The Crimson Bandit - JK Build

[Eggdashure]

Well...it was about time I started a build thread and named the new to us Jeep. I settled on Crimson Bandit because it's Burgundy/Maroon in color and the dark hard top reminds me of a Bandit eye covering. Plus, the definition of Bandit is an outlaw operating in remote or lawless areas. Seems appropriate for Western Colorado!

It was a bittersweet day when I traded in my trusty 1999 Jeep Cherokee (Black Jack) I had had for 15 years.



But, I was able to get this:





It's a 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. Miles were high at 140k but everything else was in great shape. Everything, that is, except for the BROWN interior. Gag! Why in this day and age would they use brown? My wife said it felt like she was in a vehicle from the 70's!

Well, that doesn't work... I managed to paint some of the interior plastic pieces on my Cherokee with success, so it was worth a try here. Just pull off the brown parts and paint them, right? It was a bit more difficult getting everything off than I thought, but so worth it the end!

Before:



And after (didn't have the center console done in this pic):



I did this a week after buying the Jeep, couldn't take the brown anymore! It was so worth the effort! [emoji6]

 

[Eggdashure]

Next find was a take off set of 18" Sahara rims and Bridgestone tires with about 70% tread remaining. Why you ask? Well, most of my driving is done on pavement and I wanted to keep the Mud Terrains in good condition for Jeep treks. I used to work in a tire shop so swapping out sets of tires can be done in garage in about 20 minutes.

Along with the set of tires, the guy also had a set of running boards and bumpers. Got everything for $375 which was a good deal in my mind. Don't worry, I'm keeping my Rubicon rock rails and the Mud Terrains have a comfy home in the garage. [emoji6]

It was time to wheel the Jeep! Cruised out to Bangs Canyon to test out the new ride off road. 1/3 of the way in I see about 15 Jeeps coming down the hill towards us. There was no room to go around so I turned around and headed back up the trail. In a large clearing, the group caught up to us and rolled up next to me and asked "You wanna join a Jeep Club?" I pondered for a moment and said sure to Grand Mesa Jeep Club!

The next weekend we we followed the club to Dome Plateau near Moab. We had a blast! Everyone was really friendly and very supportive. Here is the group for the day, we are 6th from the front:



Though, I noticed something, I kept bottoming out as I dropped off ledges. That front bumper was really nice, but really heavy. More on that later.

The next trip we did was to Moab! It was 2 weeks before EJS and we found the absolute LAST spot to setup our pop up in Sand Flats on a Thursday midday.



Next morning, we got up and prepared to tackle Fins and Things. One of my favorite trails! Not many pics, mostly video of this trek, but managed to snap this one:



The next day we met up with GMJC again to tackle Seven Mile Rim. Another great trail, but man...I was scraping bottom A LOT! Still fun though:



Hmm...found something on Craigslist...

 

[Eggdashure]

I regularly watch my local Craigslist chapter for anything Jeep. One night, I happened across a post where someone was selling their used Mopar 2" JK lift take off. It had four heavy duty coils, four Bilstein 5100's, an adjustable track bar for the front, and a limiting strap. All for $200 and an hour drive to pick it all up. Here is how she sits after the lift:



And a couple flex shots:





More to come!

 

[WJCO]

Nice build. Great work on the interior overhaul.

 

[Eggdashure]

Well, I gave the Crimson Bandit a bath:

Rained 3 days later. You can see the soft road shoes. :blush: They serve the purpose.

I also called the Jeep Dealership back to check on the Service Bulletin for the Clock Spring. Two weeks or so ago I called them and they told me it was not under warranty to replace the Clock Spring. I got the impression from a post I made that it should be covered...so I called them up again. This time, for whatever reason, they said it WAS under warranty...just depends on who picks up the phone I guess. So, I have an appointment to get that fixed on Tuesday. :rock:

I keep hearing an occasional 'twang' in the front end...I can only assume it was this:

The sway bar end links are very close to the springs...and the springs bow towards the front of the vehicle. Everything is seated properly...definitely need some caster...methinks.

 

[Eggdashure]

We woke up today and decided to pack up the Bandit and head up in to the mountains to beat the heat. Near record highs for the next 2 weeks here. We live about 45 minutes from a 10,000 foot flat top mountain called the Grand Mesa. That much elevation change dropped the Temps about 30 degrees, which was really nice.

I also wanted to test out my home made bikini top. We made it out of our broken trampoline material and a grommet kit, worked really well at blocking the sun. Now we just need to make some adjustments to the tie downs to keep it secure.

The trail we took was not regularly traveled...about 45 minutes down the trail we encountered a downed tree that sat about 3 feet above the road...no way around and no way over. It was still a fun trip. Here are some pics:



I swear I hear a lady singing something about the sound of music. [emoji23]



[emoji2]

 

[AZ Explorer]

Looks like a good time!

 

[Eggdashure]

Looks like a good time!

We wish we could have gone farther, but I was running street shoes and also had no way of removing the downed trees. Still a good time though, and a great test of the home brew top. [emoji6]

 

[Eggdashure]

We really wanted to head up to Ouray and run Engineer Pass last weekend, but my wife had to work unfortunately. While she was at work, I installed a couple things I received for my Birthday/Father's Day.

First was a CB Radio. I wanted it out of the way and lockable if the top was off, so I started thinking about how I could get it in to the center console.

This worked out really well because the cigarette lighter was already in there for power. I just ran the coaxial cable in there, mounted it to the plastic and ran the audio output back to the radios aux port. I plan to add a 3.5mm splitter so I can listen to music and the CB at the same time. Should be a nice setup.

Next, I had a coupon for a $300 12K Badlands Winch. I wish it were a Warn, but after reading real life reviews, most people felt this winch was a good value for the money. Plus, I was given a pretty strict budget on this. [emoji6]

Some may notice that the controller is facing the wrong way...I had it setup the other direction, but I couldn't set the cables properly without them rubbing on the grill. This direction worked better and the winch will have a cover soon. Everything works great and fits well. I also purchased the wireless unit with 25% off coupon.

Another thing I found was a set of tire deflators. They were free, just paid shipping from China. Took a few weeks, but can't beat the price!

The Bandit is coming along nicely. Just need some time to go wheeling. [emoji28]

 

[BananaJeep]

Nice Jeep. I personally like the brown interior, but to each their own.

 

[Eggdashure]

Not sure what is up at Photo Bucket, I've had images hosted there for years and suddenly they are charging for the service. I suppose it makes sense...but there are so many options out there that it was easy to pick up and move elsewhere.

Anyways...we had two really fun treks with our local Jeep Club over the past couple of weekends. The first was a quick trek in our backyard up the back of the Palisades (Mount Garfield)

Kids had fun too and the Potluck was awesome!

Next trip was this past weekend up and over Engineer Pass near Ouray. This is my favorite area to go Jeeping...we started out the day early and when we arrived at the trail head...it was 52 degrees. Quite a change from 90's down in the valley!

Finally got to use my Tire Deflators:

All the way to the top! The Bandit is 2nd from the right.

And a little proof of our journey.

One thing we wished we had had was a soft top. It was a super nice day out and would have been awesome to run with the top off. So, back to Craigslist for a quick search and, as luck would have it...I found a brand new Mopar Sunrider Soft Top for $850, never taken out of the plastic. Only thing missing were the brackets that attach to the roll cage in back...those are on order. I have a couple more months that I can run the soft top. :clap2:

 

[BobNH]

Not sure what is up at Photo Bucket, I've had images hosted there for years and suddenly they are charging for the service. I suppose it makes sense...but there are so many options out there that it was easy to pick up and move elsewhere.

Anyways...we had two really fun treks with our local Jeep Club over the past couple of weekends. The first was a quick trek in our backyard up the back of the Palisades (Mount Garfield)

Kids had fun too and the Potluck was awesome!

Next trip was this past weekend up and over Engineer Pass near Ouray. This is my favorite area to go Jeeping...we started out the day early and when we arrived at the trail head...it was 52 degrees. Quite a change from 90's down in the valley!

Finally got to use my Tire Deflators:

All the way to the top! The Bandit is 2nd from the right.

And a little proof of our journey.

One thing we wished we had had was a soft top. It was a super nice day out and would have been awesome to run with the top off. So, back to Craigslist for a quick search and, as luck would have it...I found a brand new Mopar Sunrider Soft Top for $850, never taken out of the plastic. Only thing missing were the brackets that attach to the roll cage in back...those are on order. I have a couple more months that I can run the soft top. :clap2:

To your photobucket point-they decided to nix third party hosting, so snapped every link, well are snapping them. It has been going on for a bit. I was able to donit for a bit after it started but then mine went out too. There is a fix fornit, if you are patient, or want to fix a few of your more favorite pisted pics. I tried it, and it works. Add ~original to the end of the file but before the [/img at the end.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[Eggdashure]

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would post up some pics of our camping trip back in September and show of the soft top we scored! First up, we went camping at 30 Mile Campground near the Rio Grande Reservoir...about 45 minutes from Creede Colorado. Beautiful country! Here is our campsite:

We were there for 3 nights. On our first day, we headed down towards Creede and explored the different mines in the area.

The next day, we headed up over Stony Pass from our Campground down in to Silverton and back. We weren't sure we would make it all the way to Lake City on our way home with a half tank of gas (and no Jerry Cans!) so the plan was to make it to Silverton, fill up so we would be good. For some reason, it seems like Jeeps barely sip the gas when wheeling, but chug it on the highways!

After that trip, I had to give the Bandit a bath so I decided to clean her up really well before winter hit. Looks purty!

I also found "Back to Black" by Mother's and it was a night and difference on my fenders! They look so much better dark gray than faded gray! But, I had to put the soft top away and got the hard top back out to make chilly morning commute a little warmer for the kiddos.

I think it's time to look for some 35" tires...unfortunately, I can't seem to get a hold of people in time locally. At some point I will hopefully get lucky and find a decent used set. It's funny how quickly 33's begin to look TINY when your Jeep Club is all running 37's and 40's.:shock:

I don't want to buy new tires at the moment because I still have 80% tread on the Mud Terrains...but, it doesn't make sense (to me anyways) to run them in the winter when I am not wheeling as frequently...I have a set of 18" rims that just need shoes. We'll see what happens. :thumb:

 

[Eggdashure]

I've been busy on the Bandit recently! I saw a post a while back where someone used an old XJ Roof Rack on the JK's hard top. Looked pretty straight forward and simple...finding the rack was the difficult part. But, another Craigslist find, a local guy out in the dunes collects XJ's and ZJ's. I texted him and he said he had plenty of racks, so I drove out to his place, found a late model (shorter) XJ Roof Rack. Paid him $50 for it and was on my way.

In the instructions, the group was putting the rack on the outside of the risers. I didn't like that, it looked like a place water could settle and seep in. I opted for on top of the outside risers. This required some modification of the stock XJ racks. I cut 7 inches off of each of the slider bars and 2.5 inches off of one side of each of the cross over bars. This put them evenly on top of the risers.

Then, I just worked my way around drilling in the correct locations. The Previous Owner of my Jeep put in the sticky foam insulation on the inside of the hard top roof which made this a little bit more tricky, but it was all worth it in the end. I still need to clean everything up with some Mothers Back to Black and elbow grease, but it turned out great! I tossed my "$100 Sams Club Rola Rack find" up there and it works great...though it's a snug fit in the garage.

I also ordered a set of 1.5" hub and wheel centric spacers on Amazon (not Spidertrax, but all the same hardware specs). At the same time, I also found a set of evenly worn 35x12.50x18 Nitto Trail Grapplers. They don't have a lot of life left in them, but for $120...I can use them to learn where I need to work on things and get a year or so of use out of them. :crazyeyes:

 

[sipafz]

Nice looking Jeep! I like that color a lot. The first time that I seriously considered getting a Wrangler was while starring at a 2011 that was the same color.

 

[AZ Explorer]

Tight fit, but at least it does make it in there. I like your Colorado vacation pics, hadn't seen those earlier when you posted them.

 

[Eggdashure]

Thanks guys! The color is officially called "Red Rock Crystal Pearl" or Burgundy as I like to call it.

I got the Wheel Spacers installed with some Threadlocker and proper torque:

Then...I managed to find a local shop that would install the 35's on Stock rims. Wife says they are humongous...I think they turned out great!

I wasn't expecting 35 inch 10 ply Mud Terrain Tires to be so quiet and ride so smooth. This was my main reason for getting these tires, I wanted to see how they rode and how my Jeep behaved with 35's. So far so good!

All washed up. Had to take the Rola Rack off...barely fit with 33's, doesn't fit with 35's. Ask me how I know! :crazyeyes:

 

[Eggdashure]

Another adventure in the Bandit, this time we joined GMJC to hit a trail I've always wanted to do...but never felt I had the skills or vehicle to do. 21 Road!

I was really intimidated when we arrived at the trail head and the leader asks "How many of you have NOT done 21 Road before?" Around half of us raised our hands and he laughed at us. "Well, be forewarned...most vehicles experience some sort of damage on this trail!" :thinking:

I was rolling on my 33's again because the 35's rub somethin' fierce on the stock fenders (new flat fenders on the way for Christmas :rock. So, I sheepishly asked "Will I be ok on 33's?" The answer was not what I was expecting "You've got a Rubicon with armor...you'll be aight!" Keep in mind, most of the other Jeeps were rolling on 37's or were buggies.

First major obstacle...this:

Well, that was embarrassing! :blush: They weren't kidding about damage! Time to relocate the steering stabilizer a bit higher. \/

Thankfully, I installed my rock sliders prior to this trip! After a bit, I found my stride and made it about 70-75% up the trail based on what others were describing. Super fun trail and interesting to watch the buggies tackle the really difficult sections.

Even though we took some damage to my DD, I'm still eager to run more difficult trails. I just want my 35's and new fenders to do it with!

 

[Eggdashure]

New Fenders!

My eBay Flat Fenders arrived earlier than expected! The box was mangled and the fenders were sticking out the bottom, but no damage to the finish. I got off work a little early to get them installed, probably took a couple hours. But, the 33's look childish now!

Back on go the 35's! Here is a very clear comparison of flat fenders (Top) vs. stock fenders (Bottom):

And, if you look closely...you can see the trail damage on the sliders in the upper pic. At some point I will need to cut the OEM inner liners, but for now...I'm happy! :clap2:

 

[wayoflife]

Looks good to me even with out the liners. Fortunately, you have a darker colored Jeep so it really doesn't look too bad.