Jeepin Bubba here from Black Bear Off-Road in Buford, GA. When it comes to building Jeep’s for our customer Steven Morris, it seems like 2nd time’s a charm is the theme. Actually, often times (like his long arm setup), 3rd-or-4th time’s the charm. But, here’s the thing, why settle for just okay? Story time: In 2024, I convinced Andy from KnKut Drill Bits to get us a feature-vehicle space at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. We’d been building this 392 Jeep Wrangler for a customer (Steven), who’s become a friend / borderline employee at this point. You’ll have to go back and check the article about the first build we did with this Jeep, all the headaches we ran into, and how we even got it to The SEMA Show in 2024 in the first place. So, the rest of the story goes…
Andy, Steven and myself, were giddy like 3 schoolgirls to have our own Jeep build at SEMA.
I mean – it’s a car builders dream. So I flew in early, detailed it with gallons of Shine Supply from Detailer’s Products, and pulled a million strings to make it happen. We all chipped-in more than our fair share of money, time, and effort – all to bring an amazing example of what a Jeep Wrangler can be. When the load-in day arrived, I was so excited. I circled the block so many times, I had to stop and get gas haha. They lined the big Jeep up, next to lowered cars and hot rods, and escorted us all towards the front of the main building. When we got out front to the premium feature spots, I just knew we were gonna get into a primo location, and all of our dreams would come true. Not the case…
They moved us like cattle to some back acreage to die.
Seriously. About 40 of us got stuck in some back entrance lot, next to a food truck that no one even knew about. I heard all the other build owners getting upset with the officials and voicing their disapproval. I was with ’em! We had worked all year, so hard to get to that point… just to be at some service entrance. No one was even going to see our build. I thought about how much Steven had put into the jeep, how hard my shop had worked, and the sacrifice Andy went to – to get us in the show. My heart sank, I was totally defeated in that moment. None the less, I wiped the rig down one more time, and got some instagram pics and went back to my room. We did have one last ace left in the hole…
SEMA’s Battle of the Builders.
If you entered the contest, the top 40 rigs (4 from each category), got moved in front of the main stage. So we entered! We looked at our competition in the off-road category, and figured we had a chance. The first day of the show, judges went out to look at the vehicles (I’m not even sure if they found ours lol). Then the next day, they announced the finalists. We got to the stage on Wednesday & crossed our fingers, but unfortunately never heard our name called. What a let down. We were feeling so low a mosquito wouldn’t even bite us. That’s when my wife looked at me and said,
“You should build your Comanche for next year’s show.”
At the time, I didn’t wanna hear it. As a small business, we don’t take big risk like this. And when we do, they have to pay off. The thought, however, stuck in my head. And last year we built Ranger Bob (my Jeep Comanche) for the mpower lighting booth.
The Jeep Comanche got so much love & good press at SEMA.
It blew me away! And it sparked a new light in me! I knew in 2026, I wanted to come back again – in a big way.
A few weeks after SEMA, I had signed Steven and myself up for The Great American Crawl Event at Windrock, hosted by Mickey Thompson Tires. At some point during the weekend, Steven said,
“I want 49s, and I wanna take this Jeep back to SEMA.”
I had already decided to build an Aussie Style diesel Jeep Gladiator for SEMA 2026 (article dropping soon). But hey – what’s better than one Jeep at SEMA? TWO Jeeps at SEMA! I had an idea to get him in, but I knew it was a long shot.
I’m a member of TORA (Truck and Off Road Alliance), which is a branch of SEMA.
TORA is a coalition whose mission is to determine & shape the future of the off-road & truck accessory industry. They offer their members a chance to be a feature vehicle on the sidewalk in front of West Hall. West Hall is the newest building at SEMA, and houses all of the off-road stuff. They only select 10 vehicles to represent TORA – in a prime location – where thousands of people walk into West Hall or down the sidewalk to the rest of the halls. It’s a great opportunity. I talked to Steven about it, and he was in! So we immediately went to work, not even knowing if we’d ultimately be selected.
We had to make this 392 Jeep Wrangler even better than it already was.
Steven did indeed decide to go to 49-inch tires! Mickey Thompson 49x17x20 Baja Pro XS MTs to be exact. And as you can imagine, this opened-up a huge can of worms. Lots of (tasteful) cutting, comp cutting the rear with corner armor, new fenders, and notching the frame. Not only that, we completely redid the entire long arm – CUSTOM – with builder parts from Motobilt and TMR. He went to ORI struts instead of coilovers, swapped in an Atlas transfer case, stretched the wheelbase out 8-inches. He even added a suck down winch. There’s not a section of the vehicle that hasn’t had some custom bracket or part made for it… or some aftermarket part fitted to work-out an issue with massive struts and tires. Here’s the thing…
Steven wasn’t just paying for all of this. He was in the trenches – grinding, welding, & engineering-up ways to make it all work together.
This isn’t a SEMA Show build – this thing is a real rock crawler. One that gets beat-on and used. Custom drive shafts had to be made, the PCM and ABS pumped relocated. Hell – the struts go through the back of the cab into the rear of the vehicle. And it all had to look clean. All this was going on… and we didn’t even know if we had a chance at being selected. Then – right as we were crunching to get the Jeep ready for the KnKut Drill Bits booth at Smokey Mountain Jeep Invasion, we get the email. WE WERE IN! It was a great feeling. I jumped around in my office, then the pressure hit. We had to deliver!
Over the last year, countless hours have been put in this 392 Jeep Wrangler.
And honestly, I think it’s a masterpiece. I hope when people see it at The SEMA Show or online, and they appreciate the craftsmanship of what they’re looking at. TORA also does a best in show award, and it’s voted-on by attendees via a QR-code setup in front of each rig. As cool as winning that would be (fingers crossed), we’re already winners. Good friends, building cool Jeeps, and chasing a wild dream together – that’s what it’s all about! Not to mention, we’re headed to Moab after SEMA. So win or lose, we’re gonna have a good time. Here’s the thing: This isn’t just a big, store-bought, bolt-on Jeep. This is a labor of love. It’s an attempt at perfection in motion. And it’s a comeback for the books. Like LL said, don’t call it a comeback… I been here for years!
