ARB Twin Air Compressor and pump up kit added. Man i love this thing! Fills up the tires very quickly and the peace of mind of not having to be somewhere with an air up station is great.
Moved my firestik antenna up on to the fender to space it out from the gobi's framework for better reception. I thought I would hate it mounted here, but it is growing on me.
So one thing that never sat quite right with me, or my jeeps rear end, was the 2.5" teraflex lift springs. The rear always seemed to sit a bit low, even when unloaded. When loaded for a trip, the rear would sag tremendously. Teraflex was nice enough to send me a 1" spacer free of charge after a quick phone call. This held me over for a while. However, the rear stance still bothered me when loaded. Another call to teraflex yielded more fantastic support. Jeremy @ Teraflex offered to upgrade me to the heavier duty outback springs for about half the cost since I was sticking with teraflex. He did recommend the 2 door springs with my current front springs since the 4 door 3" outback springs yield about 3.5 inches of lift. I chose to go with the 4 door specific springs, and in the end I am happy.
Here is a shot of the old 2.5" springs and the 3" heavy duty springs side by side.
During the installation, a friend convinced me to leave the 1" rear spacer in place. This would lift the rear of the JK 4". We decided to do this, and 4" front springs were ordered first thing the following day. Look at that rake!
All packed and rear for VOR! (Vermont Overland Rally)
Here you can see I actually removed the upper crossmember of the teraflex cargo interior rack. This allows me to get the rack up as high as possible and still slide the Front Runner Wolf Packs in. I noticed no loss in strength
Unfortunately the front springs did not arrive in time to get them installed before departing Maryland for Massachusetts, where I would spend a few days with family. After a few days of vacation at "home" it was off to vermont looking like a drag car with all that rake.
I had to go hit the ocean in my home town of Scituate, Massachusetts.
Our friends Chris and Sandra fell in behind us for day 1 in the XJ
You can't drive by the Long Trail brewery and not stop in for a cold beer! We laughed as we pulled in. The parking lot was packed full of rigs from VOR and most of them were clean.... what does that tell you??
Teraflex Alpine control arms installed! I was happy to see Teraflex launch a new series of arms with the OEM style bushing. Yes, I may lose a little bit of max flex, but that was not a concern for me. The fact that these arms are maintenance free and quiet earned them a spot underneath the JKU. I really wanted to insert a name for the jeep right there, but I do not have one yet.
Those arms were paird with KING remote reservoir adjustable shocks. I am hoping that these ride like a caddy as opposed to a big lifted jeep.
I also could not resist the opportunity to mock up the new wheels!
Picked up a christmas tree and tossed it up on the roof. With the pelicans up there it was easier to mount the tree sideways (it was short). I can honestly say I think I am the only person to ever mount a tree sideways up on the roof. O well, it worked!
Heading north from MD to MA for christmas with the family led to a unique discovery. The Gobi shovel/axe mount also serves as a pretty good hockey stick mount.
Massachusetts did not disappoint us with some snow. It was brief, but Maryland winters do leave me hungry for a good snowfall.
Next comes the front runner outfitters tailgate table. Seems to be the best bang for your buck in this category. The slide out cutting board is also really nice.
Working on getting the new wheels and tires mounted.
I found it surprisingly easy to get the inner beadlock in the tire. I was expecting more of a flight.
Back half of the wheel dropped in.
you can see the studs used to bolt the two halfs of the wheel together. While doing this is pinches the tire's bead on the inner beadlock and creates a wonderful double beadlock setup.
In the end, its a lot of bolts that slowly get torqued down to one killer looking setup.
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