Lee's Jeep '25 JL Wrangler Build

[Lee]

So I did a thing, convinced myself a new JL Wrangler would make a great 'Life style' vehicle to commute to work in.
I've had a few convertibles in the past and I thought something that allowed me to open it up and enjoy the outdoors on the commute home was a good idea.
My thinking was I'm going to drive it too death, 50 miles one way, five round trips a week totaling around 30k miles a year.
It will be well on its way to being toast in five years.

A Miata would be easy to drop the top and fun on the country back roads I take to work.
But winter would suck, some of the roads I drive don't get plowed for a few days after a snow - the more snow the longer it takes.

I have always liked the idea of a 3 wheel car, and Polaris makes the Slingshot.
The styling is a bit polarizing - I don't like it but it ticks the open air and 3 wheel boxes.
But it doesn't even make a pretense of sealing out rain.
So convincing my wife I needed to get 2 cars seamed like a non starter.

The Jeep Wrangler ticks the open air and winter driving boxes.
And what's not to like about a Wrangler?
So two weeks ago I bought a new Wrangler JL Sport with the base soft top, Pentastar V6 and a manual transmission.

Traded in the wife's Honda HR-V, it was a nice car, great commuter, loads of room for a small car and really no hassle to maintain.
But the car I was driving is a company car so I couldn't trade it in.

The plan for the Jeep is to drive it.
Get a bike rack to carry my bike so I can stop and exercise on the way home from work.
(Mopar receiver and bike rack already installed but it's been too cold (by my standard at least) to ride.)
And probably some soft doors so I can pull the doors for the drive home when it's nice out.
Wasn't really planning to do an overland build...

 

[Lee]

I have a full size truck build for overlanding.
I don't daily it, usually I get 2 or 3 big trips in a year, last year I made it to Colorado twice and Tennessee twice as well a few local trips in Ohio.
Build thread here:

Lee's '04 Chevy Silverado 2500HD and Radica MoonLander camping shell

In a nut shell When I start to read a build thread I always wonder if this is one that will hold my attention or not. I'm not saying some are bad, just some are not for me. (If it gets you out of the house and away from work it's all good) But it's just a little frustrating when I read 5 pages...

forum.expeditionportal.com

In doing my truck build I keep an Excel file open on my work computer, when I see something or think of something I make a note to circle back to later.
As an example, in this document is a tab for built in air compressors.
There are no bolt in mounts for a 20 year old Chevy, but I have lots of pictures and web sites tagged for interesting looking mounts and systems.
But for the Jeep every mount out there fits in a Jeep (well, almost).
How am I not supposed to think about what could be...

I see a build 'lite' in my future.
I would love to schedule it in to AEV and throw money at it.
It would be worth every penny in my book.
AEV works with two different OEMs and has a better understanding of what OEM integration is.
FYI - I am a 30 year R&D design engineer for a transplant OEM (and man dose a stock Wrangler Sport stick out in there parking lot).
Instead I will add some functional parts, try to keep the weight down and do some local trips with it.
- Bull bar and because of the deer.
- 33" skinnies.
- 2~3 inch lift.
- Winch with the Yankum Rope fairlead (no hook/no metal parts on the end of the rope).
- On baord Air and a traction board mount for the yearly family vacation to the outer banks.

Saw this taped to the wall next to the Jeep salesman's desk:


At the time I thought it was funny so I took a picture.
Now I'm thinking 'I could really use the deduction'.

A quick story about the new car buying process.
When I got to the dealership it was raining so I ducked inside to wait for my wife (we drove sperate).
An older sales guy asks me if he could help me, I explained I was waiting for my wife.

When she arrived we went up to the desk and the next sales guy in line started looking for the vehicle I saw on-line (not a lot of manual transmission Jeeps available in Dayton, Springfield, Columbus Ohio - only 2 I found).
The vehicle I was interested in was down the street at the Ram dealership where they do all the service work.
The Jeep had just arrived on a dealer trade and they where going to install a Lo-Jack (there insurance company requires it - or so they said) and a lift and big tires.
But they would be happy to sell it to me.

Young sales guy has the older guy I spoke with before drive him down the street.
A few minutes later the older guy is pulling the Jeep up in front.
The kid didn't know how to drive a stick - the older guy got the sale.

 

[grogie]

Congratulations on the two-door JL!

I'm the original owner of a Jeep TJ, which I'll never sell. Nothing better then a two door! I have both a hard top (for trips) and soft top for around the house in the summer months.