FireTruck's 2013 JKU Rubi build...

[FireTruck]

Guess I should start this before I get too carried away...

Ordered Deep Cherry Red JKU Rubicon early Feb 2012... delivered start Dec 2012! Ordered a MY'12, but an MY'13 was delivered. Made sure it came with 4.10 diff gears, and upgraded to the 730N sound system.

Brief bio and background to the build... got the Jeep bug wheeling in Moab and Colorado in the late 90's... first Jeep was a 2-door XJ (in the US), moved back to Aus in '99 and bought a red '97 TJ (the FireTruck). Started on 31's... then 33's... then 35's, long arm, all custom bumpers and skids etc. Lost my shit... so next was D60's and 38.5's. Then another set of D60's (Rockcrushers), an Atlas II 4.33, coil overs front, stretched front and rear, full hydro steer - and lots of other stuff. Ran in Woodpecker, Tuff Truck, WE Rock, and OZ Rock in the FireTruck. Decided to break up the FireTruck and build a rockcrawling buggy - the FireBug. Competed in WE Rock and OZ Rock including quite a few round wins. Buggy ended up with dual steering D60's with RCV's in the rear and CTM's front, AtlasII 4.33, 5.7L LS1 V8, powerglide tranny, etc etc bla bla. Bought a 2007 KJ CRD (company car) to tow the buggy to comps... kept it pretty stock (airbags, provent, DP Chip... not much else).

Have done some 'touring' over the years as well, amongst the harder-core comps etc. Vic high country, Flinders Ranges, Simpson Desert, etc.

SO... recently sold the buggy to fund the JKU build, and bought a neat camper trailer (Track Trailer 'Mate').

To be continued...

[FireTruck]

Theory this time around is to not go crazy as per my previous efforts... this will be my daily driver, and will build it as a capable rig that is still right at home touring and towing the camper. Will be keeping it relatively light, and using good gear... as per previous builds, most of the work I will do myself. I put alot of stuff in the camper so as a daily driver it stays light and nice to drive... I don't have to fill the rig up with lots of heavy stuff. Extra fuel, water, power etc all goes in the trailer - as does roof top tent which saves a bunch of weight (including no need for roof racks).

The camper trailer has dual 105A batteries, full power management (Redarc BCDC 1240 12V charger, Projecta IC2500 240V charger, 300W inverter, etc) a 47L fridge, 70L water tank, kitched with stove and sink, 70L water tank, room for about 8+ x 20L jerry cans on outside of trailer for extra fuel and water (eliminate the need for long range fuel tank), Hannibal Jumbo roof top tent... the big one. And other stuff...

The rough build list for the JKU... not really in order, but closeish:
- Uniden UH7760 nb... has all the controls on the hand set, including a speaker, and a speaker in the base module as well
- Tekonsha P3 electric brake controller (for trailer brakes)... impressed by this unit, works very well
- Custom relay/fuse box to control locker over-rides, driving lights, reversing lights, UHF power, etc.
- SPod switch panel with Aeroforce gauge hole... didn't get the actual SPod module as I want to switch quite a few accessories to ground, which the spod can't do (always switches to +ve)
- ESP/BAS/ABS/ERM disable switch mod, and locker over-ride... maybe a radiator fan over-ride as well
- Dually spots (LED's)... honestly over the years I have found that I rarely need an enormous amount of extra light, so will upgrade the stock bulbs to +100's and run a small this small set of LED's.
- Tow hitch + wiring
- Rear Genright alum bumper and alum tire carrier... including the 4 x LED lights, and LED rear brake light and #plate light holder thingy.
- Front Genright alum bumper... with a custom hoop. My estimate on how much weight I will save by using alum bumpers rathaer than steel is about 70-75kg's saving.
- Warn 9.5cti-s... good fast line speed when un-loaded, syth rope.
- 3" wild lift (DBOR) with remote res fox shocks
- Fox airbumps front and rear... don't like the compressed height of rear speedbumps - don't want to lose that much compression. I have all the gear needed to charge shocks and airbumps etc... from tuning airshocks on the buggy.
- Fox steering stabilizer... just to round out the foxiness
- New front driveshaft I guess... maybe rear in time
- Flat black Procomp 7069 alloy wheels (17x9, 4.75" backspacing) for the JK, steel procomp 98's for the trailer (same style, but steel rather than alloy).
- Mickey Thompson MTZ's for JK and trailer (315/70/R17 for JK which are about 34.6x12.4"... and 285/70/R17 for the trailer... 33x11.5's, they will only warranty the trailer up to 33" tires).
- AEV Procal, and an Aeroforce gauge... recalibrating for tire size change, and all the other stuff to boot
- DBOR flat fender to cover the tires
- Hothead liners
- Grab handles (the poly ones, steel) and a weld on side step kit for the rubi rails... so the Mrs can get into the JK!
- Artec front D44 axle brace kit
- AEV snorkel
- compressor - I use a portable one, wired an anderson plug onto it so I can run it fron the power outlet on the back of the JK (for the trailer power)... that way I can reach all the JK tires, AND the trailer tires for airing up duties.

That's enough stuff for now... let the build begin.

(I will be selling lots of stuff - brand new some, almost new other - as the build progresses, so watch out on the for sale section for stuff like the 2013 upgraded soft-top with spring assist, 2013 Rubicon wheels and tires, stock suspension stuff etc)

[FireTruck]

So... for reference, here is how it begins...

[HGR]

Sounds awesome mate, I like that colour

[lifted TJ]

Brand spanker. Looking forward to the build

[FireTruck]

Start with the small stuff, while I wait for the bigger stuff to arrive...

Installed the UHF and electric brake controller... very happy with how these turned out, both tucked away and easy to access. Neither rub or touch my leg (or the Mrs... who is shorter so different seat posi), and the storage areas are all still fully accessable and available.



Head set of the UHF went under the seat... tucked away, but clear enough to still get some volume from the speaker. Given the hand-set also has a speaker, there is plenty of volume (and you can hold the handset near your ear if it really noisy).



Ran the antenna off a light bracket (KC I think), through the cowel etc... I have a stubby extension (maybe 2.1 DB) on the way to run around town and for general stuff, will keep this longer puppy (6.5 DB) for the wide open spaces... the stubby will be right at roof height.





The UHF antenna bracket matched the angle of the radio antenna quite nicely...

[FireTruck]

One more shot of the P3 brake controller wiring and clearance...



And a couple of the relay and fuse box... 4 x relays, and 6 x fuses (and 1 big fuse for the main input):





...should have mentioned that relays 1&2 are switching to ground (locker over-rides), 3&4 are switching to +ve (LED lights).