Destination Unknown - 2022 JTR journal

[Brandon Glads]

Great jeep ! thanks for sharing reviews buddy

192.168.100.1 192.168.1.1​

Sponsored

 

[Jaxmax]

Sometimes I wonder when viewing several of these installs if the size of the tank was a few gallons less, would the exhaust be a little less challenging. Perhaps a ten gallon option would have more ground clearance and exhaust space, and still serve most users needs. Still a neat setup though…..Jack

 

[chorky]

Sometimes I wonder when viewing several of these installs if the size of the tank was a few gallons less, would the exhaust be a little less challenging. Perhaps a ten gallon option would have more ground clearance and exhaust space, and still serve most users needs. Still a neat setup though…..Jack

I dont think so in this case. The exhaust from the front of the resonator to the muffler is a close fit. But the muffler itself has lots of room I think. I haven't done a flex test yet though. In my particular case, it was that the new exhaust system was not bent and welded in the correct angles to easily fit. So some alterations had to be made. I think if LRA sold just the muffler, and left it up to a custom shop to do the pipe work, everything would go super smooth. But then again, the average Joe doesn't have custom fab options which is why they offer the exhaust replacement. It is definitely a compromise for sure. As for clearance, the tank itself actually hangs maybe a half inch or an inch lower than the exhaust. So it is the low hanging fruit for any obstacles. I do think it would be value added to figure out a option for a skid plate for those doing more than mild off road trails.


Oh and on that note, after a few more drives, the exhaust tones is definitely different, but I don't necessarily hear a droning sound. There is a potential 'drone' of a sound when cruising at 80 in 8th and a load on the engine, but not so much of a load that it calls for a downshift. But it's really not loud at all considering wind and road noise. Most people listening to the radio at any higher than a whisper sound level probably won't even notice it. It would be nice to hear the exhaust from a 3rd person perspective though. Hey @Turnswrench maybe you or your wife could do a video as the other does a drive by and some acceleration to hear the tone difference between your two gladiators - one with and one without the tank and different exhaust. That would be pretty cool actually!

 

[Turnswrench]

I dont think so in this case. The exhaust from the front of the resonator to the muffler is a close fit. But the muffler itself has lots of room I think. I haven't done a flex test yet though. In my particular case, it was that the new exhaust system was not bent and welded in the correct angles to easily fit. So some alterations had to be made. I think if LRA sold just the muffler, and left it up to a custom shop to do the pipe work, everything would go super smooth. But then again, the average Joe doesn't have custom fab options which is why they offer the exhaust replacement. It is definitely a compromise for sure. As for clearance, the tank itself actually hangs maybe a half inch or an inch lower than the exhaust. So it is the low hanging fruit for any obstacles. I do think it would be value added to figure out a option for a skid plate for those doing more than mild off road trails.


Oh and on that note, after a few more drives, the exhaust tones is definitely different, but I don't necessarily hear a droning sound. There is a potential 'drone' of a sound when cruising at 80 in 8th and a load on the engine, but not so much of a load that it calls for a downshift. But it's really not loud at all considering wind and road noise. Most people listening to the radio at any higher than a whisper sound level probably won't even notice it. It would be nice to hear the exhaust from a 3rd person perspective though. Hey @Turnswrench maybe you or your wife could do a video as the other does a drive by and some acceleration to hear the tone difference between your two gladiators - one with and one without the tank and different exhaust. That would be pretty cool actually!

I think we can do that. Once we get some better road conditions, we'll see what we can do. Right now all you'd hear is the ice and snow crunching sound ?

 

[chorky]

Today finally got above freezing. First time I think since December. So I took the opportunity to do a fairly easy fix on the JT.

Since having removed the Genesis tray and returning to a stock battery system with the Genesis guts on a bracket, I had to re-do the winch wiring. The Genesis tray allowed the PDC to sit about two inches lower than the factory battery tray. This worked nice at the time and allowed me to mount the winch solenoids directly over the PDC and still get the cover off. Well, with the PDC up higher now, that was not an option. The solenoids wouldn't even fit at all in fact. So, I ordered some 2" aluminum from 8020. It took a while to arrive so this weekend I went to work.

The bracket was twice as long as the previous one. I wanted to be able to open the PDC without removing the solenoids. Although, that won't really work anyway because the winch cables are not long enough to route around the PDC and must hang on top of it, unfortunately. But in a pinch you could probably finagle the cover off. Additionally, I had to cut off half of one of the 2" sides of the angle as it was out far enough and hitting the PDC cover that it couldn't bolt down. My neighbors grinder made quick work of that task. At the very least, it is easy to remove the entire assembly, one primary goal of mine - this is the reason you see one 1ga wire headed to the battery and a jumper to the next solenoid. The solenoid on the left is winch 1, or the front winch, operated off of the Aux 3 switch. The second solenoid is winch 2, or the rear winch, operated off of Aux 4 switch. My biggest concern with this location is the heat these solenoids and wires will receive in the summer. But only time will tell if they fail. I would prefer another location but I really can't find a suitable place. I did consider the location of the aux battery since the battery is not there, but I stuffed the aux wires in that hole and it's not large enough to fit everything.

After extending some wires, and verifying my connections were in the correct location it was time to hook up the activation wires.

As I was working on this I was interrupted by a few visitors who got pretty close to see if I was serving dinner. No dinner was available today unfortunately.

With the visitors gone it was time to button everything up and test it out. Everything functioned well and the correct switches activated the correct solenoid. Now to just get out and unspool, wash, and rewind for some annual maintenance.

 

[chorky]

A new to me rig arrived today. Added to the fleet of my little 2006 TJ Golden Eagle and 2022 JTR is a 2006 LJ. Bone stock, except for the Gr8Tops half cab, which I will remove and replace with a Bull Dawg top. This thing, for its age, is in excellent condition. A couple rock dings that will need attention, general maintenance, and frame/body rust prevention treatment. But it has just under 63,000 miles on the clock and was owned previously by one owner, an old Vietnam vet who I think passed. Fitting it goes to another combat vet. My hope for this is to turn it into a very mild camping rig, but mostly my future 'old man' Jeep. I just dont know if the complexities of the JTR will have me hold onto it for 20 years, plus something about the TJ/LJ just makes me grin every time.

 

[Rusty PW]

I think you have an addiction. And there is no 12 step program to help you either.

 

[chorky]

Funny I was just working up a post about that hahah. This deal was too good to pass up. I absolutely love my little TJ. But I have always wanted just a little extra room. The LJ delivers. The gladiator is fantastic, but the more I read about other people having issues I do get concerned about the longevity. I'm a little worried what the price of Jeeps will be in another 6 years when my warranty expires and if I will even be able to afford one. So the LJ will be planned with it in mind of being the 'old man' Jeep.

 

[Turnswrench]

Congratulations, it's beautiful ?

 

[BourbonRunner]

@chorky 's Home for Wayward Jeeps.

Nice snag!

 

[chorky]

For the last several weeks I have been working slowly on continuing to revamp some things in the bed. Last summer everything worked well but there were things that could have been done better. So, before this summer kicks off, I continue to work on some improvements.

Yesterday, I am sure, some folks saw my fiasco with the Maximus-3 sat antenna relocation bracket.
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...-3-sat-antenna-relocation.77412/#post-1264646

Well long story short everything worked out fine. I didn't get many pictures as it was snowing during install dumping the white stuff inside the JT. So I was in a bit of haste. But in the process I did learn about the 5G antenna I didn't know these things had.

But the relocation works well and is very easy to install. I did have to bend the bracket as it was not fabricated correctly from Maximus. It also was not painted or coated, so I had to resolve that as well. For a simple piece of steel, for $60 bucks, you would think their quality would be better. Based on this experience, I would be questionable on considering their other products. But, they are one of the only options available for this.

https://maximus-3.com/home/maximus-3-jl-satellite-antenna-relocation-bracket

I don't know that I really like the installed location though. Not that there is really many other options, but I might explore some external mounted options in the future. But for now it will work.

 

[chorky]

Since the initial install of the bed electrical distribution system, I immediately knew I wanted to do it differently. It was just too cramped for my liking. But, in order to do that first the compressor and tank had to be relocated. I was dreading this as it requires removing the 813 molle panel, which requires unbolting the canopy. So I decided to find a way to not have to remove the molle again in the future.

My idea was to have a panel that things would mount to, and that panel would then mount to the molle panel. It turns out that some 1/4" carriage bolts fit perfectly in the molle slots from @813 Fabrication & Design. I think this might be helpful for others in the future.

So with some locknuts and washers, these served as the perfect mounting option!

I had some extra 1/4" ABS plastic lying around from redoing the bed electrical system (to be shown later) and decided to take a chance on that. It is light, and I was planning on using a 1/4" alum sheet with the weight of the compressor, but now that it is installed I think it will work plenty fine.

I also made sure to use two different pieces, one for the compressor and one for the tank. This simply made handling each item easier.

Of course I do have a few more tricks up the sleeve to complete the air system revamp, but it is at least functioning again in the event of a flat tire. And it can be easily removed in the event the compressor needs to be replaced.

 

[chorky]

Another task was to relocate the bed battery. It previously sat in front of where the compressor now is mounted.

But, I wanted to free up that space for another item, as well as offer a mounting location for 2 batteries. This was the initial plan in removing the Genesis under hood dual battery tray. Previously the fuse was located on the exterior of the box (pictured above), but with this relocation, I wanted to place the fuse inside the box to reduce the amount of exposed wire. After all, if these fuses blow, there is a bigger problem to explore. They are fused at 125 amps, while the main fuse under the hood going to this system is set to 100. 100 amps is under-fusing the system for the amount of wire run, but based on my calculations I will rarely reach a 80 amp draw at any given moment, and if so, will be for short bursts. The intent here was to ensure the under hood fuse would blow first as it is easier to access. The only reason it should blow is if I forget to open the circuit when doing a winch pull - but of course recalling the G-screen system, the battery combiner can be placed in an open status from inside the cab. All flawless operation. The foam inside the box is used just to prevent any moving around despite being strapped in.

So, drivers side up agains the bulkhead it goes. This really is the best location considering it is hard to access due to the shelf and recovery gear just a few inches above. It also will help with better weight distribution. I used the same wire loom I have been for consistency, but this time added some of the old school 4 letter word inducing plastic stuff for extra abrasion resistance considering these wires can transfer some serious oomph.

I ran some more 4ga wire with Anderson connectors to make removal easy and to offer modular abilities. I am still waiting on some 4ga cable for the second battery, but the solar charging cables are also in place. This will offer me a total of 230 ah capacity, retaining AGM batteries conducive for rough roads and winter use. It will allow for 161 usable amp hours, with a max of 184, to allow for a 10% buffer, before any battery damage occurs. Weight of course is a big downfall, at 75 pounds each - but in cold climates there really is not another option for a permanent on board battery setup.

I would also point out that I made a bracket for the batteries to sit on to further aid in preventing movement. In the photo above, you can barely make out the edge of the wood partially covered by green 550 cord. This extends just past the plastic handle lip - and is designed this way on purpose.

The purpose, is so that the kitchen storage system can but up directly against this bracket and not put pressure on the plastic battery boxes. So, now would be a good time to show the test fit of the system some time ago after building the kitchen storage box. It is perfectly sized as well, by design, so that a 30qt Engle cooler can fit in front of it flush against the tailgate when closed and in transport. I found the previously used 15qt Engle cooler too small for reasonable dry food storage - it will be re-used in the TJ/LJ.

So far I am quite pleased on how this is turning out.

 

[mx5red]

I would be really curious to see if LiPo batteries with heating pads would be effective depending on how long they sit. Of course that’s inefficient and more expensive, but if it’s only overnight or something, it might be worth the overnight drain compared to the weight and capacity of using lead.?
Somebody would have to do a lot of real world testing.

 

[BourbonRunner]

Curious what vibration from the air compressor will do to the ABS. Probably nothing but I'd be checking it periodically, especially after heavy use for stress fractures. But if it ever needs replacing, looks like it'll be very easy. Good work as always!

Sponsored