Collison's 2005 Rubicon

[Collison]

I Joined RCPFA in 2010.
Ive wheeled there a handfull of times.
At the Wounded Warriors benefit run that summer I had a little bit of a scare.

So I decided to invest in more passenger saftey. First off, a sport cage. After much research, I chose the ORFab bolt in sport cage.

Plus I really like wheeling with the windshield down!

[Collison]

Very awesome Rubicon man! You're gonna have a great time wheeling with everyone!

Thanks!
I am excited about being in the mountains again, more options here!
Will I get to see the WJ in action?

[willhf1011]

Very nice setup Chris! Looking forward to getting out on the trail this weekend with you.

[BadAssEddie]

As much as I hate TJ's I'm glad we have a Rubi in the club again

[Matt612]

Very nice Rubicon man, hopefully sometime this year you will be forced to use that winch for something other than pulling down trees

[Collison]

Very nice Rubicon man, hopefully sometime this year you will be forced to use that winch for something other than pulling down trees

I know right! Its not like I dont wheel hard, I have just never got stuck.
Except that one time in the mud but there was no tree to winch to.

[Collison]

Very nice setup Chris! Looking forward to getting out on the trail this weekend with you.

X2.
Cant wait to see this KOH rig you got!

[Collison]

So after a trip up Pinnacle at the cove, a relatively easy hillclimb with bunches of little rocks making a bumpy ride, I decided better throttle control would be beneficial.
A hand throttle was in store. Got a cheap friction shifter on ebay and a bike cable repair kit from wal-mart.

End result... better throttle control over rough terrain.

[BadAssEddie]

thats badass

[Collison]

Next up in the neverending build that is Jeep...

I got a Toys by Troy Alumiflex tie rod From JJ aka Froggin(NoVA Jeepers) that he didnt need anymore since his Jeep is being transformed into a monster truck.
The difference in size is significant.

It was a pain in the arse getting the ends off the stock tie rod, but finally got the job done.

[Collison]

I picked up a Solid Diff cover and a lube locker.
I decided I didnt want the paint scheme that was on it...
So i sanded it and painted it to match the AEV Tummy Tuck(minus the layer of mud).

This still isn't good enough for me. I taped off the entire cover and sanded down through to the letters.

After another layer of paint to cover where I sanded and a quick bake in the oven to cure the paint...

So, I removed the front diff cover, cleaned it all up, and went to install the new cover.
Things just seemed to fit a little too tight.
I put the cover on and turned the bolts hand tight. I decided it would be a good time to check clearances with the tie rod before torqueing down the bolts and adding fluid. When my GF turned the steering wheel hard left and hard right I actually got to see the Alumiflex tie rod do its thing and actually flex on the cover. No room so off came Solid cover and I reinstalled the stock cover with the Lube Locker.
I ordered a new Lube Locker and installed the new cover on the rear axle.

[Collison]

The next step in my 'safety' phase is harnesses.
Mrs. Santa brought me a RockHard harness bar. These things come unfinished bare metal. Can't have that though! I decided to paint it white.

I ordered a set of Mastercraft 5 point harnesses, red, from Rusty's offroad.
Come to find out, a saftey harness can be just as dangerous as it can be safe so I am waited for all the parts to arrive to ensure the installation is proper.

[Collison]

Now how to get the harnesses through the seats?
In an effort to save money I considered harness holes in stock seats. Jeff of Adrenaline Offroad had an auto upholstery guy working for him who did just that.

I went to a local upholstery guy, Coachcraft Custom Upholstery to see if they could do it for me, he never called me back.
So I thought, why not?


My biggest gripe is that due to the seat structure this is the only place in the stock seats to cut a single hole for a harness and since im not running a Y style harness, there would be two 3 inch belts overlapping through that hole.

I was also concerned about the height of the hole relative to the butt of the seat.
Smittybilts are 22.5 inches from the butt. Stockers are a hair over 23 inches from the butt.

Sooo....

[Collison]

So after much debate on how to do the harnesses, I took some advice and got some new seats from 4WD.com
Free shipping and a free rear seat cover to match from Smittybilt for the same price as 1 Mastercraft seat. I'm OK with that!


Overall I'm happy with the new seats, they sit a little higher than the stock seats did but proper placement of the harnesses over the shoulders is a pretty important thing.
Absolutely love the feel of the harnesses though! Plus the red looks pretty sexy wrapped aroung the white harness bar and laying on the black seats!

[InvertChaos]

So after a trip up Pinnacle at the cove, a relatively easy hillclimb with bunches of little rocks making a bumpy ride, I decided better throttle control would be beneficial.
A hand throttle was in store. Got a cheap friction shifter on ebay and a bike cable repair kit from wal-mart.

End result... better throttle control over rough terrain.

That right here is something I could use for sure. It's really tough to not bounce your foot off the throttle on rough terrain. What pieces exactly do you need and how much did it run you?