2019 2 Door Rubicon, Bikini - Discrete But Purposeful Build

[BikiniJLR]

Edit:
Build objective:
This little Jeep is going to move with us to the Philippines when we retire (my wife is a Filipina) so has to be capable of handling a mixture of terrain including badly rutted, often flooded dirt roads to reach the family farm, less than perfectly maintained highways and of course beaches. Meanwhile we live in Alberta so it has to be at home with some moderate trails and capable of long distance road trips to Moab and along the PCH when we need a break from the mountains and prairies.

Therefore it’s not intended to be a massively built rock crawler but more of a capable all rounder that can make it through pretty much anything the islands can throw at it and not be fragile or need lots of extra maintenance. The parts going on are going to err on the side of being over engineered for purpose so they should last.

Things like the hardtop are for the time that it will live in Canada and have to deal with all weather conditions, eventually that will give way to half doors to go with the premium softtop. As I now largely work from home the hardtop may not stick around much longer.

Ok, so I’m a bit late to the party on this as a lot of build is already done.

I thought it would be good to catch up and have a place to post what follows as it happens.

I factory ordered her in late March of 2019 and she finally arrived late May. The nice part being I did get exactly what I wanted.

I’ve had several JK’s (along with a ZJ, XJ, WJ & WK2) so not new to Jeeps - the JK’s were all 2 doors, 2 of the 3 were Rubicons. It’s just me and the wife so a 2 door still works for us and while it’s my daily I do make sure she sees dirt once in a while and so make use of the Rubicons off-road abilities.

Order included:
Leather seats
Cold Weather Package
Trailer Tow and Heavy Duty Electrical Group
LED Lighting Group
U-Connect 4C Nav & Sound Group (8.4”)
Steel Bumper Group
Remote Proximity Entry
8 Speed Auto (my wife’s only request)
Body Coloured Fender Flares
Black Premium Soft Top

Dealer installed options:
Hardtop wiring (I really wanted a dual top option on my order but, in Canada at least, it’s not available on the 2 door)
Mopar 2” Lift
BFG 35x12.50 KO2’s
Mopar CAI (though this took until late October to arrive)

Fresh off the truck pictures first:

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[BikiniJLR]

After the lift and tires were added - delivery day:

 

[BikiniJLR]

Waiting at home were a few mods (I had sold the mods off my last JK and recycled the money into this one) - first on was the Teraflex HD Alpha adjustable tire carrier......I had a ceramic coating booked for the day after and wanted to ensure they covered all the paint that would be exposed - the dealership had already been allowed to 3M coat the hood, grille, fender flares and windshield surround.

Had I trusted my gut and set the studs where I thought they should go instead of where the instructions said they should be the spare would have fit on correctly the first time of trying. Instead I spent a lot of time and curse words on getting the studs out and repositioning them. Aside from that it was pretty easy and a job I’d done before on my JK.

The only pic I took that evening was the after pic when I had calmed down and stopped swearing, lol.

Just for fun, since I’m going for a bit of a retro vibe with my build I put a repro V6 emblem from the CJ era.

 

[BikiniJLR]

The following day I prepped for the winch install and in short order put on the winch hook plate (Maximus3), fairlead, light bracket (Maximus3) and my old set of PIAA LP570’s. The following day I was set to go to a club members place and get some help installing the winch...more on how well that went in the next post...

I also figured that was the best time to pop the grille off and install the headlight guards (Rugged Ridge).

Looking at my pictures I see that I also put the Molle seat back bags on - these are no name, EBay specials but seem well made and cost a fraction of the Mopar ones.

 

[BikiniJLR]

Ah the winch install.......it looked easy on YouTube, it should have been easy as I had someone helping who had done many winch installs before (I had never done one before)...........

Yet, somehow, it took us forever and the winch itself didn’t seem to want to go in. We tried a couple of times but it didn’t want to co-operate so we convinced ourselves that it was too big to go in place. The YouTube video guys had all put in a 10-S, the 12-S must be bigger...right?? Wrong!!

I drove myself crazy tracking down dimensions, triple checking them, watching those videos over and over - how could it just drop in for them and not for us?? Well I decided to have a go myself, took the bumper off again and rather annoyingly...it just dropped into place!! To this day I’m not sure if I was more excited or annoyed....lol.

Then there was the small matter of getting the winch line installed onto the hub...I wasn’t sure if I needed to take it to dinner first, buy it some flowers perhaps...it just didn’t want to let me pop it into place...in the end a bit of brute force and ignorance got it to a point that it was seated “well enough”.

Once it was spooled up and the cables routed through the engine bay it was time to put the bumper back on...it was fiddly but ok and then just a case of stripping my knuckles as I tightened the bolts...realized I had to loosen the winch to move it to tighten up the inner bumper bolts, curse the SOB who thought this was a good way to assemble everything as I figured out the various tools I now needed to bolt the winch back down with a bumper in the way and then realize I had to do it all over again when the stinger finally arrived some weeks later.

 

[BikiniJLR]

The next few changes happened in a little blitz of activity...the stinger finally arrived as did the filler plates to around the winch (both Maximus3), oh the joy as the bumper had to come off again and then did not want to go back on as the inner and outer pieces had somehow come out of alignment and that meant it did not want to rejoin the rest of the Jeep - it was such a pig until I realized what was happening and that an extra pair of hands was needed so it could be persuaded to work.

The tailgate table went on, with zero issues - by far one of the easiest things to do...I had actually put the fire extinguisher mount on a few days prior to the table and realized the extinguisher has to be removed from its bracket before the table can be dropped.....learn from my mistake and do it the other way around...thankfully it’s a quick release mount so not a big deal for me to live with. I also used the table as a Molle mount for the first aid kit so the emergency equipment is all in one place.

The PIAA’s made way for a set of LED Daylighters to give more of that retro vibe that I’m going for...

...and the factory muffler came off and was replaced by a Dynomax muffler delete. Primary reason was to gain a bit more ground clearance, secondary reason was the sound and (if it exists) bit better breathing for the engine...

 

[BikiniJLR]

My next little blitz achieved a few jobs;

Installing the CB - I had kept my Cobra WX-ST 75 from my JK but needed a new antenna mount (Cooltech) and microphone mount (another no name EBay special that works well). I did replace my 4’ tunable firestik with a 3’ hoping it would clear the garage but it sits a hair too tall even if I removed the quick release mount for it...on the bright side the 3‘ antenna fits very nicely across the rear of the back seat, held in place by the Velcro straps that Jeep chose to put on (for reasons I have yet to figure out).

Adding taillight guards to match the fronts, RR had taken their sweet time to release them but they were easy to install, look good and seem like they would offer some protection to those expensive LED’s in case they brush against something unfriendly.

 

[BikiniJLR]

I had placed an order with Quadratec to be delivered to Montana as we had planned a quick weekend away south of the border. This had what I can only call mixed results. Everything came, exactly as ordered but we revealed some issues with the descriptions on the website regarding fitment...everything was either generic or stated would fit a JL...

The generic parts fit, of course....just some Warn rollcage bags so a non issue...

The rest well...less luck there....the Fishbone off-road rear flashlight holder did not fit a 2 door despite what the listing said at the time (it reads as JLU only now after my review...which they deleted...). The same luck with the Motor City Roll Cage light mount - though with some stubbornness and a drill I expanded the holes and made it fit (I left a review on that one too, also deleted, that saw the listing corrected).

That said I like the roll cage light mount and have a pair of KC C3’s mounted on it to help provide light on trails or just to remind people that are tailgating that I don’t approve .

 

[BikiniJLR]

In another little flurry of activity I found someone selling a “used” (3 weeks old) hardtop, another person selling almost new Mopar performance rock rails and the Mopar Cold Air Intake finally came in (dealer installed as cutting the hood isn’t my idea of fun...lol).

Well we’re all caught up for now....aside from a few little accessories...I’ll post the full list below....

 

[BikiniJLR]

Full list to date:

2” Mopar Lift Kit
35x12.50” BFG KO2’s
Mopar CAI
Teraflex HD Alpha Tire Carrier
M.O.R.E. Dead Pedal
Warn Zeon 12-S Winch
Warn Winch Mounting Plate
Maximus-3 Winch Hook Plate
Maximus-3 Aux. Light Bracket
KC Daylighter LED Aux. lights
Rugged Ridge Elite Headlight Guards
Rugged Ridge Elite Taillight Guards
Scott Drake extinguisher holder
Molle seat back bags
Maximus-3 Stinger
Maximus-3 Zeon Filler Plates
Dynamax muffler delete
Billet aluminum antenna base
Cooltech CB antenna mount
Cobra WX-ST75 CB
Firestik 3’ antenna
Firestik antenna cable
No name CB Mic. Mount
Mopar tailgate table
Motor City Roll Cage Light Mount
KC C3 Spot Lights
Mopar locking fuel cap
Warn Epic Winch Hook
Warn Epic Shackle
Warn Epic Roll Cage Bags
Mopar Hardtop
Mopar Performance Rock Rails
Tazer JL Mini

 

[Rico1111]

That is a Pretty nice build ...Looks great! Enjoy and of course Merry Christmas!

 

[Therby]

Nice build! Very clean

 

[4xFUN]

That is an awesome looking Rubi, well done!! I have a Bikini JLR on order (now in KZ status) and will also be installing 35" KO2's day of delivery. My dilemma is the two inch lift (choices pretty limited-not counting spacer lifts) to go with...I wanted the Rancho lift (corner specific springs) but with Fox shocks however they do not know (or not telling) when their 2-door kit will release. Dynatrac looks good except the springs are not corner specific and I really do not want to have to shim to level-even though this is a common practice. How is the Mopar lift working out for you? Any of the issues some members complained about (at least with early kits) such as front springs bowing or rubbing, excessive amounts of lift-3 plus inches instead of the stated 2 inch? Also, does your Jeep sit level/even side to side, or list to one side? If level, any idea if the dealer shimmed the springs to level? Sorry for all the questions but as the old timers use to say "ask the man who owns one"...Again, an absolutely stunning Jeep!

 

[BikiniJLR]

That is a Pretty nice build ...Looks great! Enjoy and of course Merry Christmas!

Thank you . Merry Christmas to you too!

Nice build! Very clean

Thanks, I subscribe to the theory of less is more so subtle changes have been a consistent approach in my past vehicles too..the odd not so subtle one gets by every now and then too.

That is an awesome looking Rubi, well done!! I have a Bikini JLR on order (now in KZ status) and will also be installing 35" KO2's day of delivery. My dilemma is the two inch lift (choices pretty limited-not counting spacer lifts) to go with...I wanted the Rancho lift (corner specific springs) but with Fox shocks however they do not know (or not telling) when their 2-door kit will release. Dynatrac looks good except the springs are not corner specific and I really do not want to have to shim to level-even though this is a common practice. How is the Mopar lift working out for you? Any of the issues some members complained about (at least with early kits) such as front springs bowing or rubbing, excessive amounts of lift-3 plus inches instead of the stated 2 inch? Also, does your Jeep sit level/even side to side, or list to one side? If level, any idea if the dealer shimmed the springs to level? Sorry for all the questions but as the old timers use to say "ask the man who owns one"...Again, an absolutely stunning Jeep!

Thanks - I hope you get yours soon.
I’m having no issues at all with the Mopar lift - I don’t see any bowing of the springs (nor do the know it alls in my local club that like to look for things to criticize on others peoples vehicles). It sits level side to side - I doubt my dealership knows it’s arse from it’s elbow so wouldn’t have thought of shimming...lol.
If you think of any more questions feel free to ask - we’re here to share knowledge and experiences.

 

[4xFUN]

Thanks and Merry Christmas!