Adventures of Ben's Willys

[benmmc]

Hey y'all, been a while since I've been on here. I had a Tacoma that I was building up, but sold it and I've been driving a Crosstrek for the past four years or so. Wanted something a little bigger and more capable, so the other day I went out and bought a new 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Willys in Sarge Green!



I love it so far. Had an XJ before the Tacoma and loved that little Jeep. This reminds me of it, but everything is new and this one is probably a little more capable.

Anywho, looking forward to modding it. Nothing major planned, since everything is almost already the way I want it. I love the skinny knobby tires, and it already has CarPlay, etc. But I will be having lots of adventures with it, that's for sure.

 

[The overland Herbivore]

Hey y'all, been a while since I've been on here. I had a Tacoma that I was building up, but sold it and I've been driving a Crosstrek for the past four years or so. Wanted something a little bigger and more capable, so the other day I went out and bought a new 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Willys in Sarge Green!

View attachment 201135

I love it so far. Had an XJ before the Tacoma and loved that little Jeep. This reminds me of it, but everything is new and this one is probably a little more capable.

Anywho, looking forward to modding it. Nothing major planned, since everything is almost already the way I want it. I love the skinny knobby tires, and it already has CarPlay, etc. But I will be having lots of adventures with it, that's for sure.

Enjoy it! We just picked up a 21 willys in the stinger Gray and love it. I don’t see many changes needed other than some add ins to get camping. Have fun

 

[benmmc]

Enjoy it! We just picked up a 21 willys in the stinger Gray and love it. I don’t see many changes needed other than some add ins to get camping. Have fun

Congrats!

Added a stubby antenna and bought a hitch receiver. Haven't installed the hitch receiver yet though. Probably will do it this weekend.

 

[benmmc]

Thought I'd update this thread with what I've done to the Jeep over the past year. I've done all the work myself, in my driveway.

GMRS and CB Radios
GMRS is this neat bundle from Cool Tech LLC. Would highly recommend it, as it has everything you need. Comes with the MXT275, and all the mounts, cables, etc.

CB is this kit (again from Cool Tech LLC) and a Cobra 75 WX ST. I keep the CB in the center console, in case I'm with someone who uses CB, as opposed to the GMRS. If I want to swap it for a trip, I just unplug the GMRS handset and hook the Cobra up to the CB cable that is hidden under the dash.

Here are some photos of how I mounted the radio inside and both antennas.



Quadratec front bumper, front skid plate, and 10k Stealth winch
Took a while to decide on which bumper/winch combo to go with, but in the end, I decided on the Quadratec QRC Stubby Bumper, and the Quadratec Aluminum Modular Front Sway Bar Skid Plate. I chose this combo because I wanted a heavy duty, fully welded, one-piece steel bumper with extra clearance, and integrated d-rings and fog lights (re-using the factory fog lights). And I wanted the winch to fit nice and tight. For the skidplate, I wanted something thick and strong, but not too heavy. This aluminum one is super beefy. Love it.

The winch was another hard decision, but I went with the Quadratec Stealth 10k with synthetic rope. The features are abundant, and it performs beautifully. Love the built-in light. Helps in rolling the rope evenly.

Suspension
After I installed the bumper, winch, and skidplate, the front sagged about 0.75" and it was already riding low before that because of the factory rake (which I dislike, personally). So, I looked at various options, but wanted to make sure the front springs weren't being compressed all the time. So I settled on replacing the front springs with Synergy 1” front springs. They report a 1" lift for Rubicons, so I was assuming I'd see about 2" of lift for mine, minus whatever the hardware took off.

Install wasn't too bad. Took a few hours. It brought the front back up like 2" total from where it was sitting after the winch and bumper. So now the front was about 0.75" higher than the back. Fishbone 3/4” rear coil spacers leveled it out perfectly.

Here is how it sits today.

 

[benmmc]

With almost 40k on the Jeep, the MT tires were getting pretty wompy. Sooo, I found some Mojave take-offs. Got the wheels and tires for pretty cheap. Had less than 100 miles on them, and they are 285/70/17. Rides so much better now. Waiting on the spare wheel and tire to be delivered now. I think it looks awesome.

 

[benmmc]

Tires are performing really well, so smooth and quiet, but really do dig through some gnarly mud. I'm happy with them so far!


Also added the BedRug headliner kit. Was super easy to install and really does cut down on the noise inside the cab. Conversations inside the Jeep on the highway are nice and easy now instead of yelling.

 

[benmmc]

Installed the Rhino Rack Backbone system and the Pioneer Platform a couple weeks ago. Also needed the Maximus-3 sat antenna relocation kit, as the rack was blocking the signal. Both installs were a huge PITA, but I am very glad they are done.




Here are a few photos from a trip I took into NE GA a couple weeks ago.

 

[benmmc]

Battery died (I guess the winch and other stuff killed it). But just an excuse to upgraaaaade! Got the Optima yellow top H7. He’s a biiiig boy, but I got him in there!

Also just turned over 55k miles. Woohoo! MPG was on the low side in the photo because I was suffering from a bit of lead foot last week.

 

[wigsajumper]

Looking good. That color combo is one of my favorites for the Willy's. Been a fan of my Cobra 75 also. One thing I really like about it is how easy it is to swap between my Jeep and the 4Runner. Just grab the handset. Midland sells the box separate.