"The DADIATOR" Overland JT

[mdyucca]

It was a slow finish to last year, so I didn't really do much in the way of modifications/upgrades and instead was spending money on my other hobbies (PC gaming mainly)

Now with the new year rolling in, I decided I wanted to get back to the mods. First, I wanted to add some personal touches; my wife printed me a custom "DADIATOR" decal for the hood, the name that has kinda stuck to it since we got it. There are some bubbles left but I expect the sun/some heat will help work those out. Also not pictured is the updated O, we ended up taking the center out and doing something different with it instead.

Then, after debating and wondering for months, and especially stressing out over the decision for the past couple weeks, I finally went for my first "large" purchase, some excellent condition Mojave take-offs! I was torn between this and 35s, but right now I am not really looking to do a lift, and the costs of going with 35s were starting to approach 37 territory anyway. This was a relatively inexpensive way to update the look and tire performance without having to do a bunch of supporting mods. I also vastly prefer the look of the mojave wheels over basically any other stock option, so it was an easy choice for me. Don't have them mounted yet, but I should have them done in the next couple of days!

I know 33s are still considered relatively small on the gladiator, and I DO love 35s and especially 37s, but my plan moving forward is to get out and wheel it with the 33s and wear them out while I piece by piece assemble everything needed to go 35s or 37s.

The red contrast color is a good choice! Looks good with the blacked out badging and grill. I sense a lift coming. Keep up the good work!

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[Lush]

love following this thread. Looking good

Thanks! I know my build has been very, VERY slow and pales in comparison to lots of others, but I will slowly get where I want to go, for sure. I plan to keep building the dadiator up throughout the year.

Let’s see those tires/wheels mounted up! 33’s have taken me everywhere I’ve wanted to go so far.

Should be done Friday or Saturday! The wheels/tires came off of a 2020 and my build date was apparently late september 2021 so the TPMS likely won't work, figured I would save the effort and just take it in to have them swapped around.

The red contrast color is a good choice! Looks good with the blacked out badging and grill. I sense a lift coming. Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Took me ages to finally decide on the look I wanted to go with. I can be very, very picky about this sort of thing.

 

[Lush]

Finally got the chance to get my new wheels and tires set up today! I gotta say, I agree with some others who pointed out that the 33s look less weird on the regular fenders rather than the rubicon/mojave high fenders. Really brings the look I am going for together, though I really don't like the chrome lug nuts and am already looking all over the place for some replacement lugs.

I would like to get some red lug nuts, but haven't been able to find any that would match the OEM specs. I hear there are black ones, but if anyone has any recommendations/sources on where to get lug nuts that fit these wheels properly, please let me know, especially if they are red (though black is fine).

With this done, I plan to get to some QOL improvements, such as:

-bulletpoint rubigrid mounting system OR 67designs system
-headlight/foglight upgrades
-bed storage improvements (molle panels, rack, etc)
-better side steps (I have to have side steps for my kids, otherwise I would go with used rubicon rock sliders)

Then for bigger upgrades, next will be:

- Rubicon take off shocks/springs
- 1.5 to 2.5 inch spacer leveling/lift kit
- sunrider or full soft top

And here are the pictures! Don't mind the mess, I haven't had a chance to wash it since the last rain a couple days ago.

 

[Lush]

Figured I would post up some new pics now that its all cleaned up. Next items getting ordered for sure will be some black lug nuts; beyond that, I am still figuring it out.

 

[azmojave]

I wanted to keep the OEM lugs so I added black covers. They also have red. They look good and haven’t fallen off. 21-23mm

https://a.co/d/4ZldA7t

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