🦎The Gecko

[spanishmack]

Figured I'd finally kickoff my build thread. Got lots of things to get pics of to catch up, but this was a fun easy one to start.

Finished up my bed divider. It started life as a 2x6 vinyl fence board from Home Depot. I cut it to fit, clipped the bottom corners and cut out the interior reinforcement plastic about a 1/4" back. Then I cut some 1/4" thick ABS plastic sheet to fit in the ends and screwed them in place. Filed off rough bits and then bondo'ed it up, sanding it off when I was done. Ends aren't perfect, but I think they're good enough for a bed divider. Hit it with some Krylon Jungle Green, which is an extremely close match to Gecko Green with a few Krylon gloss clear coats on top. Finished it off with a bunch of excess stickers I had. Weighs less than 4 lbs.

Sponsored

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

That’s a good idea!!! I have a plethora of those pieces in my junk pile in the yard.

 

[spanishmack]

Got my new bumpers on. Front is the Barricade HD4 with winch plate and skid plate. Winch tray seems really thick and solid and mounts to frame, with just smaller hardware to align with the bumper. Decided to go with the quantity vs price option on the driving lights. Was kinda worried 6 would look goofy, and maybe it still does to some folks, but I kinda like the look now that I'm done. The sport bar on this bumper comes with 2 pre-drilled holes for wiring. All I did was drill a hole thru the bumper under one end of the bar to route wires. Added some 4" round LED pod lights to replace the factory halogen fog lights. Was able to use the cover plate mount holes since wasn't using it, after I added the winch tray. Wired them to factory fog light switch. Weird thing is I haven't thrown any codes and I haven't updated the setting yet with JScan. Guess I need to make sure they're not pulling too many amps. I also added some green LED pod lights hidden behind the screens on the sides. Wired them up to a strobe function on my VOSwitch so I can be the beer police next St Paddys Day.

The rear bumper is Hooke Road. Would have preferred to go a different brand, but all the other rear tube style bumpers I could find had integrated square pod lights and I'm going for an all round lights thing. It came with 2 square pod lights but I replaced those with some Amazon specials. Wired them up thru an automotive 2 input trailer diode to the reverse wire on the tow harness and a manual switch on my VOSwitch. I also put some matte black vinyl automotive wrap on the bed corners behind the bumper. Left side didn't turn out as good as I wanted, but I'm happy enough with it for now, for a bumper background. Will probably redo in future, or just add a piece over where the seam will be hidden behind the bumper.

Next mods up are tube style sidesteps, tube sport bar with rear facing lights, 2024 style grille, new ARB style snorkel, diff, transfer case and trans case breather kit and getting winch on. Slowly reclaiming floor space in my garage...

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Could you throw a pic of your VOSwitch up please? I’m considering one of the ones that replaces the inverter button thing. 100A 5 switch panel.

 

[spanishmack]

Could you throw a pic of your VOSwitch up please? I’m considering one of the ones that replaces the inverter button thing. 100A 5 switch panel.

I've got the JL800. I'm pretty sure the relay box is the same, just 3 less relays. I had to extended the main power and ground lines since I had to mount on the driver side due to my AmFib snorkel.

 

[spanishmack]

Finally got a chance to get my retro style badges from @GladiusOffroad installed. Ended up getting a blister on my fingers before I realized it, rubbing the old badge goop off the old tailgate badge. I also replaced my Sport decal on the tailgate with a retro Gladiator badge also. Gladius Offroad didn't have the retro curvy tailgate logo available on their site for direct order yet, but I emailed them and they worked it up for me really quickly. Really awesome customer service.

 

[DirkG]

I came here to see if 15 minutes could save me 15% or more on my car insurance.

I'm now leaving here knowing there's a really cool Gecko JT in Oklahoma

Sponsored