Burks Works Engineering

05/15/2026

Transformation Thursday!

Over the past couple visits we were happy to have the opportunity to build up Robert's JK from basically stock into a sweet little street and trail machine!

It started with fixing the steering and suspension, which had a pretty severe rake! We installed JKS true 3.5" dual rate springs with proper isolators in the front in place of puck spacers to level it out and compensate for the weight of the bumper and winch. Next, all new shocks and bump stops to set it up proper. Lastly we replaced the original ball joints and wheel bearings, and installed a new steering kit.

The customer shared his desire to run some 37's in place of the 35's, and after reviewing some options we eventually decided on these 37" Maxxis RAZR tires for a great ride both on and off road. Now to turn these, we installed a set of 5.13 gears front and rear, and threw an Eaton E locker up front for those serious situations.

Now with these bigger tires, how are you going to turn them?! Have us install hydro assist steering of course! We removed and disassembled the factory gearbox, drilled and tapped it for the ports for the ram, and rebuilt it to install a 1.5"x6.75" ram down on the axle. We chose this over the 1.75" bore for the street drivability and steering speed, over the slight decrease in power compared to the bigger ram.

Lastly to round out the esthetics, we installed steel inner and outer fenders front to back, a new soft top, new headlights, and a matching rear bumper to complete the look.

Oh and what JK doesn't need the oil cooler replaced of course...we knocked that out too!

Here's to many safe and comfortable years of wheeling with a mild, but proper build. Enjoy Robert!

05/13/2026

I've been so busy working that I haven't updated the page with a build here in a while, but the proof is in the pudding. Happy customers, positive testimonials, and quality work! I love it!

04/25/2026

Another happy customer, and another job well done 😎 I love the community support!

12/06/2025

2018+ JL Owners!

Hey all, I'm still looking for anyone who has a JL or JLU sport with a Dana 30 front and Dana 35 rear axle who wants to regear. I have a full set of 4.88 Dana OEM gears and rebuild kits sitting on my shelf that need to go!

Installed out the door for $1800. PM me for availability, open all December long!

11/17/2025

Welded in some King bumps for a customer as a quick in and out job, and you could say he's "jumping" for joy 😎

11/17/2025

11/16/2025

Well the time has finally come to say farewell to Bryan and his 1998 Cherokee. I went with him to Colorado and brought his rig and all of his parts down here to build it into his dream vision, and here it sits!

Starting with a basically stock XJ, like 3" and 33" on stock axles, we gutted the entire undercarriage and started over with a blank slate. Full frame stiffeners, rock sliders got welded on, and an X-O-FAB hybrid cage got welded into it, with some custom modifications. All the windshield work was added on, and since we were doing coilover towers in the rear, I chopped and molded the C pillars into them to tie everything together cleanly.

For the rear towers, and everything else that passed through from the outside, I made sure to completely encapsulate everything to keep the dirt out, for the sake of the owner and his lung condition. Plenty of sheet metal work went into it, but everything is sealed up tight! The front we went with a more traditional tube style mount to get the coilovers up higher into the engine bay, and maximize the position while not cutting through the hood, or having to make it 10 feet tall. The top of the cage is 6'6" at it's highest point at ride height on 37" tires.

The axles were donors from a 1977 F150, high pinion D44 and 9" rear. The front got a modified Barnes truss, C gusset coilover mounts, and a homemade 4 link using Rock Krawler 36" arms. High steer kit from Sky's Offroad Design along with REID knuckles, and 17" 2.5 Bilstein 8100 race series coilovers with ADS 2.5x3" bumps. In house rebuilt and tapped Saginaw box, with a 1.75" PSC ram externally limited for the throw of the high steer arms.

Rear axle got a triangulated 4 link kit from Alpine Peak Precision, and a homemade backbone truss. We also drilled and welded on a separate fill and drain port for ease of future maintenance. A disc brake swap kit from Little Shop MFG, homemade brake lines, and a hydraulic parking brake on the drivers seat were installed. Rear got 14" Bilstein 2.0 coilovers and Fox 2.0x2" bumps

Both axles had 4.88 gears and ARB air lockers installed, all ran through an 8 gang switch pro inside for a controller. Also on this was the E-fan, and saved room for lights.

Inside cage and for some of the trim and accents, we used a Pink Champagne color shift paint, that switches from pink to gold, and very nicely accents the headliner, and PRP Shreddy steering wheel, storage bags, and harnesses to hold you into the Corbeau seats.

Some of the other finishing touches were the homemade exhaust routed through everything underneath, the fuel cell mounted inside with the pump, regulator, filter, and all AN lines connecting to the factory returnless fuel line. Vent tube routed to the charcoal canister and Cat/O2's intact to pass emissions.

Lastly, we mounted up some 37" influencer tires (Pats) around a set of Vision beadlocks, and had them balance out nicely.

There is plenty I'm missing, there was a lot to this build in every nook and cranny of it, but it all pulled together into a nice daily in the street, and an absolute beast in the rocks. Unfortunately, the owner drove it back to Colorado so it won't be tearing up the AZ trails until he comes back to visit, happy wheeling!

08/30/2025

This weekend we had Jason's super clean Pathfinder in to replace this low hanging plastic bumper with a nice high clearance steel unit.

He brought us a laser cut 51 piece puzzle for adults, and we got to work welding and grinding to make it all one piece. A little modification was needed to make it work with the 1.5" body lift, but we got it pretty close to the body and gained an additional 1.5" of ground clearance in the process, so win-win! After the bumper was welded and blended smooth, we threw on a swing on tire carrier for good measure, and sent another happy customer on their way. Have fun painting it Jason!

04/27/2025

We just sent this beautiful '81 CJ5 and her owner Debbie on their way after quite a bit of work. Having recently acquired this beauty, the owner had a list of concerns and repairs to get addressed to keep this rig on the road for many years to come.

This jeep had a crack in the original cast head, so it had to be replaced with a remanufactured head. This replacement head had also been rebuilt before, and you can see evidence of a machinist repairing a previous crack in a cooling jacket.

After freshly gasketing the engine from the block up, it got a bunch of replacement parts in the ignition, electrical, and exhaust. The exhaust manifold had to be modified to close off a small part of the edge of the tubes, where it wasn't fully sealing leading to an exhaust leak.

A bunch of other routine maintenance and repairs included rebuilding the rear axle, resealing the transfer case, rebuilding the front hubs and steering, and repairing the clutch pedal which had been eaten most of the way through, due to a long gone bushing between the pedal and master cylinder push rod.

Oh and the cherry on top was the grille insert, to protect the radiator from catching a rock on our AZ highways, since you could put a golf ball between those slats!

Long story short, she's back on the road and better than ever. Here's to many more faithful years of service!