After buying my 2008 JKX and building it up for about 2 months now, I've decided I need a place to document the progress and this thread was born. I noticed I was always taking pictures of whatever I was doing to it. Everyone needs a hobby, right? I wanted this build to be a capable east coast rig. No huge rock climbing or rubicon trail in the future plans. Just something that I could use to get up and down the mountains where I hunt and toy with on the weekends, so if you're looking for ridiculous mods, this won't be the thread, sorry.

I bought it 08/14/14 with 36k miles and some sort of 4" lift on 35's.


Didn't have a full size spare tire (not sure why? ) So I ordered one tire and wheel to match the rest. Having just bought my JK,I started out small with Tail light guards, mesh grill mod, plastidipping my "Jeep", and various simple things like getting rid of the high quality bubbling paint on the door hinges...


More to be posted once JKF begins to cooperate with uploading pictures.

 

It was also around this time I decided to pick up a hi-lift jack and mounted it to the hood. One of the most useful things I bought for myjeep. Used it numerous times in the last 2 months.



After saving a little bit of money and deciding what I needed/wanted for my jeep, I chose the Body Armor rear bumper with tire carrier for the next mod. Wasn't too expensive, seemed to get the job done and thus far it has held up great.



After replacing the rear bumper, I started feeling a need to keep scratching that itch and quickly followed with a Smittybilt stinger bar for the front, price was too good to pass up and it has a winch plate (more to come for that)

 

Nice start to the build. Good to see another 2 door getting some attention.

 

At this point, I had noticed a few things with the suspension and started a thread here on the forum about it.
( https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...ubbing-310743/ )
It lead to new, sway bar quick disconnects, shocks, synergy springs and an adjustable teraflex monster track bar. And it made the world of difference!
Pictures before (More in link above):
Attachment 581076Attachment 581077

Pictures after:
See link above.

With the suspension overhauled, I made a few aesthetic changes to slow down the hole burning in my pocket



And gave my rig a little bit of trimming (Which isn't finished yet because of a lack of tools )

 

After trimming the fenders, I wanted to start focus on the inside and storage space/tools. After all, I needed this to be my hunting rig and be able to carry things while still having a little bit of room.
I put my camel back on the driver seat (I am constantly drinking water). I haven't figured out what to do when the temperature starts to drop, I will most likely just pull it back out. I put my old E-tool next to my extinguisher on the roll bar, an axe between the hard top and sound bar, installed a MOLLE panel in the rear for tools and gear, and developed a very simple solution for storing my freedom tops. They are surprisingly secure and don't smash into the hard top.



After my first trip out, I discovered something very simple I overlooked... Lights.
The stock head lights are a joke! After looking around at drop in head light replacements and not being able to find any for under $600, I bought a set of Rough Country 4" LED's.
Are they cheap? yes.
Am I going to abuse them enough to warrant Rigid's? Probably not. So they work for me, I use them just about every night on the backroads of where I live. They're 30 degree flood pattern and now looking for a creative solution for a spot. Maybe 20" bar?

 

Thank you! I love my 2 door. Just my opinion, but I personally don't care for the look of the 4 doors unless all doors and the top is off. Besides that, I guess I'm a sucker for the "classic" look and feel. -Another reason I bought a manual trans
I've heard people go on and on about storage space, but if I can't get all the stuff for me and another person in my jeep, we aren't packing correctly.

 

Bringing us completely up to date:
So after a lot of thinking, I decided to pull the trigger on a winch. I didn't want a warn ( call me crazy!) because of the price but I wanted as close as I could get to the quality. I decided to go with the Super Winch Tiger Shard 9500 SR. It ran me about $450 with free shipping and came with the aluminum hawse fairlead and synthetic rope. Got it mounted right on and began to respool it under tension. I can't rant and rave yet about quality as I hope most winches can pull a jeep 95' through a flat yard. But I've heard superwinch comes close to the quality of warn but lacks in speed. Which if it proves to be true, I'm completely okay with. I'm not in a race.



Soon to come:
Overhead console with a Cobra 25/29(?)
Some homemade rifle and bow mounts
Tom Woods rear DS before I'm up a creek...
Regear and lockers
This spring:
Bedliner the tub

Hope y'all have enjoyed this non-rock crawling, average, everyday JKX build so far!

 

Here you can see how the flares are as of now. (this was before the winch obviously)

 

I have the Cobra 29 and love it. Really nice unit with antenna tuning built in.

 

Thanks, I was leaning towards the 29, but everytime I go to buy something new, I think.. "5 of what I'm buying is a regear and lockers..."
I can't get away from them!