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

[acyuncw]

Since I took off my lights and siren, my aux switches were pretty bored, so I added a solenoid for my winch.

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[Geoarch]

Going to rausch creek tomorrow, which means I added a skid plate today. I've read some horror stories about installing the rancho front diff plate, but I guess I got lucky. Install was easy, and Amazon said they only had 15 left last week when I ordered for $145

I didn't have any trouble with the front or rear Rancho plates (see image in post just above yours).

 

[SkippyG4]

Took Alice for alignment the other day after getting the lift and tires installed. Camber is off a little so we ordered BDS upper adjustable control arms. Really wish BDS would let you pick a color in lieu of just black.

 

[chorky]

Finished up installing onboard air with the ARB dual compressor. It was a major pain because I had to remove the side rails in order to get the 813 mole panels off to attach the compressor and tank. I dont like taking those trail rails off. But nothing broke. And it was worth it.

The original plan was to use the large box offered by 813 to cover the compressor for protection. However, after seeing how tight of a fit it would be and seeing the potential to use the space at the rear right of the bed for future electric connections and things, I opted to leave the compressor exposed. This allowed it to move to the left more, to also connect the air tank, and still leave room for a future water pump. Im sure the box will come in handy elsewhere though.

I have had this compressor for 4 years or so. It came in the ARB box as it was the mobile version. Originally planning to hard mount it in my TJ, the JT is getting the love first since it is my main exploring camping rig now.
I ran 5 wires total. About 22’ worth, each. 2 8ga power, 2 8 ga ground, and 1 14 ga signal wire, tapped into aux 2 switch. All the wires tucked nicely above the frame. I did have to cut the ARB harness and splice the 8 ga wires into the 10 ga ARB harness, which was easy enough. In the future they may be removed and replaced with 1/0 cable for a bed mounted battery and then powered from that. But for now it works good. No hot wires. I have not aired anything up yet, only tested functionality. So true tests will come in the spring.

Mounting to the 813 panel was relatively easy. Some extra brackets for the compressor part was necessary. The air tank almost lines up perfectly, only needing to drill 2 small holes. Excess wires are tucked up and out of the way. And there was just enough bend in the original air lines to mount the quick connect on the rail of my canopy so it can be easily accessed by opening the side door. I do need to find a way to cap it though to prevent dust intrusion.

No rattles, no noises. Although I can hear the pitch of the compressor change as the PCM recognizes power draw and ramps up voltage. Thats kinda strange. But everything tests out fine. It is nice finally having it hard mounted. No more needing to open the hood and use alligator clips!

Now I also have a nice box to find a use for! With pre drilled holes and countersunk screws too!

 

[Rusty PW]

Installed the Fox Mopar steering stabilizer, and the Metalcloak Front Durotrak adjustable track bar (see image). After installation of the Mopar 2" lift, the track was off 2 cm to the driver's side. The Metalcloak track bar corrected this.

Be aware that if installing the Metalcloak adjustable track bar, at least on the Rubicon, the frame side bracket needs to be ground down quite a bit since the Metalcloak oversized forged end is larger than stock. Also, the 2 cm correction is large enough that the electronic stability control, forward collision warning (FCW), and adaptive cruise control lights will come on and electronic stability control won't be available until re-alignment. Also the steering wheel is significantly off-center. All these issues are related, and hopefully remedied after alignment.

Adjust your drag link to center up the steering wheel. Every else will go away.

 

[Rusty PW]

Took Alice for alignment the other day after getting the lift and tires installed. Camber is off a little so we ordered BDS upper adjustable control arms. Really wish BDS would let you pick a color in lieu of just black.

Your caster is off. Not your camber.

 

[SkippyG4]

Your caster is off. Not your camber.

Per my alignment guy and BDS we are not as worried about the caster as they are the camber. We will see what happens after the upper control arms.

 

[Rusty PW]

Per my alignment guy and BDS we are not as worried about the caster as they are the camber. We will see what happens after the upper control arms.

The control arms you are getting are for the caster. To correct camber on a SFA, you need special off-set ball joints.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

Took Alice for alignment the other day after getting the lift and tires installed. Camber is off a little so we ordered BDS upper adjustable control arms. Really wish BDS would let you pick a color in lieu of just black.

Interesting that they toe’ed you in vs toe’ed you out.

I have always adjusted toe in the driveway and used a 4’ level along the outside of each tire- shot for 1/16” toe out.
Tow in is where I have seen a lot of guys have more issues with amplifying death wobble.

 

[Lunentucker]

Took Alice for alignment the other day after getting the lift and tires installed. Camber is off a little so we ordered BDS upper adjustable control arms. Really wish BDS would let you pick a color in lieu of just black.

Caster is what needs correcting and it's done with either geometry correction brackets or adjustable control arms.
Arms will get the caster angle (steering) back into spec, but your suspension geometry will still be slightly off, transferring impact energy from road and trail rearward into the frame instead directly upward into the suspension.

 

[Labswine]

Well, now that summer's all gone and, the weather is not so conducive here for the open roof, I replaced my SunRunner top with the Freedom panels

Gotta wait until late March again to put the SunRunner back in and enjoy the wind in my hair.

 

[Hootbro]

My qtec flashlight holder broke ?

Mine did also. It is cheesy construction

 

[DocMike]

Alignment done. Drives great now.

 

[Hog]

Put 2” non-skid tape on my Rock Hard Rock sliders.

 

[DC3]

I color-matched my RSI Smart cap. The black cap didn't look right with the all-white Gladiator. I used Hyperdip (plastidip) so I can change it in the future if I want.

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