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Sarge Green Cali in Bakersfield CA

bakobobby

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I'll try and keep this all updated with latest modifications. Going to be doing various things camping, hunting, dunes, trails here in California and where ever I can roam. Feel free to drop me a line on how anything I have listed here is working out. Cheers!
Jeep Gladiator Sarge Green Cali in Bakersfield CA 4806F208-DC0C-4D2F-87AC-4D1EA7126911.JPG

Jeep Gladiator Sarge Green Cali in Bakersfield CA IMG_5508

Jeep Gladiator Sarge Green Cali in Bakersfield CA IMG_5968

Modifications (TODO on order):

Suspension & Steering
  • Teraflex 4.5" ST4 suspension system
    • We had to order all the bits included in this kit separately, made the following changes from the stock kit:
      • The front sway bar disco kit was not great, and with Motobilt Tomahawk bumper decided to go with front Anti-Rock.
      • The new rear sway bar kit was backordered. Going with Anti-Rock instead since it'll mate better with the front... its like 2x the price tho :puke:
  • Teraflex Alpine IR long arm and bracket kit
  • Falcon sp2 3.5 eAdapt shocks
  • Synergy ball joints
  • RockJock Anti-Rock front and rear
  • RockJock CurrectLync steeing w/ iron high steer knuckles (ordered)
  • RockJock front and rear track bars
  • Teraflex front shock perches (ordered)
  • Teraflex 1” rear spring spacers (ordered)
  • Bilstein 5100 steering stabilizer
Utility
  • Tazer mini w/ extension cable
  • ARB twin compressor
  • ARB Air locker activation system just for lockers smaller quieter less stuff to fail
  • ARB Linxaccessory controller (controls lockers, lights, monitors things like air pressure and battery)
    • ARB Linx bracket for JL/JT mounts Linx nicely on the bottom of grab handle
  • Driver side proximity entry door handle and harness
  • Ram mount rail and the...
    • xgrip for cell phone
    • Swivel mount for action cam
  • 3W all weather floor mats. Fit perfectly I'm pretty happy with em.
  • Tyger 3 panel fold up tonneau cover. Cheap but its something to cover stuff until...
  • I get a Smartcap (backordered)
  • GoRhino XRS Rack - got a deal on the XRS rack should be good enough for storage needs saved over $2500 not going Smartcap buy more parts!
  • $2.99 Harbor Freight 1lb rubber mallet to get sway bars links on and off. Went antirocks... when it comes to disconnects I am not a fan
  • DV8 tire carrier. So I can carry my full size spare. Also doing 5 tire rotation nice to have them all handy.
  • ICECO cooler/fridge
  • Bluetti EB70s power station
Gearing
  • ARB 32 spline air lockers front and back
  • Yukon 5.13 re-gear master kit
Armor
  • Artec front armor kit (truss, c-gussets, front LCAs)
  • Artec rear truss
  • Artec belly skid (on order)
  • Artec JL/JT Front Inner Fenders for Falcon shocks
  • Artec JT Rear Inner Fenders
  • Artec FAD skid
  • Rock-hard rear LCA and shock skids
  • Teraflex sport frame HD reinforcement
  • Rock-Slide Engineering step sliders
  • Rock-slide Engineering slider skids.
    • The sliders don't hold up to any real abuse. Mine got bent up in a few sections. Steps still work and should be able to bend things back out and install these and no more issues I hope.
  • Motobilt Tomahawk front bumper with bull bar. Requires frame chop lots of approach angle added :rock:
  • Motobilt Crusher rear bumper. Was this or the FabFours JT wanted something that wraps all the way round to the rear fenders. (install eta ???)
  • G2 Axle & Gear Hammer differential covers front and back
Tires, Wheels, and Brakes
Lighting
Engine
  • K&N Reusable Filter
Recovery
  • Warn Evo 10s winch
  • Bulldog 3" x 30ft recovery strap
  • Cheap Amazonk d-rings
  • Amazonk no name tree saver 3" x 8ft
  • Hi-lift jack found one that sorta fits my Jeep's color
  • MZS Winch Snatch Recovery Ring
  • Rhino USA soft shackle
Stuff I'm thinking about
  • Powertank 15 gallon setup
  • Two or four ActionTrax
  • PRP seats
  • Motobilt highline fenders seen them in person they are really stout and well made maybe a worry about legality of what is essentially the g-string of fenders
  • Shorten the exhaust in back
    • Removed the spare tire bits and the exhaust back there is sticking out
  • Basket for rack, or the ARB BASE rack which is kinda a basket. Maybe redundant?
  • More armor
    • Artec/Barnes FAD armor
    • Artec/Barnes/Motobilt full undercarriage skids
  • Apex steering boost kit
  • Steering stabilizer relocation (Synergy unless anybody has a better rec?)
  • Fox or Falcon steering stabilizer
  • Control arms. Either the Teraflex Alpine IR kit or the soon to come out IR long arm kit.
  • Upgrades axle shafts
  • Axles, ,way down the road…
    • Dstrac axles and 40” tires
      • Portal axles would be rad
    • Fusion axles and 40" tires
  • Some sort of fridge option
  • Terra Acoustics upgrade to front speakers Infinity were cheap and sound plenty good IMO
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bakobobby

bakobobby

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Many hours of calling and emailing vendors nationwide... I give up. The Falcon shocks of all sorts are not coming anytime soon. I still want to go with the 3.5s auto adjust setup and have kept them on order. Until they come (next year?) I'll run some Fox 2.0 IFP shocks which we ordered today and should be here tomorrow.

Plan is to do first round of install this week. I'll be dropping the JT off at my local 4wheelparts where we'll get (most of) the suspension sorted out. The rear sway bar kit is still backordered (probably for some time) so it'll get installed at a later date. We ordered the ST4 kit a la carte which cost a bit more $$$. It also means we had ordered the 4.5" spring base kit which comes with rear end links that we'd be missing due to ST4 kits normally omitting them. That'll allow us to do the install this week.

Ordering the ST4 kit separately means once the suspension all in I'll have some 4.5" front and rear swaybar links. Had to order the disconnect kit separately and the rear swaybar kit replaces the rear ones. Thats it though. Think the cost was maybe a $100ish more but given the supplies of things these days gotta do what you gotta do.

Another unfortunate thing is we'll be waiting on the Grim bracket kit for the compressor. So that means we won't install the ARB compressor or the Linx this round. For round one we are going to install the ARB lockers with the gears, run the fittings on the axles and cap them off. When the bracket comes install round 2 will include the ARB compressor, air lines to the axles and Linx. Likely by then to add some driving lights and maybe a light bar and integrate it all in with the Linx. Sadly I won't be locking anything until then.

The axles will come out and the Artec trusses and c-gussets will be going in.

Rock-slide engineering slider steps will be going on.

One last cool thing. I'd been looking for a bumper. I found one nearby and its one I can live with. Its the Motobilt Tomahawk which is a frame chop super tight bumper. The 4wheelparts guys will be getting it powder coated for me and installing it. I ordered a Warn Evo 10 to go with it.
 

jn18

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What is the reason for the shortages/backordered equipment? Just supply chain issues?

And this build is going to be awesome man.
 
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bakobobby

bakobobby

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What is the reason for the shortages/backordered equipment? Just supply chain issues?
I was told that there are a number of issues. One was the company that fabs the circuit board for the brain of the eAdjust went belly up during covid. Kinda major they'll have to find a new supplier for that and work it into the production. Makes sense why there is a looong wait time. There also are some little parts that go into the sp2 in general that are undersupplied which is causing stalling on the whole line being built. From what I can tell, and this is 100% my take, they are giving preference to certain versions of the sp2's like the lower lift size and/or JL wranglers.

And this build is going to be awesome man.
Thanks! It has been a dream to mine to build something like this. There'll be more to come, stay tuned should have some major changes in a bit over a week to post up.
 
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bakobobby

bakobobby

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What is the reason for the shortages/backordered equipment? Just supply chain issues?

And this build is going to be awesome man.
Also that's a hell of a garage you got. How you liking the GTR Pro?
 

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jn18

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Also that's a hell of a garage you got. How you liking the GTR Pro?
Haha thanks man.

I really like it. Just north of 25,000km (15,000 miles) on it now. A lot of it is track time. Replaced the seat, harness, put a roll cage in and some other track essentials. It's been a really solid car so far. I slap snow tires on it every year and was driving it a week and a half ago in the snow and broke the power steering unit. That wasn't great.

The GT500 is likely on its way out to make room for the Gladiator. I had a JL and a Raptor that I've decided to downsize into one. Market conditions were too good to not sell them. Crazy the values of used vehicles currently in Canada.

I am super curious what you think of the Linx controller. I just googled it. Looks really slick. I had no idea such a thing existed. The onboard compressor is (imo) genius as well. I will be stealing some of your ideas and claiming them as my own :) haha
 
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bakobobby

bakobobby

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It's been a really solid car so far. I slap snow tires on it every year and was driving it a week and a half ago in the snow and broke the power steering unit. That wasn't great.
Sounds like you know how to enjoy your vehicles 😜 Gonna make a proper Gladiator owner lol.

Those Raptors are insanely priced right now. I looked into them over two years ago and thought hell no with the markup but I could have sold for probably $10k or more over what I paid right now had I gone for it.

WRT the Linx, its really way ahead of the competition IMO. Some folks will complain that it doesn't include a relay board like a sPod system does, but honestly thats semantics. Any accessory you buy will already include its own relay, hooking into the Linx is straightforward and you only have to do it once. For the same number of inputs/outputs the sPod is way more expensive.

It has crazy cool features like being able to turn on/off accessory lights when you flip on the hi-beams or low-beams, create groups of lights to flip on and off together, set accessory lights to stick on for a time before turning off after turning off ignition, air features like setting a point to stop compressor when tire reaches a pressure, setting tire pressure profiles for on/off/towing, integration with air suspension systems so you can create various profiles and swap (off road, on road, on road w/ trailer etc etc), battery monitoring for 3 batteries out of the box etc etc. I think it really shines for those overlanding types, which I'm not one of, but still was more appealing than something like the sPod or the knockoff. There is way more its a really killer setup IMO. Looking forward to getting it installed and playing with it.
 

jn18

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Sounds like you know how to enjoy your vehicles 😜 Gonna make a proper Gladiator owner lol.

Those Raptors are insanely priced right now. I looked into them over two years ago and thought hell no with the markup but I could have sold for probably $10k or more over what I paid right now had I gone for it.

WRT the Linx, its really way ahead of the competition IMO. Some folks will complain that it doesn't include a relay board like a sPod system does, but honestly thats semantics. Any accessory you buy will already include its own relay, hooking into the Linx is straightforward and you only have to do it once. For the same number of inputs/outputs the sPod is way more expensive.

It has crazy cool features like being able to turn on/off accessory lights when you flip on the hi-beams or low-beams, create groups of lights to flip on and off together, set accessory lights to stick on for a time before turning off after turning off ignition, air features like setting a point to stop compressor when tire reaches a pressure, setting tire pressure profiles for on/off/towing, integration with air suspension systems so you can create various profiles and swap (off road, on road, on road w/ trailer etc etc), battery monitoring for 3 batteries out of the box etc etc. I think it really shines for those overlanding types, which I'm not one of, but still was more appealing than something like the sPod or the knockoff. There is way more its a really killer setup IMO. Looking forward to getting it installed and playing with it.

Thanks for that info. Looking forward to seeing the build as it progresses. The Linx seems like a must have. What a slick piece of tech.
 
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bakobobby

bakobobby

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Taking the rig into the shop tomorrow morning. Picked up the tomahawk today and its incredibly built. It really is an instrument of destruction reminds me of one my dad made my brother and me when we were kids. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of it. In addition to the good luck finding the bumper I also got an email about the Grim twin compressor bracket. It'll be here Friday :clap: This means we'll be able to get the ARB lockers and onboard air operational. Just have the linx mounting bracket, sway bar kit, and someday the Falcon 3.5s to go.
 

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bakobobby

bakobobby

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Some shots sent to me today. Out of town will pickup on Monday really looking forward to it.

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E04C1243-F913-4EEC-A437-28E0E6FE7796.jpeg


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C0A3ABF8-9D99-400A-97B1-A9DB1AE596DF.jpeg
 

PJZ

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Looks great! Waiting on my sarge green JTRD to come in. Should be in a few weeks.
Intertested to hear your thoughts on the ARB Linx when you get it installed. On my short list for all the reasons you mentioned.
 
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bakobobby

bakobobby

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Looks great! Waiting on my sarge green JTRD to come in. Should be in a few weeks.
Intertested to hear your thoughts on the ARB Linx when you get it installed. On my short list for all the reasons you mentioned.
Thanks! It really turned out as good or better than I expected. I will be doing a bunch of flow ups on the Linx, air lockers the compressor setup using the Grim brackets and other bits. Linx is still fairly new compared to other options and doesn’t seem many folks are running it.
 
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PJZ

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Agree, not too much real world info on the Linx set up. Planning to use it to control a separate lithium and lighting while camping, air bags, air up/down, and some additional drive lighting if needed.
 
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bakobobby

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Agree, not too much real world info on the Linx set up. Planning to use it to control a separate lithium and lighting while camping, air bags, air up/down, and some additional drive lighting if needed.
It should do real good for that. I think you probably have better use case than I do. I will update soon just picked up the rig today.
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