Doyouevenjeep's JK Timeline/Build Thread

[DoYouEvenJeep]

I bought my first Jeep back in late April, and have been a member of WAL for a few months now, so I figured now is as good as ever to start a build thread/ timeline.
Every vehicle that I have owned, I've kept a build timeline of, so I can look back and see how far it's come!

Keep in mind that my budget has been very limited with this. I'm recently out of technical school and am trying to get my own place soon. I'm also buried in a lot of medical bills, so I've really had to make my money stretch with this one.

Any feedback or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Hope you enjoy!


Picking it up from the dealer.... all clean and stock and boring. I took it through the mud on the way home, of course.


Made myself some paracord grab handles for the seats and in all four corners. I really like how they turned out and all cost me about $9 total.


I plasti-dipped the wheels. Not a big fan of silver wheels.. especially on white. I taped off a ring on the wheel, so it would pop a little more.


Customized with stickers, of course.
MOLON LABE, meaning "come and take them" in Greek, and also a Spartan decal from the Spartan Races that I do.


This is the first time I took it off road on an actual trail. South Carolina has very, very few public places to wheel.


Pretty boring so far, I know.
I'll post my actual modifications next...

 

[WJCO]

Cool. Good work on the wheels. That's unique.

 

[Eugene]

The chrome rim/lip and chrome nuts look good - better than just all black.

 

[DoYouEvenJeep]

And now for the actual modifications....

So my first goal was to get 35" tires under the thing.
I know you can get 35" tires on the stock height, but it will just be rubbing some.
I decided to start off with a Rough Country Budget Boost paired with a Teraflex 1.25" body lift.
The plan is to use those for a couple years until I can swing for a quality long arm lift kit.



Took me about 2 hours to do the front by myself on a Friday evening.
This was my first suspension lift, but I had a very easy time installing it.
I know Rough Country sometimes gets a bad rap for being cheap, but I have to say, I was very impressed with it, being only a $179 lift kit.



My old man helped me out the following morning..
We finished the back half of the Rough Country lift in about 2 hours.
Again, very happy with the bang for buck with this.



The TeraFlex body lift took all of about 15 minutes for me to install by myself.
Really is very easy, and if you're on a very tight budget like myself, 1.25" of lift for $119 is just about unbeatable.

It doesn't look like much, but I've been wanting a lifted Jeep since I was about 11.
So this was a pretty big moment for me.



I also had a 20" LED light bar that I pulled off my old Dodge Dakota.
Nothing fancy, just an eBay special, but it's worked quite nicely the 3-4 times I've used it.
I just drilled a few holes in the bumper and added a simple switch inside of the cab.



About two weeks later I got my tires delivered by the magical brown santa.
(Funny story...as the UPS guy helped me carry the tires to my garage, he saw my Jeep, whipped out his phone,
and showed me a picture of a his 2004 Yellow LJ with a 3" lift, JK wheels, and 33" tires. Looked real slick.)
I was really happy with the deal I got on these tires. They are 35" BGF KM2s that I got for $168 each.
They got wrapped around some basic 16" Pro Comp series 52 wheels.
I also invested in two pairs of Spidertrax 1.5" wheel spacers.
I figured spacers are not something that should be skimped on, so I went with a brand I knew would be quality.



I wired up my CB radio and attached it to the hook right above the rear view mirror.
The coax cable was run through the padding on the roll bar, inside of the tailgate, and out one of the grommets.
This looks to be a pretty common setup, and I'm pretty happy with it so far.
This is only a 2' firestik, but I'm thinking about going with a 3' instead.



The most recent thing I've added is a Shittybilt SRC over sized tire carrier.
I know it's not the best option, but there was no way I'm driving around with a 35" tire on the stock carrier.
My plan is to get a proper bumper with tire carrier, but this is a good enough interim for me.
I grabbed it used on Amazon for $100. I'd much rather that for a few months than damaging the tail gate.



That picture is the most up to date of my Jeep, taken at Gulches ORV in Laurens, SC.

Next on the list is a bumper and winch..
I have yet decide on a quality bumper that is a little on the less expensive side, but I know without a doubt that the winch will be made by Warn.

 

[BananaJeep]

Looks good. I'm a sucker for white... I've contemplated a white JKU Rubi for awhile. Can't let my TJ go though :rolleyes2:

 

[napene04]

Looking good! Do you mind me asking 2 questions? How much bump stop will you use? And where did you get the price on the rubber?

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