Rock-N-Wrangler

Sergio Martinez' Jeep YJ is not a show ’n’ shine winner, but it takes the trophy every time it hits the trail.

- Traci Clark

“I have always loved four-wheeling and how capable a Jeep is off-road,” Sergio says. His interest in four-wheeling began in Texas driving around the sand dunes. In 2000, he moved to Colorado where he met the original owner of this YJ. “I bugged him almost every day trying to get him to sell it to me. One day I told him, ‘I have $4K cash,’ and finally, he agreed.” As time went on, Sergio became more interested in rock crawling, having tackled most of the tame trails in Colorado.

After blowing up the 9-inch rearend for the third time, the search for something beefier was on. For two years, it sat while parts were stockpiled. After finding a 14-bolt rear axle out of a ’85 Chevy G30 van and a Dana 60 out of ’97 F-350 for the front, it was “game on.” Five years later, he had an amazingly capable crawler. Both axles house 5.13 Yukon gears and Detroit Lockers. The front is also equipped with Yukon 4340 axle shafts. He left the stock Ford disc brakes on the front axle and did a disc conversion on the rear. Drive line Specialties built custom long-travel drive shafts for him.