Jeeps are a lot like heroes.
Tony Stark builds advanced armored suits and flies around in them fighting evil, when not roaming the concrete jungle in high-powered sports cars. James Bond is kind of like that. Except instead of donning armored suits, he wears bespoke Italian dinner jackets.
Instead of nuclear-powered particle projector hand cannons, he uses SAS hand-to-hand combat and small arms with the occasional 12.7x109mm DShK heavy machine gun mounted on a stolen Soviet T-55 tank.
Both date models, drive hot rods and fight evil. Slugging it out with villains or rocking their debonair flair at a recent Wayne Foundation fundraiser, Iron Man and 007 rise to the occasion.
Enter Greg Adler’s Custom JK Wrangler: it handles like a gentleman on the highway and unleashes unstoppable beast-like rock crawling powers in the back hills.
Heroes Are Made
4WD CEO and off-road race car driver Greg Adler has undertaken Jeep accessories modifications not for the faint of heart on the pictured Jeep Wrangler JK. One look and it’s clear: nothing on this JK is stock.
Customized from the inside out, this road machine packs a 425 horsepower 6.1 liter HEMI V-8 conversion engine by Screaming Lizard Customs, an Advance Adapters 2-speed Atlas transfer case, a Magnaflow cat-back offroad series exhaust, and a Custom Airaid air intake system.
The front axle has been swapped to a Dana 60 G2 high 5.13 ring and pinion axle with Arb airlocker 35 spline and G2 35 spline chromolly axle shafts for more strength. The matching rear axle has a rear Currie anti-rock sway bar. That’s all well and good, as lesser rigs stop there – but not so with this Wrangler.
Rock Bottom to Soft Top
Check out this drivetrain suspension setup: 37×12.50×17 Pro Comp Xtreme mud terrain tires and 17×8.5 Pro Comp 5029 wheels strike fear in the hearts of the most extreme off-road obstacles, while a set of 4.5-inch Rubicon Express Extreme-Duty Long Arm kits and Rubicon Express monotube shocks ensures steady crawling and smooth handling on the highway.
Bumper to bumper, Greg’s JK embodies the truest sense of the word “custom” — Smittybilt XRC front and rear bumpers with tire carrier in the back, Smittybilt X20 10 Comp winch with Hawse Fairlead and synthetic rope, Smittybilt XRC rock armor with side steps, a pair of Pro Comp 5-inch round off-road lights, Truck-Lite LED conversion headlights, and a Smittybilt billet grille continue the list of mods on this off-road equipped JK Wrangler 4-door.
A custom flat metallic grey vehicle wrap and Smittybilt front and rear XRC Corner guards with billet lockable gas cap accent the exterior – front and rear Smittybilt Neoprene seat covers complete the interior work with style and functionality.
Top it off with a Smittybilt 4-door Wrangler roll cage and Smittybilt Extended Mesh top and we’ve got ourselves one lean, mean, trail-stomping machine.
Metal Works: Behind the Craft
To accomplish the engine and transmission swap, a full auto shop would be required to handle the work properly. The next most technically involving task would be replacing the axle and suspension kits, a project that calls for a very high level of mechanical expertise and tools.
Everything else is essentially bolt on and would require basic hand and power tools. Good things roll to those who wait: from start to finish, these mods (all available at the 4Wheel Drive site) would take approximately 3-4 weeks total nonstop to complete.
Heroes take time and training to achieve herohood; this road machine just might be the world’s mightiest Jeep to save the day on the trails.
Happy off-roading, gents.
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