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

[Angry]

Installed Oracle rear lights and a Rugged Ridge HD rear bumper. Like them both a lot. Easy installs and they look great. The Oracles went on a previously halogen lit truck, and with a Jscan update and no resistors they work great.

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[Benbean66]

Swapped out my Fox 2.0 shocks (which were leaking badly) for a set of Bilstein B8 5160's. Remote resi's. Much better ride. Little stiffer, and almost eliminated the head sway that the Fox's gave me. Can't wait to throw the trailer on to see how they help with that. Pics to come tomorrow.

 

[Wilsonb80]

Weird, I had thought those were supposed to be installed with the bend "up" for clearance. That fashion increases the chance it will touch down on a rock,. no?

Yep knew I would screw something up need to Flip them and make sure the zerk nut is up also,,

 

[Simplejack]

What side steps do you have? Can't quite see the name.

https://www.quadratec.com/p/westin/...830&utm_content=Smart_Jeep Armor & Protection

Weston HDX no complaints

 

[mx5red]

Yep knew I would screw something up need to Flip them and make sure the zerk nut is up also,,

Yea zerk was pointing down..

 

[RIDERED67]

Added Rough Country LED headlights, Amazon Fogs and Grill lights from a member here. Also got halfway done swapping my black fenders for a set of Sting gray I found.

 

[Summitsearcher]

Started my bumper/winch project, 2022 version.
Actually started it yesterday, figured on finishing today but ran into troubles with some of the parts.
There must be some really small subtle change to the front of the truck, or the earth's gravitational pull has changed, maybe magnetic north has moved? because when I got the SAME Curt receiver mounted on this truck that I had on my 2020, I had to use a pair of 3/16" spacer plated to keep the bottom edge of the bumper from hitting the receiver. Didn't have a big problem with the same exact parts on my 2020.
Also - although the Bulldog winch plate is heavy-duty for sure, very thick and well made, why the !#$%@# they drop the winch so far down is beyond me. The winch bolts all but touch the receiver bar and to do anything at all with the winch, I'll have to tear things completely apart.
The winch sits so far down now that it's a really good thing I re-routed the power cable in the winch top - with this winch plate it would have never cleared the grill and yet it cleared with room to spare with the other winch plate. And I'll have to trim the winch's clutch lever way down because it sits way down in the bumper and the lever hits the bumper now.
Hey, Bulldog (that would make a good song title) - why drop the winch down so bloody far?
I may look into having a steel plate made and some day raise the winch back up.
I have a feeling with the winch sitting so far down it's going to cause the rope to drag too hard against the bumper opening. Ugh, gotta get it raised up somehow.
Then I go to do the fog lights - I bought a pair of nifty brackets to mount my Overland fog lights in the Rubicon bumper - and they made the stupid brackets too shallow. The brackets won't work with the bezels in place so I have to take the fog lights out of the new bracket and put them back in the other brackets and will likely trash these or give them away. They claim they work in a Rubicon bumper - uh, no, so there will be a not great review on Amazon.

Also need to figure out where the factory stock fog light harness for the Rubicon steel bumper is supposed to clip to, how it secures to the steel bumper.


Heck of a big difference - forces the fog lights way too far forward in the bumper, won't clear the bezel.

The new brackets push the fog lights too far forward..........

Cut when installed on the 2020 and it cleared with room to spare with the other winch plate.........

Winch sits so low the cable would have absolutely pushed on the grill coming out the back.

I often wondered if you could reposition the selector 45-90 degrees to the left on its pin to resolve the issue?

 

[Gren71]

Swapped out my Fox 2.0 shocks for a set of Bilstein B8 5160's. Remote resi's. Much better ride. Little stiffer, and almost eliminated the head sway that the Fox's gave me. Can't wait to throw the trailer on to see how they help with that. Pics to come tomorrow.

This im interested in. I have the 2.0s and thought they were a huge improvement over the stock JTmt shocksZ

 

[Nacho1103]

Added Rough Country LED headlights, Amazon Fogs and Grill lights from a member here. Also got halfway done swapping my black fenders for a set of Sting gray I found.

How do the fogs compare? Also link for fogs? Thanks

 

[RIDERED67]

How do the fogs compare? Also link for fogs? Thanks

They're pretty good! Nice quality and seem like cleaner light than the stock fogs

Auxbeam 4 Inch LED Fog Lights for Wrangler JL JLU Unlimited Sport Rubicon Sahara 2018-2022, 4 Inch Round Fog Lamps for Gladiator JT 2018+, RHD, Wrangler 4xe, w/ DRL & Amber Turn Signal https://a.co/d/d1mf5oe

 

[Benbean66]

This im interested in. I have the 2.0s and thought they were a huge improvement over the stock JTmt shocksZ

I agree, the 2.0's were better than the stock shocks, but these are vastly better than the Fox i.m.o. Like I said, the "head-sway" is nearly gone, and it feels much more solid on the road. We do a fair amount of traveling with our camper trailer, so I went with the reservoir shocks to make sure they stay cool on long trips. I got them from "Jack-it" for a really good price, and they only took about a week or so to get delivered.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I often wondered if you could reposition the selector 45-90 degrees to the left on its pin to resolve the issue?

It's "one piece", at least I saw no set screw, tension pin or other method attaching the handle to the shaft. The handle may be pressed on or cast on, but it's not removable from the shaft without risk of destruction. Not that I observed, anyway.
The other reason for my complaint about the winch plate - it sits so low that you can't get to your winch bolts as the plate sits only about 1" from the bottom of the bumper. And, it sits across where the bolts need to be for the receiver.
These companies give no thought to any other accessories - it's gee, this truck has holes here, we'll use them and screw any other thing that may need those holes.
If they had simply made the plate so it sits even 1/2" - 3/4" higher, I wouldn't have had to grind into the sides of the winch plate to clear the receiver holes. It was so close to clearing.
I had to turn the receiver bolts around - normally the heads are inside of the truck's frame and the receiver goes against the frame, then the washer and nut.
I had to reverse it and have the bolt heads on the outside of the frame and reach up and start the nut and turn the nut with a wrench inside the frame channel. Fun.
Installing the receiver as normal this winch plate can't be used - at all. I had to get creative.
All they had to do is put the bends on a different spot! That simple! It would be just as strong but would resolve three issues -
It would clear anything like a receiver and not obstruct other bolt holes.
It would allow access to the winch bolts from under the truck without the winch bolt heads almost touching the bottom of the bumper - and - the other winch bolts to the rear are all but on the receiver.
It would allow the stock wire location to clear the grill, and the winch clutch handle to clear the bumper.
One simple change on the winch plate - lift it just a bit, change the location of the bends that form the side brackets.
In fact, from an engineering stand point- it would be STRONGER as the plate wouldn't be hanging so low on the brackets - less length to the brackets for them to bend.
So my idea makes it stronger at the same time.

 

[Summitsearcher]

It's "one piece", at least I saw no set screw, tension pin or other method attaching the handle to the shaft. The handle may be pressed on or cast on, but it's not removable from the shaft without risk of destruction. Not that I observed, anyway.
The other reason for my complaint about the winch plate - it sits so low that you can't get to your winch bolts as the plate sits only about 1" from the bottom of the bumper. And, it sits across where the bolts need to be for the receiver.
These companies give no thought to any other accessories - it's gee, this truck has holes here, we'll use them and screw any other thing that may need those holes.
If they had simply made the plate so it sits even 1/2" - 3/4" higher, I wouldn't have had to grind into the sides of the winch plate to clear the receiver holes. It was so close to clearing.
I had to turn the receiver bolts around - normally the heads are inside of the truck's frame and the receiver goes against the frame, then the washer and nut.
I had to reverse it and have the bolt heads on the outside of the frame and reach up and start the nut and turn the nut with a wrench inside the frame channel. Fun.
Installing the receiver as normal this winch plate can't be used - at all. I had to get creative.
All they had to do is put the bends on a different spot! That simple! It would be just as strong but would resolve three issues -
It would clear anything like a receiver and not obstruct other bolt holes.
It would allow access to the winch bolts from under the truck without the winch bolt heads almost touching the bottom of the bumper - and - the other winch bolts to the rear are all but on the receiver.
It would allow the stock wire location to clear the grill, and the winch clutch handle to clear the bumper.
One simple change on the winch plate - lift it just a bit, change the location of the bends that form the side brackets.
In fact, from an engineering stand point- it would be STRONGER as the plate wouldn't be hanging so low on the brackets - less length to the brackets for them to bend.
So my idea makes it stronger at the same time.

It easy to design it the way they did because they won’t be turning the wrench. Sad but true.

 

[arskemp]

Installed my winch this weekend.

 

[RudeJeepin]

Started my bumper/winch project, 2022 version.
Actually started it yesterday, figured on finishing today but ran into troubles with some of the parts.
There must be some really small subtle change to the front of the truck, or the earth's gravitational pull has changed, maybe magnetic north has moved? because when I got the SAME Curt receiver mounted on this truck that I had on my 2020, I had to use a pair of 3/16" spacer plated to keep the bottom edge of the bumper from hitting the receiver. Didn't have a big problem with the same exact parts on my 2020.

Also need to figure out where the factory stock fog light harness for the Rubicon steel bumper is supposed to clip to, how it secures to the steel bumper.

Can I get a picture of the front hitch when done? Been thinking biut adding one, but not sure how well it will fit with the bumper I have.

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