Protection » Rock Hard Rear Bumper/Tire Carrier
After looking into the amazing amount of available rear bumper/tire carriers available for JKs I narrowed it down to either Rock Hard or Shockworks. I ultimately went with the Rock Hard bumper because it was available when I wanted it, is made from ¼ inch plate and is a little narrower than most of the other JK bumpers (it will look great with tube fenders). Additionally it had a built in CB antenna mount, built in high-lift jack mount and has enough room to add 5 gallon gas and water containers.
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View of the rear of the bumper with the CB antenna and high-lift jack mounted
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Protection » Homemade Front Bumper Fitted with WARN XD9000 Winch
Alan and I decided to make winch bumpers prior to our planned trip to Moab in the spring of 2008. These were going to be cheap temporary bumpers (much like the hacked ones we made from the stock parts), but they came out great and I think I’m going to keep mine and make some minor modifications.
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The basic design of the bumper is a 5”x2” 1/4˝ rectangular steel section bolted on to the front of the Jeep frame (ala TJ style). A ¼” steel plate was then welded onto the back of the bumper and sits between the frame rails to support the winch. To further strengthen the winch mounting plate two 90° tabs were welded onto the bottom and then bolted to the inside of the frame.
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This picture shows a clearer view of the winch mounting plate and how the bumper bolts onto the frame rails.
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In the paint shop (aka rattle can area)
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Since I my winch control box had extended electrical cables I decided to mount the control box under the hood.
I started off by making a small bracket so I could hang the winch control box off of the battery holder.
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This picture shows the winch control box in place (top right)
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Cable management worked out great and by pure luck the cable length designed for the H2 was the perfect length for the jeep.
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5/17/08: Update picture showing Pro Comp driving lights, d-rings and shackles
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Protection » Kilby EVAP Relocation Kit
The EVAP canister on the JKs is an accident waiting to happen. Some people have fabricated their own brackets but I decided to be lazy and use the Kilby relocation kit.
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This picture shows the original EVAP canister location.
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The installation was relatively easy and took about 2 hours. The instructions were not particularly helpful but I found a decent write up on a forum beforehand.
Note the EVAP is well protected from rocks.
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This picture shows what the vacant space after the canister was relocated.
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Protection » Genuine Gear Heavy Duty Differential Covers
I personally don’t care for the differential covers with big logos and weird patterns (some brands of differential covers like SOLID actually get in the way of the drag link and tire rod). I went with simple looking, but way tough ¾” Genuine Gear G2 covers.
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Protection » Poison Spyder Customs Body Armor
Poison Spyder Customs ran a completion on colorado4x4.org for some free body armor in return for a Jeep for a couple of days to use for web site photos. I applied and won :)
There are the pictures Clifton at Poison Spyder took:
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Protection » Homemade UCP
Gas tank skid plate
Alan and I had another whiskey and welding day and built skid plates to protect the front of the gas tank. The Jeep skid is useless 1/16” steel and is the lowest point right where the break over point is. We used 3/16ths!!
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We used Alan's new plasma cutter and made the main plate.
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We fabbed up some supports so they would bolt to the stock skid plate mounts (the small one is recessed so the bolt head is below the skid plate and can’t get smashed). We bent one end to flow with the contour of the cross member at the front near the t-case.
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We couldn’t figure out an easy way to make the front “bolt on” so we ended up welding them directly on the cross member. Getting it off will require a couple of minutes with a grinder so it’s not too bad and they certainly won’t move.
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Font control arm mount protection
The Alan and Alec whiskey welding team added some bullet proof protection to the wimpy OEM control arm mounts. Cost was free (some 1/4" scrap steel) and it only took a few minutes to knock these up.
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Rear control arm/shock mount protection
The rear control arm/shock mounts needed some beefing up so I welded some 1/4" plate to add some protection. Also, combined with the Poly Performance shock relocation brackets and some cutting I gained about 1.5 inches of clearance.
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Protection » Homemade Half Door Top Storage Bags
One of the main reasons I bought a Jeep with half doors was so I could take them off on warm days. Fortunately Colorado has more sunny days than any other state, but unfortunately it tends to rain in the afternoons and can rapidly change from warm to cold.
The nice thing about half doors is that the door tops are not that bulky and, unlike full doors can fit in the cargo area of the Jeep. To that end Kathy made us some storage bags so they don’t get scratched up.
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The inside door top bags are made of some type of fleece like material and Velcro shut.
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The inner bags are then secured within outer bags (in pairs) made of a vinyl type of material for added protection.
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The two storage bags are secured in the cargo area with a simple ratchet strap and don’t take up too much room.
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Protection » Grill Guard
This modification is more for aesthetics than functionality although the mesh will protect the radiator from any small stones flying around on the highway. The main reason for this modification is to hide a train horn that I eventually plan on location between the mesh and the radiator.
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I bought the mesh at home depot and rattle canned it black (using primer first). I used some adhesive zip tie mounts and zip ties to hold the mesh onto the back of the grill.
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First remove the stock fenders.
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The Jeep looks cool with no fenders 
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Installing the front fenders is easy and they bolt in to the existing OEM fender bolt holes. I reused the existing OEM plastic wheel well protector but had to cut it to fit with the narrower fenders.
I also decided to mask up the fenders, rattle can them and the exposed green body panels in the wheel well the same color black semi gloss that I’ve used elsewhere on the Jeep.
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We had to cut a little off the back of the rear fenders to clear my Rock Hard bumper.
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Installing the rears is a little more work than the front because you need to drill all the bolt holes.
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We also had to cut the front of the rear fenders a little because I’d cut the stock pinch seam for clearance when I lifted the Jeep
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Pic of the front finished. I like how narrow these are
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Rear profile, I rattle canned the green body that was behind the plastic wheel well protection.
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