I don't have an official name for it yet, but I'm going to document this build. This is my 3rd Jeep. The first was a 2001 5 speed soft top that I bought as a third vehicle to puddle jump around town and to avoid driving my street/drag car when the weather was bad. I wish I would have kept that Jeep, that was a slick one. I never did anything to it. I was wrapped up in racing and ATV's at the time.
The second Jeep was a 2007 JK 2 door, auto trans, hard top. I had stopped driving my race car on the street so this was my daily driver. After owning it a little while, I decided to start adding some parts to change the look and make it worthy of driving off-road when I wanted. At the time I was running an automotive machine shop that catered to oval racing. I was hooked up with several vendors that also sold 4 wheeling parts. The name Smitty Built kept popping up, so when I ordered everything, I got it all at once. I also ordered a set of wheels and tires, and a 2.5'' Rubicon Express lift with shocks. I did all of these modifications at the shop over the course of a weekend. I knew right off that the quality of the Smitty Built parts was sup-par. I know enough to know, parts sometimes need fitting, but everything required major adjustment to make fit and line up. The end result looked okay, but I was never really satisfied with it. The wife and I had a baby girl shortly after I completed it, and not being able to maneuver her car seat was reason enough for me to send it down the road.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago. Ever since I sold the 07', I was always on the lookout for another Jeep. I considered repowering an XJ with an eco-boost ford, or finding another TJ to build up. I was driving home from work and some douche bag smashed into the drivers side door of my 1 year old super-crew pickup. It didn't total it, but the damage was severe and the truck was black, so, being a perfectionist, this wasn't going to work for me. I immediately started looking for something else. After doing my research, I figured out what I wanted. A billet Silver Willy's Wheeler W, auto trans and hard top. I used Jeep's website to locate what I wanted and was able to find one within 100 miles. I made a tentative deal over the phone and the day my truck rolled out of the body shop, I went and picked up my new JKU.
This Jeep is my daily driver. I am going to build it with the intention of using it to take the wife and daughter to Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona on vacations and be able to use it on some of the trails. I am not going to beat it up, or hammer it on the rocks. I know the majority here are "serious" off roaders. I could easily want to build a dedicated rig for doing that, but this isn't going to be it. I am however going to overbuild it because that's what I do to about everything. So help me give this fella a name and I'll keep throwing parts and $'s at it.
The second Jeep was a 2007 JK 2 door, auto trans, hard top. I had stopped driving my race car on the street so this was my daily driver. After owning it a little while, I decided to start adding some parts to change the look and make it worthy of driving off-road when I wanted. At the time I was running an automotive machine shop that catered to oval racing. I was hooked up with several vendors that also sold 4 wheeling parts. The name Smitty Built kept popping up, so when I ordered everything, I got it all at once. I also ordered a set of wheels and tires, and a 2.5'' Rubicon Express lift with shocks. I did all of these modifications at the shop over the course of a weekend. I knew right off that the quality of the Smitty Built parts was sup-par. I know enough to know, parts sometimes need fitting, but everything required major adjustment to make fit and line up. The end result looked okay, but I was never really satisfied with it. The wife and I had a baby girl shortly after I completed it, and not being able to maneuver her car seat was reason enough for me to send it down the road.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago. Ever since I sold the 07', I was always on the lookout for another Jeep. I considered repowering an XJ with an eco-boost ford, or finding another TJ to build up. I was driving home from work and some douche bag smashed into the drivers side door of my 1 year old super-crew pickup. It didn't total it, but the damage was severe and the truck was black, so, being a perfectionist, this wasn't going to work for me. I immediately started looking for something else. After doing my research, I figured out what I wanted. A billet Silver Willy's Wheeler W, auto trans and hard top. I used Jeep's website to locate what I wanted and was able to find one within 100 miles. I made a tentative deal over the phone and the day my truck rolled out of the body shop, I went and picked up my new JKU.
This Jeep is my daily driver. I am going to build it with the intention of using it to take the wife and daughter to Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona on vacations and be able to use it on some of the trails. I am not going to beat it up, or hammer it on the rocks. I know the majority here are "serious" off roaders. I could easily want to build a dedicated rig for doing that, but this isn't going to be it. I am however going to overbuild it because that's what I do to about everything. So help me give this fella a name and I'll keep throwing parts and $'s at it.
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