RaccøønJK - Jeep Wrangler JK 2DR 2015 - The Story, Build & Brainstorm Project

RaccøønJK - Jeep Wrangler JK 2DR 2015 - The Story, Build & Brainstorm Project

Hi everyone! My name's Ben, I'm from Québec, Canada & here's my Jeep Wrangler JK Sport 2015. I bought it brand new a year ago and already put almost 50 000km on it.

So far, I "built" it as we went on our many trips together, learning along the way mecanic, body work, possible upgrades and kits that are available for the JK (let's be honest, it's an awesome plateform to build around, a grown man (expensive) Lego block & the Honda Civic of 4X4, aftermaket parts wise).

I've invested overall around 5K (CAD $) in this JK, equipment & part wise since I originaly bought it.

Here it is in all of his (stock) glory the day I test drived it and brought it home with me


And just like that I fullfiled my life long dream to own one of these bad boys.

Ever since I drove my friends JK on a cloudless hot summer day and I quote "The day I felt in love... My very first ride was topless, doorless on a nice summer day w/ my buddy's Jeep he let me borrowed. And I also got my first Jeep Wave! One of many - Man, how fucking awesome is it to be a JK owner. "


A little baby flex [emoji90]


And from there we equipped the JK along the way.

Started with a Smittybilt XRC Front & Rear stubby bumper, a winch (Smittybilt X20 12,500lbs synthetic rope, light bar (that I sold back #MallRated), LED fog lights...


And then all season tires with snowpeak because it's mandatory in Quebec during the winter time. I got 33x12.5R15 General Tire Grabber AT2 mounted on 15x8 steelies Pro Comp Rock Crawler.


Still don't have lifted it but I'm still shopping for the appropriate kit for my on & off-road use as the JK is my daily & trail rig. And let me tell you I like to take it off-road and beat the crap out of it!!!

Pics or it didn't happened... So here!






And here is our latest team picture

So here it is for now, a "quick" intro on our origin story - to come, brainstorms, questions & lots of advice & opinions from you guys here on the Wayalife forum.

I'd like to say, last but not least, that I've been watching Eddie & the others Wayalife members & friends video over on their YouTube channel for a while now and I just wanted to say that you guys are doing a great job out there, on the trails & in the video room in order to give all of us 4X4 and Jeep enthusiasts a run for our money, trips & dreams to look forward to as well as tips & advice while out on the trails.
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"Until next time, keep the shiny side up, all four on the floor and with a little bit of luck, we'll see you on the trails"

- Eddie

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Thanks for having me here, I look forward to meeting the forums members on the Wayalife forum App as well as on the trail, with a little bit of luck [emoji6]

- Ben & the RaccøønJK

Welcome to WAL. You look like Steve Stifler by the way.

WJCO said:

Welcome to WAL. You look like Steve Stifler by the way.

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Thank you! And I'll take it as a compliment - Who doesn't like that Stifler's fuck face! #AmericanPie [emoji23]

Welcome! Nice Ride!

Welcome! Great story and nice Jeep! [emoji106]

Jeep Wrangler JK 2015 - RaccøønJK - The Story, the Built & Brainstorm Project...

BamBamDeer said:

Welcome! Nice Ride!

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Thank you sir and thank you for your police services. Enjoy your retirement!

RaccøønJK - Jeep Wrangler JK 2DR 2015 - The Story, Build & Brainstorm Project

RaccøønJK shenanigans :crazyeyes:

Hence the name, here's some Raccoon infos - pretty much applies to my rig as well :thumb:

''The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests, but due to their adaptability they have extended their range to mountainous areas, coastal marshes, and urban areas'' :rock:


''The word "raccoon" was adopted into English from the native Powhatan term, as used in the Virginia Colony. It was recorded on Captain John Smith's...'' Wait, what? You mean this douche from Pocahontas?



Hold up... I guess they meant the real one:



This built thread somewhat got informative on an historical 7th grade base-level class. :clap2:

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon

Moving on...

As I stated earlier, the built got the name inspired from one of my college nicknames, the fact that it's grey, I guess, spends most of it's time on old logging roads when trailing and that I like raccoons. I mean, aren't they fxcking cute lil' bastards? :biggrinbounce::nuts:

I guess I could of called it Mikko too, still based on that fxcking Disney movie raccoon-character related to this post earlier link... :thinking:



Anyways, as I'm working out of town in Northern Nunavik Quebec, I'm away from my JK for a 14-days period, making it a good time to browse for parts, learn new stuff, find DIY mods and shit to add on to it when I get back home for another 14-days period... The only downside is that I can't just go home after work and start working on it right away or just look at it and figure out shit to do from there.

You've probably guessed it, as of right now, I'm currently at work, returning to my Jeep only in 7-days... :icon_crazy: So I'm trying to somewhat keep you guys entertained with this thread and built for the time being as I can't drive it anywhere, take sweet ass pictures nor upgrade it and post the progress on this thread.

NOTE : Wayoflife (Eddie) when I first started this thread in the JK section, I wasn't aware of the Jeep Build section on available on this forum. Could any one of the modos switch this from the "Jeep Forums" section "Jeep JK Wrangler" subsection onto the "Jeep Show & Tell" section "Jeep Builds" subsection? That'd be pretty freaking great and I wouldn't bother anyone on this forum subsection.

As for now, weekend's approaching and I'm going to wish you all guys an awesome wheelin' one, you WAL weekend warriors :2thumbsup:

Might get those bear paws sign Mikko has on his chest decaled onto the RaccøønJK built... Digging those red paws on grey background.

In the meantime, here are some eye-candy pics of the RaccøønJK over the past year, just for the hell of it.hoto:







Happy wheelin'! Hope you'll enjoy this build thread.

CarolinaJK said:

Welcome! Great story and nice Jeep! [emoji106]

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Thanks CarolinaJK! You have a pretty sweet rig yourself :thumb:

BenJKWrangler15 said:

Thanks CarolinaJK! You have a pretty sweet rig yourself :thumb:

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I appreciate that bud!

Nice color, nice looking build, and a great story to go along with it. I'm subscribing and I'll be following along!

Napalm said:

Nice color, nice looking build, and a great story to go along with it. I'm subscribing and I'll be following along!

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Thanks! I appreciate the positive reply, thanks for the sub too!

Sunday, July 3rd 2016 - 23:05

I came up with a list of things/mods I'll be adding to the RaccøønJK when I get back home.

Here it is:

1. RaccøønJK sticker

So I found this bad boy on Amazon, thought it was great and purchased it to stick on the back of my Jeep, on the lower part on the tub next to the rear door handle. View attachment 210970

Actually going to trim the "Excellent" lettering part of it and only keep the 5X5 raccoon so it should "stick" out real good

2. Remove exhaust muffler/straight pipe

Wanted to remove this big guy for a while now as it is just something that trail hazard ends up knocking so before it falls apart I'll remove it in order to prevent any damage made to it and if needed I'll be able to just bolt it back in place *cough-cough-cops*

Here's a YouTube link to a video some JK owner made after he removed the rear muffler - doesn't sound bad at all!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D4gdUWwPODU

I'll probably upgrade the exhaust pipes somewhere down the line and have it nicely tucked away from trail hazard and everything but one things for sure, I won't do any kit that are available for the JK. IMO, it's a waste of hard earned money into something not so usefull and expensive; just my 2cents. I'll be DIYing something.

3. Plastidip rear tail light (Round)

I've always wanted to have round tail light ever since I bought my JK. Just looks better IMO and recalls the classic Willys tail lights. This one upgrade will be done for cheap as of now, just a can of plastidip and some round stickers to complete the mod.

Somewhere down the line I'll be upgrading for real round tail light, but when I'll do that I also want some rear armor to go along with the RaccøønJK. So dipping these mofos for now Looks good, and it does the job as far as I'm concerned.



4. Plastidip half doors/hard top sides

Ok, I don't own a set of half doors (those of us who don't sure wish we did!) as I bought the RaccøønJK as it was, in the parking lot dealership in my hometown. I didn't order it so I haven't been able to customize my rig with a set of OEM half doors from the factory. Now, before you guys call me out on this Mall Rated mod, make no mistake, it is principaly a "just for the look" mod. I'll be mimicking the top half door portion of the OEM ones with plastidip sprayed on the top half door pattern on my set of full doors. Pretty Mall Rated, I know, but I've been wanting to do this for awhile now and because I wheel this thing every chance I have, it isn't clean enough to undergo any kind of esthetic mod. So I'll be taking the time.

Here, a pic for the spraying pattern reference. These are real OEM half doors, not plastidiped ones but this is what I'll be mimicking, just for the looks. Also going to dip the rear hard-top portion of my 2DR to give it an uniform uppper paint job.



Still debating if I'll be doing the front windshield frame as well. We'll see when I get down to it.

5. SiriusXM antenna - Thibault Chrysler

That's just my SiriusXM radio that gave up on me after I pressure washed the interior of my JK after a day rolling NTND and playing in mud. Just need to swing by the dealership and get this shit working. Make no mistake, my whole center console stereo display is still working, I have AM/FM channels coming in and the cd player works perfectly fine. Probably just a problem with the SiriusXM antenna (yes, I paid my SiriusXM subscription last month and it's still active )

6. Sway bar quick disco Grade 8 bolts

A DIY mod that I'll be doing with the appropriate Grade 8 hardware and Quick release pins that I'll buy at my local bolts'n'nuts store. Fxck spending 130 CAD$ on new swaybar links as the one I currently have are in perfect working order, just need to replace the lower bolt with grade 8 holed ones and a quick disco pin.

7. Hi-Lift jack hood mount

Another DIY I'm planning on doing with just the appropriate hardware and some Certified Driveway Mechanic engineering skills. Saw a couple of threads online doing such a mod so I'll keep you guys posted on how this thing goes down.

8. Home made high clearance/approach angle front bumper winch

Alright, so I've been running the Smittybilt Gen1 stubby bumper for the last couple of months and I love it. It's beefy, sturdy as hell and it give my JK a hell of a look. It also enables me to run a 12.5K winch so I can get myself out of almost any fxcking situation I get myself into. Before, I always had to call one of my buddy's up for him to come and rescue me, as I wheel alone most of the time. But that all changed ever since I got myself this winch <3

Fast forward to last month when I decided I wanted a new, high clearance bumper. JCR Offroad came out with their new Dagger frame chop bumpers shortly after I had decided to buy their original Dagger Stubby front bumper. So fortunately for me, I hadn't place any order yet as I wanted to sell my current bumper to cover most of the cost of the new one (it's still for sale, if anyone's interested )

Here's the original Dagger stubby bumper

And here's the Frame Chop Dagger stubby bumper

And here they are one on-top of another, for comparison purpose.



The main difference is that with the Frame Chop one, as it names says, you need to trim about 2" of frame rail as well as the crash bar underneath (they provide you with a vaccuum pump relocation bracket for the latter 2012 and up models, just like mine) and all you have to do is drill a few holes, chop the frame rails, the crash bar and voilà, a new high clearance bumper with increased approach angles and an overall lighter Jeep. Best thing ever.

Unfortunately, as much as I love this new bumper that the guys over at JCR Offroad designed and manufactured, I ended up thinking about the whole thing for awhile and finally decided to make my on bumper for the RaccøønJK. It'll be custom made, incorporate JCR Offroad frame chop/high clearance idea and be 100% designed and made be me Yeaaah!

So while browsing on the internet for a couple of hours for DIY and instructables for JK bumpers, I ended up looking at project Phœnix (I know, it isn't written like that on Hauk Design website but what the heck, it's pretty darn close)

Here's some pictures for the reference



The guys over at Hauk Design CONCEALED a Warn Zeon 10000 winch inside the front bumper - that's just purely awesome! I know that project "Phoinix" is a fully custom built rig but for the most part, this is the design I'm aiming for (front bumper wise) in order to conceal my winch away from reach for thief, gain MAXIMUM clearance and approach angles on the RaccøønJK as well as lightweight front end, that we all know tends to be greatly heavier when putting on an aftermaket bumper, big ass winch and so on.

Biggest DIY project so far but everything is feasible so we'll see how it all turns out in the end!

9. Rear crossmember flip + hitch

Another high clearance, lightweight idea I want to do on the RaccøønJK. This will come later down the road, so for now, we'll just leave it as is, as I already have a lot on my list. But you get the idea with the title. Here's a link to another forum build write up someone made regarding this mod. Enjoy, it's real eye candy



10. Ferblanterie half doors measurements

My buddy's father own a steel workshop and they can do pretty much anything. The idea is to take my measurement, bring a template over at the shop and have them cut me some nice half-doors to OEM door specs So that'll be an easy step, we'll see of they end up being able to pull this off in the shop! I'd be pretty fxcking stoked.

11. Side mirrors repairs/swap

I ran most of the past winter without rear fender flares as when I was taking the RaccøønJK out in my neck of the woods for some winter time trailing, my 33's ended up rubbing against my rear flares outter plastic and in order to prevent them from breaking, I just removed them for the time being until I could trim them (which I did 2 weeks ago, I'll post pictures when I get back home) Anyways, I ended up cracking my driver side mirror with rocks and shit so I'll need to either replace it, stick a replacement mirror on top of the cracked one or remove and install new mirrors, as I'd like them to be round. So we'll see what I end up doing when I get back home.

As for now, I'll keep dreaming about my rig and all the mods I want to do when I get home this coming thursday. In the meantime I wish you all a great fourth of July weekend and happy wheelin'!

Ben & RaccøønJK

Looking good so far and you have a lot of cool things coming! Definitely subscribing[emoji106]

FLKEYSJK said:

Looking good so far and you have a lot of cool things coming! Definitely subscribing[emoji106]

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Thanks! Really appreciate it. Thanks for the sub too!

Jeep Wrangler JK 2015 - RaccøønJK - The Story, the Built &amp; Brainstorm Project...



Here's the sticker that didn't seem to upload right the first time and here's the link for #9 that I didn't paste either

EDIT : As Swampdog told me, posting a link from another forum is forbidden by the rules (thanks for the heads up Swampdog!) therefore I removed the link but you can still enjoy the pics!

And some pictures of the link mod just for the hell of it

Sooo I work in an airport in Nothern Quebec, Nunavut, and some Inuit kid forgot his toy In the airport terminal... Oupsyyy



So it became my new favorite desk ornament... Can't get any better than this right?!

Well... Wrong.

Found a Minion laying around this morning, waving at me from floor... So I took him along to be the Jeep driver & owner Silly me...



Here it is, passing on the Jeep wave xD



Best. Toys. Everrr. LOL

Happy 4th of July my fellow American Jeepers!

Passing on the Jeep wave to you!!!

Moding the Willys [emoji41]
Stubby bumper and body flush fender flares...

Before


After




Doing what I can to fulfill my moding habit

BenJKWrangler15 said:

View attachment 211037

Here's the sticker that didn't seem to upload right the first time and here's the link for #9 that I didn't paste either



And some pictures of the link mod just for the hell of it 

View attachment 211038

View attachment 211039

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You need to remove that link to another forum. That is against forum rules.

Also, I don't get flipping the rear crossmember. I have yet to find a scenario where 2" at the rear crossmember would have helped me. To me, seems like a foolish reason to hack up a structurally sound frame.

swampdog said:

You need to remove that link to another forum. That is against forum rules.

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Okidoki, will do, thanks for the heads up

swampdog said:

Also, I don't get flipping the rear crossmember. I have yet to find a scenario where 2" at the rear crossmember would have helped me. To me, seems like a foolish reason to hack up a structurally sound frame.

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And for the rear cross member flip thing, it gives me that 2" of clearance, yes, but also lighten my JK in the rear as I won't be running a rear bumper anymore and also it's solely for the looks My build, anyways

Thanks Steve, a.k.a Cozdude, for the thread title update! And Eddie, a.k.a Wayoflife, for the thread move to the Jeep Builds section :clap2::rock:

Happy 4th of July!