Next step was installing the Barricade HD bumper and Skidplate which turned out to be an absolute pain in the ass. I was doing it on my own and holding both the bumper and skid plate was a nightmare. In addition the skid plate bolt holes were marginally out of place. I ended up jamming the skid plate on with a hammer and using the deadly scissor jack to hold it in place while i bolted on the bumper.
My next installation was a set of off road lights. One Eyourlife 24" combo (Flood and Spot) light bar for the bumper and a pair of Kawell spot lights for the a pillars. I ordered both off amazon. I wired them up to a remote switch so that I could turn them on from about 75 feet away.
Here it is with doors off and the rugged ridge quick release mirrors
My next purchase was a Smittybilt 9500 XRC winch and set of MAXSA Innovations traction boards which are basically a cheaper copy of the Maxtrax boards.
After reading a bunch of threads I decided that I wanted a power socket in the rear trunk space.
I'm going to mount an inverter on the roll bar so I am going to wire the 12v cable hidden in the back area(or at least my mine did) into an aftermarket socket with more than one port. Once the plastic connecter was removed I connected the wire to the socket. Now I have two USB sockets and two three prong sockets above the rear roll bar.
These were the two plugs I had. The one in my hand is the 12v.
I then removed the plug and connected it to wires of the new 12v socket and shrink wrapped them.
I then used 3m tape to stick the socket to the backside of the roll bar housing plastic thing
I then attached the inverter to the top of the roll bar which is at a slight angle so you actually cannot see the inverter from the front. After I took the photo I actually routed the wire through the roll bar cover so it's hidden.
Next I wanted a pair of flood lights lower down on the bumper to give a little more light around the edges. I ordered a pair of Kawell flood lights which are the same as the spot lights I had, but flood.
At this point I decided that I wanted to replace the remote switch with some a pillar switches from rugged ridge. I ended up making a DIY switch pod which I connected the lights to separately so I have:
A)Light Bar B) Flood Lights C)Spot Lights
So this weekend I had to make an emergency run to Lowes to buy 80 cinderblocks to build the supports for a stage. We had one Ford Ranger and my Husky. We fit 40 in the pickup and the other 40 in the back of mine with the seats down. Needless to say my suspension was sitting very low at the back... I don't have a picture, but I'm sure you can imagine what 1500 lbs looked like in the back of a jku. I was only going a couple miles down the road though.
I forgot to add this at the beginning (So maybe a mod can move this up to after the 3rd post)
I installed a rearview camera as the first time I tried to parallel park, I found it next to impossible to see how close I was to the car behind me with the damn spare and rear headrests. I bought an Esky camera and small LCD screen.
I glued the camera to the bottom of the rear bumper as I thought that was the best location. In hindsight I would have tried to mount it higher maybe in the spare, but so far its worked well. I ran the power cable through the hole in the bottom of the car that is below the rear storage space. I ran this power cable up inside the rear cargo and into the right panel where I spliced into the reverse light wire. These videos were super helpful:
Can you post pictures of your LCD screen mounted in front of the shifter? I like this idea. I have seen some guys mounting a mirror'd screen to their existing rearview, but i think that gets in the way of your view out the front windshield
After that I ran the video cable underneath the carpet all the way to under the front passenger seat where I mounted the LCD Screen. I mounted the LCD Screen using some 3M double sided tape in front of the shifter(I'm an auto). It honestly looks almost stock and works perfectly. I ran the power from the LCD screen into the center console as I don't ever use that power socket. Ideally I would hardwire it, but I just haven't got around to doing it.
Looking good man. I like the roof basket. I miss having backup cameras, don't think I could be asked to install one on my jeep tho, so big props to you! Keep up the good work!
Today I installed 1.5" spacers for both the look and also in preparation for my lift and eventually 315/70/17 tires this christmas.
It took longer than expected due to me having to run and get a new torque wrench when I went to go bolt the spacers on. Luckily I happened to be doing the installation in the corner of a Walmart parking lot. Took about 1.5 hours total with hand tools and washing the parts that the spacers bolted on to (I forget the name).
Jack the vehicle up and remove the wheel. I put the jeep in 4x4 and the handbrake on so that the wheels wouldn't move when I was bolting hard.
Bolt on the spacers with blue locktite (thread locker)
Even with just 1.5" on each wheel you can feel the jeep being more stable. The pictures don't show the change in stance, but the wheels are way more noticeable.
I like the build and I will be looking to see if I can add an outlet in mine. BTW, can you tell me more about sandy neck beach? I live outside of Providence and it would be cool to bring family to the beach and be able to drive on it. Thanks!
The outlet is totally worth it. I attached an inverter on the roll bar as well so I can power things through regular sockets too.
Of course! Its $150 for the year. You can drive on it pretty much anytime during the day. The further down the beach you go the nicer and more sandy it is, but it takes time to drive it. You have to lower your pressure to about 20 psi, but they have free air pumps on the way out.
The only requirement is that you have to carry:
Full sized spare
Jack
Platform for jack (~18” x 18” plywood)
Tire pressure gauge
Shovel
Tow device: ie rope (15' minimum) or winch
You're welcome! I tried to explain everything well enough without too much technical stuff, but if you want any more detail on something I can explain it better
So the other afternoon I went for some light wheeling. The land was relatively flat with a couple shallow dips which had filled with some water. This was not my first time here. Now normally I measure the depth using the stock antenna, but I did not have it with me and I was wearing the wrong shoes (I was heading straight to a dinner/party from the field). But the water looked like it was maybe 10 inches deep with the dip in the ground and as I said i'd been there before. I'm sure you can see where this is going...
Long story short there were two huge ruts that were hidden and I ended getting stuck for 45 mins while another keeper tried to pull me out. You can see that the water was above the bottom of the doors so I had to climb out the window.
First up was installing a CB Radio. I wasn't looking for anything fact as I rarely use it so I bought a Cobra 19 Ultra III radio that I found at walmart. 40 channels, simple design, black so it kinda blends in.
Took about 45 mins to install the radio and wire it up.
I ran a 18' coaxial cable along the driver side rollbar to the rear door and out to behind the license plate. Here I drilled two holes through the plastic and bolted a FireStik adjustable mount to the license plate. I then ran a small grounding write to the license plate light's ground wire.
I chose the license plate as a location because I didn't want to mount it on the rear tire. I sometimes run with the rear glass panel open which the antenna would get in the way.
I attached an antenna spring and a 4ft Firestik Firefly antenna to the mount. The Spring is not necessary on most mounts as the antenna is flexible enough to bent when it hits something, but as it is connected to a plastic license plate I added it just as a precaution.
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