Hydro Blue Family Wheeler

[Alex01]

Figured I might as well start a build thread since I currently have parts on order and it's fun to be able to look back later and see the growth of a build.

The day we picked it up from the dealer.

A little back story.... I've had a jeep wrangler for the past 14 years or so. The first was a 1987 wrangler that I bought dirt cheap and it was definitely a piece of work. I was jealous of the round headlights so I sold the YJ and bought a TJ. With the TJ came a love for offroading and eventually a love for rock crawling. The goal with the TJ was to build it to a level that could take on the rubicon trail and I'm happy to say I accomplished that goal. As the TJ grew so did the family and the TJ only having 4 seats and no real trunk was a limiting factor for family trips. I always wanted a JLU but the wife wasn't interested and I need a truck as a daily in order to tow the TJ to places such as Moab among other reasons. (selling the TJ wasn't/isn't an option) A few months ago out of the blue, the wife all of a sudden was interested in getting out of her Minivan, claimed it wasn't fun , and said she wanted a wrangler.

While looking for a new 4 door the only real requirements from her were leather/heated seats and a fun color. Since we plan on building it to a level that will take on the local trails we opted for a rubicon. I wanted the eco diesel because of the torque, range, and I figure the MPG hit with a lift and tires will be less impactful than the other engine choices. - time will tell I suppose.

The JL meets the TJ for the first time.

JL got a little frisky with the TJ

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[MonopoliJLUR]

Figured I might as well start a build thread since I currently have parts on order and it's fun to be able to look back later and see the growth of a build.

The day we picked it up from the dealer.

A little back story.... I've had a jeep wrangler for the past 14 years or so. The first was a 1987 wrangler that I bought dirt cheap and it was definitely a piece of work. I was jealous of the round headlights so I sold the YJ and bought a TJ. With the TJ came a love for offroading and eventually a love for rock crawling. The goal with the TJ was to build it to a level that could take on the rubicon trail and I'm happy to say I accomplished that goal. As the TJ grew so did the family and the TJ only having 4 seats and no real trunk was a limiting factor for family trips. I always wanted a JLU but the wife wasn't interested and I need a truck as a daily in order to tow the TJ to places such as Moab among other reasons. (selling the TJ wasn't/isn't an option) A few months ago out of the blue, the wife all of a sudden was interested in getting out of her Minivan, claimed it wasn't fun , and said she wanted a wrangler.

While looking for a new 4 door the only real requirements from her were leather/heated seats and a fun color. Since we plan on building it to a level that will take on the local trails we opted for a rubicon. I wanted the eco diesel because of the torque, range, and I figure the MPG hit with a lift and tires will be less impactful than the other engine choices. - time will tell I suppose.

The JL meets the TJ for the first time.

JL got a little frisky with the TJ

just sold my TJ that I loved, and waiting on a firecracker red JLUR, just wanted to say I love the way your TJ looks, absolutely perfect!

 

[Alex01]

The first "mod" was buying a factory hardtop. The JL came as a factor soft-top model so the wiper and defrost doesn't currently work. If it bugs her down the line I guess I'll be buying the harness and tearing apart the interior to run the wires.

Funny enough a few days after installing the hardtop the wife decided for the summer she preferred the ease of the soft top so the hardtop came right back off and with that came the next mod. An alien shade. - don't have any pictures but it is the two-piece model. I have the same brand shade on my TJ so I knew it was going to be great quality and last for quite some time. My only complaint is at 6' tall my head is fairly close to the shade but not close enough to return it. At the end of the day she loves it and it's her jeep so it will stay on.

Parts on order:

Self Recovery -
Posion Spyder bruiser bumper
warn zeon 10 - steel
TRE 100ft rope with safety thimble and hawse (I love my TRE rope on the TJ and it was a wash ordering the rope/thimble/hawse from TRE vs paying the warn premium on the S)
Ridged cube lights for bumper

On-Board Air -
ARB Dual compressor
American Adventure Lab Trunk mount

The plan is to run a hook up to the front bumper so I don't need to fiddle with anything inside the jeep


Future -
Lift and tires
Currently leaning towards an MC 2.5" system and 37's - still in the research phase though so time will tell what it ends up with.

Beefier steering
Regear? likely 4.56 but I'll see how the jeep acts with the 8 speed and what Grimm Jeeper calculator says.
next venture aluminum full skids

 

[Alex01]

just sold my TJ that I loved, and waiting on a firecracker red JLUR, just wanted to say I love the way your TJ looks, absolutely perfect!

Thank you. The TJ is certainly my favorite

I bought it stock with a dana 30/35 and 3.07 gears and it's quite a different jeep now. I did all the work on it, other than the gears, myself so it has a very special place in my heart. - Hoping to get it on Fordyce this summer

 

[Alex01]

First real offroad trip. We did signal peak today.

Time to order the tires and rims (lift is in the mail)

The wife did most the driving and decided it's time to dump the plastic skids. Think its time to cut the horns and add a swaylock to get rid of the low hanging fruit.

 

[Alex01]

Added a 2.5 MC game changer lift. The install was fairly straightforward and took about 8 hours in the garage. Ordered some dirty life wheels and still shopping for tires. Thinking 37s.

The MC 2.5" lift added roughly 3.75" to the jeep. I'm sure it will decrease a bit though with the doors, bumpers, winch, and skids as they get installed. For now it looks like it skipped leg day.

Before:

After:

 

[Alex01]

Forgot to mention the hack I used for lining up the axles with the new track bars. Not sure if others have thought of this but here it is...

With my laser level I marked 2 fixed locations on the jeep and 1 on the axle.

Once the jeep was lifted I brought it back to ride height and with the help of the guides lined them back up. Way easier than how I've always done it in the past with my TJ.

 

[mikem20]

How’s the ride and drive now with the lift?

 

[Alex01]

How’s the ride and drive now with the lift?

Honestly it feels identical to stock. Some people on the internet report it's a bit harsher but I don't notice any difference. I'm guessing that's because we are still on the stock c rated tires.

 

[rohdawg]

Great build so far!
Curious to know if you swapped out your driveshaft like MC recommends.

I’m looking at this same lift for an identical Hydro Blue Rubi.

 

[Alex01]

Great build so far!
Curious to know if you swapped out your driveshaft like MC recommends.

I’m looking at this same lift for an identical Hydro Blue Rubi.

I have not at this point. I will be though and have had lots of luck with Tom woods on my TJ. They have gone above and beyond on customer service so I feel like giving them the business instead of the company MC uses.

Thank you. I can't wait for it to come together. I have a pile of parts waiting to go on but some items are taking forever to come in so its holding up the process. For example 4 wheels showed up today but the 5th won't until mid Aug. Same with the bumpers.

I'm going to look like the guy who is too cheap to pay for the matching spare at this rate for a few weeks because the tires arrive mid next week

 

[Alex01]

I got 4/5 of the wheels mounted today. Still waiting on dirty life to send the 5th. The front bumper shipped out Thursday so it should arrive soon. Loving the new look and it still drives great. Looking forward to the first long highway haul to figure out how much the 37s affected the MPG. Hoping for high teens combined.

Before:

After:

 

[mikem20]

Looks great!!
I’ll have my 37” KO2’s soon as well. Interested to see what your mileage works out to.

 

[Alex01]

Looks great!!
I’ll have my 37” KO2’s soon as well. Interested to see what your mileage works out to.

I stole the jeep from the wife today just to make sure it didn't do anything funky on the freeway. So far it looks like it's still in the 20's highway and shifts into 8th just like before. I'll report back once I get the opportunity to take it on a longer trip. FWIW the 37" KO/2's measured very close to 35" @ 36psi on 17x9 wheels.

 

[Alex01]

After about 6 weeks the poison spyder bruizer bumper I ordered finally came in. The bumper looks great and I'm impressed by how well PS packed the bumper for shipping and the fit/finish. What I'm not impressed by is that they forgot to include the mounts that attach the bumper to the frame!!! I'll call them in the morning and hopefully they'll get them out the door ASAP. For now the jeep is grounded since the bumper is only held on with 4 tiny bolts.

I wired the rigid lights to the factory button. Oddly the red had to be tied to the black and vise versa to make them function. Silly me for thinking jeeps red wire and rigids red wire would have the same function.

Hopefully the rear bumper ships out soon... (with all the hardware)

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