Red Rubicon

[Brillig]

Well, I decided to trade in my old rust bucket...


...for a new JK Rubicon




It's mostly a stock kit, but I made a custom rear 4-link truss and custom sliders and bumpers. I also rearranged the electronics and battery for better balance. Here are some more pictures.

4-link truss. I still need to put some tubing over that threaded rod...


Front bumper.


Rear bumper. I'm going to make a spare tire carrier soon.


And here's a shot of the layout of the battery and electronics. I really like the weight distribution with the battery up front. I tried it in the "normal" front position like the Honchos use, but it made the CoG so high, it just wanted to roll over. This is a great trade-off between climbing ability and side-to-side stability.


And finally, here's one more action shot.

[Fletch24]

You make custom brackets to mount the battery that way?

[CEEJAY5]

I really like your rock sliders!

[redram360]

I really like this rubi, much like my old rubi except I didn't have the cool bumpers.

[Brillig]

Thanks guys.

That Rubicon looks a little more "scale" than mine. I guess I have some work to do.

Those are actually the old sliders. They fit the truck pretty good, but aren't quite right for the JK. I made new ones, but I haven't put them on yet. I'll post some pictures when I do.

I did make a custom bracket to hold the battery. Here are a couple better pictures of it. It's just some bent aluminum sheet with the stock battery tray bolted on. If I make the straps nice and tight, they hold on just fine.

[Rook82]

Nice work, the bumpers and sliders look great. Lowering the battery does definitely help performance alot

[CEEJAY5]

I am looking forward to seeing the new sliders. Very nice setup!

[Fletch24]

I need to find a way to mount my battery like that as well just trying to get as many ideas as I can so I can do some trial and error thanks for the pics!

[Brillig]

Here are some pics of my new rock sliders. They fit the body really well, so hopefully they hold up ok.

[Brillig]

I also put some stainless tubing over the threaded rod on my custom rear upper links.

[Brillig]

A couple more pictures... Looking at these I think my next project is going to have to be wheel wells.

[xjcralwer]

It's no XJ...but it is nice work.
I like the boatside-style sliders - not much to get hung up on.

~Z

[Brillig]

Here are some pics from a good day in Corona del Mar...

[DaveinSac]

Your Jeep looks awesome! I am accually working on that body right now. But im stuck on the length of the links. I keep making them the wrong length. If its not a big deal could you please tell me what length you cut your all thread at? I want to get the wheelbase right before I start masking the body off for paint. Yours looks to have the perfect wheelbase.

[Manfjourde]

Excelled trade in! That body is sweet. Question on the wheel rings - are they painted or what color axial ring are they? Also...any chance you would make and sell those bumpers?

[Brillig]

The wheelbase is pretty much stock, which is 290mm (11.4"). All the links are stock except for the rear uppers, but I only changed those to fit my custom 4-link truss. I lengthened them just slightly to improve the angle of the drive shaft, but that should only have lengthened the wheelbase by a mm or two since the lowers are the same length.

The length of my custom links probably won't help you unless you have a very similar 4-link truss setup.

Just make sure you get the rear fenders centered over the tires. The front has a bit of latitude to where the wheels end up.

[Brillig]

Originally Posted by Manfjourde

Excelled trade in! That body is sweet. Question on the wheel rings - are they painted or what color axial ring are they? Also...any chance you would make and sell those bumpers?

Man, those bumpers were crazy hard to make. Now I know why most everyone does tube bumpers! That would be way easier. That thin sheet metal is really, really hard to braze, and I all I have are hand tools to bend it with. I don't know if I could make another set for myself, let alone to sell.

The rock rings were originally the lime green ones from the kit. I sanded all the green off and left them just polished aluminum. I like the contrast with the black wheels.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

[BrianP]

I've been looking for a red JK. I was thinking about painting mine Red.
I wanted to see one before I decide what color I wanted.
Rubicon looks great. Good job.
Brian

[Brillig]

I got a chance to do some work on the Jeep since the holidays.

1. Added more weight to the front tires and removed some foam to fit better around the extra weights. The foams still seem too stiff to me, any suggestions?

2. Rear wheel wells. still need front ones.



3. Bored holes in the body for normal body mounting. I got tired of the velcro - it just didn't work very well. I had to modify the axial rear body mount tower to make it just a little bit taller.

[Brillig]

As much as I liked how the rear bumper came out, it just wasn't standing up the test of time. So, I started a new one. This time it's going to be more of tube look. Also, I decided I will just braze the spare tire carrier on instead of trying to bolt it somehow. I figure it will be stronger that way. I'm not the best driver - rollovers are a common occurrence.

Here's what I have so far on the bumper. I'm using 3/16 solid rod, and 16GA sheet steel, and I made a custom bracket from some scrap stainless to hold it while I work on it.







I think I'm getting better at brazing, too!