From Rags to Riches (2018 Cement TrdOR Build)

So right now im scouring the forums trying to find a 3 position switch that will fit in the oem cutouts. I want to wire my rigid reverse lights to be (on/off/on with reverse gear). I found a thread a few months ago talking about it but I cant for the life of me find it again. I know if I could just type in the right key word it would pop up but I'm waving the white flag. If anyone knows what I'm talking about could you please direct me to the link?

 

Haha nah that's not me man. I'm one of those guys that will probably die young of a heart attack because I'm constantly doing something. If I run out of projects something's wrong lol

 

First group of boxes showed up tonight. I guess I'm used to seeing the squadron xls because the squadron pros are way smaller than I thought they were. That little baggie is full of interior bulbs. Really crappy packaging for the interior bulbs in my opinion but whatever as long as they work. Those rigid ignites are awesome they are so tiny! Cant wait for my bracketry and wiring to show up so I can put them on!

 

Tonight I finally was able to get some installing done. Special thanks to @CaliRaisedLed for making awesome products and getting them here fast! Started with the relay bracket, then the hidden bumper light bar, and then finally the ditch light brackets and @Baja Designs squadron pros. Everything went pretty smooth but there was a few issues. First off the wiring harness that came with the squadron pros was way to short to reach both sides of the truck and plug into both lights. Maybe I ordered a kit meant for a Rzr/side by side or something but i dont know for sure. Also in cali raised's install video they show the conector in the switch portion of the harness being small enough to fit through the hole in the firewall. Maybe this is new on the 2018s but the only unused hole in the firewall was far to small to fit the connector through. Nothing too difficult to over come though I just ended up doing a little hacking and slashing and was able to combine the baja designs harness with an extra cali raised harness to fix the length problem. On the cali raised conector issue I just cut the harness and spliced it back together under the dash, no big deal.


Cali Raised relay bracket installed!


I highly recommend leaving the passenger side light bar bracket off until you get the light bar positioned inside the bumper. I ended up having to take it back off to get the bar in place. Also leave everything loose until the bar is snugged down to the brackets, you will thank yourself dearly.


If I have to adjust the light bar up any higher I am going to have a clearance issue. It's not touching right now but it's really close. From my initial testing I think i have the bar adjusted properly but if i have to move it much at all then I will have to address the hoodlatch/support clearance.


Finished product! And man that dealer plate is ugly! From this point on I kind of got on a roll and didnt take as many pictures but heres what I got:


Ditch lights looking good! Had to spin the baja designs brackets around from the way they show in their pictures in order to clear the windshield when the hood was opened much past the propped position.


Thats the only open hole in the firewall and it was way to small for the cali raised connector.



Finished product! Dang they are bright! The cali raised bar in the spot pattern shoots crazy far and the baja designs squad pros in the combo pattern really illuminate everything up close. I cant be more happy with the finished product! I still have some work to do, the way I'm tied in to the battery is temporary as well as my switch situation. I'm still waiting for a few parts. I also still need to install the rigid ignites for the reverse lights. It got dark and I forgot to take pictures of the finished wiring. It turned out pretty clean besides the temp stuff. I'll try to remember to snap a pic of that tomorrow. Thanks for following along with me so far guys I'll try to get another build update soon!

 

Thanks for choosing us! It looks great

 

Quick little update while I'm stopping for lunch. Been super busy the past couple days so I havent been taking any pics but I got my windows tinted and the other day I received all my suspension components. This afternoon I've been trying to get the rears done. Pretty simple so far. I've got both rear springs out and the driver side back in so far. Havent started in shocks yet but after lunch I'll try to get everything finished up. First impressions of the bp51 kit is awesome. Build qualitys fantastic and everything is very heavy duty. We will see how far I can get today.


Sorry not very entertaining pictures yet and ps: for the record I'm not the guy that painted the axle green on the jeep in the background lol just had to clear my name of that before I get any hate.

 

Got the rear finished up. Turned out great. But man the rear shocks were a huge pain to get in and everything to line up it took forever. Decided to call it quits for the night but if I can get myself out of bed tomorrow morning I'll try to get the fronts done.

I do have a question to anyone running the Dakar packs. Theres a little ebrake cable bracket that bolts on to the side of the spring. Sitting flat it is plenty long but at full droop the ebrake cable is way to short to use that bracket. Not sure what guys usually do but I decided to cut the bracket off cuz I dont wanna rip my cable outa the brake assembly. I'll have to come up with something though since it rubs on the leaf pretty bad. Also I'm definitely gunna need some longer brake lines. As of right now the brake lines are limiting my droop. From my experience brake lines dont make for good limiting straps lol.

 

Pics didn't show up.

 

I was wondering if that would happen I just cut and paste and didnt attach like normal. Thanks I'll see what i can do.

 

Time for a long overdue update. I'm finally done with the bp51 kit. Took me a little longer than expected but nothing was too terribly difficult. I struggled a little more with the uca bolts than I expected and the rear shocks were kind of a bear but other than that everything went well. I left the preload at 20mm due to time constraints and the fact that I dont have a spring compressor so I figured I'd try it like this for now. Seems like a good height everything looks good but i took some decent whoops at around 35 on my test drive and I could feel something topping out. I'm assuming shocks but granted these were really deep whoops any faster and I might of got air lol. Since its 1:30am I didnt take any outside pics but I will tomorrow. I still need brake lines and I would like to come up with a betterway to mount the resis. Ome'sbracket works but I dont really like the look of it and I would like to be able to throw the dust cover back in the fender well without covering the resi. It will work for now.

Driver side mostly complete:



Starting on the passenger:



Passenger finished:


Driver finished and reservoir mounted:



After the lift with stock wheels and tires:







And then...



Finished product before and after:



I couldnt be more happy with the results so far I think it turned out awesome!

@JaCado let me know if the pics didnt work this time

 

They worked fine this time ..... now she looks like a truck

 

Previous post was actually a few days ago...

Tonight I got an alignment. Camber is still 1.2 degrees passenger and 0.7 degrees driver. I feel like the passenger is still a little much but I'm not an alignment guy so I dont know what is acceptable numbers wise.

After the alignment I took it up to the woods and did a little pre season elk scouting so while I was up there I had to snap a few pics:

 

She looks more like a truck in the pics i posted as you commented Haha!

 

What Size Tires you running? I like the look, thanks.

 

285/75/16 bfg km3s on method nv305s with 0 offset

 

Your truck is lookin prime. How much lift you running on the ome? Any rubbing? This is exactly what I’m tryna do with my SB

 

I'm not exactly sure how much lift I gained. I'm running the coilovers at 20mm preload. Seems to sit fairly level. I'd say close to 2.5 in the back and maybe a little more in the front. I'll take some measurements and give you a real number.

 

First world problems nice build

 

So first impressions of the ride on and off road ? Thanks! Looks sick

 

How is the setup? I just got the same kit. What's your mileage like?