The Kool-Aid is Strong Over Here

Gonna work on the axles a little bit today. Maybe if I dress like Mel Wade (camo shorts and boots), everything will go smoothly lol
 

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So its been forever since I've updated this thing, mainly because I've only done a few small things to the Jeep and just ordered a bunch of parts. Some of the smaller things I've done to the Jeep is 1. I finally ditched the stock hood latches because the hood flutter was driving me crazy. So I ordered a set of Rugged Ridge black aluminum hood latches and installed those bad boys. and 2. I ordered the new EVO mini liners because my stock plastic ones have seen better days and the EVOs just look better.

So first things first, I grabbed a cold beer and got to work on the new hood latches. Best thing about installing these is that it only took me about 35 minutes to do it, that's also includes the mandatory hydration break :beer:
Here's the package.
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Next step was to take off the stock plastic latches, which was pretty damn easy because there's only 2 screws and nuts holding them on. The top was no problem what so ever getting off, the bottom part was a bitch because there's barely any room to fit a wrench or your hand down there to get to the nuts.

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After those came off, I put the new Rugged Ridge ones on in a no time. And here's the finished results. I think they look a ton better than the originals ever did, plus, no hood flutter :rock:

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Up next is the EVO mini liners. Now I haven't installed them yet because I'm waiting for the clear coat to dry for a day before I put them on. But I had a big dilemma on what color I was going to paint them. But here's my step by step on what I did to get them ready for install.

Here's a shot of them right out of the package. I'm gonna be honest, I almost thought about just clear coating them because the metal look looked pretty cool on a few different rigs I've seen them installed on, but I decided to pain them instead.

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Next I wiped them both down with alcohol and dried them off before I put two layers of white primer down.

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After I let the primer sit for a day or two, I had decided on what color I was going to paint them.

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Now as far as my one ton axles are concerned, they are unfortunately not done yet, but I have had some good progress on them! Since I have a certain buddy complain none stop when he was cutting the cast off of his Dana 60, I called up a local shop to see how much time and money it would take to get them to cut it off instead of me, and as luck would have it, for less than $150 I can have the cast and all the mounts cut off of both axles, and it would only take a few hours. So as of right now, my axles are sitting at the shop getting all that done and hopefully I can pick them up this Friday, if not, next Friday it is. Once I get them back, I'll be pulling off the knuckles and sending them off to get the mounts for high steer!!! I also ordered the Artec Superduty axle swap trusses with Johnny Joints from Poly Performance. The Artec kit is massive and can't wait to see them burned on to the axles!!! After all that being said, I have bought my gears and install kits for both axles. I originally ordered 5.13s, but I got a sweet deal on an ARB locker for the Dana 60 for half the price of a new one, this one was only used 5 times and maybe had 100 miles on it, but the locker wouldn't work with a 5.13 gear set, so I sent them back and got Yukon 5.38s in exchange. Before Scott(Grubbicon) says anything, yes I know I should have listened to you in the first place and ordered 5.38s.... And last but not least, I just ordered and received the ARB twin compressor and tire inflation kit with a mount and air locker solenoid from Northridge4x4 since they had it on sale. Here's a picture of the gears when I first got them

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Here's a picture of the locker that I got for the Dana 60 with a brand new copper line for the air.

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This is the only picture I have of the Artec trusses. I've opened them and looked to make sure everything is in there, but I never took a picture of the inside, so here's a nice picture of the boxes haha

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And today I got the ARB compressor. I'm still waiting on the mount which should be here Thursday according to Brown Santa

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As of right now, I only have a few more things to buy and I should be able to get the axles almost ready for install. First I need to buy new brakes, rotors and pads. Buy heims and tubing so I can get a tie rod and drag link made. Measure for driveshafts when I get the axles mocked up and order them. Get the air lines run for the lockers and also have a shop install the gears and lockers. And lastly order me some Raceline wheels. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few small stuff, but for now these are the big ticket items. I'm hoping to have the Jeep done in time for the End of Summer run at Windrock.....but only time will tell :eek:
 

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