JK Wrangler Goes from Pole-wrapped Tragedy to Jeep Royalty
After a Jeep Wrangler was totaled and doomed to be crushed, YouTube channel Rush-in Garage swooped in and gave it a second chance.
Back in August, the incredible men from Florida that make up Rush-in Garage YouTube channel bought a totaled 2015 Jeep Wrangler Oscar Mike edition from an insurance auction. From the back, the Wrangler looked to be in decent shape. Apart from being covered in bird droppings and a few rust spots where the metal was exposed, it didn’t appear to be too demanding of a build. Then, the Wrangler got its close up. It didn’t look good too good. Surely, the Wrangler had seen better days.
“As you can see, there’s absolutely no way we can fix this,” says Rush-In’s host. “We bought this expecting to replace the whole frame on it.”
According to Rush-In Garage, what the Jeep collided into was never disclosed. Their best guess was a tree or a telephone pole, and they were most likely going fast. The radiator was pushed so far into the engine that it was busted open, and the frame in the front and driver’s side were bent beyond the reparable threshold. Additionally, the windshield frame was bent and needed replacing, as well as the front fender on the driver’s side.
“It’s pretty intimidating at first glance,” said the host. “But we’re just going to dive in and see what happens.”
Luckily from the men of Rush-In Garage, the interior was mostly unscathed. A huge bonus for the builders was the seats that came with the Oscar Mike edition. Despite being outside for as long as it was, the leather wasn’t cracked or dry, and the black wasn’t faded at all. There was a lot of work to do to make the Jeep functional again, and they were eager to get started.
Once the damaged parts were removed and new parts took their place, Rush-In Garage saw the opportunity to make it a bigger, badder, custom Wrangler. Starting with a new hood with vents, mirror caps for the driver’s mirrors, and updated suspension, more aftermarket parts made their way into the build. Next were LED tail and headlights, then a louder exhaust, and steel bumpers in the front and rear. Then, it wouldn’t really be a buff Jeep if it didn’t come with a winch. Obviously, that created an aesthetic need for new wheels, tires, and a lift. Rush-In Garage went with 17-inch wheels, and all terrain General Grabber tires to compliment them.
On the interior end of things, they couldn’t resist a nicer stereo. So, they went with a giant Android tablet display, that connected to a cleverly hidden backup camera. With the ability to connect to the internet, Rush-In Garage wasted no time in showing that the stereo had access to their YouTube channel.
Aside from that, the host only had to replace the airbag cover on the steering wheel, and threw in Jeep floor mats from the dealership. The cherry on top of the entire build was the installation of a “super chip” for the transmission. This, Rush-In says, changes the shift points to compensate for the bigger tires to keep the transmission from over reacting — a common problem with automatic Wranglers. Towards the end of the video, the two tired men hopped in to film their first test drive.
“The Jeep just runs amazing, it’s such a joy to drive it,” said Rush-In Garage from the driver’s seat. “Whoever ends up buying this is going to be super happy.”
The most impressive part of this entire rebuild is the little amount of time it took. The video they made of the initial purchase (above) was back in August, and the video of the rebuild was this month (below). With that little amount of time they’d replaced all the damaged parts and transformed it into a different beast entirely.
Check out the video that started it all below:
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