FEATURE: 2018 JEEP WRANGLER DEEGAN 38 CUSTOM

This year’s 52nd Easter Jeep Safari wasn’t all about the concepts and customs from Mopar; there were plenty of other brands showing off new product, too, from Synergy Manufacturing, Teraflex and Rebel Off Road, to Smittybilt, Dynatrac, Poison Spyder and Tuff Country.

And that’s only a fraction of the specialty off-road companies who were present!

On the Mickey Thompson stand was a special 2017-model Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, built by Extreme Terrain.

Eastern meets Deegan
If you haven’t heard of them, Extreme Terrain are a Pennsylvania-based company specialising in upgrade parts to suit the Jeep Wrangler, from YJ right through to the new JL.

A real “whole beast” operation, Extreme Terrain offer suspension parts and lift kits, bumpers, bullbars and winches, wheels and tyres, engine and driveline upgrades, body trim parts, lighting, interior upgrades and tools – basically everything from nose to tail!

Extreme Terrain have built a few custom rigs, too, and this ’17 Rubicon, one of their freshest creations, was bolted together for extreme sports star Brian Deegan.

If Deegan’s name doesn’t ring a bell, ask your kids! One of the pioneers in freestyle motocross, Deegan has multiple X Games medals to his name and is co-founder of the ‘Metal Mulisha’ apparel and lifestyle brand.

While he continues to ride, Deegan is now more involved in off-road truck racing; a discipline he started in 2008 and scored championships in in 2013 and 2014.

Racing exposed Deegan to the wider world of off-road customisation, which in turn brought him into the orbit of Extreme Terrain last year.

Deegan started a collaboration with Extreme Terrain that has resulted a range of ‘Deegan 38’ parts released in the US to suit JK series (07-18) Wranglers.

Made for serious off-road use, the Deegan 38 product line includes:

Steel front bumper with recovery points and LED fog lamps
Steel rear bumper with recovery points and spare wheel carrier
Heavy-duty steel front bumper skid plate
Heavy-duty steel rock sliders with LED lights
Steel wheelarch flares with LED marker lights
ABS grille with ‘angry eyes’ headlight surrounds and integral 10-inch LED light bar
Gibson split-rear axle back exhaust

Deegan worked with Extreme Terrain to conceptualise and design the whole Deegan 38 range, which is exclusive to Extreme Terrain.

Deegan’s Showcase
As a gift for Deegan, Extreme Terrain recently built up a special Wrangler with all his kit on it.

A custom build like this was also a natural choice to showcase the Deegan 38 gear, while the Easter Jeep Safari was the natural place to display it.

As presented at Moab, the one-off Wrangler featured all the Deegan 38 gear, as well as the following:

Smittybilt Gen2 X2O 12,000lb winch w/synthetic rope and wireless control
Bushwacker rear trail armour corners
Teraflex C/T4 4-inch lift kit with Falcon 3.3 multi-adjustable shocks.
Artec Industries axle trusses
Teraflex axle sleeve kit
Artec Industries bellypan kit
5.13 diff ratio
Bestop Trektop Pro soft top with screened glass windows and flip front section
2 x KC HiLites LED 3-inch square flood beam auxiliary lights
KC HiLites Gravity LED Pro 7-inch headlights
Daystar A-pillar switch panel
Superchips Flashpaq F5 programmer
Mickey Thompson Deegan 38 17x9-inch wheels
Mickey Thompson Deegan 38 Mud Terrain 37-inch tyres
PRP Deegan 38 Signature competition seats

The finishing touch was special skull graphics and an all-black paint job (Deegan’s favourite!).

When it wasn’t on display, Extreme Terrain’s Ryan Huck put the Deegan 38 Wrangler to the test on the ‘Steelbender’ trail at Moab.

Over terrain that included some steep inclines and declines, as well as challenging sections that saw other Jeeps get hung up, the Deegan 38 got through the Level 6 trail unscathed.