Dempsey's Build of K-2 (Jeep formally known as Karen)

Dempsey

Member
K-2 (Jeep formally known as Karen)
Alright, here we go. I named her Karen. That’s the official name because I knew no one named Karen. Unfortunately I discovered recently that PROJKUR’s mom is named Karen. So I decided to give her a nick name out of respect. “K-2” Because she is white, I’m from the mountains, and with any luck she will be able to climb a mountain eventually. I know…. I’m a lyrical genius.
Had her about 2 years and its about time I do this. If you follow this be patient cause this will be a slooooowww build. But there are two major things I want to accomplish with this build. 1. I wanna do as much of the work myself so I can learn as much as I can. And 2. Make a bad ass Jeep.

Before I get into this I really do need to thank Patrick (PROJKUR) for all the help throughout this process.

Ok where to start. Graduated college and moved down to Houston and with that move came my first Wrangler. A white 2013 JKU Sahara. At the time I was kinda into wheeling but the obsession would only grow from here.
Once I got full custody of the Wrangler and traded in the old Jeep Patriot visions for my build immediately filled my head and at this point I still haven’t even touched dirt.
First things first, I needed to lift this sucker. Being the poor graduate that I was at the time I looked for the cheapest solution as opposed to the “correct” solution. I bought a 400 dollar spacer lift that included shocks you read that correctly… $400. I know now that this probably was a bad idea. But I got my 3” lift.
I rolled around like this for quite some time, still have yet to introduce it to true off road trails. But yet it was still time for the next upgrade about a year after the lift. The next “logical” upgrade was a front bumper and winch right?? Decided on smittybilt…. Because lets be real, a bumper is a bumper… right?

IMG_2990.jpg

This is when I met Patrick. Or as some of you know as PROJKUR. Until then I was a kid driving around in a jeep that was lifted with a winch and smittybilt XRC bumper. Believe we have a name for those type of people….. mall crawler right?
I can single handedly thank Patrick for making me even more obsessed than I thought possible with jeeps. After I went to Hidden Falls with him I quickly realized what was actually important and what wasn’t. Thus changing my build in my head drastically.
JKS sway bar disconnects happened quickly after this trip. And then many months later LoD rock sliders were put on. Cause them Sahara steps….. are garbage. I choose LoD after some research because they were bolt on and I wanted to do the install. But looking back that’s not a good reason to choose them. They are great sliders don’t get me wrong, but I may now pay someone to weld them on for ease of mind. But so far I’m extremely happy with them.
About this time Patrick did a whole bunch of work to his JKUR. And Kyle (Kyle7R) informed me that Rubicon springs are more stiff due to the extra weight of the Rubicon. So I took Patrick’s Rubicon springs and put them on the front of K-2. This essentially worked as a levelling kit, and counteracted all the extra weight of the bumper and winch. The difference was definitely noticeable…. And so was the ride.
And once again Patrick came in the clutch and pointed out to me that Mike (Mike_JK_Houston_711) was getting rid of his Rancho XL9000RS shocks. I quickly pounced on those and installed the very next day. This may be my favorite upgrade thus far. I would recommend these shocks to my best buds. Thanks again Mike.
All this work was done to get ready for the Un-Official Hidden Falls run on Oct 1st, 2016. Even though I got thrown into the position of Co-Leader with Kyle it was a great experience. Met a lot of really awesome people Here are some pics.

Trip 2.jpg

Wee bit O’ Flex

Trip2-1.JPG

And one more

River.JPG


There was just one thing missing…… BIGGER TIRES. That’s what I need next. Even though at this point I have yet to get stuck with my A/T….. yet being the key word.
So plan moving forward. Next purchase will be 1.5” Spidertrax wheel spacers. And then some 35” tires to go on my current rims. So I’m definitely looking for input on what tires to get. Nitto, Falken, Cooper, I’m considering them all. Even considering selling my tube doors and soft top to help get those tires sooner. And then… LOCKERS and GEARS!!!
What do you guys think?
 
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I'm considering Cooper STT Pros. WJCO says they are really quiet for an MT tire, and Ddays said his are barely worn at 20,000 miles. That's really good for that type of tire.


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I'm considering Cooper STT Pros. WJCO says they are really quiet for an MT tire, and Ddays said his are barely worn at 20,000 miles. That's really good for that type of tire.


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app

Damn that is good for that type of tire... only problem is i need em to wear down so i can eventually after that get to 37"s haha. You put in an order for a lift yet?

What skid plates do you run. I should consider getting those soon too.
 
Looking good! Not sure if I want to take credit for turning you interest into an obsession! It gets expensive :cheesy:

Definitely check out some used spidertrax spacers if you can find them, if not look at the "blem" ones direct from Spidertrax. same warranty, just cosmetically not perfect. Save you some dough and no one ever sees 'em anyways.
 
So glad I was able to get the rancho's to someone who would actually put them on the trails! 35" tires, lockers and regear is a great first step. For lockers, I would suggest ARB. They're pricey, but functionally, they're awesome...AND you get the on-board air with it. We talked about that for a sec during the tower sunset. For when you go to 35"s, I would throw some C's on the front D30. You'll definitely want the gussets on your D30 when locked on 35's, and pushing a lower gear ratio. EVO has a good C-guss kit you should look at. Can't wait to see K-2 grow up, Dempsey!
 
So glad I was able to get the rancho's to someone who would actually put them on the trails! 35" tires, lockers and regear is a great first step. For lockers, I would suggest ARB. They're pricey, but functionally, they're awesome...AND you get the on-board air with it. We talked about that for a sec during the tower sunset. For when you go to 35"s, I would throw some C's on the front D30. You'll definitely want the gussets on your D30 when locked on 35's, and pushing a lower gear ratio. EVO has a good C-guss kit you should look at. Can't wait to see K-2 grow up, Dempsey!

Yea i was leaning towards ARB because i would also like to use the same on board air for filling up tires if possible.

Lets just hope the dial on my ranchos stay on. That may be my next project. Turn those in so it wont happen. But it will make it pretty dang hard to adjust. When i was installing i was holding a rancho in one hand and then my garbage shock in the other hand and the difference in quality was unreal.
 
dunno that i would sell the tube doors or the soft top , may find down the road you want them both and may regret getting rid of them ........... tires when done all at once are a big nut to drop when your on a tight budget consider spreading that out over time pick them up as the funds are there .. i myself happen to be lousy at saving prefer to get out and enjoy as much as i can with what i have to spend when i have it ....
i would for sure get a evap can skid and even look in the relocation hardware for it if you don't have one or haven't done so already as that can turn a good day out to a nightmare in the blink of a eye .. and personally i would do that before tires ..
don't know if you did this time around or not but take a look next time out at what tires folks are running , we tend to prefer one tire over another for one reason or another , good trail use , quiet on the road , hold up well for how we use it ourselves (%off road versus %on road ) ,
i myself have for the most part ran Coopers and BFG while the set i currently have happen to be Toyo's that came with the Jeep , comparing the 3 i would say so far is pretty even with the Toyo's being a little less road noise , but overall wear is just about the same so far ... prolly spend a bit of time tomorrow looking them over as i have to rotate em around ...
 
As far as sliders go, I went with LoD, and may install them, this weekend. Eddie recommended them.

Thoughts on sliders (EVO, LOD, RockHard)
Here's a couple of shots of Moby back when he was still running LoD sliders.








http://wayalife.com/showpost.php?p=749343


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app


I love my LoD sliders right now. But i really think im eventually gonna get mine welded on. At the meet up you said you had yours in a box ready to go when you got home. You get those installed yet?
 
dunno that i would sell the tube doors or the soft top , may find down the road you want them both and may regret getting rid of them ........... tires when done all at once are a big nut to drop when your on a tight budget consider spreading that out over time pick them up as the funds are there .. i myself happen to be lousy at saving prefer to get out and enjoy as much as i can with what i have to spend when i have it ....
i would for sure get a evap can skid and even look in the relocation hardware for it if you don't have one or haven't done so already as that can turn a good day out to a nightmare in the blink of a eye .. and personally i would do that before tires ..
don't know if you did this time around or not but take a look next time out at what tires folks are running , we tend to prefer one tire over another for one reason or another , good trail use , quiet on the road , hold up well for how we use it ourselves (%off road versus %on road ) ,
i myself have for the most part ran Coopers and BFG while the set i currently have happen to be Toyo's that came with the Jeep , comparing the 3 i would say so far is pretty even with the Toyo's being a little less road noise , but overall wear is just about the same so far ... prolly spend a bit of time tomorrow looking them over as i have to rotate em around ...

Yea you're probably right i should just hang on to it. Im just in a real rush to take the next step of tires and then after re gear and lockers. I feel like once thats done ill be satisfied for a while....... but probably not lets be real haha

Still currently researching tires and watching for sales.
 
So glad I was able to get the rancho's to someone who would actually put them on the trails! 35" tires, lockers and regear is a great first step. For lockers, I would suggest ARB. They're pricey, but functionally, they're awesome...AND you get the on-board air with it. We talked about that for a sec during the tower sunset. For when you go to 35"s, I would throw some C's on the front D30. You'll definitely want the gussets on your D30 when locked on 35's, and pushing a lower gear ratio. EVO has a good C-guss kit you should look at. Can't wait to see K-2 grow up, Dempsey!

My dials made it!!!
 
Alright, so it's been awhile. But Santa brought me something real nice....

Some JW Speaker 8700 LED headlights. And the improvement is night and day over the factory halogens, couldn't be happier. I can now see at night, even if it is raining, these are worth every penny. Before these i had envisioned putting extra auxiliary lighting on my rig, but after seeing these in i don't really think i need it.

Real happy with how they look.


0124172038.jpg



And here is a picture with the low beams on.

0124172038b.jpg

Install was super easy, don't think you need pictures of that. It really is plug and play. Anyone in the Houston area needing an OEM light cause theirs fogged or something let me know, you can have mine.

Now im finally looking at tires. starting to collect the necessary pieces, like spacers, AEV Procal (or superchips), isolator externders for my tire carrier because im going to run stock holder for 35s for a bit.
... its finally happening! Thought this day would never come.

So let me know if you have any input on what tire/brand or anything. Only catch is i have Sahara rims that are 18". But that's an upgrade for a later date.
 
Just found this build and read through it. Great read and story and nice Jeep. :)

Hopefully you'll be able to convoy with some of the Houston crew for the Barnwell trip in April. If I could ever get the thread posted! Hah
 
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