After the past 10 years of being a bone stock DD, I decided to get back into wheeling and spend the last year turning this mall crawler into a fairly capable rock crawler. It has 140k on the clock and put in its time. Now it is still registered for the street, but sees 95% trail duty and is hauled out on a trailer whenever we go wheeling. Over the past year, it has been all over Colorado, Moab and Texas.

It's gone through several iterations in my garage with nothing but hand tools, so be kind when commenting on the fab work. I am not in the business and only have time to work on it over the weekend and evenings. It started as stock to short arm with 12" King coilover's and 37's, to Dynatrac Elite axles and 40's and most recently to 42's while maintaining the same 3.5" lift.

As of last week it had the interior gutted out minus the dash, a Genright cage, PRP Podium seats, rear seat delete, tailgate delete, ABS delete, ESP delete, airbag delete, front bumper delete, front sway bar delete, fab'd double adjustable short arms, Dynatrac D80 rear (73.5" WMS), Dynatrac XD60 1550 front with ARB lockers (72.5" WMS), PSC cylinder assist, ATX wheels and 42" Maxxis Trepador comp stickies. It sits with a frame height of 21.5" and about 3.5" of lift.

Now that the season is over (for me at least), I decided to put it under under the knife for the next round of modification and document the build here on JKO. I am interested in meeting some good people, document my build and share what I learned along the way. This is not a DD, so I am not interested in debating road safety electronics deletion and my decisions thereabout. It is only used on the street to travel from trail to trail in Moab, used on BLM roads or FS roads without an OHV sticker and to drive around my neighborhood if I feel like visiting a neighbor. It stays registered and insured for that reason alone, but having said that it drove perfectly straight with one finger on the wheel at 85mph on the highway before going to the 42's.

This next phase will include; a flat belly, 4-link front and rear, fully hydraulic steering, cab mounted fuel cell, manual brakes, rear bulkhead mounted electronics, AC delete and maybe a rear mounted radiator.

Sounds like a fun build that is ever evolving. Glad to have you here.

Now for the safety of your Jeep, you should really keep the electronics...

Never had much luck goin' over 'bout 40 with my last rig with full hydro. Gone with hydro-assist ever since just to be able to do some road miles.

This thread needs pics.

We're in the same neck of the woods. Always happy to help turn a wrench or get in the way lol.

Thanks for not bringing it up

It's going to be my first rig with full hydro, so I guess we will see. It looks like I need to get my post count up before I can post pics, but will do.

Definitely - I will be in the garage for the next unforeseen number of weekends. I usually have some friends over with beer and pizza.

I must have enough posts to add attachments. These are a few pics from Wolf Caves in Mason, TX if anyone is familiar with the place.

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I'm in a holding pattern waiting on King, so I had a contractor come out to add additional lighting and electrical drops. While I'm waiting, I went ahead and ordered a CNC manual brake assembly, a crate LS3 and a Jimmy's 4x4 TH400.

Why a 3 speed?

It's a trailer queen, so I don't need OD, they are less expensive to build, more reliable, weigh less and smaller.

I decided to tear it down to the tub, pull all the harnesses and go with a Genright aluminum dash. #truwwjeep

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Which LS did you go with?

I'd like to see pics of the Genright dash.

Which LS3? And what trans/tc are you going to run?

And another question, are you keeping any of the factory wiring, or wiring it like a hotrod?

I'll come up with more questions later.

https://genright.com/products/jeep-j...nsole-kit.html

That Genright dash is going to look sweet...

Nice looking kit but, fuck that's a lot of money. I guess the market for it is pretty damn small though.

Just about everything they make is over priced but yes probably a very small market. Also I wouldnt want a metal dash. Things get hot and all...

LS3 430HP crate

I have Randy from Jimmy's 4x4 building me a TH400 with a billet torque converter, going to order an Atlas - probably 3:1, but haven't put a whole lot of thought into it yet. I pulled all the wire harnesses, brake lines etc and plan on making my own chassis harness.

Brake master came in and I was able to test fit the engine this afternoon.

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Ron Davis radiator?

Ron Davis or CBR. I am throwing around the idea of going rear mounted, but that decision will come later.

Welcome to JKO! I'm surprised I haven't seen you at WC, but its been a minute since I have been wheeling. That is a great looking rig!

If you're on Facebook look up Globex Performance. He's got a JKU with a Genright Dash and hotrod style LS swap that Nitto/Driving Line just did a little feature on. Also, if you don't know him, go meet Dave at Brave Motorsports. He's got a killer flat belly setup on his JKU and I'm sure he'd be happy to compare notes on your plans.

I'm looking forward to seeing this thing blossom!!

Marcus

We wheeled WC about once a month through Memorial Day weekend, but typically avoid the events. I'll trying to get back out by October.

I didn't see that dash on Globex Performance's FB or Instagram. I know Dave and have him fabricating some parts for me to compress the curve.

I understand! Had a little girl in March, so I didn't wheel at all this year unless you count the beach. LOL Hopefully we can get out there and hit some trails together.

Here is that link I was referring to:

https://www.facebook.com/drivingline...uZrrBZOOJ-EHzQ

Glad to hear you know Dave! He's good people! They did the cage in my JK.

Test fitted the dash.

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