Rok111

[Ironman]

I purchased my 2004 TJ Rubicon in 2005 with 5000 miles on the clock. We had rented a 2005 Jeep TJ to tour one of the islands in Hawaii during a family vacation and it sold us on the Jeep so within a week I had found this one and one week later I was bringing it home.

The first thing I did was to install a COBRA 75 WX ST CB Radio and a Firestik 4' KW3 Series CB Antenna

Fast forward to 2006. I had an opportunity to get a Rokmen Mercenary Bumper, Rokmen Rock Sliders, Rokmen Rear Quarter Panel Armor, 2" OME Suspension, OME Rear Panhard Rod Extension Mounting Bracket, OME Bump Stop 20mm Extensions, OME manual transmission spacer kit, JKS 1.5" Body Lift, JKS 1" Motor Lift,
JKS Upper Control Arms, JKS Sway Bar Quick Release, Allied Bead Locks and MTR's at a discount. They were based out of Colorado and they had a magazine that wanted to do a write up on their Mercenary system. My Jeep was chosen for this article and their head mechanic came to California for a week to do the build with me in my shop. The photographer was in Hollywood so he drove down for Phots and to take notes on the progress. This was phase one of my build. Here are photos of the article.

Next up Fenders and Rear Bumper.

 

[Joeinnewjersey]

Very kool. Where did you get the cargo netting?

 

[L J]

that's a cool backstory

 

[Ironman]

Thank you. They were made by Raingler.

https://raingler.com/products/1992-...side-window-nets?_pos=14&_sid=3134a54da&_ss=r

 

[Wildman]

Welcome to the forum and great way to interduce your TJ to all of us. Nice looking rig too.

 

[Ironman]

Thank you. I look forward to being part of the group.

 

[Ironman]

In 2007 a small company in Temecula called REV 111 digitized a TJ and designed some unique fenders. Unfortunately the owners were masters at fabrication and design but not good business men so they had to close their doors. My son worked for REV 111 and helped with the TJ scanning and wrote the installation manuals. When they closed he told me that there was one set of fenders left so I had to get them because they were part of family history. So I bought the last set of fenders. They had designed and gotten prototypes of turn signals for the fenders but never made the final order. I knew the owners and others that worked there and started pushing them to place the order. They never did but I was able to get two sets of the prototypes.

Now I had the rockers on the Jeep but they are not compatible with the fenders. So I got to work and did some cutting and welding and matched them up. BTW, some of you may know that REV 111 sold the design to Metalcloak who made some minor revisions and is still selling them today.

The fenders got close to finished things up on the outside but I still needed a rear bumper. I went to an off-road expo and found my setup for a good deal.The deal was so good that I ended up getting the ROCKHARD Roll Bar system as well their Rear Bumper with tire rack, small rack the sits above the spare tire and a gas can carrier.

Other odds and ends that I picked up in 2006 that I forgot to mention earlier are Harley Davidson Long Stem Black Mirrors, Rain Gear Jeep Cover and a set of Rockcrusher Diff Covers.

So the name for my TJ was created from ROKmen and REV 111 or ROK111. Sorry ROCKHARD!

I found a couple of pictures of the Roll Bar install to share.

Here is the finished photo. My son ended up going to UTI and became a BMW Master Tech. So he and I parted out and resorted old BMW's for a few years during the great depression. The white car is a 540/6 that we had a lot of fun restoring. Slammed on coil overs with a V8 6 speed this car was fast and held the road. Got me in lots of trouble...

Next up some interior fun.

 

[Ironman]

On the inside I put a Kenwood TM-V71A Ham Radio hooked up to a Diamond NR770HA Dual band Mobile Antenna. The antenna is still on a Mag mount on the Gas Can rack but I plan on mounting it the right way soon. For tunes the main thing for me in 2015 was hands free and bluetooth so I picked the Pioneer MVH-X560BT Car Stereo. After that I needed some better seats so I went with MasterCraft Baja RS Seats.

 

[Ironman]

2017 was the year I decided to Re-gear the Jeep to 4.88 gears. This was one of the best upgrades so far. As many of you know this makes the driving experiance much better when you start going with larger tires. I also added Hella 7" Round E Code H4 Halogen Replacement Headlight Kit with Standard 60/55W H4 Bulbs. The last big upgrade was the 2004 Gray Hardtop which took me many months to find.

I guess I forgot to mention in this thread getting rid of the bead locks and MTR's and going with one piece M/T Baja wheels and BFG KO tires. I also had some front end work done, including the Metalcloak track bar and lower control arms. Now she drives like new again.

So there you have it. No more looking back just looking forward. I have some under armor and new rear suspension parts that will get put on the beginning of next month. Until then, Keep the rubber side down my friends.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ironman]

I just picked up the TJ today after having some fun things done that I have not had time to do myself. I really enjoy working on my vehicles but for the past few years I have been putting in lots of overtime at work and there has just been not enough time to enjoy this part of being a Jeep owner.

So, I had the Under Armor that has been sitting the shop for a couple of years installed. During the installation of the under armor there was an issue with the OME shocks hitting the mounts due to the alignment of the rear diff so I had some Fox shocks installed which gave about an inch more clearance. I also had some Metal Cloak suspension items installed so they could adjust the rear diff. So new upper and lower control arms and a new track bar were installed. The need for a Tom Woods driveshaft due to raising the Transfer Case was also installed. While they were there I had them install the Savvy Transfer Case cable linkage.

They were able to use the stock Transfer Case mount which save me some potential vibration and eliminated the need to modify the stock exhaust. The 30 minute drive home was wonderful with no significant issues. One of the benefits is that when I put on the Body Lift the manual transmission linkage felt a little sloppy. Raising the Transmission tightened up the sifting and it is now shifting better than it has in a decade. Next up a little black magic...

Here are some pictures to prove it really happened!

 

[Only TJ's]

Looks sharp

 

[Ironman]

Thank you. Little by little...

 

[Ironman]

Black Magic Brake Kit installed. Thanks to Mrblaine!