Andrew's 2022 Sarge Green Mojave - Northern CA

[arskemp]

The rain stopped so I was able to get to the cover today.

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[arskemp]

3W all weather floor mats came in. The fronts fit the contours very well. On the rear, the transmission hump coverage could be a bit better but overall I'm happy with them. Seem durable and have decent grip to them.

 

[BaliMawr]

Next up, Pedal Commander

Drove about 600 miles before installing. Noticeable difference for the better. Currently got it set to Sport -4.

What's the draw with these? How do they affect fuel economy?

 

[arskemp]

What's the draw with these? How do they affect fuel economy?

The draw is it changes the throttle response at the pedal (aka makes the pedal feel more responsive). I've never purchased one for a vehicle before, but a lot of others here seem to like it so I decided to try it out.

It works pretty much as advertised. To me, the vehicle "feels" faster on normal day to day driving. On the flipside, the vehicle isn't actually faster. The pedal response feels more in line with the other vehicles I own now.

The biggest downside to me is that you expect more out of the vehicle at WOT. Because I've gotten used to what it feels like when the pedal is halfway down I expect more when I stomp it to the floor. In that scenario I feel more underwhelmed. Nothing can fix that though other than legitimately more power/torque.

Regarding fuel mileage, it's all up to the individual. Since I'm likely accelerating harder with the pedal commander, I'm probably using more fuel. Nothing is stopping me though from taking it easier, driving slower, and possibly getting better MPGs though.

There are "economy" modes to pedal commander that makes the vehicle feel more sluggish, so "might" give you better gas mileage. Then again, if the vehicle feels so slow that you are putting the pedal to the floor every time you drive in that mode than it's not going to do you any good.

 

[BaliMawr]

The rain stopped so I was able to get to the cover today.

How do you like the cover? any issues with it binding at the front? My rails keep pivoting inward, causing the teeth to catch up near the cab.

 

[arskemp]

How do you like the cover? any issues with it binding at the front? My rails keep pivoting inward, causing the teeth to catch up near the cab.

Intially, I'm pretty happy with it. I have no issues with binding (I've only opened and closed it about a half a dozen times so far though). Hopefully it remains working well. I feel like I got lucky with a good one, the group buy thread seems to have a ton of people that have had quality issues.

Took a pressure washer to it today and a little more water than I would like got in near the cab side and at the corners. I assume less water will come in on a rainy day since I was pointing a wand directly at the crevaces but time will tell.

 

[arskemp]

So, had my first weird quirk with the truck. The other night the screen started going haywire. It kept phantom touching at a single spot on the bottom left corner of the screen. I tried a variety of things (key off, key on, let the truck sit for an hour, etc). What ended up solving it was pulling and reinserting the fuse for the radio. This made Sirius xm stop working for a bit and reset some (not all) of my radio settings, but at least it started functioning normally again. Hopefully this is just a one time thing.

 

[Papa mojo]

Just picked it up yesterday at Peterson's in Idaho!

Had a long drive back. Got back in a little over midnight last night to Chico CA. Racked up a decent amount of miles in the first 12 hours!

Should be a pretty mild build, but I'm going to try to do my best to catalog it as I go.

UPDATE:

Going to try to update this first post as I go along to keep a catalog of most of the mods:
- Weathertech Front Mudflaps
- Rugged Ridge Door Sill Protectors
- Pedal Commander
- Center Console and Shifter Tray/Organizer
- BAKFlip Revolver x4s Tonneau Cover
- 3W All weather floor mats
- Rock Hard Patriot Angle Down Sliders (not arrived yet)
- Fox 2.0 ATS Stabilizer (not arrived yet)
- Window tint (undecided on % yet)

Nice looking machine! You will be pleased.

 

[arskemp]

Rock Hard Angle Down Sliders came in this week. The look extremely well built and stout, exactly what I was looking for in a slider. Hoping to put these on this weekend.

I kept going back and forth on it, but I also caved and bought the Fox 2.0 ATS Stabilizer (983-02-148). Although I don't really have any steering issues, others who have installed them seem pleased and I like the idea of adjusting it exactly to how I want it to feel. Went with Fox over Falcon mainly because they match the Fox shocks already on the vehicle. It is also more adjustable, but I think 3-5 points of adjustability is more than enough (the Fox has 23 I think?).

Also, since my vehicle is a 2021+, it requires purchasing the older 2020 bolt for the Stabilizer (the one on my vehicle won't fit). In case anyone is wondering, this bolt is the OEM Part Number - 6510774AA. I ended up purchasing it at the dealer but they didn't have any in stock and made me order a set of 5. If anyone else needs one after I get this installed, send me a message!

 

[arskemp]

Put in the steering stabilizer today.

Overall, pretty happy with it. In retrospect, I'm running the adjustable one close enough to center (9 from stiffest) that I'd probably be just as happy with the cheaper non-adjustable one. I guess if I change tires or add a lift in the future I can see myself re-adjusting it.

For me, I was expecting a larger difference from fully soft and fully stiff. The bigger difference (which is the reason that its worth it to me) was how much it reduced the center play in the steering wheel while driving. Mine wasn't bad before (felt better than all the ones I test drove before purchasing) but it did make a noticeable difference to where minor adjustments in the ~ -5 to +5 degree range on the steering wheel feel more immediate.

Also, when I say play, it's hard to describe. I don't really want to call it a dead spot because it isn't. With everything stock, if you make a minor adjustment, even small, the vehicle will slowly slightly drift towards that direction. It's so minor though that I think many people think it's a dead spot when it isn't. What the stabilizer seemed to do for me was reduced that "play" area so that those minute changes are felt more immediately/significantly.

 

[arskemp]

Got my Rock Hard sliders on today. Pretty happy with them. Planning to add grip tape to the top to make them work better as steps. Excited to try them as sliders at some point.

 

[bemarsh]

Got my Rock Hard sliders on today. Pretty happy with them. Planning to add grip tape to the top to make them work better as steps. Excited to try them as sliders at some point.

Wow, those look great, looking forward to putting ours on. “Pretty happy.” Is there something you were on the fence about? How did the body bolts treat you?

 

[arskemp]

Wow, those look great, looking forward to putting ours on. “Pretty happy.” Is there something you were on the fence about? How did the body bolts treat you?

Some minor nicks in the powdercoat when it arrived. Rock Hard worked with me and gave me a bit of a discount because of it. I took their suggestion of using nail polish to repair and to be honest that worked surprisingly well for an option I already had lying around (my wife had some black nail polish already). Being that I expect to use them as rock sliders at some point I know I'll scratch up the powdercoat eventually anyways.

Regarding the body bolts, the drivers side was easy but the passenger side definitely gave me trouble. The hardest part for me was getting the bolt to actually come out. On some I had trouble getting them not to freespin when they were almost all the way out. Having one person pulling to create tension and the other wrenching seemed to work the best. Getting them to catch also proved troublesome. I ended up using an impact with pressure ONLY to get them initially to catch a few threads and then manually tightened from there.

 

[Willpower1]

It’s looking good man!

 

[arskemp]

Grab handles came in from darksidedesign:
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/custom-paracord-grab-handles.47353/

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