Dempsey
Member
K-2 (Jeep formally known as Karen)
Alright, here we go. I named her Karen. That’s the official name because I knew no one named Karen. Unfortunately I discovered recently that PROJKUR’s mom is named Karen. So I decided to give her a nick name out of respect. “K-2” Because she is white, I’m from the mountains, and with any luck she will be able to climb a mountain eventually. I know…. I’m a lyrical genius.
Had her about 2 years and its about time I do this. If you follow this be patient cause this will be a slooooowww build. But there are two major things I want to accomplish with this build. 1. I wanna do as much of the work myself so I can learn as much as I can. And 2. Make a bad ass Jeep.
Before I get into this I really do need to thank Patrick (PROJKUR) for all the help throughout this process.
Ok where to start. Graduated college and moved down to Houston and with that move came my first Wrangler. A white 2013 JKU Sahara. At the time I was kinda into wheeling but the obsession would only grow from here.
Once I got full custody of the Wrangler and traded in the old Jeep Patriot visions for my build immediately filled my head and at this point I still haven’t even touched dirt.
First things first, I needed to lift this sucker. Being the poor graduate that I was at the time I looked for the cheapest solution as opposed to the “correct” solution. I bought a 400 dollar spacer lift that included shocks you read that correctly… $400. I know now that this probably was a bad idea. But I got my 3” lift.
I rolled around like this for quite some time, still have yet to introduce it to true off road trails. But yet it was still time for the next upgrade about a year after the lift. The next “logical” upgrade was a front bumper and winch right?? Decided on smittybilt…. Because lets be real, a bumper is a bumper… right?
This is when I met Patrick. Or as some of you know as PROJKUR. Until then I was a kid driving around in a jeep that was lifted with a winch and smittybilt XRC bumper. Believe we have a name for those type of people….. mall crawler right?
I can single handedly thank Patrick for making me even more obsessed than I thought possible with jeeps. After I went to Hidden Falls with him I quickly realized what was actually important and what wasn’t. Thus changing my build in my head drastically.
JKS sway bar disconnects happened quickly after this trip. And then many months later LoD rock sliders were put on. Cause them Sahara steps….. are garbage. I choose LoD after some research because they were bolt on and I wanted to do the install. But looking back that’s not a good reason to choose them. They are great sliders don’t get me wrong, but I may now pay someone to weld them on for ease of mind. But so far I’m extremely happy with them.
About this time Patrick did a whole bunch of work to his JKUR. And Kyle (Kyle7R) informed me that Rubicon springs are more stiff due to the extra weight of the Rubicon. So I took Patrick’s Rubicon springs and put them on the front of K-2. This essentially worked as a levelling kit, and counteracted all the extra weight of the bumper and winch. The difference was definitely noticeable…. And so was the ride.
And once again Patrick came in the clutch and pointed out to me that Mike (Mike_JK_Houston_711) was getting rid of his Rancho XL9000RS shocks. I quickly pounced on those and installed the very next day. This may be my favorite upgrade thus far. I would recommend these shocks to my best buds. Thanks again Mike.
All this work was done to get ready for the Un-Official Hidden Falls run on Oct 1st, 2016. Even though I got thrown into the position of Co-Leader with Kyle it was a great experience. Met a lot of really awesome people Here are some pics.
Wee bit O’ Flex
And one more
There was just one thing missing…… BIGGER TIRES. That’s what I need next. Even though at this point I have yet to get stuck with my A/T….. yet being the key word.
So plan moving forward. Next purchase will be 1.5” Spidertrax wheel spacers. And then some 35” tires to go on my current rims. So I’m definitely looking for input on what tires to get. Nitto, Falken, Cooper, I’m considering them all. Even considering selling my tube doors and soft top to help get those tires sooner. And then… LOCKERS and GEARS!!!
What do you guys think?
Alright, here we go. I named her Karen. That’s the official name because I knew no one named Karen. Unfortunately I discovered recently that PROJKUR’s mom is named Karen. So I decided to give her a nick name out of respect. “K-2” Because she is white, I’m from the mountains, and with any luck she will be able to climb a mountain eventually. I know…. I’m a lyrical genius.
Had her about 2 years and its about time I do this. If you follow this be patient cause this will be a slooooowww build. But there are two major things I want to accomplish with this build. 1. I wanna do as much of the work myself so I can learn as much as I can. And 2. Make a bad ass Jeep.
Before I get into this I really do need to thank Patrick (PROJKUR) for all the help throughout this process.
Ok where to start. Graduated college and moved down to Houston and with that move came my first Wrangler. A white 2013 JKU Sahara. At the time I was kinda into wheeling but the obsession would only grow from here.
Once I got full custody of the Wrangler and traded in the old Jeep Patriot visions for my build immediately filled my head and at this point I still haven’t even touched dirt.
First things first, I needed to lift this sucker. Being the poor graduate that I was at the time I looked for the cheapest solution as opposed to the “correct” solution. I bought a 400 dollar spacer lift that included shocks you read that correctly… $400. I know now that this probably was a bad idea. But I got my 3” lift.
I rolled around like this for quite some time, still have yet to introduce it to true off road trails. But yet it was still time for the next upgrade about a year after the lift. The next “logical” upgrade was a front bumper and winch right?? Decided on smittybilt…. Because lets be real, a bumper is a bumper… right?
This is when I met Patrick. Or as some of you know as PROJKUR. Until then I was a kid driving around in a jeep that was lifted with a winch and smittybilt XRC bumper. Believe we have a name for those type of people….. mall crawler right?
I can single handedly thank Patrick for making me even more obsessed than I thought possible with jeeps. After I went to Hidden Falls with him I quickly realized what was actually important and what wasn’t. Thus changing my build in my head drastically.
JKS sway bar disconnects happened quickly after this trip. And then many months later LoD rock sliders were put on. Cause them Sahara steps….. are garbage. I choose LoD after some research because they were bolt on and I wanted to do the install. But looking back that’s not a good reason to choose them. They are great sliders don’t get me wrong, but I may now pay someone to weld them on for ease of mind. But so far I’m extremely happy with them.
About this time Patrick did a whole bunch of work to his JKUR. And Kyle (Kyle7R) informed me that Rubicon springs are more stiff due to the extra weight of the Rubicon. So I took Patrick’s Rubicon springs and put them on the front of K-2. This essentially worked as a levelling kit, and counteracted all the extra weight of the bumper and winch. The difference was definitely noticeable…. And so was the ride.
And once again Patrick came in the clutch and pointed out to me that Mike (Mike_JK_Houston_711) was getting rid of his Rancho XL9000RS shocks. I quickly pounced on those and installed the very next day. This may be my favorite upgrade thus far. I would recommend these shocks to my best buds. Thanks again Mike.
All this work was done to get ready for the Un-Official Hidden Falls run on Oct 1st, 2016. Even though I got thrown into the position of Co-Leader with Kyle it was a great experience. Met a lot of really awesome people Here are some pics.
Wee bit O’ Flex
And one more
There was just one thing missing…… BIGGER TIRES. That’s what I need next. Even though at this point I have yet to get stuck with my A/T….. yet being the key word.
So plan moving forward. Next purchase will be 1.5” Spidertrax wheel spacers. And then some 35” tires to go on my current rims. So I’m definitely looking for input on what tires to get. Nitto, Falken, Cooper, I’m considering them all. Even considering selling my tube doors and soft top to help get those tires sooner. And then… LOCKERS and GEARS!!!
What do you guys think?
Last edited:
