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JohnnyP's Anvil JKURHR build thread

50K views 282 replies 48 participants last post by  Alter Ego 
#1 ·
Well I figure it’s about time to start my build thread. I picked up the Jeep about 30 days ago and the mods are starting. The day I ordered the Jeep I also ordered 315/70/17 Duratrac’s with the DTD deal. Over the next few weeks I ordered the following:

17” Rugged Ridge XHD’s Gunmetal
2.5” Teraflex lift
Rancho 9000XL shocks
Rancho Geometry correction brackets
Teraflex Monster trackbar
Crown red extended brake lines
Northridge Grade 8 hardware kit
Rancho exhaust pipe kit
AEV Procal
Maximus 3 sport tire carrier (still waiting on delivery)
War Pig rear seat recline kit (not installed yet)

A few things I’ve learned, first is order early. I’ve ordered from 4 vendors and 3 of them stuff was back ordered. I’m not used to this whole put an order in and then get an email saying it’s out of stock. Kind of frustrating, but now that I know I’ll deal with it moving forward.

Unfortunately I work an insane amount of hours, so time to mod the Jeep is limited. Coupled with my complete lack of knowledge of wrenching and having a good specialty Jeep shop nearby has meant at least for this first round of mods they did all of the work. I had my springs powder coated red to match the Hard Rock accents which I love. I’ve never worked on cars before so I need to start to build my tool base which I will be doing soon. Thankfully I have a large garage space to work in.

The next round of mods will be smaller upgrades. The Jeep will be a pavement queen for a bit, there isn’t a lot of great offroading in my area and with my work schedule I don’t have much free time anyway right now. I figure it will work out, all of the overtime is paying for the toys! Future mods in no particular order that I hope to have done in the next 6-8 months:

JW Speaker headlights, fogs and taillights when the new ones are released this summer
Pioneer Nav likely 8100NEX with backup cam
Spiderweb shade
Grabars
Spod
50” light bar
20” light bar
4” Cube lights
Maximus 3 hoop (though I’m really concerned about the ruts complaints)
Warn Zeon winch (not sure which yet)
Armor

Enough of my rambling, here are a few pics!
 

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#2 ·
A few more pics...
 

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#3 ·
Nice rig! Wheels look awesome.

Side note: I will tell you, our JKU is our first Wrangler and it's amazing to me how many vendors take weeks, if not months (read: ORH), for products to arrive. It has been a test of patience at times...

.
 
#7 ·
I read your ORH saga in your thread a few weeks ago. What a complete mess. I get really annoyed when places can't set proper expectations. There is a thread about issues with quadratech and someone keeps posting that people are being obnoxious because they are crying about wanting things now, and I don't think it's about that at all. Their downfall is not providing an estimated ship date when they say something is backordered. Moving forward I will be calling vendors before I order to be sure what I want is in stock. I guess Amazon and other major retailers have spoiled me with stock updates.

Looks sharp! It's about time you started your build thread. :D

I swear I might enjoy working on them more than I do driving them.
Haha, yeah I know I'm slacking. I'm just glad the tires are on so I don't have to walk past it in the driveway anymore and drive my car.

This is how it all begins great start cant wait to see what comes over time.
Thank you, I started reading your thread tonight and it looks like it's going to be a great build. I'll be following along for sure. You have one of the best names I've seen for a Jeep.

Very nice choice on the wheels - I like!
I appreciate it! I've followed your thread since I signed up, I love what you have done with both Jeeps though I'm partial to your 10A for obvious reasons. I had seen someone with a Tank Rubi HR do their springs red and liked it, so thought I'd try it. After I had sent them off to be done I saw it on your Anvil and knew I made the right choice. Your rigs are tastefully done.
 
#8 ·
@Johnnyp26 ... Be sure to use Loctite on the Maximu-3 tire spare tire wheel mount and wait a day or two before installing the tire... I developed a rattle until I used Loctite.
Also purchase a can of fluid film to prevent rust prior to installing your tire on your tire carrier. Just my .02 from my experience.
Nice rig!!
 
#9 ·
Wow the forum is moving up in the world with the @ sign, I like it. Good looking out on the loctite tip, I wouldn't have thought to do that and the rattle would have drove me nuts. I'll grab the fluid film as well.

Given your experience would you buy the Maximus again? I was so torn between that and the AEV, but I liked that the Maximus centered the tire and the height is adjustable which swayed me in the end.
 
#10 ·
Yes and no. I'm. A big fan of customer service but Maximus lacks email response. I always like trying new things so if I done it again, I would try crawler conceptz. I've seen too many teraflex tire carriers on locals and I like being different.
However, Maximus-3 makes a lot of accessories and my favorite is the reverse light which I posted on the Maximus tire carrier thread. The rattle was my own fault since I didn't read the instructions, otherwise, it's top notch, and powder coated throughout without any over sprays/missed spots/scratches.

My only vice is the quality control of their packaging ... It was barely holding once I received it, but I did bring it to their attention. Also, I already mentioned heir customer service... The best way to get in touch with them is through phone...sucks because I had to call them several times for questions. Great guys though, but I prefer email so I can attach pictures to the questions I might have instead of giving a vague description of a part that I received via a phone call.

Don't let my experience sway anyone away...the Maximus tire carrier is well engineered and their welds are top notch. A+ product!!
 
#12 ·
I've heard a lot of complaints about their lack of response to email which stinks because I'm a big email guy. On the flip side I remember reading someone calling them on a Sunday with a question with the intent of leaving a message for them to receive Monday morning and they actually got one of the guys on the phone which is really good. I'm glad to hear you speak so highly of it though.

Looks good, Johnny! Are those mineral grey MBTKOs with Chaos caps?

:thumb:

Thanks Star! They are actually Rugged Ridge XHD wheels in gunmetal, but they do look a good deal like the TKO's.
 
#11 ·
Looks good, Johnny! Are those mineral grey MBTKOs with Chaos caps?

:thumb:
 
#16 ·
Yup I have them and the rancho shocks boxes to get the rebates.
 
#18 ·
Thanks!
 
#20 ·
Thanks! I've only had them on since Friday but love them so far. I am really surprised how quiet they are.
 
#25 ·
Thank you! I've read through some of your build as well and it looks great!

I feel your pain on this. The last of my parts I ordered in february finally arrived, but only after cancelling over half the orders and switching vendors (occasionally multiple times). A note on that from talking to some of the vendors - if you're willing to cover shipping, buying from the vendor direct is usually faster than buying from one of the monster online stores that often only report in stock. Or I've also learned just to call the shops and check what is physically ready to be shipped out. both are either more time or $$, but it saved alot of hassle in the long run for me.
Yeah, it's been a learning experience to say the least. I've started calling the vendors ahead of time to find out if what I want is in stock. My preference is always going to be to support our vendor sponsors here on this site, but I did find the same thing that if you eat the shipping you can get it quicker straight from the vendor directly. Now that I know the challenges I'll make sure to order further in advance, I'm just spoiled by being able to wait for the last possible minute and getting free prime shipping on Amazon I guess.
 
#24 ·
I feel your pain on this. The last of my parts I ordered in february finally arrived, but only after cancelling over half the orders and switching vendors (occasionally multiple times). A note on that from talking to some of the vendors - if you're willing to cover shipping, buying from the vendor direct is usually faster than buying from one of the monster online stores that often only report in stock. Or I've also learned just to call the shops and check what is physically ready to be shipped out. both are either more time or $$, but it saved alot of hassle in the long run for me.

A few things I’ve learned, first is order early. I’ve ordered from 4 vendors and 3 of them stuff was back ordered. I’m not used to this whole put an order in and then get an email saying it’s out of stock. Kind of frustrating, but now that I know I’ll deal with it moving forward.
 
#27 ·
Not yet, hoping to get that done today or tomorrow. I looked through the instructions and it looks very simple to do.
 
#28 ·
Looking good! You weren't kidding about our builds looking similar
 
#30 ·
Appreciate it! I'm following your build closely.
 
#29 ·
Well I finally completed the Maximus tire carrier install. I was missing some hardware and have been slammed with work, so I was running around with it almost done but no tire mounted to it for the last two weeks. Overall it took just a hair over 2 1/2 hours to do start to finish, which isn't bad at all for someone like me who can barely spell socket wrench, nevermind be good with one. I will say thanks to @Beergod he was spot on with rearranging the order of some of the items to install that made the process even smoother.

Otherwise the mod budget took a hit over the last 3 weeks, the upstairs A/C unit in the house decided it was done working which is bad in Florida in the summer so I hear,:atomic: so $8,700 later a new unit is in, the wife and kids are cool and happy. Being a grownup sucks sometimes. Now I'm back to being a kid, so all is well. :drinks:

I just received my 50" light bar and cubes. I was reading through another build thread on here and they pointed me to a deal online that was just too good to pass up, so I made an impulse buy. I had been planning on doing the mod anyway, but there were other things I wanted to do first, but oh well. So now I've ordered an Spod as well, and should have that next week.

I was hoping to test fit the light bar today, but the rain didn't cooperate. I want to get it fitted and drive around on the highway a bit to test it out, we have an 8 hour drive in the Jeep each way for vacation in 2 weeks, and while the top will be done as the weather cooperates, I don't feel like listening to wind buffeting either. I don't think it will be an issue, from all the research I've done it seems like the people that complain of it the most have bars that appear to be a good deal above their roofline, but I think the one I have is more flush.

Anyway, enough babbling, here are a few quick obligatory pics of the tire carrier.
 

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#31 ·
Oh and forgot to throw up a few quick pics of the spiderweb jkini. They are really nice quality. I wasn't a huge fan of the one piece shade that went over the front and back, so I bought two jkini's and put one up front and one in the back. There are some gaps in the back, but not bad at all. Overall I'm glad I did that, while I like the shade, it's fantastic quality, it kind of closes off the Jeep for me. So I'm taking the front one off and leaving the back one for the kids. I'll put the front one on for long trips, but otherwise it will stay off.
 

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#33 ·
I tried to get it mounted today without wiring so I could get it on the highway, but when I opened the light bar there was a huge crack in one side. The box was pretty banged up there so I'm assuming it happened in shipping. I emailed the seller today so we'll see how quick they can get me a replacement. If they can get it here this week then I'll have time to get it installed, if not I'll need to wait until we get back.
 
#36 ·
A few quick updates today. First I got the Metalcrafters grill, man what a beautiful piece. I went back and forth on the grill quite a bit since there are cheap options out there that don't look bad, but ultimately for me from the pics I had seen the Metalcrafters was worth the price of admission, and now seeing it in person it sure is in my opinion. Lined right up and was installed in 20 minutes without issue.

I also added a few boring mods, stubby antenna that's been sitting on my desk since before I even picked my Jeep up, and the Mopar door sill protectors that should have come with the damn Jeep in the first place. I also picked up the Clover Patch window roll that I'll be using this week.

When I get back from vacation I'll tackle the Spod and light bar/cubes.
 

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#38 ·
Ha! Thought you had seen it already.

I've been horrible, I put spod in and the light bar was on but took it right back off to fix the whistling, and haven't put it back on yet. Meanwhile I have other mods stacking up, Drake hood locks, under seat lock box, stinger bar and 20" led bar, and I am probably ordering lights in the next week or so. So hopefully I'll get it all done soon and update this thread.
 
#40 ·
All of the 50" light bars whistle when you put them on. I knew that going in but threw it up there for my own morbid curiosity to see just how bad it was, and it was bad. Started at 30 mph and got worse from there. So you have to put weather stripping on the back fins of the light bar to change the way the air comes off the back of the bar to stop it. So I took it back off and just need to do that at some point. Kind of surprised that none of the fancy light bar designers have figured out a way to fix it from the start.

My bigger concern is the wind buffeting to be honest. It sounded like there was a small helicopter on my soft top with the light bar, so I'm hoping the weather stripping fixes that as well.
 
#42 ·
Thanks man, I appreciate it!
 
#43 ·
Here's a quick pic I took today of the JW Speaker Evolution J headlights. Fogs are going on tomorrow hopefully. They are flat out incredible and worth every penny. The install was a bit of an adventure and I'll detail that later. Lots of pics and updates to come this weekend, it's been a busy week for the Jeep.

 
#45 ·
Nope, Jeep has not left Florida yet. Must be a similar build.
 
#46 ·
Figured I'd throw up another quick progress pic. LED cubes and the Maximus Stinger are on. It hasn't stopped raining in almost 2 weeks so I haven't been able to get as much done as I'd like. Hopefully the JW Speaker fogs and 20" LED bar will be on in the next few days. It's coming along slowly but surely I guess.

 
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