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

[chorky]

No. I use common sense and experience and don't go places I can't or shouldn't.

Same - but I still got skid's if nothing else to protect wiring and things from bouncing rocks and branches - the second outing in my JT last year I ran over a branch, slowly mind you, and it kicked up and smacked the trans pan hard enough to dent it! I ordered the quadratec aluminum skid's that night.

Salt's salt, no matter how they spin it. They may apply it to certain roads and use non-salt options on other roads.

Time to buy a monthly car wash subscription.

https://www.mdt.mt.gov/visionzero/roads/plowing-deicing.aspx
Traction Sand
Traction sand is crushed aggregate extracted from local gravel sources. Sand doesn't melt ice. It is applied to provide temporary traction during a storm event. Unlike chemicals, sand doesn't lose its performance as the temperature drops. During extended below zero cold snaps, sand accompanied by a snowplow and educated operator may be the only tool left.

Magnesium and Sodium Chlorides
Chlorides work like anti-freeze by lowering the freezing temperature of water and preventing ice from forming a strong bond to the road. It helps keep roads from becoming slick, improves safety and reduces accidents.

Magnesium chloride is a salt compound extracted primarily from the Great Salt Lake, with added corrosion inhibitors, used to prevent or remove the buildup of ice and snow on the road. The effective working temperature for magnesium chloride is above 10 F on the road surface.

Sodium chloride is used in liquid and solid form and is primarily extracted from the evaporation of sea water. The effective working temperature for sodium chloride is above 15 F on the road surface.

Jon Swartz
Maintenance Administrator
406-444-6158

I know believe me - I have to argue with some coworkers all the time about salt. Mag chloride is bad stuff, if not worse, than salt since it's a liquid brine form and can get into the smallest of places you never can wash. The only reason it hasn't been AS bad here as it is further east is because the concentration levels are (or were) low - somewhere around 10-20%. But, supposedly this is what has changed. I still can't find any legit information of the concentration levels being increased or to what level - no doubt they're keeping that secret. I had to hound people like crazy and get flat out pissed on the phone for them to give me numbers last time. I dont know why people can't seem to get this - on top of that it is sprayed directly ON TOP of bridges - meaning direct runoff into streams that we, as forest managers , struggle to manage because 'protection' and "you can't cut X close to X stream because bull trout! - but anything development gets a free pass to destroy whatever they want whenever they want. I hate it with every cell in my body. Can't cut a tree to manage for a healthy forest because environmentalist file unjust lawsuits, but they never even give a moment of a thought to development and highways.

The problem with car washes is I live an hour away from Missoula. no car washes here. So I can spend 20 bucks every time I go to Missoula on a hand wash, since I can't go to a machine, but then I still drive an hour home in nothing but salt spray, with no way to wash it. Besides, if I have to wash my vehicle every single driving day because the DOT is spraying crap that is well known to cause pre-mature damage and failure, then the DOT is responsible for paying for those washes and repairs - all of them. And I can't run outside water in the winter - pipes will freeze and all. So. I'm basically screwed. Which is the reason for being so utterly pissed off. I know the DOT claims is doing it for 'safety'. But people can be plenty safe - there is ZERO need to be going 95 in the middle of winter. Slow down to 40 and plowing and sanding is ALL that is needed. If it's really bad, thrown on chains. It is utterly stupid to spray chemicals well known to destroy vehicles especially when said vehicles are north of 60K!

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[Redleg37]

Due to gross negligence I may be able to afford a re-gear in the relatively near future. I have a sport auto with 3.73 gears right now. I'm thinking I want to do 35s and maybe eventually 37s, so I'm trying to decide between 4.88 and 5.13 gears.

 

[Sarge502]

The other day got that new 24' grille

 

[WesternMojave]

I traded in my troublesome 2021 F150 brought my new Gladiator Mojave home.?

 

[JCappy]

So I bought my first Jeep a few weeks ago. So far I am loving it. Have done a few things but nothing major.

Bakflip

Cali Raised ditch lights I took off my last truck

NFab steps to help the Wife, Mom and Father in law get in. Kept the rails to easily swap out if I decide to get on some moderate trails

Installed a front and rear dash cam

Installed a bed mat, recovery strap and drivers side molle panel. I know its a truck and I will use it for truck things but I had a hard time with the idea of drilling holes in the bed of my brand new truck to attach the bottom of the molle panel. So I tried something different. Ordered some small magnets with countersunk holes to attach to the bottom. These things are surprisingly strong and rated at 110 lb of pull force. If I pull hard enough they will detach from the bed side but I don't see that being an issue because nothing will be putting out from the bed side. Pretty happy with the outcome and didn't have to drill holes.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Installed the AEV procal and calibrated for the new 37s today. I'm guessing nobody at AEV has ever Installed a security gateway bypass plug or similar product like the tazer mini as they actually state that their wiring harness that requires me to pull the glove box, fish wires under the console, and add pin outs to the obd2 port (which requires removing the panel under the steering wheel which also gives easy access to the security bypass plug) is somehow "easier to install"? I'm all for fuzzy marketing but that is an out right lie. A bypass plug is easier to install than just the pin out portion of their install let alone the removing the glove box, pulling back carpet, and fishing under the console. Why even put that in their FAQs? It's not true and anyone who's ever done both will confirm that.

 

[drewcnit]

See I saw this picture and thought, Jeep parts are expensive, I get it... gotta do what ya gotta do.. ?

 

[MPMB]

Random thought popped in my head...

You know how computers used to have a boot-up sound? Maybe they still do, but I have my sounds turned off.

Why can't vehicles today have customizable start up sounds (as obnoxious as that would be)? You can program the horn in a Tesla. We all can't afford a Demon cold-start announcement.

Imagine you're at a group ride and everyone is lined up for the obstacle. Your turn. You get in your rig, fire it up, and a big ol' "LEROY JENKINS" comes out from your truck. I would LMAO.

If you don't know the Leroy Jenkins joke, look it up. I think we've all known someone who's done that. If you don't know anyone like that, then you're Leroy.

I'm sure it could be done with enough gumption... but I don't want to work *that* hard.

 

[Hootbro]

Random thought popped in my head...

You know how computers used to have a boot-up sound? Maybe they still do, but I have my sounds turned off.

Why can't vehicles today have customizable start up sounds (as obnoxious as that would be)? You can program the horn in a Tesla. We all can't afford a Demon cold-start announcement.

Imagine you're at a group ride and everyone is lined up for the obstacle. Your turn. You get in your rig, fire it up, and a big ol' "LEROY JENKINS" comes out from your truck. I would LMAO.

If you don't know the Leroy Jenkins joke, look it up. I think we've all known someone who's done that. If you don't know anyone like that, then you're Leroy.

I'm sure it could be done with enough gumption... but I don't want to work *that* hard.

Stuff like that wears on me after the novelty of it the first handful of times. My wife's Bronco Sport and pretty much any Ford the last maybe 10+ years has that god awful startup chime.

 

[MMMojave]

Halo headlights installed. Very easy install.

 

[rconkin]

Installed my new front fenders. Now the wait is on for the matching rear fenders to be in stock.

 

[chorky]

Drove to town for a PT appointment - yay.

In the process, I heard that the DOT here (Montana), without notice or allowing public comment, switched from magchloride spray to straight up salt at something like a 80% concentration.

Now. I know, I know, there were 10 fatalities near my town alone because I90 was a mess. However, poor road conditions does NOT in ANY way, place blame on anyone other than the operator. All last year, tractor trucks were blasting down the highway close to 90 like it was summer. Most civilian vehicles were on a standard AT tire and doing at least 80. It's the big rig's who were 95% of the time at fault. In the summer time, it is seen on a daily basis big-rigs flying down the road at 90 and civilian vehicles pushing 95. Hardly any of them get pulled over.

So...because people drive like idiots, and dont care about anyone but themselves, now we get to have forced vehicle destruction because the DOT doesn't want to be liable for idiots. I can't blame them.

However, I am going to be sending them nasty grams. At the rate of one every day until they cease and desist salting the roads.


But before doing so - any fellow Montanans here able to confirm if this intel is legit or not? Nobody from the DOT will respond to emails or calls or messages and I didn't find anything readily available on their site.

ok rant over.

Quoting my previous post - confirmed with the road department today the local pass between me and idao is 100% pure rock salt. Missoula is 80% rock salt. My little town varies somewhere between there and 50% magchloride - which is basically a salt brine.

So...what's a guy to do? Will my Gladiator survive then ext 15 years? Or do I need to go spend 10K on a beater truck for the 9 months of winter.....and only use the gladiator 3 months out of a year.

Really not happy about this. Maybe them plow trucks will start breaking down.

 

[TestMule]

I added some Front & Rear 4 pod LED lights, a Voswitch grab handle switch pad, some front mounts and a Voswitch power center.

Here are the lights:

I may relocate the rear lights to the side of the bed rack in the slot you see at the top of the frame above the side panel. We'll see....

 

[MarkO]

I added some Front & Rear 4 pod LED lights, a Voswitch grab handle switch pad, some front mounts and a Voswitch power center.

Here are the lights:

I may relocate the rear lights to the side of the bed rack in the slot you see at the top of the frame above the side panel. We'll see....

Looks good. How did you run the bed rack wires to the front? I’ve been thinking about doing the same. Down the front of the bed to the rail underneath?

 

[TestMule]

Looks good. How did you run the bed rack wires to the front? I’ve been thinking about doing the same. Down the front of the bed to the rail underneath?

The passenger side light conductor runs over to the driver's side underneath the U-shaped top support of the bed rack. This area also includes the harness connectors for both cables.

Then, the power conductor passes through a series of existing holes in the end flange of each top horizontal support of the bed to the corner of the bed rack at the cab.

From that top corner the conductors go down, then over the bed rail in the front, they run down the back of the cab and then are routed to the engine compartment. One passes through the firewall for the connection to the grab handle switch, the other heads to the Voswitch power center mounted near the battery.

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