JK-Forum.com - The top destination for Jeep JK and JL Wrangler news, rumors, and discussion - 3000 miles, time to introduce myself! (and show off what's gotten done)

Hi. I'm Justin. It's time for me to stop lurking obsessively here and be part of the community. I picked up my '12 Rubicon (black, 2 door, manual) at the end of December. My previous DD was an '08 VW Rabbit and I have a Yamaha R1 for sunny days. I traded in the fiancees Hyundai, now she has the rabbit and I drive the Jeep mostly. A step up for everyone I think. I can be long winded so read on at your own risk. tl;dr I bought a Jeep, love it, sinking all my spare time into it.

So here it is with the Rabbit a few days after I got it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...30_0929052.jpg

I'm typically a fast car/bike guy, never really been interested in trucks or offroading (with the exception of a 1984 Audi Quattro that saw some dirt roads :rock:), but I thought it was time to have a vehicle that was capable of.. really anything. I have the bike, so I can go fast when I want. The Rabbit is great for general use (it's actually shockingly well balanced in the twisties) and with the roof rack is sufficient for anything I want to do that has roads that go there. But I'd been missing four driven wheels since my Audi days for these Jersey winters and because you never know when you're gonna need to drive through a flood or over something big. I was wary about getting something so trucky, but I wanted the ground clearance. I've driven plenty of pickups and suburban-ish things for work over the years and I never, ever wanted to take any of them home with me. The opportunity to change vehicles came around and I figured it couldn't hurt to go test drive some Jeeps.

Don't get me wrong now. I've always wanted a Jeep. Not for a DD but for something to go off road, or to take the top and doors off and head out to the beach. I figured I'd probably end up getting a beat up TJ, something I could work on and pound on guilt-free. My master plan was also not to get too into the Jeep, like I had with every other vehicle and sport I've gotten into where it consumes large chunks of my life and paycheck. I wanted something already built that I could just use out of the box. Heh, how easy it is to lie to ourselves.. As it turned out I had to buy new, so it turned into looking at JKs. After some brief research I decided I HAD to have the Rubicon, obviously, because it's the best. Even though just a week prior I had absolutely zero interest in going farther off the road than the beach parking lot. But I get infatuated easily. It's not all psychosis, I figured the transfer case and front axle were worth it even if I ended up changing everything else. So I looked for Rubicons. The local dealership didn't have a 2 door Rubicon so I took out a 2 door sport and a 4 dr Rubicon, both manual 2012s. I liked the size of the 2 door, the 4 door was huge. The sport was stripped down, no power anything and the 4 door had all the options. They drove better than I expected, but they also felt more like trucks than I expected. I didn't care for the shifting experience overall, but that's also to be expected after so many years of buttery smooth VWs and Audis. This is also where I found out about the all powerful Pentastar from one of the salesmen. It's got some gumption. I liked it. I went home and looked up the only 2 door manual Rubicon in 200 miles at a dealer and drove to a dealer 40 min away the following day. I don't know what the difference was between this Jeep and the other two I had driven, but it was spectacular. There was no vague, clunky shifter, this one was positive and very clear. It handled superbly for a vehicle with 2 solid axles and mud terrain tires. It had all the option packages I wanted, dual tops, even heated seats for the woman. I was in love. I couldn't buy it that day and my salesman held it for me for 2 weeks while I got things in order. I went back twice in that time just to 'test drive' it some more. I put 40 miles on it before I took it home. The plan was to share it with Julie (woman) and drive the Rabbit half the time. To date, the poor girl has gotten to drive it to the supermarket once because I refuse to give up the keys. I am so surprised at how much I'm enjoying it since it's almost the polar opposite of the things I usually love driving.

The weekend after I got it, I took it up to the Poconos where my family has a place and some land. I had no idea how to use it, it was like sending a soldier to war with a rifle he's never held. I brought the manual with me out into the muck so I'd know how to engage 4hi and lo and lock the diffs. Let me tell you, that Jeep dragged me through mud up to the doors, up hills where all I could see out the windshield was sky and everything in between. I was so impressed. It took me hours to get the mud out of.. everywhere. Bad cell pics, taken before it got really dirty:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4813Resize.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4756Resize.jpg

So I had gone 3 years without touching the Rabbit. No intake, no exhaust, no wheels. It's bone stock. Because I know how I get. No such luck with the Jeep. Despite low funds (just bought a house!), the little parts started rolling in. Rugged Ridge mats and cargo liner. AntennaX short antenna:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2274Resize.jpg

ACE rock rails from Jason at Krawl Off-Road:

Right after install. That's Emmet, my buddies kid, with his sweater on. Cut him some slack, it was cold and it's a rockin sweater.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0427Resize.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4117Resize.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4918Resize.jpg

The ACE rails are awesome. They are perfect for light duty, but I'd feel weird about slamming the Jeep onto them because of the way they mount. If I were gonna stand the Jeep on a rock rail, I'd weld it to the frame. But I'm an engineer so I'm nervous. Since I won't be standing the Jeep on them in the near future, they are exactly what I need. They are extremely well built and the price is kinda unbelievable. Huge shout out to Jason at Krawl Off-Road also, everything about that experience was excellent.

Just finished the shift boot over the weekend. I couldn't stand that rubber elephant sack that Jeep thought was appropriate for this application. I got a custom leather one made from RedlineGoods because no one offered what I was looking for. Try to take what I'm about to say the right way. I don't like the long boot. I prefer the long shifter shaft be out there proudly. Looks much better. See for yourself:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2237Resize.jpg

Along with the knobs, I think it looks awesome. I have pictures throughout the install for that boot if anyone is interested in seeing that.

Next up is the flares. I took a long time to choose to cut them. I guess we need a little more background here before I get on with it. I don't have disposable income. I think a lot of people here know what that's like. I broke down the Jeep mods into consecutive phases. Some things should be done together. For example, If I'm going to get bare steel front and rear bumpers and fenders, I should get them all at the same time and have them all coated at the same time, in the same batch. It's a sure way to avoid those odd shade differences. So this is what I came up with:

1. Cheap, immediately necessary/enjoyable things. Like rubber mats. I don't know if the carpet is staying for the long haul, but if it's in there, I'm going to protect it. Same with the antenna, shift knobs, etc. Fun stuff. (The rock rails fell into this category too since the ACE rails came finished and for so, so cheap.)

2. Fender flares. If I do the flares, I can fit bigger tires in without issue with no lift. Lift comes later.

3. Bumpers, winch, tire carrier. This is next. I'd like to do both bumpers at the same time for coating continuity. I'd like the winch since I'll have the mounting point for it and maybe almost getting stuck in that pocono mud all by myself was kinda freaky. I want to do the tire carrier before bigger wheels so I'm not hanging a 35 off the stock mount. I hear they sag after a while.

4. Wheels, tires, gussets and gearing. Yes, you can do wheels and tires without the rest, but I don't want to. I'm a nitpicker and I like to do the whole job.

5. Lift and driveshafts. I like to be complete. I've read about so many driveshaft issues and ways to get around replacing them.. I'd rather just not worry about clearances and angles. It might be overkill, but it's my Jeep.

There's other stuff that goes in between these, like CB and exhaust, maybe changing the dash light color from that awful teal-ish-white. But these are the major players. BTW, if anyone out there sees a problem with this, I'm all ears. Moving on! I chose to trim the stock flares based on 2 factors. The first being that if I smash one into a tree, it will break instead of making new, stylish bends in the body. I'm cool with that. The other is that if I do the flares on the cheap, I have more money to move on to the next big things. So here we are. Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...5657Resize.jpg

And After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2269Resize.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...lateResize.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...2251Resize.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4353Resize.jpg

And there we have it! The bumpers have to go, especially the front. It looks all wrong now. And the tires look too small. Better keep workin..

Thanks to any of you who made it to the end of this novel. Sorry for the lousy pictures but it's salt weather here and I haven't been anywhere good-picture worthy. Next time I get it out doing things I'll definitely snap some non-poser shots. I'd like to thank all of you here for offering up more information than I could ever use. I've learned more about Jeeps on this site than I've learned about most things anywhere.. I'm looking forward to contributing what I can and maybe I'll see some of you out there.:thumbsup: