Maggie the Yellow JKU

AZ Explorer

AZ Explorer

Caught the Bug
This will be a fast build thread because the Jeep "Maggie" is nearly done. So far there have been four phases. Phase one was buying the Jeep.
I had been out of the off road game for several years and had kind of sworn them off because I end up spending way too much money on them. I'd had a few cars and it was okay but not really me. I had a Dodge Challenger R/T Hemi, which was bright orange with a 6-speed. It was a fun car and I wasn't really looking to get rid of it. BUT... My wife and I went to the Dodge/Jeep dealer to get something for the car, some small part I think, and right in the middle of the showroom floor with the top down was a 2015 yellow JKU sport. I walked right to it and was checking it out. It was very nicely equipped and the dealer had put some 10A bumpers and wheels on to move it. For some reason I thought all JKU's were priced somewhere in the $45,000 range and up so I never considered one. This one stickered at $35,000 loaded up pretty good. That was within a thousand of what the Challenger was. Well, I started doing the math in my head and realized it was doable. We went for a test drive and a few hours (and a pissed off wife) later, we owned it.
The reason my wife was pissed was I had just put new tires and wheels on the car. But she got over it once I explained how much more versatile a Jeep is not to mention she could drive it since we got an automatic. Literally from the showroom floor to the trail in the space of a few hours. It was a blast and I couldn't remember why I thought not owning a 4x4 had been a good idea.WP_20150315_002.jpgWP_20150315_001.jpg
 
Phase 2

After having the Jeep for about 6 months I got the itch that always comes and knew I was going to lift it. I put a 1 inch body lift on and a 3 1/2 inch suspension plus Bushwacker flares to clear 37 inch tires. Based on the look and function I was going for this fit the bill. I like a little old school in my Jeeps so I did some 6 inch round lights at the windshield and a Hurst T- handle inside. I went with what I called temporary parts to get the job done and bolted up a Smittybilt bumper and simple sidebars just so my wife could get in. I wasn't doing anything out of control trail-wise so I ran stock gears and the Dana 30 for a little better than a year. Fine in the flat areas, hell in the mountains. Never did break or bend anything but not really recommending for others to attempt it. Basically, this project build on a budget to get it up quick.
More to come in phase 3.

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Phase 3

Took it on a few trail runs, nothing too complicated. Phase 3 was a simple but visually and functionally drastic mod, ATX chamber pro beadlock wheels. Minor mods include Drake fuel door, rear bumper raise, and a Rugged Ridge fastback softtop.
The beadlocks are awesome! The soft top is not the best top on the market, the Bestop Trektop NX is a much better top. However, this top doesn't leak and is good for the money. It had two things going for it that I really wanted in a top that Bestop didn't have. 1. it has the rear straps which have an old school look like the old bikini tops I had on my CJ and YJ when the sides and rear windows are out, but it stays tighter due to snapping into the door surrounds. The other thing is that it is really easy to fully remove. This is not the top for everyone but it works for me. I expect to have to replace it much sooner than I would a Bestop.
I am waiting for my new hood to be painted and it should be done and installed by this weekend. That will wrap up Phase 4 and I will be able to post up some pics of the mostly functional mods. Kinda went full retard in that phase but now the Jeep is what I wanted it to be.

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The Hood... Part 1

Well, the new hood will not be ready until next week. They say it will be done for sure next week and set an appointment for Saturday morning to install. This had been an adventure to say the least. When I started out I wanted to do something with the hood which I thought was a little boring. So I went cheap, or so I thought and got a Daystar hood cowl. After cutting a perfectly good hood and painting the cowl it fit for crap. The front stuck up on each side and looked horrible. Eventually, I disassembled the whole thing and found that while I followed the template, it wasn't cut out enough. My fault in part because I should have test fit everything and cut away more during initial install. I fixed it and touched up the new edges with paint and it fit, better. Not great but I thought livable. It fit nice all around except in the front where it touched in the middle but was up on each side. Most people don't notice it, but it bugs me. The other problem was the underside now looked like crap. Easy fix, get an under-hood liner and make it look more factory. When I hear the retainers are $5.00 EACH! and I need about $40.00 worth. I skipped them and used ones I had at home. Small problem, they are just slightly too long. I try to push them in with my thumb and they still feel a little loose. So I give them a light whack with the palm of my hand and they still don't move. Well, I closed the hood figuring it's as good as it's going to be. Except now I have two small outward facing dimples and broken paint, from a love tap no less. So at this point I am tired of fighting it and pissed because I ruined a hood and decide I am not sinking another penny into this one to fix it. And it wasn't what I wanted anyhow, I was just being cheap. So I ordered another hood, something I thought looked cool and supposedly a good heat reduction design. But that's another story. Ah, Jeeps.

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I like your shifter, I used to screw those on my transfer case shifters back in the day. I've often thought of putting one on the jeep since I have a six speed, but the shifter isn't threaded on any more


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JKbrick said:
I like your shifter, I used to screw those on my transfer case shifters back in the day. I've often thought of putting one on the jeep since I have a six speed, but the shifter isn't threaded on any more


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Click to expand...

Thanks! I really like it. When I ordered it, it said it was for the JK but when I went to install it the factory shaft was too long and came out of the top (it's hollow to slide over the factory shaft, also I suspect it was designed for the Dodge Challenger) so I had to decide if I wanted to cut it down. It really was what I wanted so I did it and it is really solid. My old 78 Cherokee and my 77 CJ5 both had this shifter handle and I always loved the feel of them, not to mention the old school look.
 
The Hood... Part 2 another story

After scouring the interweb looking at hoods I find something I like and is different. Enter the Trufiber A69 vented hood. I pay for the hood and have it shipped to the body shop and it arrives in a day, awesome! Stop by the shop after work and pop the hood on and it doesn't fit. And not by a little bit or something that can be quickly fixed in prep. To be clear, the thing lined up ok with all the mounts and latches where they are supposed to be and the quality of the hood is nice. The problem is it is too narrow at the cowl.
So the next thing I do, is call the vendor that sold it to me to find out how to have the problem fixed. I assume this would be an easy fix as the website says OEM fit guaranteed, if it doesn't fit, they will ship you a new one for free. What they don't tell you, and I now know, is that you have to take 1 million pictures from every angle and show all the measurements and prove the case as if you were a high-priced lawyer. This is apparently Standard operating procedure with all fiberglass companies. After sending the photos to the middleman vendor, they say yeah that doesn't fit. He made the same assumption I did that it was probably pulled out of the mold too soon. However, after looking at the measurements, the builder says this is exactly how it's supposed to be. After many e-mails back and forth I am told that they don't worry about the jeeps fitting exactly, because they go off-road and there is a lot of movement that it is not as important as say, someone putting a hood on a Mustang. Finally, after a month and a half they did the right thing. They have had the hood picked up and are refunding me my money including the original shipping. The decision as I am told, was based on the fact that they did advertise OEM fit, and it simply wasn't. Had they advertised the hood as off-road use only, all this would have been avoided and I hope they do so. If I were building an off-road only jeep, then I may have still went with the hood, although I would have had to build up the sides with a lot of extra fiberglass. I don't think that Trufiber is a bad company, as they have great reviews and seem to build nice hoods for cars. I still feel this is a cool looking hood, they just need to fix the mold so it fits like factory. I should add that originally I really did think they would send a replacement that fit. I was willing to wait for it even if it needed to be built. But once they said all the hoods are these dimensions. I had to go different direction. If anyone is looking at this hood, just be aware of these issues. If you're a body man or using it in a racing application then you might be able to make it work. Otherwise, you might be better off passing on this one.
So, I have moved on to plan C. the body shop said it really was a good idea to stay with a steel hood if I can. After looking at all the options, and deciding what would work with what I want done with paint, I have purchased a 10th anniversary Hood. It is really nice and was shipped in perfect condition and the fit was spot on. As I stated in an earlier post, it is in paint right now. The underside of it is completed and by now possibly the topside. The painter will be using fine line to mask so the center section can be painted matte black. I am having it done slightly different than what you normally see. Most people have it black to the high edge, if they do it in black at all. I am using the lower inside edge as the stopping point. I think it looks better and makes the center section look like it slopes down a little. In the end, I think this will be a better route altogether in terms of appearance and function for me.

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What's in a name?

I posted this in another thread about Jeep names, but I thought I should add it here in the build thread in case anyone is wondering how the name Maggie came to be. I don't have a Magnuson supercharger. My name is not Maggie nor is this my wife's Jeep. My wife was however, responsible for the name. I had just finished installing the front bumper with the Warn 10-s and I had gotten a red Pro-link because I like the look and function of them. I was showing my wife the end result and she kind of focused on the Pro-link because she'd never seen one before. She turns to me and says "It looks like the Jeep is sucking on a pacifier." I said "What?". She said "Yeah, look, the Jeep is yellow and the your winch thingie looks like a red pacifier... it looks like Maggie Simpson." I laughed so hard the name stuck. When you see the following pics together, it makes it obvious there was no better name for her.

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New hood is on

I went to the body shop after work and helped put the new hood on. There were a couple of minor adjustments to be made to slightly space out the hood latches. Other that that the fit is good and the color match is pretty dead on. It only took about 45 minutes total. After I got home I put the rest of the trim on. The footman loop and vents went on easy, as I expected and popping in the washer nozzles and running the new hose was no problem. The bumpers were a pain in the ass. I had gotten the low profile ones because I thought they looked better. The hole to attach needed a washer but you can't really get a washer in there. I fought with it for a while and tried to just snug it up without a washer and the nut seized on the bolt. This is a recurring problem I've been having with lock nuts. I had to break the bolt to get it off and luckily, I didn't scratch the fresh paint. I finally got fed up and decided I was done fighting it and snapped in the easy factory push in style bumpers and decided they look good enough. Outside of the footman loop, the hood looks like a factory 10th anniversary with a black center. overall I am happy with the new look and factory feel of the thing. I want to get some pics this weekend as we are having above average temperatures here. I want to get the rear section of the top off and my tube doors on to really show it off. Also, looking forward to this weekend because the Off-Road Expo is happening Saturday and Sunday at Westworld in Scottsdale. Hoping to see some cool new stuff.
 
New Hood part 3... the final chapter

Finally got the hood stuff sorted out and I am happy with the results. So, pics or it didn't happen, right?

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The interior

First off the Mastercraft seats are great. Super comfy and really hold you in when cornering. I know the common way to do the rear is to run buckets all around but in keeping with the old school style, I wanted a bench. It is only my wife and I so rarely is anyone back there. I did sit back there and it is surprisingly comfortable as well. Head and shoulders easily clear the spare tire. When we travel, we can stuff quite a bit around the spare tire and load the rear passenger area with everything else. I really like the tire inside keeping the weight over the axle and not hitting anything outside on trails. We have slightly more space than a fully loaded 2 door so we are happy. Oh yeah, the console cover is not something I like the looks of so much, but we have both burned our elbows a few times in the Phoenix heat in the dead of summer. Necessary evil, I suppose.

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I also did the Rock Hard pillar braces. Easy install to add passenger protection when they are back there. It also gave me a great place to mount the quick release fire extinguishers. The pins are on the outside but I can swap them from side to side to put the pins on the inside for when the top is on.

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