rbhull
Jeep Newb
In August of 2011, I bought a beater 88 YJ as an early mid-life crisis gift to myself. I spent the next year restoring the exterior and rebuilding the under workings, all without any prior experience.
My wife, Jennifer, and then two kids loved time on the trails and rides with the top off year round, regardless of the weather. Two years later, when we found out my wife was pregnant with our third, we sold the YJ for twice what we purchased it for and swore we’d someday get back to the Jeep life.
Fast forward to May of 2017, and Jennifer found the perfect JKU for our family, a 2013 Rubicon, which had never been off road and was ready for personalized upgrades.
We stripped all of the mall crawlers items, going from 20’s to inset Rugged Ridge 17’s, wrapped them in 35” KO2s, added Smittybilt XRC front and rear bumpers, and an Spod with 8 switches for external and internal lighting.
We’ve taken multiple trips to Moab, where Jennifer and I split trail time in the drivers seat, and our kids have a blast the entire time. After our first trip, Jennifer stayed up for hours researching and building out a list of upgrades that must be completed.
Jennifer surprised me Christmas morning with a MetalCloak True Dual-Rate 3.5” life and Teraflex Falcon 3.3 shocks. 72 hours later, two of my buddies from our Broab crew, Jeremy and John, spent the day in my garage installing everything.
Our Jeep Life is a family affair. As soon as the install was done, we all jumped in and hit the trails 1 1/2 miles from our place and broke it in and couldn’t be happier.
It snowed a couple of days later, so Jeremy and I had to go out for a snow run and had a blast.
Next on the list is are fenders with inner flairs, a Smittybilt 12.5k winch, MetalCloak control arms, Integrated armor system, upgraded steering system, and an internal air compressor. As all with Jeeps, the list will continue to grow, all for the adventures we live for.
My wife, Jennifer, and then two kids loved time on the trails and rides with the top off year round, regardless of the weather. Two years later, when we found out my wife was pregnant with our third, we sold the YJ for twice what we purchased it for and swore we’d someday get back to the Jeep life.
Fast forward to May of 2017, and Jennifer found the perfect JKU for our family, a 2013 Rubicon, which had never been off road and was ready for personalized upgrades.
We stripped all of the mall crawlers items, going from 20’s to inset Rugged Ridge 17’s, wrapped them in 35” KO2s, added Smittybilt XRC front and rear bumpers, and an Spod with 8 switches for external and internal lighting.
We’ve taken multiple trips to Moab, where Jennifer and I split trail time in the drivers seat, and our kids have a blast the entire time. After our first trip, Jennifer stayed up for hours researching and building out a list of upgrades that must be completed.
Jennifer surprised me Christmas morning with a MetalCloak True Dual-Rate 3.5” life and Teraflex Falcon 3.3 shocks. 72 hours later, two of my buddies from our Broab crew, Jeremy and John, spent the day in my garage installing everything.
Our Jeep Life is a family affair. As soon as the install was done, we all jumped in and hit the trails 1 1/2 miles from our place and broke it in and couldn’t be happier.
It snowed a couple of days later, so Jeremy and I had to go out for a snow run and had a blast.
Next on the list is are fenders with inner flairs, a Smittybilt 12.5k winch, MetalCloak control arms, Integrated armor system, upgraded steering system, and an internal air compressor. As all with Jeeps, the list will continue to grow, all for the adventures we live for.