Amp'd Up JKU Sport Build

seansheds

seansheds

New member
I had been wanting a Jeep for quite a while but a move from PA to CA and other life events put it on hold. This year I decided it was time!

Of course I had a budget and couldn't afford a Rubicon so I settled on a Sport, ideally with the S package, and it had to have the max tow package with 3.73 gears. Plus I figured I would eventually upgrade the axles so the only real thing I was losing was the 4:1 transfer case, which could also be upgraded. I also wanted a 3.6 auto with no more than 36,000 miles so the search began.

It turns out most of the Sport's in SoCal all have 3.21 gears and finding one in budget and under mileage proved to be challenging. I searched for a few weeks finding one here and there and in most cases they were already sold or they had a manual tranny. I finally found a Sport S with 20k miles about 4 hours away, but the color was listed as gold so I was hesitant. I had never seen the color and it was really tough to tell from the photos what the actual color was. I decided to take a chance and got them down to my price and made the deal. They also agreed to deliver it.

I had to wait a few days for delivery and I was like a kid waiting for Christmas morning! Finally the day came and I anxiously awaited for the call that they had arrived. I got the call and went out and immediately fell in love with the color. Here she was!

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As I inspected it I could immediately tell by the shiny frame that it had never been off road and was well taken care of. It looked like it came right off the showroom floor! I then sent a photo to my brother in MI who has a 2012 JKUR and also worked at Chrysler as a designer. He responded with "Awesome Bro! Love that color Amp'd". Then he explained it was a special run color in 2014. I was stoked!

And so it begins...
 
The first thing that had to go was the Goodyear street tires. They weren't going to get me anywhere off road. I watched Craig's List for a set of BFG Rubi take-offs and a set came up with 5k miles and a new spare for a ridiculously low price. As soon as I locked in that sale I immediately ordered a set of 1.5" Spidertrax wheel spacers. I picked up the tires and the as soon as the spacers came in I had them installed.

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Now it was looking a little more like a proper Jeep!
 
The next day I had to try this thing out so I grabbed my wife and daughter and we headed up to Hungry Vally OHV Park in Gorman, CA. Nothing crazy but at least I got a little taste of some off roading and mild hill climbs. Even stock I was impressed how capable it was.

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As I'm sure every new Jeep owner does I started buying a bunch of small stuff to make my mark on it. Grab handles, floor mats, cargo mat, sill guards, grill inserts, and after finding out about airing down I picked up a Currie EZ-Deflator and a Superflow compressor.

I also started looking for some more storage options and came across Rightline Gear http://www.rightlinegear.com/jeep-products.html bags. They make a bunch of different styles and I liked the ones for over the wheel wells. I ended up finding them on Groupon for a good deal so I picked them up. They are built well but they are better suited for recovery gear and other things you don't need to access very often.

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Next up was a tailgate table. I really liked the idea of this, especially the dual purpose with the molle panel. After researching all of them I decided on one made by a guy and sold only on eBay. The price was right, the construction looked solid, and you can choose the text you want cut out above the molle area. This one also has a nice grommet feature for the top pins to reduce rattles.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/291610129966?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

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After having this on for a few weeks I'm happy with the purchase. The pins do have a little rattle where the pin in inside the fold-down area. I need to see if there's anything I can do to completely silence it. I hate rattles and squeaks but it's very minimal and with the radio on I don't even hear it.
 
Since squeaks are the devil there's one in the rear end I needed to take care of. I put it off for too long so I finally got under there and had my wife bounce on the running boards. I narrowed it down to the sway bar bushings. I shot them both with WD-40 and it went away. Cool.

Not so fast! A couple days later it came back. DAMN! Forums to the rescue. It turns out WD-40 doesn't last that long but there's an awesome product called Fluid Film I had never heard of. Couldn't find any local so I order it and a few days later I blasted those squeaky bushing and BAM! It's now been a few weeks and no squeaks!

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Now it was time to address the stereo situation. I haven't taken the hard top off yet so I had no problem hearing the radio, but the lack of mid's and bass was pitiful. As usual I researched the crap out every option and without spending $2K+ on a new head unit and amp the options are limited. I have the 430 factory head unit (no nav) which I do like so far anyway so I had no intention of upgrading that right now.

I decided to go with an under-seat mounted Kicker Hideaway subwoofer with built-in amp since it wouldn't take up any cargo space and it seemed like people had pretty good things to say. As I was searching for the best price on the sub I found Best Buy had the 6 3/4 coax speakers on sale for 1/2 price! Couldn't pass that up so I picked up two boxes to do the soundbar and the dash for $80 total! Yeah buddy! I checkout out Fry's website and they were having a sale and the Kicker Hideaway was $100 off. Wow, today is my day!

I still needed to get speaker harnesses, and ring adapters to install the speakers and I found a thread on another board pointing to a guy selling custom kits on eBay. It was a bit pricey at $40 but the kit seemed well put together so I bought two. I contacted the guy and instead of the foam he swapped it out with polyfill for the dash pods.

Once I got everything I went to work. The soundbar was easy and even the dash speakers weren't hard once I found a thread with instruction how to remove everything. The hardest part was figuring out how to splice in the sub wires. I installed it under the passenger seat and spliced into the rear speaker wires that run up the B pillar. Once I found a wiring diagram and located the wires the rest was easy.

Put everything back together and fired it up and wow, what a difference! It ended up costing me $360 and I feel it was well worth it. I love actually having bass! Eventually I'll probably install a 4-channel amp and hook all four main speakers to it since the speakers can handle 100 watt RMS and 300 watt peak.

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So I was at a point where I was happy where it was at and I would wheel it stock for a while. The plan was to hold off until the fall to do the lift and tires. 2.5-3" lift and 35" tires and I would be happy, right?

...or so I thought...
 
Builds threads are cool and one of the things I enjoy most on this site. Glad you are pumped about yours, makes it more fun. :thumb:
 
seansheds said:
So I was at a point where I was happy where it was at and I would wheel it stock for a while.

The plan was to hold off until the fall to do the lift and tires. 2.5-3" lift and 35" tires and I would be happy, right?

...or so I thought...
Click to expand...

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1 tons and 4Ds?

Boatsides?

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seansheds said:
I had been wanting a Jeep for quite a while but a move from PA to CA and other life events put it on hold. This year I decided it was time!

Of course I had a budget and couldn't afford a Rubicon so I settled on a Sport, ideally with the S package, and it had to have the max tow package with 3.73 gears. Plus I figured I would eventually upgrade the axles so the only real thing I was losing was the 4:1 transfer case, which could also be upgraded. I also wanted a 3.6 auto with no more than 36,000 miles so the search began.

It turns out most of the Sport's in SoCal all have 3.21 gears and finding one in budget and under mileage proved to be challenging. I searched for a few weeks finding one here and there and in most cases they were already sold or they had a manual tranny. I finally found a Sport S with 20k miles about 4 hours away, but the color was listed as gold so I was hesitant. I had never seen the color and it was really tough to tell from the photos what the actual color was. I decided to take a chance and got them down to my price and made the deal. They also agreed to deliver it.

I had to wait a few days for delivery and I was like a kid waiting for Christmas morning! Finally the day came and I anxiously awaited for the call that they had arrived. I got the call and went out and immediately fell in love with the color. Here she was!

View attachment 261076

As I inspected it I could immediately tell by the shiny frame that it had never been off road and was well taken care of. It looked like it came right off the showroom floor! I then sent a photo to my brother in MI who has a 2012 JKUR and also worked at Chrysler as a designer. He responded with "Awesome Bro! Love that color Amp'd". Then he explained it was a special run color in 2014. I was stoked!

And so it begins...
Click to expand...
I didnt like the color at first, but I do now, love it. I got it new in 14, also the sport. You can see it in my little picture icon. Eventually I will name it Ola Oshkee. I think I mis spelled it. Translated in Navajo as Golden Boy. My girlfriend chose the name, I picked the navajo. Just to be different and a little honor to that nation for what they did for us in WW2.
Congrats on the new trail rig.

Sent from my SM-J320V using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
The next part of the story is where everything changes. Plans aren't set in stone, they're meant to change, right?

Thanks to Wayalife I came across an Upcoming Trip thread for a SoCal trip on May 7th (https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?45541-So-Cal-area-wheeling-May-7th). As I read through the posts I realized some of the guys lived within a few miles of me so I posted an introduction. The guys were extremely welcoming and @dillard09 invited me to stop by his house Saturday for a wrenching party with @M_Savage.

Of course I took him up on his offer and got to see how beadlocks get installed. The guys were super cool and invited me to ride along with them to Cougar Buttes the next day. This would be my first real offroad trip and I had only ever seen rock crawling in videos. I don't think I slept much that night!

I had been researching lifts for a while and seeing all the positive feedback about the EVO Plush ride springs I was leaning in that direction. It turned out the guy I was going to ride with @JeepJeep75 had the 3" EVO kit with 35's so I got to feel the ride and experience what it can do first hand!

I got to meet some other great guys on the trip with really nice setups. When we started the day I looked at the obstacles and thought NO F-ING WAY, and by lunch I was spotting for everyone and scoping out new lines!

@JeepJeep75
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@Crystaliner
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@AlStew
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@M_Savage
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@dillard09 - This photo hold some really special meaning because Jake was very brave and super cool to let me take the wheel for a few obstacles! Thanks again Jake! :drinks: This would be the turning point for my build plan. I was hooked! :rock:
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Truly an amazing day and I'm super lucky to have met these guys who all clearly know what they are doing!
 
Randy Tadevich said:
I didnt like the color at first, but I do now, love it. I got it new in 14, also the sport. You can see it in my little picture icon. Eventually I will name it Ola Oshkee. I think I mis spelled it. Translated in Navajo as Golden Boy. My girlfriend chose the name, I picked the navajo. Just to be different and a little honor to that nation for what they did for us in WW2.
Congrats on the new trail rig.

Sent from my SM-J320V using WAYALIFE mobile app
Click to expand...

Cool name and great meaning! I need to come up with a name for mine but I'm having a hard time. I'm sure it will come to me when the time is right. :thinking:
 
So now that my plans went out the window it was time to formulate a new one. The main goal, like most of us, is to be smart with spending money. It's easy to go the cheap route initially, but you end up spending double or more at the end. I'm more in the "Buy Once, Cry Once" camp.

My biggest problem is that damn Dana 30. I have a LSD in the rear and although it's not a locker I can get by with some good driving skills (which I'll need to acquire) for moderate trails. After the trip I was sold on 37's but it's too high risk running them on the D30 without having the money free to replace it at amy time. This is my DD so I have to have to be very strategic. So 37's are ruled out for now, but that's my end game. For now I'll run 35's but I need to at least have the C-gussets done which will hopefully buy me some time.

The 2.5" lift plan flew away too. 4" is the way to go for the extra clearance and since I'll eventually end up on 37's it's better to just do it now. 4" Enforcer with Draglink Flip it is. I'll need a new front driveshaft with that much lift so put it on the list.

Shocks, hmm.... I love the King's but that $1800 isn't in the budget and I'm also not sure they're really necessary. I decided on Rancho RS9000XL's. Good reviews and a lot of guys running them. Plus I can get a $100 Visa gift card from Rancho if I buy before June 30. Done.

Tires...I don't want to pay full price for a set of 35's because I'll lose money when I switch to 37's so I'll look for a set of lightly used 35's.

So this is my new short term plan. I went back-and-forth with the guys and they agreed it's a good one and I won't be wasting too much money in the long run.
 
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