What did you do TO your Gladiator today? [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS, NO GUN TALK]

[ShadowsPapa]

Did the same thing I did to my first Gladiator - installed latches for the tonneau cover so it can't be easily opened by snoopy people (not without a sharp knife, anyway)
That steel is hard to drill or else my bits are getting less sharp. (time to sharpen a few dozen bits)

First, the "rivnuts". I had to drill the holes then remove the bed liner so the rivnut could sit against the steel otherwise it would have been too thick.
I learned a bit from the first time - I modified the tool to fit into the recess in the bed liner. These will only "pinch" against so much thickness (the thickness of the steel alone) and if the tool doesn't hold the rivnut in the hole, it pulls out as you are trying to swell it into place.
These turned out much better than first time.

I chucked this up in my lathe and cut it back so it could fit into the recess I made in the bed liner for the rivnut. Otherwise, these anvils are flat all the way across so the rivnut would pull back out of the hole when riveting them into place.

This is the tool I use and you can see the face of what I call the anvil is flat and large and would rest against the bed liner when trying to pull the rivnut back end to swell it into place. So I cut the face of the proper sized tool so it would fit into the bed liner and hold the rivnut snugly in place while pulling the back end to swell it in place.

When the first hole was done and the rivnut set in place, I used that to mark the spot for the second hole.

My phone had been in my shop streaming music through my BT speaker out there so when I brought it out to the garage to take these pics, the thing sort of steamed up it's so hot and humid here.

And in other news - tweaked my terminal strip a bit, and wired the winch solenoid so I can configure a switch and test it out. It will be ready for a winch install if I ever get the time - and decide what I want to do differently this time - different winch plate? Aluminum bumper? Unsure, but I'm getting ready.
I used the rear terminal for a handy ground.
Green and orange (on the right of the strip in this photo - engine side of terminal strip) go to the winch solenoid. I used silicon insulated wire for some of the connections as it's crazy flexible and holds up in heat. Heat shrink is all waterproof - the sort with glue or sealer inside. All stuff I have to keep on hand for restoration business.

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[sass JT]

Received and installed my 392 steering wheel upgrade! So awesome… love it and I only got to drive 10 mins!

 

[BlueScapegoat]

Received and installed my 392 steering wheel upgrade! So awesome… love it and I only got to drive 10 mins!

What color does that stitching look like in person? I have the grey dash and saddle leather seats, and at least in photos, it looks like a similar tanish color

 

[sass JT]

What color does that stitching look like in person? I have the grey dash and saddle leather seats, and at least in photos, it looks like a similar tanish color

More like a bronze ish color.

 

[Sawburner]

Added a hitch cover

This is COOL ! Where did you get it? Link please.Thanks Mark

 

[Wen_d]

Hi!

I got it here:http://giterdunn.com/id5.html

This is COOL ! Where did you get it? Link please.Thanks Mark

here you go:
http://giterdunn.com/id5.html

 

[Klicht87]

Upgraded my 7” screen to the 8.4”. Couldn’t find a JT radio on the marketplace so I bought a brand new one from Benny @AllMoparParts.com . Very happy with the upgrade.

How much did that run you and was it completely plug and play with no additional programming from the dealer?

 

[tonywin]

How much did that run you and was it completely plug and play with no additional programming from the dealer?

It was about $1300 with the bezel and shipping. Complete plug n play. No code but I did use jscan to activate off-road pages.

 

[sass JT]

So got my steering wheel all dyed out to red today thank you @Aberk !!!

oh and hobby lobby is evil… 50% off evil!

 

[NewSlant]

It was about $1300 with the bezel and shipping. Complete plug n play. No code but I did use jscan to activate off-road pages.

Thats not bad at all, very cool to see

 

[Klicht87]

Thats not bad at all, very cool to see

That is a good price, especially the cost of the new alpine unit and the hassle of the other few aftermarket headunits.

 

[4-Play]

Took it back to the dealer. 2700 miles and the passenger side CV joint is slinging grease.

 

[JoeInOh]

Got the new gobi home late last night from Gupton in TN.

Today added the tonneau cover that I bought months ago from @Bad324 on this forum. It was an easy install, didn't need rivnuts as others suggested here, you can reach behind the bed wall and thread on your nuts.

 

[USMC_1Wire6337]

Day 2 of ownership:

RR Door sill guards
Husky all weather matts
Install of Kenda Klevars stolen from Walmart and mounted on Mojave take off rims

Before

During

After

Obligatory side poke shot

Now to join the "What did you do WITH you Gladiator" thread....

(in a couple weeks after trip to SoCA with family and install of 2" lift).

 

[KoBear]

got a set of oracle lights installed thanks to @Markpod7

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