Alaska Daily Drivers: Hydro Blue 80A and Bright White JTR

[Turnswrench]

That brings us up to today. We got the Jeep back to the shop for a professional alignment. I was close but not perfect:

Remember that non-functional side marker? Yeah, me too ? It's now replaced:

Also, I'm a bit of a nerd. The Jeep had all of the factory accessories they come with except the tool kit. So I got one and it came today:

If you're interested in these types of threads, welcome and thanks for tuning in. We'll have more to come.

A little more about us, if you're interested. We're a husband and wife team with no kids. We've got two doggos. We have a couple Instagram accounts. One focused on tinkering: @Turnswrench Another focused on alcohol and exploring: @adventure.brews This Gladiator is our 8th Jeep. We've had it all from a Patriot to a 2020 Grand Cherokee SRT. We feel most complete when we have a Jeep in the stable. We hope to take this one out and explore Alaska. I'm excited.

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[Tuggernuts]

Great build. Welcome to the cool kids hydro blue club. My son lives in Fairbanks and I can safely say that Alaska is a special place.

 

[Turnswrench]

Great build. Welcome to the cool kids hydro blue club. My son lives in Fairbanks and I can safely say that Alaska is a special place.

Love it! Special for sure. I want to see as much as I can from this Jeep. Thank you

 

[yoda13]

Great thread and great jeep. I hope you will post up some of your Alaska adventures!

 

[Turnswrench]

Great thread and great jeep. I hope you will post up some of your Alaska adventures!

It'll be an honor. Can't wait ?

 

[yoda13]

It'll be an honor. Can't wait ?

I’m looking forward to viewing them!

 

[Jteakus]

Really enjoyed reading about your build this morning and look forward to more posts.

 

[bshenderson1]

Since the 35s that were already on there were 18s, we ordered 18x8.5" Sparco Dakar with +1mm offset to keep using the tires and save a little money. What you are planning should work.

Thank you tuning in and for the kind words.

Looking forward to see how they look mounted. Keep the updates coming!

 

[Jaxmax]

Nice, what a rush it must have been pretty fast build, I like what you have done, rear awning is something I am going to do shortly....Jack

PS: any 2021 should be a 80th anniversary one, I have a 21 Mojave and had to take the stickers off and do the 80th!

 

[Fpolanco]

With the Jeep freshened up, the interior needed a full detail. We pulled it all out and cleaned. The carpet and seats were vacuumed and shampooed. The plastics were scrubbed and then coated with protection. The interior smells and looks phenomenal now. We did find some treasure during the process:

Love reading about your build! I'm also going to go treasure hunting too. I'm gonna be removing the seats and adding some sound deadening to the floor boards.

How hard was it to reinstall the carpeting? Any tips?

 

[Florida Mojave]

Awesome thread...thanks for letting us ride along!!

 

[mrmo]

My wife and I were grateful to find a great deal on a 2021 Jeep Gladiator 80th Anniversary a few weeks ago. We've been busy with it ever since preparing for adventuring this summer here in Alaska.

If you are from the area, we worked with Matt at Swickard GMC in Palmer. A+ experience!

We picked it up during a typical snowy evening, which was awesome:

We stopped to top it off with fuel and the wife got it home while I led the way in our F-150.

You can see it already had 35" tires on it when we got it. Also a lot of tire rub marks due to the incorrect wheel spacing. Otherwise, it is stock and in great shape.

When you live in Alaska, you're used to crazy shipping fees and a wide range of shipping timelines. This build has been riddled with them, but we've been moving fast.

First up, proper width wheels:

They say moving puts pressure on a marriage. I think agreeing on wheels is just as bad, ? In the end, we're both very happy with the choice.

With the wheels test fitted but not mounted, we moved on to proper calibration for the taller tires:

Great truck, like the color...hot wife...all the right parts and pieces, and I looked at the Palmer area out of curiosity...WOW what a beautiful area. Not sure if i could stand the cold times, but its gorgeous there...

 

[bshenderson1]

Great build so far! I liked your Sparko wheels so much I found a set at Tire Rack on closeout for $173/each. It looks like Sparco doesn't make these in bronze anynore.

 

[Rainman519]

Great write-up of the build. With a Jeep and Alaska as a back-drop, life is good my friend.

 

[Turnswrench]

Great truck, like the color...hot wife...all the right parts and pieces, and I looked at the Palmer area out of curiosity...WOW what a beautiful area. Not sure if i could stand the cold times, but its gorgeous there...

There's just something about being on the couch and getting to experience the aurora borealis that makes the cold worth it.

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