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Brad Gross's '89 Jeep Wrangler Updated
April 1, 2001!!!
My dad found a clean 1989 Jeep Wrangler YJ, silver w/ black trim, 30" BFG A/T's with just one small little dent on the fender that was hardly off-roaded. The guy we bought it from was getting married and needed to get a "real" car. He took immaculate care of the Jeep and even dusted his sandals off before he got in! Well, I fell in love with it immediately. I had done a little bit of off-roading before. I used to race motorcross and did a lot of dirtbiking and I had ridden with a few of my buddies when they went flying through some mud pits, but I never had done anything extreme or exotic for that matter. Here it comes... My mom, dad and I had been planning a trip to Colorado to do some off-roading. We'd drive across Colorado and find some trails. So, off we went into the great unknown. We ended up at Lake City, CO, and camped out at Lake San Cristobal. Absolutely beautiful! My dad compares it to the Swiss Alps. Time to do some wheeling!
Ttime to see how the transfer case works. Ah, yes...4 Low...my favorite! We went up these narrow switchbacks all the way to the top of Engineer's Pass and got caught in some rain. Nothing like a slick, narrow trail with a drop-off of a few thousand feet! But, the little Jeep did just fine. I was pretty nervous, this being my first time behind the wheel of a 4x4 and the drop-off...did I mention that it was raining too? We stopped off at Animas Forks, a very well-preserved ghost town, which was really interesting to see. On the way down, we hit some nice creek crossings. I learned the beauty of low-range too, nothing like crawling down a mountain just letting the engine do the braking. We got back later that afternoon and, needless to say, I was hooked on wheeling! Thus began the obsession that is known as: wheeling, 'froading, rockcrawling, 4x'ing, etc.. From that day on, I read up on the subject as much as I could, I wheeled as much as I could, and finally, yes, finally, I built up my Jeep so that I could enjoy the more extreme trails and hopefully make it back in one piece!
I then realized that locking differentials and low-gearing would make things a lot easier on me. After a trip to Lee's 4x4 in Carrollton (Dallas area), TX, I now had ARB's w/ 4.56 cogs, front and rear. What a difference! I went to Ft. Hood, TX, with a group from JNT (Jeeps of North Texas), and everyone was just spinning their tires trying to get up Chicken Foot. Most made it, but not without a lot of effort and even a broken U-joint Then came my turn. I hit the ARB switch and put it in first gear...nothing to it. I just crawled right up! The crowd of on-lookers and hecklers just stared in amazement! That's when I was sold on low-gearing and lockers. I started trying more and more obstacles and even had a near roll-over. That's when I decided that a full rollcage was a good thing. A visit to Custom Jeep in Dallas solved that really quick. Now it has a full custom cage with spreader bars and all the goodies, along with custom seats and 4-point racing harnesses to keep me safely inside. You can't leave a rollcage bare so I decided to have Scott at Diamond off-road / SAI Protective Coatings in Grapevine (Dallas area), TX, give it some Diamond Lining. He did the whole body tub, the cage, etc., and it looks great. You just hose it out when it gets nasty. Scott also did some fender trimming and put on the Xenon extended fender flares. They are tough!
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It
all started out with my dad wanting to have a small tow vehicle
to pull behind his motorhome. So the idea of the Jeep was planted
firmly into my dad's head...and mine. I was in college at the time
and I envisioned myself cruising around with the top down, enjoying
the sun, tunes cranked, picking up lovely young co-eds, etc.. Little
did I know that this was about to change my life and lifestyle.
We
decided to take Engineer's Pass all the way to Cinnamon Pass. This
is a full-day trip that starts and ends in Lake City. We took off
bright and early and came to the end of the real road and found
the "High Clearance Vehicles and 4x4 Only" sign...the start of the
adventure!
I
soon found out that 30" tires wouldn't cut it, so I did a 2.5" Pro-Comp
suspension lift and went with 31" BFG Mud Terrains. It was a good
start, as I was able to accomplish a lot more off-road than I could
before...but it just wasn't enough!