GenesisOffRoad

Well the time has come to start a new project, so I thought I would share the progress with you here. It was a tough decision to sell my old JK. Big Red has been a part of our family here for 5 and a half years. We've made a lot of great memories in this one, but ultimately I really want to build a JK for expedition style rides and camping with the family. Big Red is really better suited for rock crawling.







Big Red sold last week, and is now heading to it's new home in Arizona.





My little girls had to give it a goodbye hug!



I looked at every JK for sale within 500 miles trying to find just the right one. I was originally going to start with a used one with the 3.6 engine, but man these things hold their value so well that we really couldn't save enough money to justify getting a used one. The '12 or '13 models with high miles are out there for a decent deal, but I'd have to drive 5 hours to get one. Finally I ended up at the Nashville Jeep dealership where they had 17 Rubicons to choose from. We finally settled on this billet silver one. I really like the metallic silver paint.

Day 1, and it's already off road.

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I spent the next 2 days solid shopping for parts. Tough job, I know, but somebody has to do it.


I'll be posting up regular updates over the next 2 weeks as I get it ready for Jeep Beach in Daytona. I'll try to cover the details about the parts I'm running, and why I chose those parts. Hopefully it will be useful info, and will give you some ideas for your own rig.

GenesisOffRoad

The first mod is done! Anyone want to guess what the next change will be?

bryanluu

Dual batteries? Lol

durffjk

I'll play, a jeep key chain!

arjeeper

It should be. Y'all have a boss system! Miss my Genesis setup on my 2012. Soon...

GoBig

Lift/wheels/tires

GenesisOffRoad

Aw man, that was way too easy! Ha!





I took this as a great opportunity to finally shoot a detailed installation video. I'm about half way done editing it all together, so that will be posted on our website soon. I tried to cover as many of the frequently asked questions as possible, so folks will be able to see just how easy it is to install our dual battery kit.

I have a few lights, a winch, and an sPOD on the way, so I'll show how to hook all that up. Also, John from sPOD and I will be doing a video at Jeep Beach detailing how to integrate his sPOD with our dual battery kit, so that will be fun. Let me know if there's any specific questions you'd like us to cover!

GenesisOffRoad

When my wife Amy and I were planning this project, she said "I don't care what you do to the Jeep, as long as it has those Star Fabrication Smart Door thingies on it."

I said "Yes, ma'am."


I consider these a must have for every JK out there. One tip for you if you plan to install these - the spots shown on the template for the 5/16" bolt holes just a hair too far away from the large center hole. On the first door, I used a center punch exactly on the spots shown below. The kit includes some clips that give you threads for the bolts to use on the back side of the hole. The problem is that the clips are not quite long enough for the bolt to reach that spot on the template. I had to oval out those bolt holes in order for the bolt to go through the threaded clips. On the other 3 doors, I used my center punch to mark the hole location about 1/16" closer to the large center opening, and it was much easier to get the clips to line up.




Am I the only one that finds it oddly satisfying to drill holes into brand new sheetmetal?




Here's the finished installation of the Smart Door latch. Notice the little strap loop is disconnected from the factory hook. These latches allow your doors to hold open at a wider angle than with just the factory hook and strap.




These latches hold your door open in 3 different stopping positions. Makes parking lots so much safer! No more worries about the wind blowing your door open into the car next to you. I heard recently that Mopar is offering this set as an over the counter accessory at the dealership, which is really cool. Congrats to Star Fab!

GenesisOffRoad

Here is the lovely and talented Amy, taking a break from working in the flower beds to model the new Method Race Wheels and BFG KM2 tires. Not sure why Josie is looking so serious!

I had the TPMS sensors moved from the stock wheels to the new NV wheels. It's really nice to be able to see the exact pressure in each tire on the dash now. My older JK only had the low pressure warning light on the dash, which was not very helpful.

This will be my first time running the KM2 tires, so I'm anxious to see how they perform on and off the road. I'm hoping they are not too loud on the highway. I ran Super Swampers and Nitto Mud Grapplers for many years, and they were very loud. I switched to Goodyear MTR with Kevlar last fall, and they were drastically quieter, much quieter than I had expected. Now with the new Jeep and the hard top I am getting spoiled, so I want to try to keep it quiet inside. Might look for some headliner insulation material too.





13 days till we leave for Jeep Beach!

GenesisOffRoad

Today I installed the new Teraflex Nebo roof rack. They announced this one at SEMA last November and I really liked the clean low profile look. I went with black sides and bare aluminum slats across the top. I think the black rails will help to balance out all the silver on the body with the black trim down low on the wheels, tires, and bumpers. The slats are almost completely hidden, but when you do see them, they blend in with the silver top so it has an inconspicuous look. I also really like the way they hid all of the hardware.



I did have to drill 16 holes in the hard top, but it was actually very easy thanks to the absolutely perfect template that is included. There are large rubber gaskets and o-rings on both the top and bottom surfaces, so I'm not worried about any leaks at all.






The rack rails are secured to new super heavy duty brackets that bolt on top of the factory roll cage, so 100% of the weight on top of the roof is supported by the roll cage, not by the hard top.

Here's the rear brackets that tie into the sport cage.






And the brackets above the sound bar are completely hidden from view.





This roof rack is plenty heavy duty enough for carrying all of our Jeep Beach booth equipment, and will be great for carrying camping gear too.





Is is readily apparent that a lot of thought went into the design of this roof rack. The hardware, the brackets, the aluminum pieces, & the black anodizing was all top notch quality. Even the installation video was spot on - easy to follow along step by step. For more info, check out their video here -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBh52naAH50

Only 12 more days till Jeep Beach!