I posted this on another forum but thought I would make a build thread for mine on here to keep track of things. I bought it in April 2024 after my old Jeep (2019 with the 2.0 and etorque) burned down. It overheated and caught in fire. I went with the 392 because I have an awesome wife that was willing to let me. It had 3000 miles on it when I bought it used, It looked like it had never been offroad,
I started wheeling with it in stock form to figure out what it needed. I ran “Top of the World” in Moab and my power steering got hot. That brought on the first round of upgrades:
APEX Designs Power Steering Boost Kit and Cooler
Tuffy Trunk Enclosure
Teraflex Lower Front Control Arms
Metalcloak Front and Rear Diff Skid Plates
Bestop Trektop
Amazon Front Grill Guard
Amazon 9 inch Off-Road Lights
ExoShield on the Windshield
The power steering hasn’t overheated since the upgrades. Here are some pics. One of my last Jeep (Bella) and a few of the new one (Jessie). Named for the hot redhead on Toy Story.
In order to put on 40’s the next round of upgrades will be the following:
AAL Inner Fenders and Front Fender Chop
AAL Spare Tire Holder with ARB Compressor Mount
ARB Brushless Compressor
DV8 EO Plus Side Steps
APEX RPV Deflator Valves
Torrix Air Up Base kit
Torrix Atlas Spare Tire Support with Skid Plate
Superchips Flascal+
APEX Through Steering Ram, High Mount
Artec Front Axle Truss
Revolution Chromoly Front Axle Shafts
Teraflex 3.5 inch Spring Kit
Falcon 3.3 Adjustable Reservoir Shocks
40x12.50r17 Toyo Open Country R/T Pro
Black Rhino Shogun Wheels
The work is getting done next week (Oct 20-22). The tires and wheels will get installed on Saturday the 25th. I asked the shop manager to take lots of pics for me. She takes good care of me. Best Off-Road is doing all the main work and Les Schwab is doing the tires and wheels.
It's taking longer than they thought it would because they are having trouble getting parts from a certain company that I won't name :lipssealed: I did get the tires mounted up. Those 40's are no joke...they are bigger looking then I thought they would be. I can't wait to see them on the Jeep. The shop, Best Off-Road, picked up the tires so they could mount them on the Jeep and run it up their ramp and see if there is trimming to do, bump stops, etc. I'm so fracking excited to get it back. They said tomorrow or Monday. I'll stop by tomorrow and see if I can get a couple of shop pics.
I'm temporarily getting it back as they are waiting for parts and my wife is taking our only other vehicle out of town all next week. I'll bring it back in the following week. Here is a pic of her the way it stands right now. Definitely a mall-crawler until it gets finished.
They installed the APEX Steering Ram on Monday. Still waiting for parts on the fender chop, inner fenders, and spare tire carrier.
So far it's only been on road driving. The biggest thing I noticed was going over the freeway overpass bumps. It is steady as a rock. In the past I'd always grip a little tighter hitting bumps and now it's solid. I didn't notice it steering a lot easier but it does turn easily when stopped. I can't wait to get it off-road and try to turn it on the rocks. That will be the big test. So far very happy with it!
Here's a pic:
Create an account or login to comment
Join now to leave a comment enjoy browsing the site ad-free!
