Kifo

I'm new to the forums, but I've owned my Jeep for the past year or two - I just didn't feel worthy of joining the forums and posting up anything without doing some sort of mod.

Here's the before picture. The mods I already have installed on it by this time aren't too crazy, but I'll go ahead and list them:
-AMI Billet locking fuel door
-Bestop TrekTop NX (not pictured; took it off for the winter)
-AntennaX 24" AM/FM/CB antenna
-Rugged Ridge 9-piece roll bar kit (not reinforcements, just grab handles + fire extinguisher mount)
-Quadratec Ultimate Floor liners

But you already know how it goes with Jeeps, I had to start spending more money at some point, so I dropped several hundred bucks into a new bumper and lighting. I was gonna do the front brakes too, but didn't have any replacements on hand. Removal of the factory bumper was probably the hardest part. I got annoyed with removing the air dam because I did that days before and I happened to be sick, so I just cut apart some of the bracketry to support it, but I will re-install it on the new bumper once I buy replacements. Those little plastic things can't cost too much. We heated up the bolts from the frame to the factory bumper because they wouldn't come off otherwise. There was a little bit of guess work with figuring out how to relocate the factory fog lights into the new bumper because the instructions provided were rather vague and they provided new orange lenses, which confused things a little more. I didn't end up using those orange fog light lenses though, and I'm quite satisfied with the finished product. I have a few pictures of the installation process if you're curious about how it all looked during installation.


And this is the final product. Installed an Olympic 4x4 Products front Rock bumper with the grill guard and brush guards and three 5" 55W KC Apollo lights. The outer two are driving lights and the middle one is a long-range light. They're running through a KC relay I bought designed for two lights, but I built myself my own little custom splitter to handle the third light in the middle. The switch wiring doesn't actually run through the firewall and instead goes under that hood cowl up near the windshield and through the outer windshield bracket, where the switch is mounted on a half-inch hole I drilled in the interior a-pillar trim.

This build will take the course of many years because, quite frankly, I can't get the money for it quickly. I do have great things planned, though, and hopefully the first major mod beyond bolt-on stuff will be the installation of a 5.7L Hemi from a Ram 1500. That'll be a few years from now, but I've got my mind pretty set on doing it. The next mods you will probably see right away will come within the next year and I'm looking at a Tuffy security lid to protect my tools in the cargo area. I'm going to college for aviation maintenance technology and I need to haul around tools with me and I don't need people's prying eyes and greedy fingers digging around in my tool chests back there when I have the soft top on. I also am planning on replacing the factory side steps with some rock sliders or something soon, I'll be selling the factory ones to my cousin for the money to get sliders. I'm looking at Smittybilt SRC Armor steps because they are kind of a rock slider and a step and the tubular motif fits what I'm going for. That's about all I have to say right now, cheers and happy holidays!

awinski

welcome to the addiction

Kifo

Thanks, man. Chances are my Jeep is going to be kitted out before I spend money on a better place to live, but I suppose that's the way it goes.
I'm hoping I can pace myself and get everything squared away in the next decade, but realistically I probably will never officially be "done" finding excuses to buy crap for the Jeep. I'm planning on going to 34" or 35" tires and axles and all that fun stuff eventually. I really want to get a compressor or more likely a winch on here soon because on open diffs and street tires, my ass is getting stuck everywhere and I'll at least be able to pull myself out haha.

ade

Mods or no mods, welcome to the forum.

Kifo

I drilled some 1/4" holes to mount my license plate because Ohio is lame and requires us to have them.

I probably should have been a little more careful because it's ever-so-slightly crooked, but it's functional and I'm happy.

Kifo

I decided I would re-install the factory air dam to improve aerodynamic properties and prevent unwanted splashes on my steering and such. Though in reality I just did it for shits and giggles.

Here you can see the Jeep before the air dam was mounted. In retrospect, I probably should have at least hosed it down before re-installing. Oh well.


This is the finished product. I installed the push pins to the rear air dam hangers so it would mostly stay in place and supported the front with gorilla tape while I drilled small pilot holes, following up with 1/4" holes. I liberally applied a bunch of black silicone caulk to the drilled out areas, then put my 1/4" bolt with a flat washer in. I hand-tightened the nut on the inside of the bumper until it would go no further, then I used a screwdriver on the head of the bolt and combination wrench on the nut. Then I applied some more caulk around the nut for the fun of it. The next step is to chop off the side bits that extend too far so it doesn't have such a weird facade. I apologize about the image quality, the exposure was being goofy I guess.

Kifo

I built a simple fishing rod carrier from supplies you can find at the hardware store that attaches to the factory tailgate hinge bolts.
If you'd like to see how it's built so for inspiration to adapt your own design, go here: https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-w...4/#post4032176

2BAJeep

What a great idea... Got to look into doing that.. Thanks