Over the coming weeks and months, we have given the reigns to our good friend Brad from TrailRecon so that he can give a deep dive into the vehicles of TrailRecon. This week we’re starting with the renowned TrailRecon Jeep JK. So grab your popcorn, sit back, and enjoy what Brad has to say about these rigs.
“When I went to the dealership back in 2015, I knew I wanted a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon because of just how capable it was right off the showroom floor and I vividly remember telling my son, we don’t need to do any upgrades to it because it’s ready to go. Well after about 6 months of wheeling it in stock form, I quickly began pushing the limits and realized I wanted to go further off the grid, which meant being more self-sustained and overcoming more challenging obstacles, so the modifications slowly began going on.

The very first modification I added (aside from the standard safety and recovery gear) was a winch. Being able to self-recover is imperative, thankfully over the years I have only needed it for myself a couple times, but generally it gets used to pull others out of sticky situations. The next upgrade was an sPOD because I knew I wanted to add some accessories and keeping the wiring clean and simplified was important to me. It wasn’t long after that when we were out on a trail late in the evening and realized just how much limited visibility we had at night with the Jeeps stock head & fog lights, so some bumper lights, a KC Pro6 Lightbar, side camping lights, rock lights, and back up lights eventually made their way onto the Jeep.

I had been pushing the tires and suspension to limits and so a few combinations of lift kits, wheels and tires were all experimented with before finally settling on some 37” tires and 4.5” of lift. This setup has seriously improved the Wrangler capability and has taken me everywhere I wanted to go and even some places I shouldn’t have. Bumpers, under armor, sliders and some interior upgrades have also been important parts of the build to add to the strength and comfort.

Over the years, I was quick to add stuff to the Jeep, but recently I began taking a different approach, weight reduction. What are the essentials that the Jeep really needs to be able to hit the trail, stay out for extended periods of time and perform at its best? These are questions I’m constantly asking myself and will be refining modifications to best suit my needs while keeping weight down. Oh and don’t tell anyone, but the Wrangler is my favorite Jeep I have in the driveway!”

Now that we know the story of the famous TrailRecon Jeep Wrangler JK, let’s get down and dirty with the full build specs as they are today (April 2020). This thing is one incredibly well-built machine, and we have seen it do things that we didn’t think an “overland” vehicle was capable of! For those of you interested in the TrailRecon Jeep JK lighting setup, we have included hyperlinks to all products in the lighting section listed below. Enjoy!

Vehicle:

• 2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon

The Essentials:

• Stock 3.6 L Pentastar Engine
• Magnaflow Catback Exhaust
• 1350 Adams Front and Rear Driveshaft

Wheels & Tires:

• Icon Compression 17″ Wheels
• 37×12.5R17 Milestar Patagonia Tires

Suspension:

• 4.5″ Icon Vehicle Dynamics Lift
• Icon Vehicle Dynamic Coilover Front
• Icon Vehicle Dyamics 2.5″ Remote Reservoir Rear
• Dynatrac ProRock 44 Front Axle
• Rear Revolution Chromoly Axles Shaft
• Rear Artec control arm brackets
• Steersmarts Tierod & Draglink
• PSP HD Steering Box

Lighting:

• Gravity® LED Pro6 50” Light Bar
• Gravity® LED Pro6 Singles for Driving Lights
• Gravity® LED 7” Headlights
• Gravity® LED G34 Fog Lights
• C-Series C3 Rear Facing Amber Cubes
• Cyclone LED Rock Lights

Exterior & Recovery:

• Poison Spyder Aluminum Fenders
• Poison Spyder Bruiser Bumper Front and Rear
• Teraflex HD Tire Carrier
• EVO Oil Pan and Transfer Case
• Smittybilt Soft Top
• Smittybilt Gen3 9500lbs winch
• Poison Spyder Rock Sliders

Interior:

• sPOD Switch System
• PowerTank 10lbs CO2 System
• 67 Designs Phone and Ipad Mount
• Vector Off-road cross bar
• Leatherseats.com Leather Seats
• Yeasu 7900 HAM Radio
• Outback Adventure Products Tailgate Table

Build the rig you’ve always dreamed of and drive your adventure forward with our gear recommendations. For more off road & overlanding gear recommendations, make sure to check out our Gear Reviews section.