Maybe something different 2018 unlimited Kalahari addition

[ZONE ZERO]

What size lift, wheels, and tires are you running? It looks like you're not using wheel spacers with stock wheels, any rubbing?

not really a lift yet, i picked up a set of 255/85 r 17 Mickey Thompson ATs they run at 34.5 by 10.5 wide when mounted on the stock wheels with 32 psi in them I had no rub unless i turned hard and backed up. I eventually added an AEV spacer lift after the front bumper and winch . It’s sagged again but I’m not at final weight yet so I don’t want to add springs that are not right for the jeep and honestly I’m more interested in a high quality shock.
‘I’m looking hard at an old man emu heavy front and medium rear with bp 51s

I figured jeep spent millions working out the suspension and I’ve run all kinds of lifts over they years . Most of them fail after around 30-50k miles

 

[shays4me]

not really a lift yet, i picked up a set of 255/85 r 17 Mickey Thompson ATs they run at 34.5 by 10.5 wide when mounted on the stock wheels with 32 psi in them I had no rub unless i turned hard and backed up. I eventually added an AEV spacer lift after the front bumper and winch . It’s sagged again but I’m not at final weight yet so I don’t want to add springs that are not right for the jeep and honestly I’m more interested in a high quality shock.
‘I’m looking hard at an old man emu heavy front and medium rear with bp 51s

I figured jeep spent millions working out the suspension and I’ve run all kinds of lifts over they years . Most of them fail after around 30-50k miles

My last jku had an ome lift and it was just traded in by my buddy at 150k. I never heard one complaint from him about the lift I installed. Maybe a lot of them do fail but you get what you pay for.

 

[ZONE ZERO]

My last jku had an ome lift and it was just traded in by my buddy at 150k. I never heard one complaint from him about the lift I installed. Maybe a lot of them do fail but you get what you pay for.

I think your right, but cost doesn’t always equal quality one of the worst set of parts I even installed on a customers tundra was from king , I’ve also seen icon fail, metal cloak looks good but doesn’t last in salt and snowy conditions well
I love old man emu springs but their shock body’s rust and rot out fast too.

iver personal used everything from Rusty’s off road, rubicon express, clayton, off-road design to full AEV Kits. They all have short comings depending on application.

I probably need load carrying ability but not all the time my jeeps my daily driver and family hauler. If it was a more dedicated off reader I wouldn’t have gotten a jku I would i would have picked up an older tj or 2 door jk

 

[ZONE ZERO]

This was one of my favorite and most missed jeeps it was an 01 Cherokee 60th anniversary addition, it was loaded heated seats all the fun stuff.
I had it repainted did a new motor trans and t-case , rebuilt axles with lockers and on an old man emu kit with 255/85r16 it took me my wife and dog everywhere with no problems. we eventually sold it to build the 1010 camper and I picked up a 4 runner As a daily. we always talked about cutting the roof off to give it a pop top but the unibody was a pain in the butt.

 

[ZONE ZERO]

Well it’s coming along faster than I thought we’re doing final cad drawings this week and off to a cnc bench to get the plywood cut, hopefully I’ll be test fitting and starting a mold by the end of the month.

I’ll need to workout the glass and electrical for a defroster to hook into the factory harness.
the rear of the cage will be removed from the drivers cross bar back and extended up and out.
pics will be soon I hope.

I reached out to smittybilt about the rear lift glass I think it’s the same glass as the newer factory hard tops but I’m not sure. My thinking is if this works I can make one for a factory top too. anyone know if the glass is the same of if it’s a custom cut?

 

[AggieOE]

not really a lift yet, i picked up a set of 255/85 r 17 Mickey Thompson ATs they run at 34.5 by 10.5 wide when mounted on the stock wheels with 32 psi in them I had no rub unless i turned hard and backed up. I eventually added an AEV spacer lift after the front bumper and winch . It’s sagged again but I’m not at final weight yet so I don’t want to add springs that are not right for the jeep and honestly I’m more interested in a high quality shock.
‘I’m looking hard at an old man emu heavy front and medium rear with bp 51s

I figured jeep spent millions working out the suspension and I’ve run all kinds of lifts over they years . Most of them fail after around 30-50k miles

Oh wow! It looks like you still have a lot of wheel well space with those tires. Looks great! Although I love a stock Rubicon, I never liked how compromising the breakover angle was. As such, I also ran AEV spacers for a couple of years since the OEM suspension was still in great shape. It worked great to help get the mid-section up off the ground. I didn't want to go much taller when the shocks needed to be replaced but the best, shortest kit I found was AEV's full 2.5" kit with the geo-correction brackets. I can't say enough good things about this setup. I almost went with OME but AEV seemed more in line with OEM standards. Hard decision though.

 

[XWV304]

This was an idea I had for mounting a water can to the side of the factory hard top I believe the panel is from a company called furyengraver and was designed for a JL but with a bit of grinding and fitting it works great on a JK I also added a military defender collapsible jerry can holder. The can will have a pump , heater and water hose hooked up to it for us to rinse off with warm water. I’ll run them off a 12v or 18v Milwaukee battery.

Do you have any pictures of how you had these secured on the inside of the factory JKU roof?

Thanks.

 

[derkleinejeep]

Some interior pictures, I hope it shows the added size and usable space.
if I leave the roll cage alone I can have a shelf over the passenger area 7 inches tall . It would be good for lightweight items like sleeping bags and pillows. If not I’m going to rebuild the cage to hug the inter shape better.
anyone have an opinion?. My biggest complaint is the rear bar it’s in the way of the windows and the ability to sit up in the back .

Hi, your Jeep looks great.

Do you still search a solution for the rear bar?
There is a Jeep in Germany (not our Jeep) where the rear bar was replaced and set more in the back. There is a video in youtube where it's shown:

 

[ZONE ZERO]

Do you have any pictures of how you had these secured on the inside of the factory JKU roof?

Thanks.

sorry for the late reply my hole family ended up with the flu,

I don’t have pics from inside but I can tell you what I did and what I might do with the racks I have left if I don’t delete both rear windows on this top.
I used a full length of 3 inch wide by 35 inch long aluminum on the top and bottom of the window frame, I then used 1/4 inch hardware and washers to spread the load along the inside of the top. I could pull myself up and it would not even squeak . On the outside under the mounting surface I cut a mountain bike tire tube and made a gasket so the aluminum cleats from the rack would not damage the top or make any noise. I don’t think that’s nessary but at the time I thought it was a good idea.

I can take pics of the racks I have so you can see what you have to grind off and drill out to make them work on a JK.
just let me know.

 

[ZONE ZERO]

Hi, your Jeep looks great.

Do you still search a solution for the rear bar?
There is a Jeep in Germany (not our Jeep) where the rear bar was replaced and set more in the back. There is a video in youtube where it's shown:

thank you !!! That’s a great build I’ll definitely be watching what they have .
‘I’ve come up with a solution but the rear seat belts are causing the most trouble at the moment.

 

[ZONE ZERO]

So some slow update, had to take a last minute trip to ca. to see about rescuing a jeep j truck.

yesterday we started 3d printing some parts to see how they would fit
im going to get the plywood cut next week . I won’t bother with all the step by step pictures unless thats what you want to see I’m making more mistakes than I had thought I would but I want to get it right .

 

[shays4me]

Does it have the straight six in it? My first Jeep did and it was a boat anchor. 230 tornado with a three speed on the tree. The truck looks to be in great shape though!

 

[ZONE ZERO]

Does it have the straight six in it? My first Jeep did and it was a boat anchor. 230 tornado with a three speed on the tree. The truck looks to be in great shape though!

at some point a 350 was swapped into it, the front axle is a closed knuckle 44 . It’s in San Diego he had it striped to the metal to restore it over 10 years ago and it just sat it’s not missing anything it just need to be taken apart and restored. I’ll probably have it shipped out next year if he will part with it.

 

[ZONE ZERO]

Well waiting on, glass, rear defroster kit, and wiper motor . not much more to show or share.
I think this was the 3d or 4th change to the design.
I won’t have much more to add till the end of the month.
I think I might try to offer this as a kit if I can pull it off, I’ll be leaving the DOD within the year and I’ll need something to do.
it seems like there’s a small demand for this.

 

[ZONE ZERO]

Well it’s coming along, broke some glass, made some changes to the thickness of the material. This fits snug in the top and along the door.
It’s still just a 3d printed mock up but it makes it a lot faster to make changes by doing it like this. As you can see it’s in small sections, So we can print fast and add the changed pieces into the other finished design.
i Know it’s not much of an update but I figured it’s something.