 2014 Malibu for a JKU.

We found a 2010 Sahara with only 34,000 miles. The rig was spotless. It had plenty of rock chips on the front of the jeep. My guess is that it was towed behind a motor home due to all the chips, low miles and the $90k ATM receipt I found in the glove box.

The color is Red Rock Crystal Pearl which is a unique color because it has so many different shades of color in different light. But even with that, my wife and I both agreed that stock JKUs stock are super ugly. So the day after we purchase it, I found 5 35x12.5x17 BFG KM2s with only a thousand miles for $1200. Then we purchased some Pro Comp 7005 series wheels to set the theme.
Now all there was to do was to order a lift for those tires.

 

[BABOOZLE]

We decided to go with a Rock Krawler 3.5" X Factor lift. I've installed a couple and seen them on the trail and I was happy with the performance. So only after owning the jeep a week, I started removing parts.
My wife and I were very happy with the result.

 

[BABOOZLE]

The next thing to go was the stock bumpers. Since it was her jeep, I let her choose the bumpers. I gave her a couple options and she picked the Poison Spyder Brawler Lite front with skid plate. I removed the winch from my YJ to put it on hers. It's a Smittybilt but we plan on upgrading to a Warn winch on both our jeeps.

 

[BABOOZLE]

To match the front, we chose the go with a Poison Spyder rear bumper and tire carrier. I really like the fact that it had bearings at the pivot point instead of bushings. . I didn't account for relocating the plate so I had to go a couple days without a light.

 

[BABOOZLE]

It was time to do a shake down of the jeep and the WAL trip to Gulches ORV park came at a perfect time. We added a Cobra CB, Firestick antenna and some Rubicon rock rails I found on CL for some piece of mind. We talked about naming the jeep and we came up with the "Phoenix". The jeep started off ugly but transformed into something beautiful.

The Phoenix performed well. It was way different than wheeling my YJ. We met a great group of guys and had a blast.

 

[BABOOZLE]

After finishing up our first off road trip, we found areas to improve on. We rubbed the fenders a few times and wished we had 37s. I wanted to trim the fenders but my wife and friends had reservations about how color matched trimmed fenders looked. So I opened it up for discussion here on WAL and many people came forward with their color matched fenders. I convinced my wife and went to cutting. After seeing them completed, everyone changed their mind and thought they turned out really nice. I love free upgrades.

 

[BABOOZLE]

Two of the most recent upgrades are the Rugged Ridge hood latches which eliminated the hood flutter and a new Wayalife decal. The windshield cracked and we decided to change from black to silver.
Here's a couple pictures from Christmas Day.
This brings the build up to date. I'm in the Navy and we are about to relocate back to the West coast. Future plans the jeep include: 37s, PR44, gears, lockers, Warn winch, Trail Rocker, lights, Lux lights and EVO sliders.

 

[littlered_jk]

After finishing up our first off road trip, we found areas to improve on. We rubbed the fenders a few times and wished we had 37s. I wanted to trim the fenders but my wife and friends had reservations about how color matched trimmed fenders looked. So I opened it up for discussion here on WAL and many people came forward with their color matched fenders. I convinced my wife and went to cutting. View attachment 184216View attachment 184217View attachment 184218View attachment 184219 After seeing them completed, everyone changed their mind and thought they turned out really nice. I love free upgrades.

Those cut factory colored fenders look great. You did an excellent job. .

 

[BABOOZLE]

Those cut factory colored fenders look great. You did an excellent job. .

Thanks! Very happy with them.

 

[BABOOZLE]

So I ended picking these up this weekend. 37" MT/Rs and some ATX Slabs. I bought them from a WAL member for a killer deal. Didn't plan of doing this yet because I wanted to upgrade the axles before I got to this point but it was too good of a deal to pass up. Now I guess I'm "That guy" with 37s on a 30. Looks like I need to do my crawling at the mall until I can get a PR44 this spring. I hate waiting.

 

[littlered_jk]

Run what you have until your axles have been dealt with. I know haha like that's gonna happen.

 

[BABOOZLE]

Run what you have until your axles have been dealt with. I know haha like that's gonna happen.

Haha. I wish but the old setup paid for this one. I even thought about selling my other jeep for axles. I quickly shot that down. I guess I will have to wait.

 

[littlered_jk]

Haha. I wish but the old setup paid for this one. I even thought about selling my other jeep for axles. I quickly shot that down. I guess I will have to wait.

I'm sort of in the same predicament. Have stock 44's. Fronts gusseted. Have 35's right now. Want 37's. Already have flat flares. Thinking of at least a truss first. Then put the tires on. Eventually do shafts later. Ugh. Decisions decisions. Oh yeah, and $$$$$

 

[BABOOZLE]

I'm sort of in the same predicament. Have stock 44's. Fronts gusseted. Have 35's right now. Want 37's. Already have flat flares. Thinking of at least a truss first. Then put the tires on. Eventually do shafts later. Ugh. Decisions decisions. Oh yeah, and $$$$$

I hear ya. I moving cross country in two months so I'm stuck right now. I'll keep looking for another great deal and hopefully I'm in a position to move on it.

 

[allwhitejeeps]

I'm sort of in the same predicament. Have stock 44's. Fronts gusseted. Have 35's right now. Want 37's. Already have flat flares. Thinking of at least a truss first. Then put the tires on. Eventually do shafts later. Ugh. Decisions decisions. Oh yeah, and $$$$$

I would install c gussets first rather than a truss, and save until you can buy a stronger axle like a pr44. Truss won't prevent bending and would kinda be a waste of money to throw money at it. I am moving up to 37's too soon and will install c gussets until I decide to get either a pr44 or may go up to 40's and install a xd60 and pr80.

 

[littlered_jk]

I would install c gussets first rather than a truss, and save until you can buy a stronger axle like a pr44. Truss won't prevent bending and would kinda be a waste of money to throw money at it. I am moving up to 37's too soon and will install c gussets until I decide to get either a pr44 or may go up to 40's and install a xd60 and pr80.

C gussets have already been done. Looking into the 37 inch mastercraft courser mxt tire. They're lighter and measure 35.5 to 36 mounted.

 

[boostdtalon]

Nice rig. From the looks of it. We have very similar tastes. Her JK (Ruby) and my YJ beside it.

 

[BABOOZLE]

Nice rig. From the looks of it. We have very similar tastes. Her JK (Ruby) and my YJ beside it. View attachment 185423

Very nice!

 

[BABOOZLE]

I couldn't wait until Monday when my gussets get here. I love the transformation.

 

[BABOOZLE]

Welded up some Evo gussets today and replaced some wheel sensors to clear a DTC. Productive day.