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Project Rocky: Bed Lined 4-Door Build

11K views 76 replies 24 participants last post by  ExitLeft 
#1 ·
I have another build thread that I've been adding to for a while now, but my Jeep is about to go through some major renovations, so I have decided to start fresh.

My Jeep is a 2011 JKU 4 door, I bought it in 2014 with 16,000 miles. The previous owner had some modifications on it, but I have changed everything over the last couple years.

As it sits rights now (April 10, 2016) these are the modifications that it has:
  • G2 Core 44 front axle housing, 35 spline chromoly gold shafts
  • Rear 30 spline chromoly axle shafts
  • E-lockers front and rear
  • 5.13 gears
  • Teraflex rear differential cover
  • Synergy ball joints
  • PSC Hydro-assist steering system (Ram, pump and reservoir)
  • 4" Skyjacker lift (lower control arms, coils and shocks)
  • Borla exhaust system
  • Afe Cold Air Intake
  • Rubicon Express 1310 front driveshaft
  • Poison Spyder Hood Louver
  • Smittybilt XRC front bumper
  • Smittybilt SRC rear bumper with tire carrier
  • Engo 10,000 lb winch
  • Bushwacker flat fender flares
  • Vision X LED headlights
  • IPCW LED taillights
  • 50" off-brand LED light bar
  • 2 LED cubes
  • 2 KC off road lights
  • Synergy 1.5" wheel spacers
  • 18" XD Monster Wheels
  • 38" Toyo MT tires
  • Rubicon rock rails



My goals for the future on this build:
  • Rear Dana 60
  • ORI Struts
  • 40" tires
  • Complete skid plate system
  • Supercharger to make it more drivable since this is my daily driver for now
 
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#2 ·
Today a couple buddies and I stripped everything off the exterior of my Jeep in preparation for the bed line. I will be bed lining the entire exterior of my Jeep in Pyroclastic Monstaliner next weekend.





I will be sanding all week this week and priming the tight areas I can't get to with the sand paper

If you don't know what Pyroclastic Monstaliner looks like it is a dark gray color like this (Credit to kpla51's TJ)
 

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#3 ·
Over this past weekend I also ordered a lot of exciting things from Nothridge4x4. A huge thank you guys for helping me pick out some high quality parts for my build!

  • Rock Krawler 3.5 X-Factor Long Arm Stage 1 Kit
  • Synergy HD Tie Rod
  • Synergy HD High Steer Drag Link
  • Synergy Track Bar Relocation Kit
  • Poison Spyder Narrow Crusher Flares Front and Rear in Aluminum
  • Poison Spyder Rocker Knockers

I will be powder coating my new control arms, coil springs, tie rod, drag link, and rocker knockers and a few other things in orange. I think my new dark gray bed liner paint will look great with orange accents.
 
#6 ·
Started sanding today! I got the grill, hood, and front sections done. I'll be posting more pictures as I progress



My goal is to finish sanding by the end of Thursday so that I have Friday to clean it with MEK, prime the spots that I missed sanding, and tape off all the windows and other spots that I don't want to be painted
 
#7 ·
I am curious with all these expensive mods, why did you get a skyjacker lift? I mean they have a proven track record of sagging and not holding up well.
 
#8 ·
The Skyjacker lift actually was already on my Jeep when I bought it a few years ago. But you're right it is sagging and is not holding up very well, which is why I have a Rock Krawler Long Arm System that should be arriving in the next few days:)
 
#10 ·
I finished sanding the driver's side and the back of the Jeep tonight! I'll be putting primer in the spots that I didn't get with the sand paper


 
#12 ·
Granite Crystal with Orange looks real good. Here is my grill insert. Can't wait to see what yours looks like. Might be something I will try. Please descripe how everything works out for you, pros and cons. Thanks
 
#17 ·
That looks really good. Is that a homemade grill insert?
 
#18 ·
So I completely finished sanding tonight! I did not sand all the way through to the bare metal, by the way. The instructions in my Monstaliner kit say to completely scuff the paint but not sand all the way through to the metal to ensure the bedliner will properly adhere. Man that was a pain, but I know it's worth it. Took me three days in all.



My objectives for tomorrow:
  • Wipe down the entire Jeep with MEK to clean off the paint dust and any remaining dirt or wax
  • Brush on primer on the spots that I wasn't able to sand
  • Tape off all areas that I do not want to be bedlined
 
#22 ·
Definitely looking forward to your build. I plan on doing something similar in the future so I'll be following closely. Thank's for posting.
 
#23 ·
Sorry for not updating this the past couple days, I've been very busy with the Jeep. But I FINISHED bed lining it!!:punk:

I'll give you guys a little write up of my experience with my DIY exterior bed liner project this past weekend (after all the prep work, which is posted above)

So I got three gallons of Monstaliner and extra roller sponges (a necessity), and I had three friends helping me. We started on Saturday doing the first two coats that day and finishing up Sunday doing the third and final coat.

We applied the first coat around 2:00 on Saturday, and it was a pretty thin one.



It took us about an hour, and when we finished I made sure to seal the first gallon of Monstaliner so that we could use it for the second coat. I was surprised that we had only used half of the first gallon for the entire first coat.

Four hours later after we grilled some burgers and hung out for a while, we started on the second coat. I opened up the first gallon to find it already having solid chunks in it that had catalyzed. I didn't want to take any risks, so I just opened and mixed the second gallon. This coat we put on thicker than the first coat, but we still didn't use the entire gallon. We had about a quarter left. Since this went on thicker, the texture wasn't as apparent. So, stupidly, I went back over everything in an attempt to get more texture after we had finished coating. This was a mistake because it left fairly noticeable roller lines, especially on the doors, since most of the coating had already dried. You can see the lines in these pictures:




I wasn't too worried, though, since I would have a final coat going on Sunday.
So Sunday I had my friends over to help again, and we opened up the third gallon to do the final coat. This time I was NOT going to make the mistake of going back over everything after it had already mostly dried. I told all my friends that were helping me to make sure to double back over everything before it dried to ensure good texture but not make very noticeable lines.
Before we started, though, the Jeep squad and I grilled and chilled


So we did the third coat, using about 3/4 of the gallon again, and I am very satisfied with it. It has a good amount of texture, and there really are no noticeable roller lines except for one or two on a couple of the doors, but you really have to be looking specifically to find them in order to spot them. Other than that I LOVE the look:iamhappy:







After wrapping up this project and pulling all the tape tonight, I am only disappointed with two things:
1. When I pulled the tape, especially around the door handles and other rounded things, some of the bed liner actually started peeling off with the tape. Yes it was dry. I waited more than 24 hours. So I am going to have to buy some touch up paint somewhere in a matching color to touch those areas up and make it look nice and neat.
2. At the end of the third coat, all three of my last sponge rollers started disintegrating, which left little sponge pieces in my fresh paint. I was able to pick some of them out today, but I think I might touch those little spots up when I get my touch up paint since those are probably weak spots now. This is why at the top of this post I said in parentheses that extra roller sponges are a necessity. I used 9 in total, 3 for each coat. I don't know why they decided to start breaking on me on the last coat, but I suspect it may be due to the warmer weather Sunday, which made the paint stickier.

Also after pulling the tape, the edges where the bed liner meets my OEM black paint seem to be weak points. I fear that with high traffic in and out of the Jeep these areas will begin to peel. So I am wanting to seal them with something. I was thinking I could either buy some type of clear sealant from Lowes and use that or use superglue or something. If anyone has a suggestion for that I'm all ears.



I will be posting more pictures of the finished product once I get everything touched up and put back together!
 
#27 ·
Looks awesome. Looking forward to seeing everything put back together. Question, on the door jams, why didn't you bring the bedliner into the jam and you could have ended the liner in an inside corner which is less likely to get touched? You could have also covered it with a sill plate and maybe further protected the edge of the bedliner. Just a thought.
 
#24 ·
In addition to finally finishing bed lining the Jeep, all my parts for my new suspension, steering, fenders and rockers arrived today! Again, I thank Northridge4x4 for the help in selecting many of these parts and assuring that they would work with what I'm going for!

I got a full Rock Krawler Long Arm x-factor 3.5" suspension kit, Synergy tie rod, Synergy high-steer drag link, Synergy track bars, a Sector Shaft brace, Poison Spyder narrow Crusher flares in aluminum and frame-mounted Poison Spyder Rocker Knockers.:awesome:
(There are more boxes to the left not pictured)


I'm having everything I just mentioned above powder coated bright orange with the exception of my fenders and the tube part of the Rocker Knockers. The fenders and the rocker knocker tubes will be powder coated a textured black to match my bumpers.

This picture of my lower long arms does not do them justice. They're about as big as my forearm, and the joints are almost as big as my fist. Each long arm weighs about 30 lbs
 
#28 ·
Thank you! It took a lot of work, but so far it has turned out to be exactly what I imagined. And yes sir, I think this new Rock Krawler suspension set up will be exactly what I'm looking for. Hopefully I can have it all installed within the next couple weeks
 
#29 ·
Thank you! I can't wait to see how it looks when I get it all put back together:D
 
#33 ·
Thank you:Thanx:
 
#34 ·
I got everything mostly back together again! I am so happy as to how this paint turned out!! I honestly did not expect it to look this good. For anyone wanting to do something similar, I highly recommend Monstaliner. It really is a great product. I'll keep everyone posted on how it holds up over time. Although I did talk to a fellow forumer who Monstalined his entire TJ five years ago, and he said his is holding up fine which gives me confidence that mine will as well.



I also started coloring some of my accents orange (will change all accents that are currently red to orange + some others). This looks so awesome with the gray bedliner



I have my fenders, long arms, coils, rock sliders and steering components being powder coated right now. They should be done sometime next week. I am sooo excited to get all that stuff on the Jeep!
 
#36 ·
Appreciate it man!
 
#37 ·
Just a couple more pictures of the paint because I'm proud of my work!




And here's a picture of me flexing on an excavator's tracks that I saw on my way home today


I'm also very excited because the powder coating place called me today and said that all my stuff is ready! I will be picking all my freshly coated stuff up tomorrow.
 
#38 ·
So I've got good news and bad news.

The good news is that I got all my stuff back from the powder coaters, and it looks awesome! I am sooo excited to get this all on my Jeep


New coils are 3.5" coils, old coils are 4" coils hmmm I wonder how much they'll settle



Ok now for the bad news

The other day driving down the road I exploded my rear passenger side axle shaft bearing. This has happened to two sets of my chromoly axle shafts in the same place now in the past two months, and I haven't even off-roaded or done anything crazy. I took it to a shop to have it looked at since it just does not make sense to me why this has happened twice now in such short time, and the shop said the axle housing may be bent or damaged in another way which has caused the axle shafts to be under an enormous amount of stress.
So I have a couple of choices now: I can either buy my friend's built Dana 44 for like $1,000 or go ahead and upgrade to a Dana 60. I don't have much money right now, but I don't want to pay $1,000+ now for another 44 just to upgrade to a D60 in a couple of years anyway (what I was originally planning to do). So I'm not sure what I'm going to do as of right now, but I'm going to have to make a decision sometime this week before my long arm suspension goes on.
 
#39 ·
Update: the rear axle shaft and bearing that broke has been replaced under warranty. I'm kind of thinking now that it may have been installed wrong in the first place (after I got the new shafts when the stock ones gave out). So I'll keep an eye on it in the next couple months, but I'm just happy that as of now I haven't had to put a penny on it
 
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