Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler JK shifters

What did you do to your JK today?

Frankly, the 392 is the thing that sold me. I love our JK's, and we're keeping hers, but every time I do a road trip over one of our passes I get annoyed at the amount of time my M6 spends in4th. Or 3rd.
Here's a little pic the dealer sent me.
View attachment 128141

Is this a dealer build ?
Looks amazing and ready to go .
 
We did it. We traded this:
IMG_0790.JPG
for this:
IMG_7255.JPG
A 2023 Wrangler Rubicon 392 on 37x13.5x17 Toyo Open Country MTs on forged KG1 beadlocks. There's room for 40's, according to the PO. Metalbilt bumpers, flares, liners, and sliders. 10K Warn. KC Gravity LED Pro 8. Rock lights. A bit under 12,000 miles. The engine is the 470HP/470Lb/ft 392 Hemi. The PO was the service manager at the dealer. They're a high end shop; the lot was filled with things like a Viper, a 911 Turbo convertible, several Cybertrucks (of which I am not a fan, I call those brushed steel monstrosities "Deplorians", a Lamborghini Urus, etc.

On the way home, we saw this stellar example of redneck engineering. The thing on the roof is a wedge, presumably so he can leave the tent up while driving...
IMG_7262[1].JPG
 
We did it. We traded this:
View attachment 128204
for this:
View attachment 128205
A 2023 Wrangler Rubicon 392 on 37x13.5x17 Toyo Open Country MTs on forged KG1 beadlocks. There's room for 40's, according to the PO. Metalbilt bumpers, flares, liners, and sliders. 10K Warn. KC Gravity LED Pro 8. Rock lights. A bit under 12,000 miles. The engine is the 470HP/470Lb/ft 392 Hemi. The PO was the service manager at the dealer. They're a high end shop; the lot was filled with things like a Viper, a 911 Turbo convertible, several Cybertrucks (of which I am not a fan, I call those brushed steel monstrosities "Deplorians", a Lamborghini Urus, etc.

On the way home, we saw this stellar example of redneck engineering. The thing on the roof is a wedge, presumably so he can leave the tent up while driving...
View attachment 128206

Congrats! What are your first impressions??

I like the "Freightliner" badge on the back of that car/camper thing. 😂
 
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Is this a dealer build ?
Looks amazing and ready to go .

The PO is the dealers service manager, but the dealer (Hurst Autoplex) has a custom building service. Run by the service manager and a couple of fabricators. They do nice work. He had take off the spare, which I asked him to mount. He did, but that left it without a plate. So he fabbed up a license plate holder that mounts in the tow hitch. Took like 10 minutes and looks great. Certainly welds better than I do.
 
Congrats! What are your first impressions??

I like the "Freightliner" badge on the back of that car/camper thing. 😂

So we put about 700 miles on it in the two days we've had it. We love it. Honestly, I feel like this is the engine every Wrangler should have. It's been named Zeus, and we will be taking it off road next weekend.
 
I'll preface my plan with this:
I can't remember the last time, if there was a last time, I've ever heard my high speed cooling fan run.

Started over the weekend, but I either never saw the temp rise, or I missed it before the fan kicked on high. Nevertheless, I took it out this morning and drove 10 miles down the interstate with JScan showing me normal temps until I got off and onto a city street. It slowly crept up to 235 or so when the fan kicked up.

2014 JKU 3.6 with 140k miles. No codes.

Admittedly, it's been a minute since I checked the coolant level, so I'll check that and add as necessary and see what happens. I replaced the t-stat a few years ago when it was sticking open. I did notice the temp got up to where it normally runs much quicker than usual this morning. I'll also check the t-stat and make sure it's opening when it should.
 
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Once I got done tinkering with the coolant situation, I had these to replace:

1728338742090.png


And guess what? They work! My visors aren't flopping all over the place anymore. I had been using electrical tape wrapped around that steel pin, but saw these on Amazon for $6, so what the hell...
 
Once I got done tinkering with the coolant situation, I had these to replace:

View attachment 128220

And guess what? They work! My visors aren't flopping all over the place anymore. I had been using electrical tape wrapped around that steel pin, but saw these on Amazon for $6, so what the hell...

Great fix.

But if they work so well, why do they make you buy 4 of them? :unsure:
 
Once I got done tinkering with the coolant situation, I had these to replace:

View attachment 128220

And guess what? They work! My visors aren't flopping all over the place anymore. I had been using electrical tape wrapped around that steel pin, but saw these on Amazon for $6, so what the hell...

My visors were in the back of the Jeep when I purchased mine . Never bothered to put ‘‘em on .
 
We did it. We traded this:
View attachment 128204
for this:
View attachment 128205
A 2023 Wrangler Rubicon 392 on 37x13.5x17 Toyo Open Country MTs on forged KG1 beadlocks. There's room for 40's, according to the PO. Metalbilt bumpers, flares, liners, and sliders. 10K Warn. KC Gravity LED Pro 8. Rock lights. A bit under 12,000 miles. The engine is the 470HP/470Lb/ft 392 Hemi. The PO was the service manager at the dealer. They're a high end shop; the lot was filled with things like a Viper, a 911 Turbo convertible, several Cybertrucks (of which I am not a fan, I call those brushed steel monstrosities "Deplorians", a Lamborghini Urus, etc.

On the way home, we saw this stellar example of redneck engineering. The thing on the roof is a wedge, presumably so he can leave the tent up while driving...
View attachment 128206

That’s a great looking Jeep
I understand it has narrow flares . From the photo it looks like wheels stick out quite far .
Do the wheels have minimal backspacing or are the Dana 44 axles on a JL hemi wider than say a Rubicon ?
 
I'll preface my plan with this:
I can't remember the last time, if there was a last time, I've ever heard my high speed cooling fan run.

Started over the weekend, but I either never saw the temp rise, or I missed it before the fan kicked on high. Nevertheless, I took it out this morning and drove 10 miles down the interstate with JScan showing me normal temps until I got off and onto a city street. It slowly crept up to 235 or so when the fan kicked up.

2014 JKU 3.6 with 140k miles. No codes.

Admittedly, it's been a minute since I checked the coolant level, so I'll check that and add as necessary and see what happens. I replaced the t-stat a few years ago when it was sticking open. I did notice the temp got up to where it normally runs much quicker than usual this morning. I'll also check the t-stat and make sure it's opening when it should.

Did you sort out possible over heating ?
 
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That’s a great looking Jeep
I understand it has narrow flares . From the photo it looks like wheels stick out quite far .
Do the wheels have minimal backspacing or are the Dana 44 axles on a JL hemi wider than say a Rubicon ?

I'm not sure. I know the 392 D44 is beefier than the regular Rubicon, but I do not think they're longer. I'll measure the backspacing when I get the chance.
 
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Did you sort out possible over heating ?

It took a little less than 1/2 gallon of coolant in the radiator and I added little to the reservoir to get it to the max cold line. That's all on me. I keep a calendar to check my fluids, typically when I change the oil. But, now that I'm retired, I'm not driving the Jeep anywhere near as much as I was before. I simply wasn't paying attention and it's probably been 6-8 months since I checked the coolant.
 
@Speartip, I looked at the spare today and it's got about 5" of backspacing. Admittedly, that's an eyeball measurement, but it'll be close. And I found that the axles are about 1.5" wider on the 392 models. Combine that with the Motobilt flares, and I think that's what you're seeing.
 
@Speartip, I looked at the spare today and it's got about 5" of backspacing. Admittedly, that's an eyeball measurement, but it'll be close. And I found that the axles are about 1.5" wider on the 392 models. Combine that with the Motobilt flares, and I think that's what you're seeing.

Ok 1.5” . That may be what I’m seeing and yeah the flares can def change the look .
 
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Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler JK shifters