The Ultimate Adventure is over for 2012, and the Orange Jeep is getting cleaned up for a year’s worth of shows and trail rides. However, we still need to show you how we finished up the project.
If you’re showing up late to the party here is a 30-second recap: We went to the Jeep factory in Toledo and saw our orange ’12 Jeep JK Wrangler Rubicon, the Off-Roadster, built on the assembly line. We then went to Zone Offroad and added a 4-inch long-arm suspension and 35-inch Nitto tires. We went wheeling in Moab. We added a front Synergy winch bumper with a Warn winch and GenRight front aluminum fenders. We then went to Hazzard Fabworx and cut the Jeep in half. We grafted the front framerails and the body of a junkyard JK onto the back of the Orange Jeep to give it a front and rear grille and hood section. We added Spidertrax axles with front and rear steering to go with the front and rear grilles and hoods. (Read all about it in the Aug.-Nov. ’12 issues.)
In addition to all the work being done, halfway through the buildup, Hazzard Fabwox moved its entire operation into a new larger facility. Though still in Spokane, the company now shares space with Off-Road Power Products, who happens to be the official retailer of the UA.
This month we’ll button up this wild ride and show you a few items we brought along on the trip. For more info on the UA or to apply to come along on next year’s trip, visit www.4wheeloffroad.com/ua13_app.
-
Last month we showed you the custom Spidertrax Spider-9 axles with True Hi-9 high- pinion
-
The rear suspension is a three-link with a track bar. There are two custom lower links mad
-
We needed a custom rear track bar and decided to make one from the stock JK rear track bar
-
The rear track bar uses a Synergy mount on the axle and a custom Hazzard mount on the fram
-
A few parts we needed custom-made, and the metalsmiths at Shamrock Machining in Spokane we
-
One of the newest innovations on the Off-Roadster is the new Spidertrax Ultimate Unit Bear
-
These unit bearings have an integrated drive flange and are constructed of heat-treated ch
-
Over our 8-on-61⁄2 unit bearing we added Spidertrax’s 14-inch brake rotor and aluminum hat
-
Shamrock Machining also cut out some simple caliper mounts for the side of the Spidertrax
-
When trying something new (such as putting Spidertrax axles under a new Jeep Wrangler) you
-
With the axles and suspension coming together we worked on the steering. Our front steerin
-
The rear steer ram is from Off-Road Connection and is run off a simple 12-volt Haldex hydr
-
Between the trunk section of the Jeep and the passenger compartment Hazzard Fabworx built
-
On the rear firewall we mounted a ball valve from Offroad Design. The valve is in line to
-
Bodywork was next on the to-do list. We opted to cover the rear seam with a sheet of 1⁄8-i
-
Below the steel plate, Synergy rock sliders were added. Because the wheelbase of the two-d
-
Above the side armor Shuman assembled a fabricated steel rollbar. This ties into the facto
-
Inside the rollbar Rocky Dorame mounted an awesome LED dome light from Truck-Lite, capable
-
Truck-Lite also supplied the LED front headlights and the massive 7-inch LED rear tailligh
-
The rear of the Jeep also received a Warn winch in a Synergy front bumper, but this time i
-
As the bodywork was coming together we also painted and installed the axles and suspension
-
To give the Jeep a clean finish while covering the various body panels and assembled parts
-
The wrap experts from Designer Decal in Spokane came to the Hazzard Fabworx shop and did t
-
Our sponsors like their logos bright and bold, so we chose a glistening metallic blue colo
-
Our final days at Hazzard Fabworx had us calling in all our new local friends to come butt
-
To fit our big 40-inch Nitto Trail Grapplers we had to do some massaging of the body panel
-
Before heading out on the UA we had a transmission shifting problem. We visited Cole Chrys
-
We also stopped by Synergy for a complete set of its underbelly skidplates. These worked e
-
Our rear trunk compartment worked great as storage for our spare 40-inch Nitto Trail Grapp
-
Behind the seat we had just enough room for a small Engel electric cooler. Though not the
How’d It Do?
And with that, the Jeep left for the trip. We added a few other items, such as a Bestop BikiniTop to keep our domes from getting sunburned, custom mud flaps, and new 40-inch Nitto Trail Grapplers. We’ll tell you more about the tires in our upcoming tire issue, so stay tuned.
All in all the Jeep did great on the trip. We only had to dig out our Matco tools once, and that was when a steering hose on the front worked loose and we had to tighten it. The electronically controlled transmission was acting up now and then, but we feel that is partly due to the custom tone rings we built. We even had a custom AEV ProCal tuner to try and fix it, but we are still working to sort it out for good. However, it never stopped wheeling, and the new Pentastar V-6 has plenty of power for the tires and gearing we chose.
The Jeep is fun to drive, rallies on the road with ease, and clambers over rocks and through ruts like a billy goat. The looks may not appeal to everyone, but you can’t deny the vehicle works, and works well off-road.