About my Jeep
I special ordered my Jeep on March 21st 2016, and it arrived at the dealer 28 days later on April 18th. I picked it up the next day, it had 7 miles on it.
Before I even had the Jeep I had already planned out most of the upgrades, which is reflected in the items I included and excluded when I ordered the Jeep. I saved some money be going with the standard black fender flares because I knew I was getting rid of them anyways. I also ordered the Premium Sound System but the cheapest radio because I knew I would be swapping the head unit out anyways. Factory navigation systems suck since the maps aren’t current, don’t show traffic, and can’t be used while you’re driving, so what is the point of them?
Here is a list of changes I’ve made to my Jeep in no particular order;
- Spicer Ultimate Dana 60 Axles
- Metalcloak 3.5″ Game Changer Lift
- Adam’s Custom Driveshafts
- Method 105 Beadlock Wheels (I now run KMC XD231 beadlock wheels)
- Nemesis Industries Odyssey/Notorious Fenders
- Nemesis Industies Rock Panel Protectors
- LOD Bumpers
- Rugged Ridge Spartacus HD Spare Tire Carrier
- WARN 12000 winch
Dana Ultimate 60 Axles
If your going to go with 37″ tires and do serious wheeling, your going to need to upgrade those axles. I went with the Spicer Ultimate Dana 60s. You can read more about them in my Dana 60 Shoot-out article along with comparisons to other Dana 60 axle offerings. You can read about the installation at my Ultimate 60 Install page.
Metalcloak 3.5" Game Changer Lift
I think determining which lift kit to buy has been by far the hardest thing to decide. There are many characteristics of a lift kit that can’t be quantified with the information you can find from the vendors. I went with the Metalcloak Game-Changer Rocksport Edition, but I did have some apprehensions about it. I have wrote an article about my decision making process I like to call Suspension Suspense. As I update this page in 2024, I only have good things to say about the lift kit. It has been ultra reliable. My lone complaint is that they didn’t provide torque specs for the hardware and I ended up having some issues within a year or two because I didn’t tighten some of the bolts tight enough.
Method 105 Beadlock Wheels
I started with the ATX 195 wheel because I really like the look, but once I found the Method Racing 105 I jumped ship to that wheel immediately. The look is similar, but with the Method 105 I get a true beadlock. The big kicker is that at $300 each they are only about $100 per wheel more, very affordable for a beadlock. Because I have heard of some 17″ wheels not fitting over the massive brakes of the Dana Ultimate 60’s I called Method and they confirmed that both the 101’s and 105’s in 17″ fit just fine. They took 8 weeks to get but they look great.
Nemesis Odyssey/Notorious Fender Flares
After a fair amount of deliberation I decided on the Odyssey/Notorious fenders from Nemesis Industries. You can read my research about all the fenders I considered in my articles about metal fender flares and non-metallic fender flares.The Nemesis fender flares won me over in five ways:
- They are aluminum. I’d prefer steel if I didn’t live in the rust belt, but since I do aluminum became my first choice.
- The outside skin of the Nemesis flares is continuously welded into one big piece meaning there are fewer points where salt can penetrate the finish. Most tube-style fender flares have a seam between the tube and the sheetmetal that is only stitch welded. These areas are ripe for the finish to crack and corrosion to begin.
- I like that they look similar to stock flares, blending in perfectly with the stylings of the Wrangler body in a very refined way.
- They were available ready to install, I didn’t have to deal with sending them out to get painted or powder coated.
- Most importantly, they look like they fit the best. Look at the picture above and tell me that you’ve seen a fender that follows the lines of the Jeep better and distorted the sheet metal less. Even if I could, I wouldn’t change the Nemesis fender flares in any way.
Nemesis "Billy Rocker" Panels
Perhaps the worst named product I own, the Nemesis Billy Rocker is an amazing product. The fit and finish is amazing, the clearance it provides it outstanding, and they are ALUMINUM! I live in Wisconsin were we salt the living hell out of the roads for 3 months of each year and steel stuff does not last (see what happened to my LOD bumpers in just 6 years if you need proof).