Kalashnikov, JL Rubi Build

[kalashnikovjl]

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to share my build with the community! Im super thankful for this community, I've been able to learn so much and talk to some great people while doing so! Thankfully, I keep pretty consistent and detailed track of all the mods and changes I've done to the rig, so this thread should be pretty informational!

Here's how my baby started out as, a 2020 2 Door JL Rubicon, Billet Silver. I got her in august 2021, with around 7K miles on it!

First couple mods I did were:
Small USA Flags
Stubby Antenna
Raxiom LED Tail Lights
Deep Woods Grille (I know, I know, its not the most popular, I might buy a new regular grille again and get it line x'd in the future)
Full Tinting & Custom Name

The Name, Kalashnikov! It's a sort of running joke between my dad and I, the meaning behind it that it sounds like a villains name from mission impossible or some cheesy movie LOL!

Next few mods were all LED lights upfront, including:
LED Side market lights
Halo LED fog lights
Morimoto LED Turn signals
LED Projector Headlights
Then of course, new front bumper!
Barricade Battalion Stubby
And also some Red D Rings

Once the bumper was in, It was time for a winch!
I went with the Smittybilt 10,000 Synthetic line X20 winch.
I also went ahead and got some things for the inside, including a Bullet point Dash mount, some Velcro MOLLE panels for the back seat, a winch cover, some door entry guards, and a few recovery straps and tools

and yes, she gets down and dirty!

next after that was rear bumper time, I went with the Go Rhino rock line rear bumper, and I paired that with some KC C3 cube lights (mainly because I like to park in reverse and I couldn't see at all at night when backing up, so now the cube lights are my main reverse lights, wired into my aux switch #3

Now, the most recent mod I've done was a sway bar front skid plate from MORE.
Solid product, great company, but I did have to modify it a bit to fit with my current front bumper. I had to cut off around 3/4-1 inch off the top part in order to fit around my fog lights due to their location in the front bumper, but it did come out great and offers great protection!

as of now, that's all she wrote!

next mods in line are new wheels, I plan on going with some KMC Trek wheels, in the matte black with grey tint option, 17x9 with a -12 offset. Im going to keep my stock BFG KO2's, they are 285/70/17 for now, they only have around 12000 miles on them, and I don't want to shove 35s in without the lift just yet.

Of course, a lift and bigger tires are in the future as well. im planning on going up to 35 Inch BFG KO2's, and the lift kit im going with is the Teraflex 2.5 Inch CT2 Short Arm Kit, with the Falcon 3.3 Adjustable shocks, and the nexus 2.2 steering stabilizer as well.
The lift kit includes all new front track rod, all upper, lower, front and rear alpine control arms, etc etc.

The plan is wheels around March (birthday present lol)
and the lift and tires probably end of year or march 23', just depends on stock and all that!

that's the build for now! I would love to hear what you all think, any suggestions or recommendations would be awesome below!

thanks y'all!

EDIT 1/11/22:

Hey everyone! I was finally able to find a new stock grille in billet silver! Going to install it back on this weekend I’ll post a pic once it’s back on!

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[jessedacri]

Congrats on the rig! You picked the right amount of doors, lol. Along with the lift I would possibly save for a front driveshaft eventually if you flex it often. I'm still on my stocker but my 2.5" RK X factor lift netted a little more than advertised and my front driveshaft is maxing out and bending the flange. The picture is how it sits at street height - doesn't leave a lot of room for when the axle flexes downwards and you can see where it's made contact and bent the flange in the past. I figure you can go quite a bit of time on the stock one but it's something to keep an eye on with a lifted JL that goes off road.

Aside from that, a lifted 2-door rubicon on 35s can conquer just about anything. I've hit some gnarly trails and ride with a group of other two doors on 35s and it never feels inadequate. And lastly yes I agree you should go with a line-x'ed stock grill haha - Black OEM grill on silver would look dope, did you get rid of your stock one?

 

[kalashnikovjl]

Congrats on the rig! You picked the right amount of doors, lol. Along with the lift I would possibly save for a front driveshaft eventually if you flex it often. I'm still on my stocker but my 2.5" RK X factor lift netted a little more than advertised and my front driveshaft is maxing out and bending the flange. The picture is how it sits at street height - doesn't leave a lot of room for when the axle flexes downwards and you can see where it's made contact and bent the flange in the past. I figure you can go quite a bit of time on the stock one but it's something to keep an eye on with a lifted JL that goes off road.

Aside from that, a lifted 2-door rubicon on 35s can conquer just about anything. I've hit some gnarly trails and ride with a group of other two doors on 35s and it never feels inadequate. And lastly yes I agree you should go with a line-x'ed stock grill haha - Black OEM grill on silver would look dope, did you get rid of your stock one?

hey dude! thanks for the kind words and the info! i’ve been researching about the driveshaft to see if that’s something really needed. lots of people say it’s really necessary if you do a 3.5 lift, and that it’s a good idea and future upgrade if you do a 2.5. Good to hear the experience of someone in the same boat!
I don’t flex out too too often, im super busy with school and work and all that, but when i do have time to hit the trails, i would want to flex a bit after the lift.
Looks like an option i’ll have to look into and add into the build list!

any recommendations on good ones?

Great to know about the 35s! i think the stance is gonna be perfect especially with the offset of the wheels im going with.
I can’t wait to do the lift and tires it’s gonna be awesome. there’s an off-road park a few hours away from me with some trails and rock crowding lines that i couldn’t quite conquer so im quite excited to go back and dominate the trails!

as for the grille, unfortunately i don’t have my stock grille, i ended up selling it, which i now regret and i do want to switch back. i’ve been looking around for some near me but i can’t find any hopefully i can find one so i don’t have to go with the mopar option which is super $$.

thanks again for the kind words and suggestions dude!

 

[kalashnikovjl]

1/12/22 UPDATE!

Hey y'all! I was finally able to find a billet silver grille near me! I just installed it, and my oh my does she look 100X better! I don't know what I was thinking with that other grille. The Jeep looks much better now!

 

[TimJL]

Looking great! Question about the cube lights in your rear bumper though, do you wire them to turn on when you reverse or are they on a aux button?

 

[kalashnikovjl]

Looking great! Question about the cube lights in your rear bumper though, do you wire them to turn on when you reverse or are they on a aux button?

they are wired to my aux #3 switch! KC includes a pretty long wiring harness so it’s pretty easy to run it back towards the rear bumper!

 

[kalashnikovjl]

2/3/22 Update!

Hey everyone! This past weekend I installed some new A Pillar lights, I chose the KC Hilites Slimlites, with some Amber Covers!
These lights are BRIGHT! I absolutely love the spot beam on these, and the amber is super nice at night!

I'm currently waiting on my new wheels to get here, I went with some KMC Trek's in the Black & Grey finish. They're about 2-3 weeks out but im super excited to get them in and ill post an update on here once they're installed

 

[kalashnikovjl]

Update!

Hey everyone! New wheels finally came in! They came out absolutely perfect, I love the offset and can't wait to see her with the lift and 37s!

 

[kalashnikovjl]

3/23/22 Build Update!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to update y’all on the parts and things i’ve been taking stock of for the jeep.

I’m inching closer and closer to finishing all the parts for the build. These are the ones i’ve already purchased and are sitting in my garage.

Metal cloak Tie Rod w/ Billet Clamp
Metal Cloak HD Drag link
Metal Cloak Front Drop Brackets
Accutune Custom Tuned Fox 2.0 RR shocks, Front & Rear.
Fox 2.0 ATS Steering Stabilizer
Power Stop Z36 Brake upgrade kit.
Factor 55 Flatlink in Red

The only parts i have left that i need to purchase before getting everything installed at my local jeep shop are these:

37x12.50R17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers
Metal Cloak GC 3.5 System
Teraflex Alpha HD Tire Carrier & Hinge Casting.
Adam’s 1310 Front Driveshaft (This one has to wait until the lift is installed cause i need a custom measurement.)

That’s everything. I can’t wait for the build to be done, she’s going to be a beast. Shoutout to everyone who’s offered advice and suggestions as to shocks, suspension, and everything else that is needed.

I’ll be posting pictures of all the parts that are sitting at home once i get back in town.

Thanks everyone

 

[Buckster]

they are wired to my aux #3 switch! KC includes a pretty long wiring harness so it’s pretty easy to run it back towards the rear bumper!

Just for reference, you can get a diode with 2 inputs and 1 output. That way you can have your backup lights function on both the aux switch and the reverse circuit.

 

[kalashnikovjl]

Update!

Finally got the tires in. These Nittos are some big boys. can’t wait to throw them on the rig. just gotta order the lift. maybe may ish lol.

 

[DavidArmen]

Awesome jeep! Thank you so much for putting the stock grill back on.

 

[DavidArmen]

Congrats on the rig! You picked the right amount of doors, lol. Along with the lift I would possibly save for a front driveshaft eventually if you flex it often. I'm still on my stocker but my 2.5" RK X factor lift netted a little more than advertised and my front driveshaft is maxing out and bending the flange. The picture is how it sits at street height - doesn't leave a lot of room for when the axle flexes downwards and you can see where it's made contact and bent the flange in the past. I figure you can go quite a bit of time on the stock one but it's something to keep an eye on with a lifted JL that goes off road.

Aside from that, a lifted 2-door rubicon on 35s can conquer just about anything. I've hit some gnarly trails and ride with a group of other two doors on 35s and it never feels inadequate. And lastly yes I agree you should go with a line-x'ed stock grill haha - Black OEM grill on silver would look dope, did you get rid of your stock one?

That flexed two door looks fucking sick

 

[kalashnikovjl]

Update!

Finally have all the parts in hand, and loaded up ready to go be installed! Dropping the jeep off at one of my local 4x4 shops and she's getting fully built on Monday!

Can't wait to see how she comes out with all these goods, shoutout to all the dudes over at metal cloak, Accutune, fox, etc for helping out with the build and getting parts over so quick!

Ill for sure post some pics once she's built up !

 

[dragoneggs]

Hey Nick, just catching back up with your thread. Jealous now that I see your lift about to come true. I am still on the stock suspension other than adding an Exact Center Stabilizer. That really improved my on road handling.

I'm still set on going for 35in KO2's and a 2.5in max lift. MC and Terraflex are the front runners. I probably should go ahead and start ordering a few things so I will be ready for summer crawling!

Looking forward to your comments once your lift is installed!

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