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Miss Red's build thread.

Zero_Accel

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I've decided to add a build thread of my (not so) little red Jeep! Seems like a good way to document all the things that I've done over the course of the year that I've owned her.

As for the name, honestly I haven't settled on one yet, although Miss Red is a reference to a not so nice nickname my sister gave her when she found out I sold my perfectly good 2nd gen Tacoma for the down payment.

Let's get started, first post, the day I got her, new to me, some nice starting mods for the price of similar stock trucks courtesy of the first owner.

July 6th, 2021, apparently she killed a Peterbuilt on the way over, so she was 2 days late!

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_3914


Lots of bugs on the tailgate, took a while to wash off.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_3915


Came with an excellent starter pack: 17' Bronze Fuel Ammo wheels wrapped in 35' Pro-comp MT2's, on a 2.5 inch Ready lift.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_3919.JPG


Love the Poison Spyder Bruiser bumper, and a Smittybuilt 12k winch thrown in as well. A set of n-fab steps helped with getting in and out.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. 64727197322__7EE62B02-2C4E-4F22-837B-034A81EC1D8B


Now a large portion of this thread is going to be retroactive, as these photos were taken over the course of the year, and I will be updating it throughout the next week or two.

For now, happy Jeeping everyone!
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Zero_Accel

Zero_Accel

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July, 2021:

So technically this isn't a mod, but something that I did, and I thought it was neat enough to put here.

I had wasted no time taking the truck off road, blasting though a small section of desert that hadn't been touched by urban development just yet, on paper plates! Got some of the first pics here.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_3934.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_3929.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_3930.JPG


So one of the nice things about my new to me Jeep pickup was that the first owner bought me some nice goodies, one of these things being a winch. I didn't expect to use it so soon. During one of my drives through this little OHV area, I saw something interesting...

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4006.JPG


That is a Tundra, on street tires, hopelessly high centered in a drainage ditch. That is a man wondering what the hell he just did.

I think he bought the wrong truck if he was going to be doing those sort of stunts.

I decided to stop and help him because it was a great excuse to use my new winch! While I was chatting with him, a nice Ram Rebel stopped by to lend a hand.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4008.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4009.JPG


My snatch block was being held hostage by Fedex at the time, so we tried a straight pull. No luck, the truck barely budged, that thing was just flat out STUCK. All we were doing was dragging ourselves towards him.

We were going to need some help, and without missing a beat, more people showed up! This dude in a sweet Landcruiser showed up with even more pulling power.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4010.JPG


He gave us another line to work with and showed me the proper way to hook up so that I wouldn't damage my line. Guy was a guru.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4011.JPG


It was during this that another truck showed up to help, a WJ Grand Cherokee, we needed FOUR trucks to drag this guy out.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4019.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4014.JPG


Success! There's video of this recovery somewhere, I'll need to track it down.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4015.JPG


The giant pit the guy fell into, it was basically a 10 foot drop straight down, no wonder we needed that many trucks to pull him out!

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4017.JPG


One happy owner! Dude was super grateful, thanking everyone around for saving himself from an expensive tow bill and explaining to his wife the whole debacle.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4018.JPG


Not a bad way to kick off this whole thing, less than a week into owning this Jeep and I already had a story to tell. After this recovery, I got super into Matt's offload recovery videos, hoping to learn more tips and tricks for the next time. I make it a point to stop and help if I can, with how much I enjoyed this recovery.

I almost can't wait for the next one.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4021.JPG
 

Martinnfb

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This is absolutely epic, what a story. Good for you guys.
 
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Zero_Accel

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30 July, 2021 (July is such a weird looking word now that I think about it...)

So here's the story about how I got my rear bumper*. (This photo is actually from a bit later in the year)

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4786.JPG


So about a month after getting my new to me Gladiator, I decided to try those fancy full service car washes for the price of $35 buckaroos. You get a valet to drive your truck through the wash, they clean the whole interior, a quick wax with a polishing wheel, and you get to watch through a nice bay window while sipping coffee. Is it the best way to spend $35 bucks?

Well it saves my knuckles from aching after applying wax myself so it's not a bad deal in the end, at least if only once every few months.

It was during this wash when I saw something strange. Remember the valets? Well it's because this wash with the rolling style scrubbers didn't have a guidance rail for some reason, probably to save cost. The owners would have some teens ride the brakes through the wash and had done it that way for years.

Well I saw a woman in a Ford Fiesta who was CLEARLY not an employee driving through the wash, maybe they forgot to tell her that the valets needed to be the ones driving. Well this woman is trying her best to keep up with the wash just behind my Jeep, and she made one critical mistake. She was about 2 feet behind my truck, while the valets usually kept a nice healthy 5 feet in between vehicles.

So what happened next was when the roof scrubbing roller came off the top of my Jeep, which was already on a 2.5 inch lift with 35 inch tires, caused the sensor to MISS her little Fiesta entirely. Big hydraulic roller came down and CRUSHED her windshield and A pillars! I saw this through the bay window and couldn't believe what I was seeing, my ~Premium~ Taco Bell Baja Blast nearly slipped from my grasp. The aftermath.


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. img_4025-



Since this lady was living out what could have been a scene in a B grade final destination movie, I couldn't exactly blame her when she panicked and slammed her foot on the gas. She went right into the back of my Jeep, the truck barely moved, and the workers hit the emergency stop.

Thankfully she was fine, just some superficial cuts on her hands from the broken glass, a little drenched, and shaken from the whole experience. I'm pretty sure she got a fat paycheck after talking to her lawyers, but that isn't really any of my business.

My truck didn't really get that much damage, the hitch took the brunt of the hit, only cracked the shell on the whole bumper, but given that this was in the middle of the supply shortages in 2021, the shop had a hard time finding a plastic sport bumper, and I was able to convince them to let me pick one out of a local 4x4 shop they work with (I tried asking for cash as this wasn't my first choice of bumper, but they were already doing me a favor so I didn't fight them when they said they couldn't do that). Still, not a bad upgrade, and I can sell it if I want to upgrade to a stronger bumper down the road.

The new bumper can take a bit of abuse at least, from a nudge from a tiny Fiesta:


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. img_4027-



To dragging halfway across the desert, good upgrade!


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. gbao1300-
 

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Reddout99

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Great timeline so far!
 
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Zero_Accel

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Any updates?
Sorry! I've been neglecting my posts to my build thread, luckily I took photos of nearly everything I've done.

I'll start posting here again soon, gonna try and go through photos Friday to add to this.
 
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Zero_Accel

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Gonna dust off this old thread, and pick up where I left off.

While I've been (severely!) slacking on updating this, I DID take photos of almost everything I've done to the truck so far. So now I've got 3! years worth of pictures and posts to go through. I'm thinking once a week to post here or so.

Anyways.

August 2021

I tore her face clean off!

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4033.JPG


I had good reasons for this. The Candles in a Jar headlights! I had been reading around the forums that there were some drop in bulb solutions available from HeadlightRevolution, so for the price of 90 bucks, I figured I'd give them a try.

So I started taking apart my new to me truck. Grill was easy to remove (please forgive my messy living space, I swear I'm not like this all the time!)

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4034.JPG


And right about here I discovered my first Easter Egg! Those tiny Jeep grilles are seriously cool!

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4035.JPG


Anyways, once I removed the housings, the drop in bulbs went in without much trouble.

(Okay, I lied, I might have forgotten to take a pic of the new lights, but I promise they're the same shade as my LED switchback signals that I bought at the same time, just use your imagination!)

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4048.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4052.JPG
 

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Zero_Accel

Zero_Accel

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September 2021:

Started adding small cosmetic upgrades. These would be V1 of my decal package, purchased from Pixel Decals.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4295.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4296.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4301.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4298.JPG


Also took delivery of my Rockhard 4x4 sliders back then. Set them aside for a later install.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4310.JPG
 
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Zero_Accel

Zero_Accel

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October 2021:

Bye bye N-fab steps. Added those Rockhard sliders. Those body mount bolts were very stressful to remove. Took me over 2 hours with a heat gun on it's highest setting pressed onto the bolt, and slowly removed with breaker bars, a quarter turn at a time.

I would rather not have to do this again!

They've been an excellent combo step and slider for me, would recommend.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4405.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4406.JPG


Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_4319.JPG
 

Reddout99

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September 2021:

Started adding small cosmetic upgrades. These would be V1 of my decal package, purchased from Pixel Decals.

IMG_4295.JPG


IMG_4296.JPG
I really like that hood decal. Since mine is black, I might consider one in gunmetal now that I see yours. I typically don't add too many decals and when I do I like to keep it subtle.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. Gladiator Sticker 3
 
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Zero_Accel

Zero_Accel

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I really like that hood decal. Since mine is black, I might consider one in gunmetal now that I see yours. I typically don't add too many decals and when I do I like to keep it subtle.

Gladiator Sticker 3.jpg
Thanks, although I did end up changing it at a later date, went with a matte black filled decal with gold accents for V2. Stands out much better.

Jeep Gladiator Miss Red's build thread. IMG_9114.JPG
 

Saltymedic

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I'm in agreement with Zero_Accel.

Where can I find this decal?

IMG_4296.JPG
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