NCJeeper Build Thread

[NCJeeper]

Going to start a build thread for my JT as I haven't created one yet. I have one on Wrangler Forum for my 2004 LJ, but I figured it is time to create one for my Gladiator. Forgive me if I post things out of order, I'm going based off memory and my memory sucks!

I've owned several Jeeps over the years from a Patriot, Liberty, 2 JKUs, YJ, LJ, JL, and JT. I had always wanted a Gladiator since they were introduced. It wasn't until driving home one day and I saw a built one driving down the road, when I decided to go searching for one. It was January of 2021, and I stumbled across a 2020 Gladiator Sport S with only 4k miles on it at a local Toyota dealership. It was a little hard letting go of my JL (even my daughter cried, which was unexpected).

The Jeep was completely stock with only some flag decals on the fender flare vents. As for options, it didn't have much other than the 7" radio, which is an absolute must for Apple CarPlay. I had some take offs from my JL that I wanted to immediately put on my Gladiator such as LED headlights and a Pedal Commander.

The first weekend I knew that these stock wheels and tires had to go. Coming from 35" tires, these felt like roller skates. I some how convinced my wife to go on a road trip to Lexington, SC (1.5 hours away) to pick up a set of Mojave wheels and tires, which I picked up for ~$900. I also picked up take off Rubicon suspension and Fox shocks in order to get a "cheap" lift.

I wanted to get a bed cover and had previous luck with the TYGER brand. I know they are a cheap brand you can find off eBay or Amazon, but I've had very good luck with their cover. I park outside and this cover has been through two years of storms and hasn't leaked as much as a drop.

Next item was a necessity, as a parent of an 8 year old, I wanted to get something she could use to step on to climb into the Jeep. I found someone selling a set of OEM running boards for cheap. I didn't intend to take this Jeep off-road as I have my LJ, which I've been building for that purpose. I had destroyed a prior set of steps on a JKU while off-road, but these worked for what I need.

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[dmwphoto]

the Overland side steps are very nice!

 

[NCJeeper]

Next up was a front bumper to get rid of the ugly stock plastic bumper. We have an off-road shop in the Charlotte area called PM Jeep Depot (stands for Poor Man's) and I picked up a Rugged Ridge stubby bumper. Overall, I am happy with the bumper but the quality isn't the best. I still haven't replaced it, but I'm already looking for alternatives.

The bumper is a simple bolt up kit, but the metal is pretty cheap and thin. One of the bolts around where the winch plate goes is already started to rust. The LED lights in the pics above were take offs from the JL. They are 7" headlights with the adapters.

I used the JSCAN app to change the setting from halogen to LED. The JSCAN app is great for everything on this Jeep. I highly recommend this route versus the Taser as it is cheaper. Just requires a bluetooth OBD reader and a FCA security bypass cable which can both be found on Amazon.

 

[NCJeeper]

Well as you are all aware. Your tires are never quite big enough haha. I some how convinced my wife that I “needed” 35” tires and went to NTB and picked up a set of Nexen Roadian M/Ts. The shop warned me but damn these tires were loud.

I’m not exactly sure the weight of these tires but they were pretty heavy. I’ve typically regeared my Jeeps in the past and knew I would regear this one.

There was a new off road shop opening up down the street from me and they were offering a pretty sweet deal on a gear package with Dana gears. I honestly didn’t know you could get Dana gears aftermarket. I’ve always gone with Yukon in the past. Anyway I went with 4.88 on the off chance I were to move to 37s in the future and didn’t want to pay twice.

A little over 6 months into ownership and I had 4.88 gears installed. Ironically their software tool used to update the Jeep for the new gears wasn’t working. I ran down to the shop and did it in minutes with the Jscan app. Can’t you tell I love this app?

If you’re driving with larger tires and you think that stock gears are just fine, then you haven’t driven a properly geared Jeep. Ok rant over, but honestly it drives so much better when you’ve got the right gears. After the break in, I went and installed a red ARB cover on the back.

 

[NCJeeper]

August 2021 my wife and I stopped by our local Ford dealership because they had a new Bronco on their showroom floor. I had always wanted to see one in person and hadn’t had an opportunity yet. The one they had was already sold, which funny enough they wouldn’t even let us touch it.

Despite not even being able to sit in it I was in love. Surprisingly my wife was too! She suggested that she might want to trade in her Grand Cherokee for one. Long story short, we decided to put in a build request and have one made. Due to the pandemic the dealership was desperate for used cars so they offered us a solid offer to buy her Cherokee right then and there. This left us with my Gladiator and LJ as our only two vehicles. I didn’t want my wife driving the LJ as it is older and has its quirks so she drove the Gladiator for a long six months until the Bronco arrived in February 2022.

It is a 2021 4 door OBX soft top with the 2.7L turbo engine. I know this is a Jeep thread but hands down Ford killed it with the design of the Bronco. They literally thought of everything when you’ve spent some time in it. The rear hatch even has a kick stand to prop it up so you can get in and out of the cargo area easily. It also has different driving modes, of which the sport mode is the coolest. We put 35” BFG KO2s and some Fuel wheels and unfortunately that’s all my wife will allow to be done to it.

 

[NCJeeper]

March 2022 I bought a pair of Oracle tail lights to replace the boxy looking OEM tail lights. I know these aren’t extremely popular, but I love the look of them.

At this point my wife was itching to take her Bronco on a road trip. Boone is only two hours away and Rubitrux is there. I know a guy who works there and asked him if they had any Rubicon hoods for sale since they have the occasional take off parts for sale. He said they happened to have one and it’s black. Well what do you know, Boone day trip and picking up a Rubicon hood just made sense.

It was actually kind of funny seeing this hood in the Bronco as it barely fit and rested over the top of the rear seat. My daughter was just short enough so she didn’t hit her head on it.

Dont worry, the Rubicon logo was the first thing to go after I did the swap. I’m not going to pretend I have a Rubicon when it is a mall crawler (for now). A hair dryer and an old plastic card made the removal easy. Goo Gone finished the cleanup. I replaced the Rubicon logo with another decal from some vendor I found on Facebook.

 

[NCJeeper]

I noticed one day that my 7” Amazon special LED lights that had lasted over 4 years at this point had condensation inside one of them. I wanted to get something nicer and something in a 9” instead of the JK 7” size. I bought a set of used DV8 headlights and noticed something was a bit off after the install.

No Bueno, the driver side didn’t want to light up with the low beam. Sent them back and had to put the OEM halogen back in for the time being. Then I came across someone selling a new pair still wrapped in the packaging from DV8. I think he said he waited too long to return them after buying OEM LEDs instead. Note that these seem pretty close to OEM if not a direct copy.

They wired in perfectly. I’m not sure if I’m the only one with this issue but they were aimed extremely low right out of the box. I’m conscious of other drivers and didn’t want them too high, but man they were really low. Adjusted them and the cut off of the light is sharp. I still need to wire in the halo, but one day I’ll get around to it.

 

[NCJeeper]

The UPS guy really really loves me…

If you’re ever undecided between 35s or 37s go with the 37s. This is the 4th set of tires I’ve had on this Jeep since owning it. At the time, I think I had about 15k miles on the Jeep.

Purchased a set of Mickey Thompson M/Ts off eBay from Simple Tire. Honestly no one could beat their prices shipped to my door. Discount Tire is the only shop who would install them and sell a warranty as well. Honestly I love Discount Tire and will never go anywhere else for services.

A few things I noticed is that I would rub going over bumps as my Rubi suspension and leveling pucks just didn’t cut it. So I knew I needed an actual lift.

I was going to become a regular at CS Motorsports. There isn’t a rake thought it appears that way in the picture.
They did tell me that I’m still hitting the control arm when turning, but I didn’t want to deal with buying new wheels after getting the lift and installed. I could’ve easily done it myself, but I choose my battles.

I decided to fix the back spacing issue with a set of fuel wheels. Joel Cooper at Muddy Wheel off-road hooked me up with a deal. I took the Jeep back to CS Motors and had them put them on.

 

[NCJeeper]

Last but certainly not least was my favorite upgrade of them all. This was also completed by the team at CS Motorsports

Katzkin Leather replacement fabric in Mahogany. The difference is night and day when it comes to fabric and leather. They did an amazing job on the install and completed it over two days.

This is how the Jeep sits today

 

[NCJeeper]

A buddy of mine was setting up a small group to head to Uwharrie. I was dealing with a small issue with my LJ and didn’t feel comfortable taking it the 1.5 hours to the trail and beating on it. So I took the Gladiator.

The Gladiator didn’t really have any challenges but having a locker would’ve been nice.

Overall It was a successful outing on the trails and no damage on any Jeeps. Though there were some 4Runners bouncing off the rocks.

 

[Turnswrench]

Looking great! Love the detail in your postings. Brings me back to NC. I lived in Wilmington for 7 years and spent quite a few days wheeling in our JK at URE.

 

[Discount Tire]

The UPS guy really really loves me…

If you’re ever undecided between 35s or 37s go with the 37s. This is the 4th set of tires I’ve had on this Jeep since owning it. At the time, I think I had about 15k miles on the Jeep.

Purchased a set of Mickey Thompson M/Ts off eBay from Simple Tire. Honestly no one could beat their prices shipped to my door. Discount Tire is the only shop who would install them and sell a warranty as well. Honestly I love Discount Tire and will never go anywhere else for services.

A few things I noticed is that I would rub going over bumps as my Rubi suspension and leveling pucks just didn’t cut it. So I knew I needed an actual lift.

I was going to become a regular at CS Motorsports. There isn’t a rake thought it appears that way in the picture.
They did tell me that I’m still hitting the control arm when turning, but I didn’t want to deal with buying new wheels after getting the lift and installed. I could’ve easily done it myself, but I choose my battles.

I decided to fix the back spacing issue with a set of fuel wheels. Joel Cooper at Muddy Wheel off-road hooked me up with a deal. I took the Jeep back to CS Motors and had them put them on.

Great looking vehicle with several nice upgrades! Thank you for the shout out, and thank you for your patronage. Quick FYI... Your local Discount Tire location should be able to price match for you, when it comes to tire/wheel pricing.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[NCJeeper]

Great looking vehicle with several nice upgrades! Thank you for the shout out, and thank you for your patronage. Quick FYI... Your local Discount Tire location should be able to price match for you, when it comes to tire/wheel pricing.

Thanks for sharing.

Good to know! I wasn't sure how that would work when buying something off eBay. Though, I've always had a great experience with Discount Tire. On a previous Jeep, I had an employee drive to another store one morning on his way to work and pick up five wheels for my Jeep in his personal vehicle. He didn't have to do that, but I was greatly appreciative of his efforts.

 

[NCJeeper]

Looking great! Love the detail in your postings. Brings me back to NC. I lived in Wilmington for 7 years and spent quite a few days wheeling in our JK at URE.

Wilmington is great! I'm just outside of Charlotte so maybe an hour and a half from Uwharrie. I see that you've got a F-150, how has that been treating you?

 

[Turnswrench]

Wilmington is great! I'm just outside of Charlotte so maybe an hour and a half from Uwharrie. I see that you've got a F-150, how has that been treating you?

Very well. It has the 3.5l twin turbo ecoboost. It hauled the race car we sold to move to Alaska and the 24' enclosed trailer with our entire life packed into it from MN to AK. It has been a great truck for us.

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