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

[@californiajeeping]

Worked on getting a proper subwoofer installed

It sound amazing. Need to do more tuning in the morning.

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[Jim smith]

more info on the lights and wiring?

Oracle bed lighting

I ran the strips under the tie down system from rear to front using the supplied double sided 3m tape. Drilled a small hole in the bed of the truck at the top. Installed a grommet then feed the wire into the void behind the stock bed lamps. The i tapped the stock wires and shrink wrapped all connections. Whole project with the jcr molle panel install took two hours. Which most of the time i spent on the molle panels and my cigar.

The lights work off the stock switch in the cab. I did not use the Oracle supplied switch.

WARNING.....be very very careful with the stock bed lamps. The have two clips (one on top and one on the bottom) but really held in with strong double sided tape Along the sides. They can break very very easily. Took a little time and patience to get them out without breaking. Once i did. I cleaned all the old tape off using rubbing alcohol and re-installed using gorilla double sided tape.

I am extremely happy with the output of the lights and the quality of the LED strips.

I’ll try to take close up pictures in a few days. The link to the lights are here

https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/oracle-truck-bed-cargo-light-kit-3826-504/_/R-FQCV-3826-504

 

[Jeepnoob34]

Worked on getting a proper subwoofer installed

It sound amazing. Need to do more tuning in the morning.

Don’t be surprised if your wife/girlfriend wants to sit in the backseat, with music blaring, from now on. Lol

 

[Lynn_F]

Yes it is ground shaker box. Guys we’re awesome to deal with. Great quality, fit perfectly around everything.
I changed knee panels with pioneer 4” coax
And dash with kicker 3” coax as they fit great.
Up top I installed 4” and 3” kicker also. All miss and tweet are coax.
Install 1000w mini pioneer amp behind back seat with 600rms mono channel for two 10” pioneer svc subs.
Wire signal to amp from knee panel speaker on passenger side.
It sounds extremely well. Miss and bass with neither over powering the other.
Little bit of custom work to install all mids but nothing crazy.
Also installed bass knob by the shifter to control subs.

Thanks for the info!! It sounds like you've got a pretty sweet setup!! Speakers are next on my list...I haven't heard a lot of feedback about the box. Do u happen to have a pic with the seat down?

 

[Jdyowa]

 

[LiftedLife]

Thanks for the info!! It sounds like you've got a pretty sweet setup!! Speakers are next on my list...I haven't heard a lot of feedback about the box. Do u happen to have a pic with the seat down?

 

[AggieJeep]

I am something of an expert (wrenched professionally for years doing auto electrical and computer diagnostics) and this advice is spot on.

Blue Sea Systems has what I'd consider a bible of cheat sheets for amperage right here. IMO the safest way to quickly calculate on a daily driver is determine what your load is in watts (as it's the one thing that's constant), divide by 12v, and that is the amperage you want to target. The chart is for boats and therefore on the conservative side as a whole so by going from that and using 12v, it gives a nice little bit of headroom. As you can see from that chart, 30A@12v is perfectly fine on a 10AWG wire at that distance unless you're running something truly power sensitive where you'd want 8AWG.

Also keep in mind that a 400W inverter will either draw more than 400W (if rated 400W output) or will output less than 400W (if rated 400W max draw). Work from the spec wattage and use that for your calculation but I always recommend going big on inverters and just doing 1000W or so on a 2AWG cable.

IMO the best strategy is to run more power on a single conductor then distribute at the end point. It's less complicated, easier to seal ingress points, and it's more efficient than running a gauge up on every circuit. It's also a good idea to run fat early to your distribution points in case you decide to upgrade later. If your fuse block or PDC is rated for 100A, max out your input so that you're free to work at the limits of your equipment later on.

^^^This is great advice. I’ve dealt with lots of auto, home, industrial and electronics power. These same basic principles apply to them all.

Know the load you will be putting on the circuit. Length matters. We all know this but often pretend it doesn’t . The amperage, distance, gauge charts have the harder math done for you already. This is best illustrated by looking at a 30 amp fuse and a 10 AWG wire discussed above. The filament in the fuse is itty-bitty compared to the wire. The filament only carries the 30 amps for a fraction of an inch. The part about planning ahead for future add-ons is well worth the extra bit of time and materials. It’s great to have good distribution points ready for extra connections in the cab and bed/back of the truck.

good luck with your project.

 

[jlg]

So, last weekend, FINALLY put on the LOMAX tonneau cover, and some new valve stem caps. I've had the LOMAX since Christmas, but finally warm enough to install!

 

[DirtyD]

Put the Bartact seat covers on. Fronts were easy, other than biting my nails as I cut into my brand new expensive covers to install the headrests. The rear seats on the other hand... I think installing a full lift kit may be easier.

 

[TRI-JAB]

I am a few weeks behind updating the Samson build. Since then I have mounted my Hilift Extreme jack on my @BuiltRight rear molle panels in the bed on the Gladiator. I used their Riser Mounts with quickfist clamps and was able to zip tie the Off-road Base to the Molle. Took it for a drive - no rattling! Ready for an off-road excursion. I still need to get the bedside molle rack system for some additional mounting points for recovery gear in the bed. In the meantime, I mounted the BuiltRight Industries Tech Pouch to the rear passenger seat and loaded it with four Gear America shackles and two snatch blocks. Will be a good load test of the Tech Pouch. I put both Gear America tree savers and Recovery Tow Straps under the back seat. My goal is to have it all mounted on the molle in the bed under the tonneau

 

[TRI-JAB]

I swapped out the OEM soft rolling cover for an Rugged Ridge Rolling Hard Cover Tonneau. I really like the OEM soft rolling cover a lot. The look and waterproofness has impressed me.

After installing the Rugged Ridge Armis Rolling Hard Cover, I was not happy with the initial kit. Seems like Rugged Ridge is just trying to take an existing product and apply it to the JT product line without any customization.

During my initial install the POS weatherstripping went all over the place - Plus the instructions really suck! RR, please employ someone with a freakin’ camera to take pics of each step. If you buy this Tonneau immediately throw away the crappy weather stripping and buy d-seal weather stripping.

Also, recognize the hard portion of the tonneau is tapered. It is 53+ inches near the cab and 52+ inches near the tailgate. It would have been nice if they mentioned that in the directions - could have saved me a bunch of time figuring it out. My initial set up (trying to maintain equal distances) did not work. Would not let the end “lock” - then I measured a few spots on the tonneau to determine it was tapered.

This is a great idea with piss-poor implementation. There are so many things RR could have done to make this a true “JT” design. My guess is they are saving a buck by making similar parts to another truck bed out there and rushed to market with the cover. I’m curious if the part number I purchased is used for other trucks.

UPDATE: Rained today. Even without driving, I have water in the bed.... Anyone with experience on how to waterproof this tonneau design, please share your wisdom.

 

[TRI-JAB]

PPE is vey important for all of us - especially eye protection. Forgot to mention I added some eye protection for Samson, in the form of Rugged Ridge Elite Headlight Guards. Luckily for me, the guards are functionally better and easier to install than the RR Hard Rolling Bed Cover (Tonneau). Happy with this purchase and like the look.

 

[Daeyis]

HotHead Headliner with the Sound Assassin strips. Took about an hour.

 

[jlg]

HotHead Headliner with the Sound Assassin strips. Took about an hour.

I have had mine since Christmas (before I actually GOT the Gladiator!) but it hasn't been warm enough to do yet. Needs to be above 60F, yes?

Looks good!

 

[Daeyis]

That’s what the instructions say. It’s just for the glue to set. You could bring the pieces inside and attach them. I was originally gonna do that since I have a nice soft rug to set the roof pieces on but here in AZ it’s was in the 70s outside with a nice breeze so I did it outside.

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