2007 UA Jeep JK Wrangler - UAJK

Clifton Slay from Poison Spyder Customs mounted our new BFGs on a set of his signature SpyderLock bead-lock wheels. Our new 42-inch BFGoodrich tires were mounted on the 20-inch SpyderLocks, some of the only 20-inch bead-lock wheels on the market. The wheels are cast from A356-T6 aluminum and designed specifically as bead locks, unlike other wheels that are cut and welded to be bead locks.

These wheels worked out great on our trip, and amazingly the 42-inch tires and 20x10 bead-lock wheels ran straight and true down the road without any balancing weight at all. We like the large center bore of the wheels to fit over hubs and full-floater rear ends, as well as the recessed 3/8-inch socket-head cap screws and hefty 6061 T-6 bead-lock rings.

UA alumni Sam Gillis and Keith Bailey were riding copilot with Clifton Slay and Trent McGee this year and they gladly flew into Denver to help us finish the Jeep. Bailey owns the Off-Road Connection in Gardendale, Alabama, and Gillis works for Uncle Sam taking care of trucks, tanks, and stuff like that, so we threw them both under the Jeep to help button things up. Their first project was installing a transfer-case skidplate and an antiwrap device from Superlift.

Superlift offers a torque fork for its Black Diamond X-2 suspension kit. We discussed an application with them for our Jeep and they offered to build us a bigger version since we are using rear leaf springs in a spring-over position. With the Cummins diesel, low gearing, and big tires, spring wrap is a very legitimate concern. The fork attaches to our AAM 10.5 rear axle and to the custom crossmember Bailey and Gillis built under the Atlas. The torque fork is roughly the same length as our rear driveline to help keep the shaft from overextending.

To protect the rocker panels of the Jeep we chose a set of rock sliders from Poly Performance. Made of 3/16-inch plate, these pieces of armor are designed to fit tightly against the body for more clearance. They mount by incorporating both tub-side mounts and using all the center body mounts for lower mounting points. At first we were apprehensive of drilling 10 holes in the side of the tub for mounting, but after a week off road we wouldn't trade these sliders for anything. We had situations where we drove the Jeep off a rock and dropped hard onto these sliders and they didn't even dent, and that is with a Jeep that weighs twice what a stock JK weighs.

To give the Jeep a uniform look, we had the seats covered in the same material as the Bestop bikini top, which happens to also match the factory upper half doors. This gray material (known as Kahki Diamond by Bestop), along with some orange piping made for a clean, consistent look that is extremely weather-resistant. Again calling in favors, we got our old friend Jason Huss from High Country Performance-a local Denver shop that specializes in Jeep JKs-to come over and help us install the seats. Up front we used two of the new Baja RS recliner suspension seats and in the rear a set of two low-back Rubicon suspension seats.