First Post-From Bought to Built in Six Months
 

Hello all! I just joined the forum today, and figured I'd make my first post about my own Jeep. I got my 2007 Wrangler X about six months ago and have done my best to build it up in only six months. When I got my Wrangler, it was dead stock, aside from a set of Smittybilt side steps. As a college student, money is tight and I can't be doing expensive new mods every other week, but I have done my best with the resources I have, and I think I've done a pretty good job.

Enough talk. Here she is, the Six Month Build!

This is the rig, well, before it was a rig, in all its stock, bald tire glory.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...e3f46dfe8d.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...943bbe2485.jpg


After some light wheeling I knew that I needed...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...711ac0fa2e.jpg

...TIRES! I decided to get a set of Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws due to great reviews for on and offroad use, their aggressive tread pattern, and their affordable price. The size is 285/70/17, and they measure about 32.5", but I call them 33s to make myself feel good. Here's my buddy Henry standing with the new tires.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...68977df4fb.jpg

Mounted!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...cfc6d49e88.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...30895e8114.jpg


Now that I had a new set of tires, it was time to test them out. They definitely proved themselves when I went wheeling with some buddies in Croatan National Forest.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...45d05efc24.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...5c056df3ef.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...cf1ffbf3c6.jpg


A few weeks later, I came across a huge stroke of luck. My brother Matthew had just bought a 2007 Wrangler Sahara, and decided he didn't like his Rugged Ridge bumper that was installed when he bought it. Luckily, I love free hand-me-downs! After some cutting, welding, and painting, I had the bumper looking great on my rig. Here is the bumper on Matthew's Jeep.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...e968fd4333.jpg

I cut the ends off of the bumper to make it stubby, and installed it in my dorm parking lot with the help of my friend Josh.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...b26e8894a1.jpg

The new bumper is girlfriend approved!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...463acde60d.jpg

Now that it had been installed, it was time for a quick test to see if the bumper was dirt worthy. Spoiler alert---it was!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...c81907df55.jpg

I love the way the new-to-me bumper shows off my tires. As a bonus, it gave me room for fog lights and a winch! (Foreshadowing...)

Not quite yet though. Remember, I'm a college student. As much as I love big expensive mods, I also love those that are cheap, easy, and high reward. In the mean time I got some free decals from Smittybilt and Rugged Ridge for the body panels behind the front fenders. Additionally, I bought some hood decals for about $15 on Amazon. Money well spent!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...00f4684690.jpg


I am not a fan of the silver stock Moab wheels that come with most JKs. In order to remedy this, I threw a few coats of Plastidip and Metallizer on them, and left the center caps silver for a factory look. While this is not ideal, Plastidip offers a lot of bang for your buck. For only about $30, I completely changed the look of my JK. At the same time, I also installed a set of 1.5" hub centric wheel spacers, to solve the rubbing caused by my new Falken tires. I was sure to hit each lug with red loctite and torque everything to spec. Once again, not ideal as a fresh set of wheels would be, but certainly good enough for my (lack of a) budget.

I think it turned out pretty good!

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...0e57c1ad31.jpg


Here's where it starts to get really exciting. Christmas was around the corner and all of my loved ones knew I had some Jeep mods in mind. Check out what my girlfriend got me! A switch panel! This could come in handy.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...ff6a70417a.jpg


I PROBABLY wasn't supposed to see these boxes before they were wrapped.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...72588a0a99.jpg

On Christmas Eve, I unwrapped the only gift I didn't see on the front porch: a set of LED Projector Headlights and Fog lights by LX-Light. I immediately installed them, and they looked great!

The next day, I unwrapped a Smittybilt XRC 9500lb winch and a 52" LED light bar with LED pods by Yitamotor.
I spent my entire Christmas Day installing my new gear.

Lets check her out!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...5d7cb78d51.jpg


After driving around some, I noticed a couple problems with my new mods. First, each time I turned on my high beams, the passenger light turned off. I solved this by installing a resistor between each headlight and the factory harness.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...6d13f77e81.jpg


The next problem I had was a TERRIBLE wind buffeting from the light bar/soft top combo. When I drove over 45MPH, the soft top vibrated and made a sound similar to when only one window is rolled down in a car. Because I can not deal with this each time I drive, I modified a light bar mount that came with the kit and bolted it to the the JK mount to drop the light by a few inches. Works like a charm!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...a8916385fa.jpg


Here are some pics with my brother's Jeep after I solved the minor issues.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...ac84b0474.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...53748a4c1a.jpg


Now that I was well equipped for night driving, I took my buddy Josh for a ride down a dark dirt road to use my lights. Little did I know, the dirt had turned to deep mud from a recent snow. Pleasant surprise!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...eae483be7e.jpg


After saving up for a while, I decided it was finally time for a lift. I decided on the Zone 3" coil lift kit with Hydro Shocks. I chose this kit because I had helped my brother install one on his Jeep a few weeks before, and the parts are all much beefier than stock. Also, the springs are much stiffer to support the weight of my winch and bumper, the kit is affordable, and 100% made in the USA.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...38ee3077ff.jpg
The kit arrived last Friday, 1/12/18.


With lots of help from my friends Chase, Josh, and of course my brother Matthew, we installed the lift in about 8 hours (including a few breaks for some good food).

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...78bb1f2d87.jpg


Well, here she is, the Six Month Build. I couldn't be more proud to call this Jeep mine.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...98f39e4062.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...01471e52f3.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jk-...422b6bb5ae.jpg

Now all I need to do is find some dirt!

Thank you to all who took the time to check out my first post. Let me know what you think of my Jeep. Please leave any comments or suggestions for me!

Thanks for the comment! I hope to add a rear bumper with tire carrier before too long, but I'm sure I'll find some less expensive mods to do along the way!

Nice build and story.

Rig looks real good man im digging it.

Good job! Keep at it and I enjoy seeing your updates.