Project Honeybadger: Because I don't care what JK owners think

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Brenden80011

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Colorado
Hows it going everyone! I've been prompted to make a build thread by multiple people so here it is! Keep your negative opinions to yourself cause I am building this the way I want it for me, not to make y'all happy.

So this all started in Feb 2014. I arrived at my first duty station in December '13 and needed a vehicle. Lucky I was stationed in Denver, Co so I knew I wanted to get into the outdoors alot. I've always loved jeeps, mudding, offroading, etc. I just didn't know what I wanted to get. However, after a couple months of research and looking I picked up this beauty for a pretty penny from a dealership.





I quickly new a general route I wanted to go with but wanted to get into the mountains fast and focus a good deal on the drive train before major add ons. I heard through the grape vine about 4wheelparts and went over during march madness to pick up a couple things and secured me a lift, tires, and wheels all installed for a relatively decent price. Now I know, I couldve saved x amount doing it myself. But as someone residing in the dorms with relatively no tools, curtainly not enough to do a lift in a driveway, I had no choice as I also didn't know many people outside of work. Things I bought were: Rubicon express 3.5" superflex kit, 31" procomps on 15" steelies, Seat covers, and trucklite LED's(couldn't figure out how to get rid of flicker for over a year though).





Now that I had a basic lift installed I wanted to get to work on the engine bay. Being at 120K I knew from general experience factory things start to go or become weak, and I wanted to beat them to the punch before they fail on me being that this was my daily as well. I also joined Mile High Jeep Club during this time and hooked up with Patrol 9, a military and firstresponders group, however they required I had a few things like tow points, an extinguisher, cb, etc. So this started a time for about a year of buying parts and upgrading/installing them in the parking lot of the dorms. Things like hanson bumpers, Mean green alt/starters, red top bat, CB, D links, etc.





I also used this time to get out and enjoy the beautiful mountains of CO.


(Sorry for bad quality, my Iphone 4 was shitty)

 
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About Late november timeframe of '14, I ended up coming across a deal I couldn't pass up. I found a set of dodge dana 60/70 with 4.10's and lsd rear out of a 2500 for only $400. So I borrowed a trailer and picked those us next day. They were in generally good shape and were complete bolt to bolt.









So come December I decided to take an extended leave home to visit my family in Ohio. Lucky, both places I call home are not 5 miles off I-70. So off I went, on that 1700 mile journey. Jeep held up great, only sprung an oil leak out of the pan as most cherokee's do and still does no matter how many times I replace it. I had at this point compiled a few things I wanted to put on the jeep and most of my tools and my father who is handy was at home so I figured why not do it there in 20 degree weather? Things we added were: Snorkel, Rigid pods I won during march madness 9 months ago, 2 10" Aux front fans from 2 range rovers, Painted a few things, attempted to fix my now not working(and still not working) front driver side window, and painted a couple things.





During the next year and a half things slowed down ALOT. Work turned hectic making it hard to get out as much as I wanted, I moved in with my girlfriend who I had been dating for over a year, I got Eye surgery at the Academy, and preping for/doing all4fun soaked up alot of time. HOWEVER, I did gather up many parts to jump into using those tons I got last year. I ended up getting a clayton 8" radial/leaf lift, shocks, 6 h1's/tires, spacers to use them without recenter, paint, etc. (unfortunetly, I forgot to take a picture of the garage all the stuff was sitting in before clearing it out to install.



 
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In about March of '16, things started to pick up again for the build. Funds were coming in more with officially moving out of the dorms, ranking up, etc. I ended up picking up a set of bushwackers cutout flairs for a 2 door, front/rear stiffeners, some quarter panel guards, and a hopeful tow rig for the future/daily as this thing gets worked on. So I welcomed into my family a 2000 F250 7.3L Powerstroke. She isn't the prettiest but she runs strong and works for my needs. As you can tell the step rails are rusted and everything needed a good strip/paint job, so most of april that was what I was doing on my weekends.







 
n about March of '16, things started to pick up again for the build. Funds were coming in more with officially moving out of the dorms, ranking up, etc. I ended up picking up a set of bushwackers cutout flairs for a 2 door, front/rear stiffeners, some quarter panel guards, and a hopeful tow rig for the future/daily as this thing gets worked on. So I welcomed into my family a 2000 F250 7.3L Powerstroke. She isn't the prettiest but she runs strong and works for my needs. As you can tell the step rails are rusted and everything needed a good strip/paint job, so most of april that was what I was doing on my weekends.









It is now June and I got notified of a TDY coming up in August I couldn't pass up in August to Georgia, I have a good amount of friends and family there so it was a good opportunity to see them. However, this was about the time I hired some help to get this jeep thing built. So I ended up paying more than I wanted to have him do more of the work since I was not around. BUT here are the pictures from that process.







 







So this is how she sit for the most part now, we are were waiting on pvc inserts, rock rings, a steering box brace, and the finishing of the rear quarter area. I also purchased a hydro assist kid from PSC. But during this time, I got anxious and took her out to carnage to stretch her out and what not.






During the run I broke my steering box bolts, due to all the stiffening and bracing, nothing else broke or snapped, however, the box is done for. With a few new bolts someone happened to have, I limped on home. However I got to the whale tail no problem before that, I just wanted the jeep to go one way and it wanted to go another while re positioning. My error mostly. Still had a great day! Sprung a leak on the oil filter gasket that I had to fix too I noticed when I got home. Made a list of other things to fix at the shop as well, small things to tweek but mostly this thing ran like a dream. I have a slight tire shimmy due to them not being balanced right now but other than that, even after the break I did fine all the way home.





And how here we are, Brown Santa just brought the PSC kit to me and the other stuff is waiting at the shop.
 
Does anyone care about what gay-k owners think?

Cool build. Looks like you need a cage now :clap:
 
Nice XJ!!!!!!!!!!
 
My bad, yes, I ended up selling the front dodge 60 in early 15 for 3/4 what I bought them both for. Found the Ford HP60 shortly after for a decent price instead. Just didn't wanna have to worry about rotating the pumpkin when I did the work on the dodge. Not to mention no Vac discos.

There maybe a few things of information missed here and there. Was trying to recount nearly 3 years of this jeeps life after work at 3am lol.
 
It looks good.
But curious, all that work and no rocker protection? Or is that coming next? Are you going to do sliders or some kind of rocker replacement?
 
Johnnie Walker said:
It looks good.
But curious, all that work and no rocker protection? Or is that coming next? Are you going to do sliders or some kind of rocker replacement?
Click to expand...

That is in the list of things to do. I have a lst of things I need to fix and worry about it right now to get it back up to 100%. Once that list is done, I will move back onto the main build list.

List of things to fix is before moving on:
Install new or reinstall old horn.
Fix front windows/make doors removable.
Install rockrings/PVC inserts on H1 Rims.
Tighten up exhaust some how?
Sand/paint any recent cuts/bumps/scrapes
Needs a good detail/wash/degrease.
Install new windshield washer box.
locate front D rings that have gone missing.
Finish/seal quarter cut and fold.
Replace battery tray.
Reinstall fan shroud.
Rewire Aux front fans.
Troubleshoot winch.
Install Hydro Assist.

Next on the MAJOR build list is:
Axle gut and regear(lockers, RCV's fronts, Rear disks, Rear truss, 4.88's or 5.13's.

OR

Boatsides + steprail/rub bar.

Then:
3. Cage + chop + Gas tank move
4. Gut/redo inside(All new seats, 5 points, Rhino like lining, metal dash w/ panels)
5. 4 Link + coilovers/ORI
6. Aux lighting and cleaning up anything I missed previously.
7. Engine swap and or supercharger.
 
Honeybadger don't give a shit, it just takes what it wants! Looks awesome man, keep up the good work!
 
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