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bigwalton's new Jeep: "The Colonel" - 2018 Rubicon Recon JKU

bigwalton

bigwalton

Alaskan Postal nutjob
FORUM MANAGER
SOA Member
City
Dexter
State
MI
We're about to do something monumentally stupid and completely awesome. Letting y'all know before the general public. Deal is done, just need them to send me the paperwork to sign/return Monday. (If you're friends with me on FB, please don't mention it there yet.)

Colonel Set up cropped.jpg
(note that this is a slightly older picture than the current setup but it still has everything attached to the Jeep just with BFG KMs and stubby bumper ends, leveling rocks not included.)

So we're going to replace our '05 LJR with this 2018 Rubicon Recon (yes, the LJ will be for sale shortly along with the Safari Cab :eek: :banghead:).

Flying to AZ for the kid's spring break to pick it up, exploring around the area for a few days and driving it home. Been a while since I did a Fly-n-Drive. (https://www.rockcrawler.com/trailreports/postalcj8/index.asp - click the dots in the upper left corner to get between reports).

A Colonel owns it, bought it new in PA in 2018. Had almost everything done at OK4WD in two phases inside of a month in early 2019 and then drove it out to AZ where it's been ever since. 67k miles with some trail scratches and one small dent at the bottom of the body in the passenger front corner behind the wheel.

The build list is kind of insane...
Colonel 2018 Recon Build Sheet.jpg

A number of things will come off of it when it gets home to sell off to recoup costs. Don't intend to keep this set up as an overland rig.

Found two build posts from the OK4WD blog:
ok4wd.com

Online Garage: 2018 Jeep JKU

OK Auto, 4WD & Tire has 40+ years of 4x4 off-road and performance experience. We sell and install everything that will enhance your car. Shop with us today!
ok4wd.com ok4wd.com
ok4wd.com

Online Garage: 2018 Jeep JKU

OK Auto, 4WD & Tire has 40+ years of 4x4 off-road and performance experience. We sell and install everything that will enhance your car. Shop with us today!
ok4wd.com ok4wd.com

Pictures:
exterior - drivers side view.jpg

exterior - front left corner.jpg

exterior - front right corner view.jpg

kitchen - deployed.jpg

kitchen - stowed.jpg

Can't get over how clean that frame rail is in this one. OME shocks are remote reservoir adjustable units.
underside - OME shock.jpg

underside - skid plates.jpg
 
The whole setup is pretty nice on that thing. I plan to do a little overlanding, but I like to go simpler and lighter. I do like those refrigerators,
 
Belizeit said:
The whole setup is pretty nice on that thing. I plan to do a little overlanding, but I like to go simpler and lighter. I do like those refrigerators,
Click to expand...
I’m the first to say that they went too big on the Jeep if they wanted to camp/overland. I would have kept it to 33s max. It’s like they realized they were going too big and tried to make up for it by opting for aluminum where possible and a synthetic winch line.

The refrigerator/freezers are total game changers. The idea of ice in a cooler horrifies me now. Nothing wet, no finding ice to refill, just set whatever temp you want and go. I have two Dometic units smaller than this ARB. I may sell one of them and keep this because it’s so much larger. We actually have used them in the house around Thanksgiving for extra inside fridge space. Did a friend’s daughter’s graduation party ice cream bar on their deck in June heat with the ice cream completely frozen in the Dometic all day.
 
Yeah probably will have to get one of those refrigerators. Maybe just a little smaller. That searching for ice in the summer every couple days gets old.
 
Belizeit said:
Yeah probably will have to get one of those refrigerators. Maybe just a little smaller. That searching for ice in the summer every couple days gets old.
Click to expand...
And if you honestly do the math on a cooler used over a few years, especially larger ones, that ice adds up and makes the math work. Convenience is just a bonus at that point. (Well, at the Dometic’s price point anyway, the ARB, maybe a decade)
 
That thing is dead sexy, congrats. My DD/wheeling rig is an 18 JKU Rubicon (see bio pic). We have a small Dometic fridge too that splits time between our small camper trailer and the Jeep when I'm out for a full day. As mentioned above, game changer.
 
That’s awesome, congrats! That will take you and your family all over the country. Can’t wait too see the adventures to come.
 
Looks like a great rig. I think we will all be sad to see your LJ go. IMO that is one of the best looking LJs out there. Also always love a fly out drive home story.
 
sdsupilot said:
I think we will all be sad to see your LJ go. IMO that is one of the best looking LJs out there.
Click to expand...
Yeah, no doubt. It was going to take something crazy to make me ever want to sell the LJ, this qualifies on my scale.

There's another aspect of things going into this that involves our soon-to-be 16 year old being really freaked out about the idea of driving the stick shift in the TJ we got. She wants to keep in the Renegade until she's more comfortable with driving in general and learn the stick more gradually. Without getting into the weeds, that made things a bit complicated with the wife driving into Ann Arbor daily and two manual Jeeps for her (one on 37s). She can drive them, but she doesn't want to be doing it day in and out in commuter traffic on back roads with lots of stop lights. The TJ is also very small for shopping trips and dealing with more than one passenger (something we actually liked for the kid ;) )

We'd been contemplating that situation and what to do about it longer term, this is a very interesting (albeit rather impractical and financially illogical :rotfl: ) solution. The idea that the wife is as excited or more excited about this than me is pretty cool, so I'm just striking while the iron is hot :smokin:
 
Nice build... I love my LJ, but our JKURx rides nice... I have the ARB refrigerator and think is one of the best mods... we use it for trips or even groceries... still thinking about roof tent, hard shell looks nice
4B5DF0C4-B8B5-4E6B-BC4A-DD07BC634140.jpeg
 
rubclt said:
Nice build... I love my LJ, but our JKURx rides nice... I have the ARB refrigerator and think is one of the best mods... we use it for trips or even groceries... still thinking about roof tent, hard shell looks nice
View attachment 91977
Click to expand...
Good looking JKUR!

They are worst money pits than the Scrambler's Are!IMG_5064.JPG
 
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