2022 AEV Gladiator Rubicon build

[Flyin6]

Then the electric air pump followed by the alternator.

To get the belt freed up, there is a little kabooky dirt dance that goes on, and I removed the entire tensioning device.

BTW, a good amount of the things I am removing will be discarded. I have a growing pile of homeless parts...so sad...

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[Flyin6]

Here is a better look at that tension rascal:

 

[Flyin6]

The alternator bracket comes out, followed by the belt and the idler pulley

 

[Flyin6]

While loosening things, I noticed this bushing on the front axle. All that twisting around does work things free!

 

[Flyin6]

The factory water crossover manifold gets tossed for a new Ripp unit that reorients the coolant hose further up and out of the way of the blower. Each bolt must be reinstalled in its original hole, so I made a template to ensure that.

That Ripp replacement part is CNC'd!

 

[Flyin6]

Here is a tale of two water necks...
One is hotter than the other!
I opted for a 180-degree stat this time to work in combination with the other heat reduction items and with the incoming ECM tune.

 

[Flyin6]

The aluminum heater hard lines (say that five times fast), will not be reused, so they joined the ever-increasing pile of homeless parts.

 

[Flyin6]

Ripp supplies high-quality replacement soft hose. I like that because it will make getting to the spark plugs much easier on the passenger side.

And here is where the problem came in. The instructions do not say which hose goes where! It does not specify whether I should remove the rubber extension from the lower radiator hose or patch it. Additionally, the instruction manual shows just two hard lines, and I have three!!! Could I have an extra line running to a back-seat heater core I don't know about?

So, without knowing exactly how to proceed, I threw in the towel. I'll research it on the interweb and sort out this mystery.

 

[agoldxj]

Nice progress! Pretty sure the front axle bushing is supposed to look like that. Same on both of our Jeeps.

 

[Flyin6]

Time for another update on the supercharger installation. The following took a bit over 6 hours. So that you know, this is NOT a weekend job unless you are flying through things. I am methodical and prefer to take my time. I do things like clean threads, locktite, torque, clean surfaces, and so forth as I go along, not to forget documenting every step.
I ran into a couple more "Ripp issues" where the installation manual did not thoroughly explain what was going on, or where new parts had been added without updating the instructions. It took me some time to really look at the intent and then solve the problem. All in all, it is a good kit and good instructions, but if one is not given to wrenching and has a pretty good understanding of how things work, this kit will prove too difficult.
First, I solved the camera issue and shot a couple of pics of the status of the thing before I started.

 

[Flyin6]

Speaking of bumpers, this one will be going back on once I do a bit more welding and cleaning.

 

[Flyin6]

Here was the first challenge. According to the installation manual, the hose came with a brass "T" and a short section of hose to adapt to the existing heater core lines. Ripp, however, updated the kit, supplying the pictured hose assembly that I could not get to fit.
Studying it and looking at some vids of other installs, I solved the problem by reusing the existing section of hose and coupling two hose ends into a brass fitting designed for that purpose.

 

[Flyin6]

My only regret was not having two more factory hose clamps and using worm gear clamps instead.
Here's my solution:

 

[Flyin6]

This connection on the front of the block specified that clamp.

 

[Flyin6]

Next step: Remove factory idler pulley assembly

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