Build A Budget Jeep In The Driveway With Hand Tools 

Built like a majority of JKs out there. Low tier lift kit, chinesium bumpers, cheap wheel spacers. Recipes for the most basic JK on the street. Good to see you using basic hand tools, basic jack stands, and doing it in the driveway like most people do it. And pro tip on the torque wrench,brining it back to zero.ive said that for years and people don’t believe me when I say that’s the right way to do it. So thanks for that!

Love the basic tool driveway junkyard builds so much more relatable for the majority of your viewers.

It’s about time you showed that old girl some love. She’s old and rusty, but she the one that gets you where you wanna go.

A true rebel in the off-road community. Using wheel spacers, actually torquing things and you didn't yell at your son for holding the flashlight wrong.

I like very very very much the concept of videos for the average Joe , with no-budget , no-tools, no garage, no lift, cheap-ass tricks , for real-life affordable builds , with pointers on stuff that will need attention , what's crap, and what fits and what not.... Because let's face it, NO ordinary mid-class laboring father/family-provider/mortgage-owner can afford any thing that is installed in most RU-vid channels. Also the amount of attention you put on details and dig all the way down on a given subject , like the torque-wrench + wheel-spacers , it's really enjoyable, keep it up , I think you carved yourself a niche here.

I love your how to videos - as a visual learner who doesn't have the tech skills, seeing "the basics" done helps improve the confidence to try things. Thanks!

You are an inspiration for all backyard mechanics.

Colt, you are so easy to listen to, and are a great instructor. I totally enjoy your videos.

Awesome video Colt! Nice to meet your son and see him out there working with you! Keep it up

Loving the channel Colt! Nice to see a helper in the driveway with you too!

Congratulations! Clear, concise, expert instruction, cannot possibly misunderstand how to duplicate! Sooo many how to videos leave out little things, (like you are supposed to know)! But you left no doubt, clear instructions! Very well done! Evcelent video!

Old man strength and old man wisdom are real!

Thank you for continuing to be the only youtuber that understands what a budget is. Also for repping Skyjacker. The OG of quaility lift components.

I appreciate you bringing it down to an affordable level. I enjoy watching the nice shops but in all honesty I'll always have dirt on my back and shade from the tree. I was just commenting on Hectors video about inspiring us broke Americans. Like most of us are. Between Hector, from Howlin Wolf Garage, and yourself you make this ol farm boy inspired to get to wrenching and even some body work. I appreciate your channel, Colt. Keep showing those skills

Grew up in the Midwest, the smoke wrench was our friend.

These budget build videos are awesome. Like you said this is more realistic for the average person and off-roader. Thanks Colt!

Colt, you do a wonderful job explaining how and why. Keep up the good videos.

I’m glad you brought that up. I got underneath my jeep and found out that it has an aftermarket crossmember in it. Thank you.

Really appreciate the detail you go to on tech stuff. Where was RU-vid when i was growing up 100 years ago!?!? This generation has it made thanks for sharing!!

These “in my driveway” videos are great!! 👍

Good to see you. Excited for the Pacer build begin. 👍

Good on you for showing common issues related to the project and using normal tools. As a cheap parts guy myself, its always cool to see guys do budget builds and not just spend 50k new axles, a custom lift, and crazy expensive wheels.

Your discount code saving me 10% on my lift was all the excuse I needed to drop some cash on it. Thanks to you and skyjacker for that👍

Colt, love the channel! A little shock info for you. The uncharged shocks are called Emulsion shocks. The gas charged really don’t place any additional downforce on the axle. Think about it. You’re able to compress it by hand to some extent. The reason they are nitrogen filled, is to keep the valving in a constant media (oil). Your shock that was dead, basically became an emulsion shock. The real son they suck, is that the valving required for an emulsion shock is much tighter than one for oil only (Nitrogen charge). Why the remote reservoir? It provides the nitrogen charge a larger area to compress, so it doesn’t affect the pressures as much. IE: when the shaft enters the body, it pushes the floating piston (separates oil from Nitrogen) down, increasing the pressure in the nitrogen side. The larger the area in the reservoir, the less pressure change results. A larger diameter would result in an even lesser increase. All about cubic inch of area of the shaft versus floating piston movement. Springs are technically the ONLY downforce. Something you touched on, very few people know why, is the less the amount of coils, or further they are apart, the stiffer they are. Why? A spring is no more than a torsion bar. Think of this. Roll the spring into a straight bar. More coils would result in a longer bar. Secure one end, and weld a T to the other. Which would be easier to turn 1/4 turn? The longer one, every time. The areas with more coil would still have the same rotation percentage, but longer length allows more compression in the given space. The spring you show is actually designed that way to allow softer “ride”, and goes into coil bind (collapsed, no more compression) when encountering bigger travel compression. You’ll notice different coils stacked on race vehicles for tunable compressions. Hope this helped…. And wish you continued success on your channel!

Badlands jack, Grinder, Impact gun, and a buddy. All things that not everyone has to use in their driveway. Slightly more involved than the driveway hand tool description. But I knew it would be because you just can mess with suspension with regular hand tools.

Still can’t believe you’re here in Farmington. Hope to see you on the trails soon. 👍🏽

With that tail light, my buddy actually cut and trim way down and then mounted a really bright red LED light so when he hits the brakes, it illuminates inside the rim and it actually looks pretty cool

I love this driveway mechanic stuff - I learn so much from watching all these off road channels, but it’s intimidating, and I don’t have a lift.

I love the fact that you show doing the work in your driveway. I think most of us would love to have a shop with all the bells and whistles and lifts, but seeing the tips and tricks and doing it with standard tools was not only refreshing, but encouraging and helps motivate me to work on the dirt floor of my shop and get it done! Really enjoying the channel

I love when Colt adds in the little fun facts/tips in the videos. Even with Matt on BleepinJeep

Colt you Really made that Jeep look great 😊👍. Keep up the great work and God Bless you and your family brother 🙏🏼.

Love how you're doing the new channel. Keep up the good work Colt.

Great video, Colt. I've got a 5th Gen 4Runner, so many of the specifics don't apply to my vehicle, but many of the tips and tricks are universal. As much as I'd like to do a mild lift and bumper swap to my rig, my budget and potential need just don't justify it. The main work my rig does is hauling band gear around town, and lifting it would actually make it harder for this old man to load. And my off-roading is pretty seldom, and even then it's just exploring Forest Service roads in the mountains of NM. Even though it'd look cool, I can't see a real reason to spend the money to install mods I don't need. I still enjoy watching others do it, though.

You've made me grateful for Southern California weather. I'll pull an original bolt out of my cj and it will have zero to light corrosion.

When you are dealing with rusted bolts and nuts, use an equil parts mixture of acetone and ATF . I have seen this in action on 75 year old fasteners and it works great and is cheap to make with fluids you probably have in your shop.

Colt, I think you named the Jeep. Ebay special!

Well done Colt. Lets help Colt get his channel to 100k subs.

Thank you Colt for showing how to do it in a car port. Great seeing your son help. Love the look of updates. 😊😊😊😊😊

Nice to see someone go about a project the way most people would who are on a budget. Go cheap the first time, id it breaks you know where to upgrade and spend the big money.

appreciate the PSA (public service announcement) on the torque wrench. so many people never reset the wrench back to zero.

Would love to see some before and after shots side by side to really bring home the improvements...

Skywalker is definitely a good company to use for lifting any type of 4x4

Colt you need to watch “Project Farms” air filter test video .. those cold air intakes will ruin “Dust” your engine .. great for spoers cars who only drive on the road. HORRIBLE for off road vehicles . The let threw THOUSANDS of dust particles . Like really bad . Like i said he test a hole bunch of filters definitely worth the watch .. the best thing is use stock air box and a Wix filter👍

We love the budget builds and cheap tricks, keep 'em coming!

Colt I like the way you did this work in the driveway with common tools as much as possible. By doing it this way you've encouraged the average Jeep owner that they can do this work. All too often I hear folks comment that this type of work is beyond their ability, in my experience most folks have more ability than they think they do.

Ive been using chrome sockets on my impact for years 😂 they work just fine 🤷‍♂️

The cam bolts seizing to the sleeve happens on Tacomas as well. Moog makes a greaseable cam bolt (zerc in the head of the bolt with a grease channel drilled through the bolt) for Tacomas, maybe they do for Wranglers as well.

Nice job Colt , question how much were the wheel spacers and where's the best place to buy them ,sorry that was 2 questions lol. Thanks for the video bro.

Nice step by step instruction for the people who don't want or need to go full off-road. Thanks Colt.

You do an awesome job explaining the reasoning behind each step. That is something a few others forget. Good job w your channel. When sponsors start flooding in don’t forget where you came from and who your audience is.

A previous owner already lifted that Jeep. Bolt on bump stops inside front springs. Not stock. The long sway bar links are not stock. The steering stabilizer not stock. I extended bump stops on the rear are definitely an add on from an aftermarket lift kit. The ride height was a dead giveaway. It probably had a worn out 2 inch lift on it.

Nice job keepin’ it real….unlike some of the youtubers who forgot where they came from…”I just flew in on my helicopter and had my crew unbox this $50k crate motor”. Legit repairs and upgrades one can actually driveway DIY are cool. Keep it up man! I am your people.

Loving the channel! I still have my hydraulic jacks, but to celebrate my 75th birthday, I bought an air jack. Way easy to use and 40 to 50 psi will lift my explorer easily.

I've seen 35's destroy tailgates on those factory jk spare tire mounts. Good idea putting those supports on if you're not going to put a more stout mount on it.

Colt your neighbor has a Geodesic Dome home? Sweeet!!!

Yeah when those cheap rock sliders get trashed you may want to just build your own but sense they look good and are nice and tight to the body just build the new ones like these just beefier and stronger. At least they do look pretty good. You could also build at least one more mounting point in the center with a bolt on or wielded bracket.

Did you have your son when you were 5?! The two of you look more like brothers! I love your content! I don’t even have a jeep but this was very informative!!!

It’s crazy how a lift and tires make jeeps look completely different for the better

That Jeep looks really nice. I like what you did with it. I love Jeeps

Those sliders look better quality then the rock sliders I got off my sister Sahara Jeep and hers are oem ones.

Cool little you got on the back of the truck.

Nicely done, issues and all. We all have them come up, nice to see a "pro" does as well.

If your spindles are aluminum be careful pounding on them to loosen your tierods ect. I had mine split open on the casting line when I went to torque them. They split with onlt 20 lbs .

That flat fender at 21:05.... ❤

Very informative, thanks

Thumbs up for the Chrome Socket 😏😏😎😎🤣🤣

Colt, buddy. A nitrogen charged shock isn't going to push the axle down more than the spring itself. It is actually limiting how quickly it can do that. It's whole job in fact.

Hey Colt builds it! Thanks for the great videos! Please provide a link to your other channel "Colt destroys it" Greetings from the north shore mountains of Vancouver British Columbia Canada! Ride ride ride!

you do a great job explaining the process, i did get the willies for a second when you stuck your fingers in the rear coil spring to pull it out, then i realized you had released the tension.😀😜😗

I find these videos so educational.. please keep up this style of video

“Reset torque wrench to zero after use.” Thanks for the info. I’ve had two torque wrenches crap out while in the original package after I checked torque on my wheel studs. You taught this old fart something new.

Loved this video, thanks for making it. I just stumbled through a similar build, I wish I'd seen it before, tons of great tips. My 2.5 lift was shocks/springs/sway bar links only, with a trackbar and brake line relocation brackets. Now I'm thinking some control arms are gonna be needed in the near future. Chasing the road is definitely an accurate description. Keep up the fantastic work, would love to see more of the JK! 🤘

my favorite content so far Thanks Colt

I had rubbing issues with my 14 JKU Sahara with a 2.5 lift and offset wheels with 33x12.5R20 only when flexed or full bump. The tire would get into the fender flare and blow the rear flares off. The fronts the first time it happened it popped the very front clips and that was all. I have since replaced the flares with a budget friendly set of tube fenders. I haven’t had any problems since that upgrade.

Cool little build. Great daily you can get out and play with.

Can't believe you are still using WD40 for Panther Piss. It's basically just fish oil and paint thinner. My old favorite used to be CRC-56. But now we have better choices like PB Blaster. And if money is no object, there's good ole Kroil. And maybe I missed it, but I don't remember you saying that drive shaft bolts are a one time use. Once they are stretched, they need to be replaced with new ones. Other than that, a very well done, well structured and informative video.

Awesome video as usual.....it's huge that you take the time to explain not just how but why...... never too old to learn.....god bless you brother ❤️🇺🇲

nice ride Colt - good to see your kid in there helping

@colt if you put a winch on the bumper add a winch plate bumper will flex and cause your winch to explode I have had it happen with a cheap bumper

Good info on the torque wrench. Really enjoyed this one!

You do a very good job of explaining step by step ..

I'm patiently waiting for some Pacer Videos

Nice job Colt. Exactly what the average person needs while they get experience, and it gives them good performance gains along the way.

Thanks Colt. You are the best at covering all information needed. Your son will learn a lot from you if he choses to. 🤠

Great install with son on how too 👍

You’re full of really good technical information. A lot of times we learn the hard way. In my experience, blue lock tight on the wheel spacers is sufficient. I used red lock type one time and I had to break every single stud to get them off😂😂. You will have to change out your brakes sooner or later …. I have never had a problem with my wheel spacers.

Great video, full of useful information. I noticed that you said the JK was only made through 2017, that is not true they made 2018 models of both the JK and JL. I have a 2018 JK and a friend of mine has a 2018 JL.

Great job Colt. Very nice job

Love all the "Midwest" references. I live in New England, all that stuff would have broke or been gone already...😅🤣😂

I love your top kick

Mild lift, still a good riding vehicle… any one remember how many times we’ve lied to ourselves..? Prediction, Next year a prefab(ish) Barnes link system with easy to do in your garage with a small welder..! I love this guy and the way he teaches better and better builds…

Great video. I’m contemplating this and seeing the control arm explanation helps a lot.

Thanks Colt very good video that will help alot of people!!✌️🇺🇲

Colt you mentioned the square body cv joint. Can you show us sometime how to grind of those little nubs for more clearance after we lift them. Thanks.

Very good how to, made quite a diff

Great video Colt. Love what you’re doing.

Your video was informative as always. You are a great instructor. Thanks again.

As always, Colt produced a very informative video. Thanks for taking the time.

That thing did well but it had a good driver 🦾

Thank you Colt for the information !