OTH Overland - 2013 JKU Build

[OTH Overland]

Introduction:
Been having some fun building our new to us Jeep Wrangler, and thought we would start a thread for the build. First a bit of backstory on how the Jeep came home with us. Those that know us are well aware that we often bring home strays, of both animal and vehicular varieties. We have been searching for a new project to build as a replacement for our very tired Commander and a companion to our trusty WJ Grand Cherokee and Ram 3500. We really wanted a Gladiator and came close to coming home with one a couple of times, but with time (and perhaps an erroneous bit of common sense) we realized that we could not justify dropping over 60k plus for a new rig, and then a bunch more to build it, and then subject it to plenty of potential damage. Second option was a used Wrangler, but with a very long time spent looking at tons of Jeeps only to rule them out due to condition, damage, abuse, crappy modifications etc, and yet still asking (and often getting) super high prices we almost gave up. Finally found a nice looking 2013 Rubicon on Facebook from a private party, we agreed to look at it, expecting the usual issues and disappointment. What we did find was a immaculate 10th anniversary Rubicon that a collector of exotic cars had purchased new for his wife. The JK was completely factory stock and had been out in the mud only once in its life (It was too much for their car collecting OCD to have to clean it afterward, so it never happened again ..lol) This gave us a well maintained unmolested platform to start our build, and It was a very fair price. So it was not long before it followed us home just a few days before Christmas. Being as we are not good at Adulting and making smart decisions, we elected to test our new steed out by filling it with gear and heading out on a impromptu 6 day winter trip to Yellowstone in sub-freezing weather. We had a great trip and the Jeep performed perfectly. Now its time to tear it apart and make it ours.

We are starting off with the Jeep completely stock as it came from the factory, albeit 9 years young with full maintenance records and build sheet. First order of business was a trip to the local scale to get a starting weight, which was an already chunky 5,020 lbs. (2,520 front & 2,500 rear) We plan on keeping track of each item added / removed so we will have an accurate idea of just where the weight was added, which may or may not be of interest to anyone doing their own build (learn from our mistakes is the general idea) already know it's going to be heavier than I would like when we are done. Plan is to balance weight vs usefulness of the various modifications.

Below are a couple of photos of when we first got it, before any mods.

 

[zgfiredude]

Introduction:
Been having some fun building our new to us Jeep Wrangler, and thought we would start a thread for the build. First a bit of backstory on how the Jeep came home with us. Those that know us are well aware that we often bring home strays, of both animal and vehicular varieties. We have been searching for a new project to build as a replacement for our very tired Commander and a companion to our trusty WJ Grand Cherokee and Ram 3500. We really wanted a Gladiator and came close to coming home with one a couple of times, but with time (and perhaps an erroneous bit of common sense) we realized that we could not justify dropping over 60k plus for a new rig, and then a bunch more to build it, and then subject it to plenty of potential damage. Second option was a used Wrangler, but with a very long time spent looking at tons of Jeeps only to rule them out due to condition, damage, abuse, crappy modifications etc, and yet still asking (and often getting) super high prices we almost gave up. Finally found a nice looking 2013 Rubicon on Facebook from a private party, we agreed to look at it, expecting the usual issues and disappointment. What we did find was a immaculate 10th anniversary Rubicon that a collector of exotic cars had purchased new for his wife. The JK was completely factory stock and had been out in the mud only once in its life (It was too much for their car collecting OCD to have to clean it afterward, so it never happened again ..lol) This gave us a well maintained unmolested platform to start our build, and It was a very fair price. So it was not long before it followed us home just a few days before Christmas. Being as we are not good at Adulting and making smart decisions, we elected to test our new steed out by filling it with gear and heading out on a impromptu 6 day winter trip to Yellowstone in sub-freezing weather. We had a great trip and the Jeep performed perfectly. Now its time to tear it apart and make it ours.

We are starting off with the Jeep completely stock as it came from the factory, albeit 9 years young with full maintenance records and build sheet. First order of business was a trip to the local scale to get a starting weight, which was an already chunky 5,020 lbs. (2,520 front & 2,500 rear) We plan on keeping track of each item added / removed so we will have an accurate idea of just where the weight was added, which may or may not be of interest to anyone doing their own build (learn from our mistakes is the general idea) already know it's going to be heavier than I would like when we are done. Plan is to balance weight vs usefulness of the various modifications.

Below are a couple of photos of when we first got it, before any mods.
View attachment 228509View attachment 228510
View attachment 228511

Following

 

[MazeVX]

JKU's are such a thankful platform to build on!
Mine isn't where I wanted it to be but has done anything I asked so far.

 

[OTH Overland]

Been making some good progress on the JK build, just hard to find enough time to make timely updates. We have had the Jeep long enough that it has developed a personality and is now deserving of a name. As we work on it, little things just don't seem to go the way they should, mods almost seem to cause more issues than they solve, yet even with a pessimistic attitude from the one with the wrench and even more patients from his wife, we rework it and love the results. Combine this with stubbornness from the three of us, the nice shade of Anvil Grey that is some semblance of a donkey and a name is born. We have not just any donkey, but we have Eeyore the donkey. Now we have a mini me version of his namesake on the dash, and lovingly reference him by his name, UNTILL the attitude comes out on a trail when we ask him to go somewhere he does not want to go and he replies with Ohhh-kayyy, at that point he gets called 'Donkey' in the tone of Shrek. Next an update on the front-end modifications.

 

[OTH Overland]

Modification Round #1 - Front End
We had specific parameters that we wanted with a front-end package for Eeyore. Weight being a major concern, function, then appearance. Requirements included self-recovery, lighting, damage protection & ability to tow behind a motorhome. Combining a winch and towability proved a challenge requiring quite a bit of research and ultimately some modifications. We like the look of the stock Rubicon steel bumper, so we retained that as a base. Maximus-3 had the most compatibility and overall good design, so we went with quite a bit of their stuff. We had to modify the bull bar mounting brackets to work in conjunction with the tow loops, involved cutting the brackets and welding some new mounts to the frame of the jeep. cutting of the bumper and skid plate was also required in a few locations, none of which are visible when done.
- Maximus-3:
- Winch mount with trim plates and centering plate for the fairlead.
- Classic hoop bull bar
- Tow loops (which also double as secondary recover points, factory hooks also remain)
- Brackets; aux lights, sand flag, and stealth license plate mount.
- Warn: 10k Zeon winch (avoided the platinum due to no manual clutch, and too many electronic components) also the US made warn winches have a superior
method of attaching the winch line to the drum than the imports I have seen (including the VR Warns) also added the factor 55 ultra-hook which is overkill
but has that coolness factor. One issue we found with the Warn synthetic rope is they have made their thimble just a bit wider than normal so it will not fit into the
factor 55 hook (they want you to use their epic hook) a few whacks with a 5lb hammer and it slid right in though, Warn if your listening, not cool!
- KC Lights:
- Pro 6 LED driving lights mounted on bumper (wish the bull bar was a bit more forward to protect them better from damage)
- Gravity Pro LED headlights (so far best improvement to the JK, stock headlights were absolutely scary bad, dangerous on wet nights. Still getting used to the cut off
Optics on the new lights, sharp edge to the lighting pattern, but what does get lit is like daylight. going to adjust up a bit more and check to make sure we are not
blinding oncoming traffic.)
- LED fog lights
- Under the Sun Inserts: we got the faded gray US flag insert for the grill, looks way better than the stock radiator showing, so far no issues with heat, will have to see how
it plays out this summer.
- Daystar: Had issue with hood flutter when driving, added Daystar replacement rubber straps to the stock hood latches. Defiantly no hood flutter now but takes super
powers to fasten them down. been on a while and still that way. if they do not stretch soon, we will look for a better option.

Weight: We removed 8 lbs of steel, plastic, and old lights, then added 136 lbs of goodies for a total weight increase of 128 lbs.

Results: 9/10 - Really happy with the way it looks and the way everything works, feels very solid. If you are not doing the tow loop option, all the parts played together nicely with just a bit of trimming for the winch fairlead. Had some issues with Maximus-3, missing part of order, a couple of tight tolerances, and the tow loops not working with bull bar, (not really their fault that we wanted it all, but would have been nice to know in advance) they did come through with some good customer service and sent out missing parts promptly. With the winch in place, it is very difficult to remove or install the grill, to remove the winch you must remove the whole bumper due to the size of the winch. We shortened the locating pins on the bottom of the grill and can now just squeeze it in.

Stock Front End


Winch Plate Installed & Vacuum Pump Relocated


Inspector #K9 (easily bribed with snacks)


Enlarging Fairlead Hole In Bumper


Finished Front End

 

[M Rose]

@OTH Overland , that is a very sketchy way to hold a grinder (speaking from experience). My face bars the scar to prove it.

 

[Ubiety]

abilty to tow behind a motorhome

The grill flag is a nice touch! Had the same B&W version on my JKU. A buddy tows his grey JK behind a motorhome and gets piles of rock chips on the grill, etc. He bed-linered the front grill (black) to combat the rock chips and I really like the black on grey look.

 

[OTH Overland]

@OTH Overland , that is a very sketchy way to hold a grinder (speaking from experience). My face bars the scar to prove it.

Thanks Mike, you have successully past my observation skills test, Safety Third being practiced.. Did my best to have a good grip while using the other hand to steady it, and at least had the wheel pulling it downward for what thats worth. Now you have brought that to my attention, thinking I should get that plasma cutter I have been thinking about, you know for safetys sake. I did have my safety squints on though at least. and the butcher paper protecting the new fog lights may or may not have been fire resistant...lol

 

[Ubiety]

thinking I should get that plasma cutter I have been thinking about, you know for safetys sake.

I completely agree with that line of reasoning! ;) For the safety!