Few more action shots from wheeler that my folks took:
Reunion stack w/my buddy Chuck (last time we wheeled together was 1.5-2 years ago in TX while we were still on 35s)
Nature shots from a 6mi hike we did yesterday:
The moose that keeps coming by the cabin:
And finally some shots from the road trip into Denver today to see Trail Jeeps and NorthRidge:
Having a great time so far; should get to hit up one more trail near here called Crystal Lakes. Going to pre-run it later today to see if my buddy will be able to do it in his Tundra on Friday. Should be fun!
After CO the rest of the focus through November and December was the house closing. Next post i'll put up some updated pics of that build, but here in Jan there WAS progress made on the jeep... so stay tuned (those who follow Thanos on Instagram already know lol)
Mid-November, we were fortunate enough to close on the new house as it was completed slightly ahead of schedule (and just in time for the end of our lease-back on the old place, which meant only having to move once!)
Some shots of the completed build:
Was only in the new place a few weeks before my company sent me up to Boston for a bit. Christmas was at least back home with my wife's fam and our nieces. They wanted to check out Hidden Falls so we took them up for a quick day trip of wheeling:
After that Thanos pretty much went back to domestic hauling mode while we got furniture and stuff set up at the new place. I did manage to build my own long-table for the dining room from scratch:
And got the garage plumbed up with a utility sink and on-demand water softener:
Once the house list was culled, it was finally time for progress on Thanos... so an order was placed with NR4x4....
EVO Chromoly Sport Cage
First upgrade was one quite near-and-dear to me because it represents the last major requirement needed to officially apply to the JK Experience. Here's the kit laid out:
After a couple weeks of cold rainy weather in Jan, we were finally blessed with a nice weekend where i could strip the jeep down to get the test fit going:
After all that work it was time to disassemble it all and send it off to get powder coated. The sport cage also meant I could no longer use the Daystar A-Pillar switches for my accessories, so I took the opportunity to finally install the sPOD I'd gotten months before while we were selling/moving:
Couple days later, the cage was back and it was time for final assembly:
Not really wanting to mess with the old spaghetti harness for the ARB compressor/lockers, I went ahead and just dropped the $14 on the ARB/sPOD ready-made harness. I also took the order opportunity to pick up a couple Rigid "Radiant" series lights for the A-pillar (spot white with amber back lighting which I tied into the parking light wiring to keep up the amber glow theme for my jeep)
And that brings the thread up to date! Not sure when the next wheeling trip or mods will be, but more soon. The major goal for this spring will be beadlocks, maybe some rear tube doors to match... exhaust...
Slabs & ShadeSkins
The "big ticket item" for this year was one i was always tempted to get sooner because it's just such an aesthetic component of the Jeep.
With more pressing items off the list over the past couple years, it was finally time to retire the ProComps and move into a beadlock with better backspacjng.
NorthRidge came thru with a set of ATX Slabs:
From here I had a couple options on the install. Having mounted beadlocks before for other folks, this time around I wanted to chill and not have to pry-and-pound five wheels and TPMs.
Thankfully a buddy of mine works up at Lamb's Automotive in Round Rock,so instead i made an appointment and gladly pitched a few bucks to have it done with all the latest tools.
Few days later the rear Rancho tube doors arrived to complete the set, as well as a fresh set of Spiderwebshade skins with a little pop of blue color to finally start adding some Thanos accent colors to the build.
Super stoked with how things are looking as we approach summer and i can't wait to get back out on the trails!!