Desert Bomber, Rock crawler, Highway jaunter

[DustyGladiator]

I guess i'll start with the origins story. I went from a 6" lifted Z-71 Silverado (Laticia) , to completely draining my wallet on at JK (Mila). After my wallet was empty, I missed the truck life so I went back to a pickup but this time a RAM 1500 (Michelle). I kept the RAM bone stock and after 45k miles were on it I missed the jeep life but I needed a truck. And that's where my newest Mojave (FloJo) comes in.

Sponsored

 

[DustyGladiator]

I didnt get pictures, but my first mod was a set of mirrors that I picked up from my local Auto Zone. My second "mod" was the Bak Revolver X4s, that I picked up from RealTruck with a nice forum discount. I quickly followed up with a set of 37's.

I picked up the wheels from Amazon and the tires from Discount Tire. I wanted to grab the wheels from Discount Tire, but just like everything else during the covid years, there was a stock issue. I wasn't willing to wait and I knew that I was eventually going to go with Hutchinson bead-locks, so grabbing something cheap in the meantime from Amazon fit the bill. For Tires I went with the same Falken Wildpeak A/T3W's that came on it from the factory, just in a 37x12.50 R20 size.

My tires and wheels arrived before my lift kit and when I went to Discount Tire to get the tires mounted, balanced, and installed the tech didn't want to do it. They didn't know what a Mojave was and whatever computer system they had said that the size tire I wanted would only work for a Rubicon. I tried explaining to them that the Mojave is 1" taller than the Rubicon but they weren't buying it. At the end, I excepted the responsibility of not fitting and they reluctantly mounted everything up. There were bets going around if the tires would actually fit. I wasn't worried though, because of this forum I knew I'd have no issues. They were doing their due diligence and protecting a customer so I wasn't mad. When all was said and done the tires fit with no rubbing and the techs learned something that day.

 

[DustyGladiator]

My next weekend of mods consisted of Go Rhino RB20 running boards (purchased from RealTruck), a shorty antenna (purchased form Amazon), and a Midland MXT275 micromobile GMRS radio purchased direct from Midland. (WRJJ423). I also figured that since I was going to be dealing with wiring, that it would be a good time to hard wire my Garmin dash cam tandem along with installing a triple ram mount ball holder.

(Still no lift)

All of the controls for the MX275 are on the handmic so I didn't have a need to access the main unit. Because of this I decided to mount the main unit behind my dash next to my firewall. I used a waterproof shielded CAT6 female to female thru coupler intended for bulkhead panel mounting.
On the outside I used Midland 3dB ghost antenna and a trunk lip mount.

 

[Discount Tire]

@DustyGladiator, thank you for your business. I'm glad to hear the store was accommodating to get your 37's mounted up on your Mohave. Not all extended fitments are in the system. I'm happy to hear they learned they fit.

What an awesome transition.

 

[BaileyW7]

Bold move putting an air freshener in a brand new car…

 

[DustyGladiator]

On the last weekend in october 2021 my lift kit finally arrived. At the time I didn't want to get rid of the fox 2.5's that the Mojave came with so I went with the Readylift 4" mojave edition terrain flex max lift. I woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to get things started. (as the pictures will tell, I should have looked at the weather report)

Had to get my son in on the wrenching.

Finished the front, and it was time to start on the rear. (ignore the window shades. My dog was was excited to be able to watch us put on the lift)

 

[DustyGladiator]

Bold move putting an air freshener in a brand new car…

What if its "New car smell" ?

 

[BaileyW7]

What if its "New car smell" ?

Even more aggressive lol. So much new

 

[DustyGladiator]

The rear was a lot wetter than the front. The rain moved in and made the weekend "fun". Not as many pictures of the rear as I just wanted to get it done and get in out of the rain.

 

[DustyGladiator]

I wasn't able to finish the lift on Sunday because I was missing a part. I only had one rear FOX 2.5 shock extension in my parts box. I contacted Readylift and they overnighted me the new part and I was able to finish on Monday.

With that said, the lift no longer fir under my rain cover once the lift was done.

 

[LordEnzo]

FYI, ur running boards r on the wrong sides. Go rhino tags go to the rear. Also, you'll notice they're wider at one end (go towards the front) to compensate for the taper of the glads body. It's will also help slightly reduce splash up. U can see in my pics, as well as manufacturer pics. Otherwise, looking good!

 

[DustyGladiator]

FYI, ur running boards r on the wrong sides. Go rhino tags go to the rear. Also, you'll notice they're wider at one end (go towards the front) to compensate for the taper of the glads body. It's will also help slightly reduce splash up. U can see in my pics, as well as manufacturer pics. Otherwise, looking good!

Good catch, Thanks. I did notice that they were wider, but i thought they were supposed to be wider at the rear. I kinda like them tapering wider towards the rear. I'm pulling them off anyway. My wife has a gladiator overland that i'll be mounting these on. I'm going with the Rock Slide engineering steps. When I remount on her rig I'll check fitment. They probably fit better when mounted in the proper direction.

 

[DustyGladiator]

Newest round of upgrades.

I added the ACE Engineering Fab JT Expedition series stubby bumper with bull bar. I went with ACE due to my great experience with their rock sliders on my JK, as well as the fact that they make one of the few stubby bumpers that will accept the factory fog-lights as well as a recessed winch.

In order to keep the factory front slider I had to modify it. I wound up grabbing the air cut off wheel and lobbing a good portion of both upper corners off.

Along with the ACE bumper I added the Badland Apex 12,000lb winch. I loved my Warm Zeon on my JKm but I figured if the Badland Apex is good enough for Mat from Mat's off-road recoveries then it'll surely be good enough for me. I also considered that there are Harbor Freights everywhere. If I have an issue with this winch then all I have to do is walk into a harbor freight wherever I am. So far it has performed flawlessly and its features are on par with winches that cost 3x as much. Harbor Freight is really stepping their game up with their APEX series of products.

 

[DustyGladiator]

Newest addition:

I needed a bed rack that would allow me to keep my tonneau cover and the RCI rack was the only one I found.

Fir a rooftop tent I went with the DesertArmor Beast. I knew I need an XL due to my family size. I also knew I wanted a hard shell. Due to trees when east coast wheeling I knew that I didnt want to go with a plastic shell and DesertArmour offered the nicest hard shell with an aluminum outer and racks on the top. I opted to pick up the tent at my nearest fleet transport delivery spot. Of-note, the tent is HUGE. It's larger than the bed so I had fun strapping it down to make it home for the delivery.

Sponsored