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

[JDLouisville]

Diode Dynamics clear indicators.

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[Sparty]

Diode Dynamics clear indicators.

YES!!! Been looking for these

Found the install instructions online.

Easy job?

 

[Diaster]

Installed the tailgate badge

 

[JTRUBI]

export mirrors and export spec rear fog lamps.
Still have to program them to get them working

 

[Dewyaw]

export mirrors and export spec rear fog lamps.
Still have to program them to get them working

Very interesting, where did you get those mirrors and lamps from? How are the rear lamps different from US spec?

 

[JDLouisville]

YES!!! Been looking for these

Found the install instructions online.

Easy job?

Yeah, took 15 mins per side.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q47XKCV/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_63HGFb9WFKHBE

 

[JTRUBI]

Very interesting, where did you get those mirrors and lamps from? How are the rear lamps different from US spec?

Ordered them from the dealership. These are export spec mirrors and export spec rear fog lamps.
The rear fog lamp replaces the stock red reflector in the rear bumper.

 

[Mojavicon]

how much did the lining on the top set you back?

I didn’t pay for it. It was a dealer “due out”. I wanted a black top, they didn’t have any, so this was the compromise.

 

[Dewyaw]

Ordered them from the dealership. These are export spec mirrors and export spec rear fog lamps.
The rear fog lamp replaces the stock red reflector in the rear bumper.

I notice you’re in Toronto...is that why you have access to them? I’m wondering if we can order those here in the States...

 

[gerky18]

I had a big week and half for add-ons so I will roll them up.

- Line-X
- Tonneau cover
- Fender chop
- Fender liners (more on that below)
- Tinted windows
- Finished the DIY rail system (spray paint bedliner)

So the fender liners. This is a bit of a review too and maybe it will help someone. I bought Hook Road fender liners. I couldn't justify the cost of all the name brand ones and these were $130. On delivery it seemed great. The packaging was done well and everything individually wrapped. No issues with scuffs or scrapes. So I'm thinking great deal. The install was the issue. One of the rivet nuts required a slight bend to get it in and then bend back to re-align. Another hole was not the same size but luckily I had one that fit (same issue on both sides). The I also had to notch/cut out both sides for the light plug to come through. On the driver's side I had to cut part of the bottom because a bolt was where they had metal. With all that said they look good after the fact but a definite you get what you pay for. I'm happy with them since they are now done. The lettering was white and I look the panel off and painted it orange as that is the color of other stuff I'm going with.

Now the obligatory pictures.

 

[CWGrisw0ld]

S&B CAI. The “ram air” air vents are ordered, but on backorder.

 

[4xjeepr]

Small item installed today. Popped in front frame plugs. Easy and quick, took less than a minute and should save me down the road with rust concerns.

 

[Jim smith]

Small item installed today. Popped in front frame plugs. Easy and quick, took less than a minute and should save me down the road with rust concerns.

Where did u found them. I’ve been looking myself. Thanks

 

[Strider62]

Fabbed up some mounts to hang my Rotopax on the Fab Fours Overland rack. I was inspired by Evolving Male's YouTube video about his project to do the same - thank you sir, for giving me the confidence to try it!

This is basically nothing but low-profile strut channel and some pipe hangers, but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. A list of pieces and parts I used is at the bottom of this post.

First a little bit about the bed rack. The Fab Four Overland rack is not everybody's cup of tea, and I'm not really sure it's mine, either to be honest. But I paid for it, so it's going to get at least a year on my bed before I think too hard about replacing it. The driver's side upright panel arrived slightly warped, which made it impossible to insert the center of the three top bolts - that didn't make me happy. Fab Fours told me that they have seen this before, and that it can usually be fixed by using a ratchet strap to pull it into alignment, but if I didn't want to do that we could discuss other options. To be fair, I had the rack on for our trip through the Rockies this summer and the lack of the one bolt never seemed to be an issue. I did just discover, however, that the front truss of the rack that bolts into the front trail-rail holes in the bed has been moving side-to-side and scraped away a nice chunk of paint on either end. Definitely not pleased about that.

Also, the damn rack seems to reach out and bite me in the head anytime I climb into the bed or get near the rear corners...

The thing that surprised me the most, though, was that the holes pre-drilled in the rack don't match up with a Rotopax mount. I mean, really, is there any accessory more commonly seen on a bed rack than a set of Rotopax? If, as a rack designer, you're just going to add an arbitrary hole pattern to the rack, why in the world wouldn't you set the hole pattern to match the distance between the bolts on a Rotopax mount?!?

On the other hand, the holes are all at the top of the rack, so not really a very good place to hang Rotopax anyway.

Anyway, back to building the Rotopax mounts.

I bought all the hardware from Grainger and McMaster-Carr (except for the stuff I didn't realize I needed until I started putting it all together...that came from the Lowe's down the road).

• 2x three-foot sections of low profile, slotted, black powder-coated strut channel
• 4x end plugs for the strut channel
• 4x vibration dampening u-bolts for 2" pipe
• assorted nuts and bolts and washers, including strut-channel self-centering washers
• 3/16" Rubber stripping to go between the u-bolts and the tubular bed-rack uprights.

I cut the 3' strut channel down to length using a miter saw with a steel-cutting blade and took the burrs off the cut ends with an old chisel and a bastard file.

I painted everything black with a rattle-can of automotive paint (from Lowe's)

And lined the inside the U-bolts with the adhesive backed rubber strip (cut to length off the roll).

I put an end plug on one end of each strut channel, then slipped in six of the self-centering washers - two for each of the two u-bolts, plus two more for the bolts that would hold on the Rotopax mounting plates (the photo only shows four...I forgot the other two before I took it...).

Then I put the remaining plugs in the other end of both strut channels.

Then I placed the U-bolts on the tubular uprights, about 8" down from the top of the tube to get the Rotopax centered in the open space, and hung the strut channels on them. (This photo was taken when I was dry fitting everything, before I painted all the bare steel parts black.)

Then I tightened all the nuts down with a deep 15mm socket (had to run to Lowe's for that...). Tightening the nuts down compressed the plastic surrounds on the u-bolts as well as the rubber stripping, and gave a nice tight fit against the tubular upright. The U-bolts are designed for 2" tubing (which is the size used on the rack), but the inside diameter of the u-bolt is actually 2 1/8", thus the need for 3/16" thick rubber strip to fill the void, and prevent slipping. I could have used a u-bolt with a smaller inside diameter, but that would have meant a smaller gauge bolt, and I wanted to keep the diameter of the bolt big enough to keep it from being too sloppy inside the self-centering washer. Plus, I wanted the rubber strip to provide friction between the plastic u-bolt surround and the steel tubular upright so that the weight of a full Rotopax can wouldn't drag it down the upright. Haven't given that a good test yet over a bumpy trail, so I don't know yet if I got that worked out properly or not...

When I originally ordered the 2-gallon Rotopax cans I also ordered the locking mounts (which I thought I was going to be able to just bolt directly onto the bed rack...), and they come with a backing plate that you can use to attach them to all kinds of things. I could have just run the mounting bolts through the holes in the backing plate and through the slots in the strut channel, but that would have required me to carry the Rotopax "tall-wise" (short sides of the can at the top and bottom) and they don't quite fit that way in the open space on the side of the bed rack (plus I don't like them that way). So I needed to turn the mounting plates 90 degrees. Unfortunately, the pre-drilled holes at that position on the mounting plates are intended for wood screws and are way too small for a decent bolt, so I had to drill those out.

Then I bolted the locking mounts to the backing plate, but replaced the original hex head bolts with some longer ones (ran to Lowe's for those, too...) and a washer for good measure. The original bolts seemed too short to me (even without the washer), and there was plenty of depth in the bolt hole, so I went up from 3/4" length to 1 1/4".

With the locking mounts bolted to the backing plate, I then bolted the backing plate to the strut channel, using button head bolts, with a lock washer in addition to the nylock nut.

The I slipped the Rotopax over the locking mount and, voila, Bob's your uncle! This photo was also taken during the dry fit, so things are slightly off kilter. When I put it all together for real I tweaked everything into position to get it all nice and level and square before I wrenched the heck out of it.

And the view from inside the rack

Being recessed into the space between the uprights, the 2-gallon Rotopax don't stick out at all beyond the sids of the cab, so there's no real increase to wind resistance or any whistling. Here's the view down the side of the truck.

And from the rear

and this one shows about how much of angle you have to get to before you can even see the Rotopax from the front of the truck

I still need to cut down the length of the threaded portion of the u-bolts so they don't stick out beyond the edge of the strut channel, and I also plan to take it all apart and get all the pieces powder-coated, but aside from cutting the channel to length and drilling out the mounting plate, this was an extremely easy mod. And looks damned fine, if I do say so myself! (Almost makes me think I want to keep the Fab Fours rack...)

Here's the parts list (the rubber trim is to help save my noggin from future bashing, but I haven't put it on the rack yet):

 

[4xjeepr]

Ordered from Amazon. Great price and free shipping. (Shipping was slow though)

Where did u found them. I’ve been looking myself. Thanks

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