My JKU build

[BLACKJKU]

I figured I would put my JKU and what I've done and going to do on here since i'm now a member. It's a 2008 that spent it's first 11 years in Ontario Canada, it only had 72,000 miles on it and is a 6 speed manual trans. I've always wanted one of these Jeeps every since I first saw them but the price was alot more then I wanted to spend for a vehicle. The biggest issue with buying a newer vehicle was having everything on the engine controlled buy some sort or a electronic item that could fail. I decided that if I was to get a manual trans that would at least eliminate 1 possible thing that could cause me a problem. Here is a picture of the ugly front bumper that was on it along with the 35" tires and it also had a 12,000 lb winch and 4 round lights on top of the light bar, winch and lights were already removed when I took picture and I guess I don't have one with them.

 

[BLACKJKU]

I found a new bumper for 1/2 price at Extreme Terrain along with a new grill for 1/2 price in the open box sales. The Factory grill was messed up from the winch cable. I didn't like how far out the bumpers set and since I wasn't having a winch I decided to move the bumper back as close to the front as I could. I cut 2.5" off the front of the frame where the bumper bolts up and then made new mounting brackets. I also found some 2019 JLU 255/70/18 take offs with low miles installed them and also removed the extra width Bushwacker fenders and replaced them with the Factory size Bushwacker fenders.

 

[Chris]

Is that a vinyl wrap, or did you repaint it matte black?

 

[BLACKJKU]

Is that a vinyl wrap, or did you repaint it matte black?

It was like that when I bought it, the Matte black is painted. I thought it was original until I found out that Matte Black isn't Factory and when I lifted up some carpet it was a dark blue. Even the engine compartment was painted whoever did it done it right. The bull on the sides is a decal.

 

[Chris]

It was like that when I bought it, the Matte black is painted. I thought it was original until I found out that Matte Black isn't Factory and when I lifted up some carpet it was a dark blue. Even the engine compartment was painted whoever did it done it right. The bull on the sides is a decal.

Very cool! Sounds like someone had it repainted the right way. I can't stand when I see people do it with rattle cans, it never comes out looking that good.

 

[BLACKJKU]

I figured there was about $5,000 worth of add ons that some PO had put on it.

 

[BLACKJKU]

Also it had a bad exhaust leak that I couldn't figure where it was coming from, someone had put shorty headers on it and a custom exhaust. I decided to buy some BBK long tube headers and high flow cats along with a AFE cat back exhaust. Since it had 72 thousand miles on and was throwing 02 codes I also bought all new NTK sensors.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TT27HPV/?tag=jkforum-20

After driving it I kept getting downstream sensor codes and found out it was from the high flow cats, I bought some o2 sensor foolers and never had another code from them.

I also bought a Hypertech tuner so that I could reset my speedometer after going from 35's to the stock tires. Another feature of the Hypertech was that I could shutoff the TPMS which was causing me problems because the new wheels had the newer sensors in that was a different frequency. There is another feature of the Hypertech that will be done in next update.

 

[Chris]

Another cool fact: with HPTuners MPVI2, you can access the PCM directly and disable the post cat O2 sensors entirely, thus allowing you to remove the cats completely without any check engine lights or poor performance.

Of course this would only work if you are in a county that doesn't do inspections. I'm lucky to live in one of those counties

 

[BLACKJKU]

We don't have inspections either, which i'm also very glad.

 

[BLACKJKU]

I just got done swapping out my front coil springs, taking the lift off and going back to stock. Had I guy give me his old stock front and rear springs Friday. The fronts are 18's sure hope it makes it ride better then those lifted coils. Also put on some new Rancho 7000 series shocks on the front to match the ones I put on the rear right after I bought it.

 

[Chris]

Aside from good shocks, two major contributing factors for ride quality are the tire load rating and tire psi.

Many people are running around with E load rated tires on their Jeep Wranglers, which are a light truck tire, and definitely not meant for a vehicle the weight of a Jeep Wrangler. The proper tire load rating for a Wrangler is going to be a C load rating, and I wouldn't go any higher than a D.

I went from E load rated tires, to D, and then to C. The difference in ride quality is absolutely astounding, seriously. The much thicker sidewalls on the E rated tires definitely make for a much harsher ride.

In addition, most people run 35 psi or higher in their tires, which is generally way too much. 26-28 psi is what I recommend. Going from 35 to 26 psi is also an astounding difference in ride quality. I've been running 26 psi in my Wrangler's tires for years.

 

[BLACKJKU]

The way I like to gauge how much tire pressure to run is to fill them to what the tire says and then when I drive in my garage the dusty dirt from my floor will lay on the tread and show how much tire is on the road. If there isn't dust on the sides then deflate about 3-4 lbs of air and recheck the next time i'm out and back into the garage. That way the tires wear good and hopefully last longer.

 

[BLACKJKU]

I bought a Bed Rug for my rear door in hopes to make it a little quieter inside from the exhaust noise.

Also some Mopar door sill guards.

 

[BLACKJKU]

I wanted some more rear storage so I made a shelf in the rear, I had a old metal Milwaukee SawZall box that I bolted onto after painting it black. Inside I put a bottle jack and breaker bar with a socket for the lug nuts, I hate using the factory jack and tire tools.

Also wanted some more lighting in the rear and I remembered I had a extra LED licesnce plate light so I wired it into the rear dome light wires. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083Y0WL2/?tag=jkforum-20

My dog who thinks she has to go everywhere with me didn't like the slick console top so I got her a tire tread cover for it so she wouldn't slip off of it. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009DK7YQQ/?tag=jkforum-20

 

[Oscar-Mike]

I like the bed rug, will do that on mine soon.

 

[BLACKJKU]

Got a Viper TB and put on and then did the Premium fuel tune along with the Viper tune, did notice a slight improvement in Performance.

Also did a separate thread on my oil pressure gauge install but figured I might as well include it here also.

First picture is location on the left side of the block to install sender.

 

[BLACKJKU]

I bought some small blue LEDs to use for footwell lights so I found the yellow wire with the white stripe on it at the corner on the right side under the dash. The wire is the one with the red splice connector on it, sorry it doesn't really look yellow in the picture.

 

[Chris]

I had BedRug on my TJ and really liked it, I'll probably end up doing the same on the JK. It's much nicer than the factory carpet.

 

[BLACKJKU]

I went to my local Farm Store the other day and saw these trays that are made for dog cages, found one that's a perfect fit for the cargo area. The overall measurements of it is 26 3/4 x 41 1/4.