The Blue Babe Build - 2021 HEMI 392 Swapped Mojave

[peteinaustin]

A few more changes to make before the big test run

My youngest son and I were due to make a trip to Merus Adventure and planned to use the trip as a shakedown run for BB. Before taking off though I wanted to knock out a few more things.

Given the height of the vehicle opening the hood is a pain. 1st thing on my list was to add hood struts. While I was there I went ahead and added engine bay lights under the hood.

I also wanted to change out the 60% delete platform. I found my original design was to high and made getting into the fridge harder than it need to be. Borrowing a design from another guy, I chopped the 813 Fabrication basket and modified it so I still had locking storage, then installed a lower platform.

The Dometic CFX35 fridge and my rather large Bluetti 2KW battery fit perfectly.

Sponsored

 

[peteinaustin]

Nailed it!

Timing worked out so we were able to take BB for her shakedown run the same weekend as the E3 Offroad Take over at Merus Adventure with Brittany* and Kevin Williams....a great opportunity to stretch her legs while wheeling with a bunch of other cool rigs (and people).

*For you folks who aren't Brittany fans I'll offer this. Hands down she is the best, most professional spotter I've come across in all my years on trails. There is no BS to her on the trail. She has an uncanny ability to spot a vehicle and keep up a running dialogue with both the driver and folks watching that is absolutely amazing to listen to. I watched her do this for almost 12 hours straight one day. No complaints and just as professional at the end of the day in the dark as she was when she started out. Kevin is no slouch either....probably the most zen driver I've ever seen. Nothing seems to bother him.

Merus is an exceptional proving ground for rigs and drivers

Hands down Merus is the best place I've run across to test a rig and improve driving skill in the shortest amount of time possible. With everything from Green to Purple trails contained in a 5500 ranch and terrain the includes dirt, clay, gravel, rock fields and boulders, its possible to spend two days in the canyon and hit every level of difficulty you could ask for...and we did. In all we spent just about 20 hours driving over a two-day period. Wore us both out but it was well worth it.

A few thoughts.

I'm amazed at how smooth BB is running down trails and across rock fields. The length and weight of the JT over the JK probably has something to do with it, but the adjustable shocks set on their softest setting was a big deal.

There was no end to power and traction. I had the wheels aired down to 12 lbs and prob could have gone lower (the weather was a bit cold). We literally chased JK's every where and although we had to do few 3 point turns, there wasn't any place a 4 door went that we didn't. Even my youngest, who is an inexperienced JK driver, had no problem wheeling up blue and single black diamond trails.

The Apex Auto Links were a fantastic buy. Check out he pics. Takes like 2 seconds to unlock them and lock them back in at the end of the day.

One minor glitch popped up that I still need to sort. Each morning a few minutes after I first shifted into 4-Low I'd get a check engine light a few minutes later and a warning that I needed to stop and shut the vehicle off to put it in park. After doing that and restarting the engine everything was fine the rest of the day. I discovered later that my Tazer was set for 5:13 gears instead of the 4:88's that are installed. Thinking this might have caused the problem but have some research to do.

 

[peteinaustin]

The aftermath....

I finally had a chance to crawl under BB and see where she took most of the rocks from our trip to Merus. We wheeled pretty hard on a few double black diamond trails so I was expecting some pretty good scuff marks underneath.

The pics don't tell the whole story but on the upside other than scuff marks there is no real damage. The beauty of this trip though is I now have a better understanding of what needs better protection and what just might need a better driver mod to overcome.

1st up, the extra armor protection for the RSE Step Sliders did its job. The driver's side took some pretty hard hits and was used to pivot through more than one tight spot. While there is some pretty serious pin stripping on them, thats about it. Everything functions perfectly.

Scuffing underneath pretty much start about mid way back from the passenger door and end at the trailer hitch. The frame and gas tank skid look like they took the brunt of it although there is a bit on the control arm on the drivers side, exhaust and the differential cover. Also a light hit on the drive shaft. The front end had very little.

The hitch and hitch slider took quite a beating. I know already that I want to get the hitch up into the bumper like it is in my JK so I get that 5 inches of clearance back. The hitch slider was a really good purchase...well worth it.

Given the scuffing underneath I'm confident a full set of under body skids will help immensely. Fortunately Next Venture Motorsports had a 20% sale start today, so I snagged a full set of aluminum plates with UMH for about $2600. Hopefully they will deliver in a month or so. I do know that I'll have to make some mods to it because of the Hemi install.

 

[peteinaustin]

I managed an entire afternoon in the garage this weekend, so several small projects got done. 1st on my list was running power to the top of the dash for the multiple devices that live up there. Typically wiring is not my favorite thing to do, but I really hate having cables hanging down the dash.

Pulling from somebody else's thread I picked up a 12V power adapter to splice into the 12V power source in the dash and a 12V USB charger that fits perfectly in the junk holder on top of it.

Surprised me how easy it is to dismantle the dash on the JT. Really only took me 5 minutes to get the all the way down to removing the media head. My 10 year old JK would have taken an hour.

At 1st I was just looking for a route to run the cable for the USB charger up to the dash. I was pleasantly surprised to find holes in the right places that made this a 2 min fix. The I decided the same route would let me run the charging/carplay cable behind the dash as well.

For the carplay cable you will see I just nicked a corner of the plastic so it would fit back together right.

 

[peteinaustin]

No more blinding the spotter

On a recent trip we were close the the end of a trail and it was close to getting dark when we found the trail was blocked. Had to turn around and run the trail (a double black) backwards to get out. Needless to say we were out there well after dark with a group of 12 vehicles.

Trying to spot in boulders in the dark is a pain. Doing it while being blinded by headlights is impossible.

I've always intended to install rock lights but really hadn't figure out where to put them. Turns out KCHiltes has a bumper mount that I thought made a lot of sense. Only wired the front this weekend but I'm really happy with how this turned out.

 

[it_trailblzr]

You sir, are next level!
Sweet build

 

[NoDoorsNoProblem]

Your build is absolute goals…and what mine would look like if I had about double my income

Seriously, love what you’ve done with everything, it’s too to bottom the perfect gladiator build. Once you get some skids, the only thing left is overland goodies galore. Also nice to see another CTX gladiator, I’ll be in the lookout to run into you in Austin or at Hidden Falls some time!

 

[peteinaustin]

Your build is absolute goals…and what mine would look like if I had about double my income

Seriously, love what you’ve done with everything, it’s too to bottom the perfect gladiator build. Once you get some skids, the only thing left is overland goodies galore. Also nice to see another CTX gladiator, I’ll be in the lookout to run into you in Austin or at Hidden Falls some time!

Thanks. It took me 10 years to get my last jeep right (and I still have it). I figured I'd accelerate this one a bit, but I suspect you'll still see it on the roads 10 years from now. Look fwd to see more Mojave's down the road at Marble Falls

 

[peteinaustin]

A 2-fer

Finally with an evening free I managed to get back to BB. Two things to get done, one purely for convenience and the other an absolute necessity.

First the necessity

1. If you suffer leg pain while driving long distances do yourself a favor and jack up the front of your seat about 3/4 of an inch. You will be amazed at what it does to relieve the nerve pain in the knee and hip that comes from long drives. Desert Does It has a great kit (which I used for BB) but its not a hard DIY project...you just need longer seat bolts and some spacers.

2. If you have a short co-pilot who complains about not being able to see over the hood, jack their seat up an inch or so. You'll be amazed at how far it goes to reduce complaints. Again, not a hard DIY project, but in my case I stuck to the Desert Does It kit.

Armorlite for the convenience

I hate cleaning the carpet in my jeep. No matter how often I do it, it just seems to attract more dirt. I put armorlinte into my JK a couple years ago and it made an amazing difference. Easier to clean and also seemed to cut the engine heat and road noise a bit.

Armorlite is cut to fit EXACTLY. Meaning it only goes in one way. Its not the most pliable material in the world so it takes a bit of work to get it set correctly. To make it easier, do yourself a favor and remove your seats and the door trim.

 

[Lunentucker]

I tried making my own spacers using some hard rubber bushings, but ultimately just ordered the seat jackers. The jackers are machined at the correct angles and I felt like they'd be more secure and safe in the event of a crash.

 

[peteinaustin]

Same here. In my JK the angle was fairly straight so it wasn't such a big deal.

 

[peteinaustin]

Chasing Gremlins

Maybe this should just be a PSA post. Lesson learned upfront. Always check your tazer settings after your jeep has been in the shop. There's always a chance someone accident changed a setting. Three different shops had their hands on BB over six months so I have no idea when this actually happened.

In my case last time out wheeling as soon as I put the jeep in 4-low I got the warning in the 1st pic and no less than 7 DTC codes. While I could drive in 4-low, I could not put it in reverse or park. I literally had to stop the jeep, turn it off, turn it back on, then put it in park. It did this twice...and then ran fine afterward for the rest of the day.

When I got home and finally had a chance to trouble shoot things the 1st thing I discovered was my gear ratio was set wrong. I have 4.88 gears and it was set for 5.13. Not the cause of my 4-low problem but def not helping my gas mileage.

Sure enough, when I check my 4-low gearing it was set for the original Mojave transfer case (2.71) instead of the 4.0 required for Rubicon transfer case that is installed with a 392 swap.

Sure enough, as soon as I reset the gearing, the problem disappeared.

 

[Snook]

When you were looking for a shop to do the engine swap, did you contact Collins Bro. Jeep? They're in TX. Beautiful Mojave, I'd love to change out mine for one of the smaller HEMI's

 

[Law dawg]

So, was it all worth it? Looks like the upgrades cost more than the truck, so you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in it and you’re going to take it out and hope it doesn’t break. Lotsa money!

 

[peteinaustin]

I don’t hope anything. I’ll drive the crap out it, break it and make it even better. Might even learn something in the process.

Sponsored