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The Journey of a 'Kid' and His Jeep: Hobbes

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LeoTheDragon

LeoTheDragon

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I was thankfully able to get my tires and wheels mounted the day before I left for my trip. I got the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 Tires (315/70R17) because I really liked the 33" that came stock and I have always read good things. So far from a little snow and mud adventure I had, they handled the terrain like a beast. It's really the driver that needs to learn what he's doing :angel:

After driving over 2,000 highway miles in the span of a couple weeks, I have to say that they're pretty quiet compared to other big tires I've heard and handle well enough. I come from a background of driving cars with street tires and track cars so I'm used to tires that aren't as... Squishy. Although I did run Bridgestone Blizzaks on the Mazda3 for a few seasons and those were really causing the car to wander a bit, so in comparison the KO2s feel similar to that as would probably be expected.

Anyway, I like them so far and time will tell how they wear and hold up. I also installed the Mopar tailgate reinforcement kit to beef up some support for the larger and heavier spare. I read quite a bit about if this thing even works, but I managed to snag an open box deal on it and paid $250 for the kit, so why the hell not. I was a little annoyed at the tire shop because I asked them to leave the spare off since I'd have to install the reinforcement when I got back home, but they were like "the spare fit fine so we went ahead and just put it on for you. " I mean, I appreciate the gesture but I specifically asked not to. Minor inconvenience so whatever, but yeah the damn thing is heavy. I'm out of shape.:blush:

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I realllyyy like them, and so far they haven't rubbed one bit. I'm not really planning on doing any hard-core rock crawling, but I did get enough flex where the wheel just barely is about to tuck into the fender. It looks like it would clear, but we will see. I can turn the steering wheel lock to lock and no issues here.

Regarding the stock spare tire carrier, no relocation kit needed at all. I did have to buy some rubber chair tips to extend the rubber "bumper stabilizers" or so it's called in the install manual from Mopar. The ones that were provided weren't long enough to make contact with the wheel, but I went on my entire trip without it and it didn't seem like a huge issue since it looks like the tire just barely makes contact with the bumper, so any hard drops would be absorbed by the bumper I think. But at any rate, I just decided to buy these things anyway because they were like $3 from Lowe's and it's one of those peace of mind things. Had to take the spare tire off again though :angry:

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They make solid contact now so I guess it'll help!
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LeoTheDragon

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While I was up in Seattle, I picked up a set of ACE rock sliders from @stevehoward75. It was great because I had a set on order and was hoping to receive them and have them installed by the time I left, but something like 4 weeks later they still haven't shipped. I don't know if these are built to order but I was a little disappointed I didn't get to put them on. I was casually browsing the member marketplace and saw he had them, so I reached out and he agreed to hold on to them for when I got up to Seattle. Thanks a lot man!!

My plan was to install these at my buddies place after I picked them up before I stumbled onto the thread about the horror stories of people snapping the body mount bolts due to the red loctite on the front, but of course I didn't see this until after I had made the deal with Steve to hold these... There was no way I was going to risk going through the hell some people had to while I was on my trip, so I changed my plan to visit some dealerships in the Seattle area and see if they would install it. My friend lives in Monroe, and there was a dealership 2 miles away, so I dropped by and they agreed to install them for $100. Donnneeee deal. For those in the area, it was Rairdon's Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Monroe. These things are awesome and my short friends will definitely appreciate them when trying to get in, and I'm sure the side of my Jeep will appreciate them as well when the time comes :like:

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stevehoward75

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Hey man glad it all worked out! Hope you had a most excellent trip and hit some nice trails. Look me up next time you're in the PNW and I'll hit some trails with you. Take care dude!

Steve
 

JohnAinVA

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This is great - thanks for sharing and taking time for all the details. I love seeing what factory options other Jeepers get (I just got the S, Tech and Safety packages)
 
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LeoTheDragon

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This is great - thanks for sharing and taking time for all the details. I love seeing what factory options other Jeepers get (I just got the S, Tech and Safety packages)
Thanks for dropping in, I'm trying to find time between planning trips and getting all my other pictures and videos pulled and updating this thread haha, but more to come!

I decided to pretty much fully load mine because I knew I was going to spend a lot of time in it so I wanted all the creature comforts. I elected for the Rubicon because it comes with all the beefed up goodies and since I will be traveling so much, I wanted to limit my mod list to more or less simple bolt on stuff for as little downtime as possible. I have wrenched on cars quite heavily in the past, but I just wanted the whole package ready to go this time around so I could spend more time enjoying being in it rather than under it :angel:
 

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JohnAinVA

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Thanks for dropping in, I'm trying to find time between planning trips and getting all my other pictures and videos pulled and updating this thread haha, but more to come!

I decided to pretty much fully load mine because I knew I was going to spend a lot of time in it so I wanted all the creature comforts. I elected for the Rubicon because it comes with all the beefed up goodies and since I will be traveling so much, I wanted to limit my mod list to more or less simple bolt on stuff for as little downtime as possible. I have wrenched on cars quite heavily in the past, but I just wanted the whole package ready to go this time around so I could spend more time enjoying being in it rather than under it :angel:
I spent about 30 minutes looking at your Jeep (slow day at work) and it looks great - glad you got it loaded, I think that's the way to go if you're going to spend that much time in it. Looks like you got the manual - best way to go in a Jeep!
This is a second car for me. I was going to get just the stripped down Sport but my wife talked me into getting a couple of creature comfort items, and glad I did. Makes it easier to drive everyday.....
 

Renegade Wrangler

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I've been slacking quite a bit, but that's because I've been off the grid the past couple weeks. I've rushed to get everything installed before I drove up the Pacific NW on a road trip, so I didn't have time to post all the pictures of new mods. Just a day before I left (and even during the trip) I've had the following installed:
  • Mopar 5" and 7" LED lights
  • Installed new wheels and tires
  • Mopar tailgate reinforcement kit
  • ACE rock sliders
I'll post more detail pics and updates on those things this weekend, but for the time being, feast your eyes on some quick shots I took in Oregon. I have footage on my drone from snow wheeling in Washington but I still need to pull the images there. I couldn't take out my drone in Oregon because it was raining pretty hard, so cell phone camera it was.

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I see you have turned on your lights with the covers still on them:facepalm:
 

Renegade Wrangler

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Hello everyone! On November 28, 2018, I took delivery of my very first BRAND NEW Punk'n Metallic 2019 Jeep Wrangler JLUR. I've never bought a brand new car before and I've never owned a Jeep, so this is pretty exciting to me. When I was first looking at the new JLURs, I was going to buy a white one. When I was at the dealership for a test drive, I saw this color rolling through the lot and instantly fell in love with the color. I actually don't even like orange, but there was something about this specific shade of orange on this Jeep that just called out to me. I can't explain it, but the next thing I knew I was calling in an order for one.

I've been a part of a lot of forums for essentially every vehicle I've owned, but I've never really done a journal or build thread mainly because I never really had the patience to stop and take pictures and talk about what I've done. Usually I'll buy some upgrade (most of the time very impulsively, hah!) and just install it right away and call it good. I'm taking a different approach this time and going to take as many pictures as I remember to and document every process/mod/destination/whatever about my Jeep and the journey we are about to take together.

I name all of my cars and I picked out my Jeep's name the day I put in the order: Hobbes. The inspiration came from the comic Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson, which is something I grew up on as a kid and still continue to read from time to time. It captivated me as a kid and I actually attribute a lot of my creativity today to Calvin. For those who don't know, Calvin is a six-year-old kid who has a tiger named Hobbes. The entire world sees his tiger as a stuffed animal, but he becomes anthropomorphic when they are alone. They basically do all sorts of crazy stuff together and touch on endless issues pertaining to society, environment, politics, philosophy, etc. If you've read the comics, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't read any I highly suggest you do so. It's not just a 'kids' comic - there are so many themes there that I feel adults can take away from. Great stuff. When asked who my hero is, my immediate response will always be Bill Watterson.

ANYYWAYY... Hobbes and I are about to go on an epic journey through the US. I have a unique job in that it's 100% remote so come next year, I'm going to pack up all my essentials and hit the road through every state in the US (thinking about even shipping Hobbes over to Hawaii just so I can say I've hit all 50 states). I've sold my house and am in the process of selling all my other toys (save for one of my motorcycles) and non-essential belongings and storing the rest in a spare room at my parent's house. I'm thinking about creating a video blog to document my journey. I'm going to document all of the mods I do on Hobbes here and post photos along the way that I take. When I start talking/typing, I kind of get carried away, so I apologize in advance if I drone on forever. If you can look past that, I hope you enjoy this journal/build thread!

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Really nice thread you are starting, exited about your adventure, :clap:
 

NewJLU2019

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Love the build. You are in for so much fun.


Well when you roll through Michigan, contact me and we can do some off roading. I know the Michigan trail system well. We have an awesome local breakfast place and I can travel pretty much at will.
My Wife is from Michigan. I am pulling the trigger on 2021 Rubicon. One day we are going to make a trip to see her Stepdad. He is outside the Lansing area.

Stay Safe! I didn't look at the date of the thread. It's old. lol
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