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John in the Woods

John in the Woods

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Just an added note ... I put on about 1,000 miles since installing these, and have begun hearing some clunks and bags over the past few days, on turns, when reversing direction, and at stops.

I went underneath it today and three of the four lower control arms bolts needed a fair bit of tightening to get back into torque. I don't suspect the bolts loosened, but I do think it's possible the skids, especially in the front, have a little room to bend in and did so over a few days and miles.

Retorquing is a good idea in general, so I'm not sounding any alarms here. Just a reminder to folks who might take this on to give those LCA skids some extra love after a little time passes.

For me, they're all torqued once again, and the clunks and bangs are gone.
Still hearing some clunking, particularly when I stop in reverse. I'll go in for another check on torque, but I'm wondering if that's just a reality of these @ROCK HARD 4X4 skids. Do they shift slightly at times? Any thoughts from folks who've been running these longer?

If that's the case, I have no problems with that at all, and the occasional clunk is a small inconvenience to accept for the serious steel beef that this things wrap around the LCA and rear shock ends. I just want to be sure I'm not about to drop something I don't want dragging on the interstate.
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John in the Woods

John in the Woods

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Good news!

The Goose Gear 60 delete platform has arrived at OK4WD, right on target for the 8-week delivery period stated at purchase. I'm picking it up in New Jersey next week on my way to Florida, where I'll take advantage of some tropical sun to pop the roof and doors off, install the Goose Gear platform and my Mopar bikini top, and throw on the steering stabilizer relocation bracket as well.

Then, here's hoping for a little sun and sand before heading back north at the end of May.
 
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John in the Woods

John in the Woods

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The 60 side of the backseat is out. Ready to pick up the Goose Gear platform at OK4WD. Once I found an E14 socket, the seat came out with no issues. Bolts were a little stiff, but nothing like the monsters that were the body bolts!

Jeep Gladiator Having it all - JTRD sun buggy, trail rig and overlander A91CC541-8221-4D43-AB78-3978E73B3319

Not sure if the floor mats need to come out, but Iā€™m sure that will be obvious in a few days.

Now, time to put in a few thousand highway miles. šŸ˜
 

Maccam26

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I too ordered the rock hard rear LCA and shock skids, hoping your clunking is gone??
 

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The 60 side of the backseat is out. Ready to pick up the Goose Gear platform at OK4WD. Once I found an E14 socket, the seat came out with no issues. Bolts were a little stiff, but nothing like the monsters that were the body bolts!

Jeep Gladiator Having it all - JTRD sun buggy, trail rig and overlander A91CC541-8221-4D43-AB78-3978E73B3319

Not sure if the floor mats need to come out, but Iā€™m sure that will be obvious in a few days.

Now, time to put in a few thousand highway miles. šŸ˜
How did you separate the benches. Mine are stored at a friend and I can't really have a look... so a little guide would be great that when I go there I can just go to town and have all the tools with me.
We took the entire row of seats out but did it with a larger metric nut, I wasn't able to, but our friend managed. Now have the e14 sockets also.
So far we have the seats all deleted with a platform but I am pushing our friend to make it so I can reinstall 1 seat if my nephew comes to visit.
 

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How did you separate the benches. Mine are stored at a friend and I can't really have a look... so a little guide would be great that when I go there I can just go to town and have all the tools with me.
We took the entire row of seats out but did it with a larger metric nut, I wasn't able to, but our friend managed. Now have the e14 sockets also.
So far we have the seats all deleted with a platform but I am pushing our friend to make it so I can reinstall 1 seat if my nephew comes to visit.
2 small 10mm head bolt attach the seats together at the bottom plates
 

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BTW: the heads are accessed from the driver side
 
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John in the Woods

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I too ordered the rock hard rear LCA and shock skids, hoping your clunking is gone??
The clunking is much less, but still there sometimes. I reached out to @ROCK HARD 4X4 and they said theyā€™ve upped the recommended torque to 150 lb/ft, with the option to go to 190 if needed. Iā€™ll get where Iā€™m going in Florida in a few days, and crawl under for a re-torque then. Right now, the issue is very minor for me, so Iā€™m betting jumping up to 150 will do it.
 
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The clunking is much less, but still there sometimes. I reached out to @ROCK HARD 4X4 and they said theyā€™ve upped the recommended torque to 150 lb/ft, with the option to go to 190 if needed. Iā€™ll get where Iā€™m going in Florida in a few days, and crawl under for a re-torque then. Right now, the issue is very minor for me, so Iā€™m betting jumping up to 150 will do it.
Thanks for the response .. Torque of 150 on both the shock one and LCA bolts?
 
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John in the Woods

John in the Woods

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Thanks for the response .. Torque of 150 on both the shock one and LCA bolts?
I was just asking about the LCAs. Iā€™d go to factory spec on the shock bolt if youā€™re reusing the original bolt like me. I havenā€™t had any noise from them.
 

MikeVeee

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OK, after a rookie season closed with 22K miles and plenty of time on pavement, snow, wooded two tracks, mud, sand, and finally some rock-strewn trails, I made the call on the off-season upgrades. With the goal of being able to be anything from open-air crawler to cross-country home on wheels, here's what I'm what I pulled out of the Black Friday hurricane:

From Tim and the folks at @Northridge4x4 (who's customer service and BF price guarantee were rock solid) ...
From Rob's buddies at @Quadratec (who delivered 4 of 5 items in 2 days!) ...
Then from a whole bunch of folks (I leaned toward site sponsors whenever I could) ...
And toss in some extra gear for camping and overlanding ...
The truck already has a Mopar 2" lift, some 35" KO2s, a Smittybilt X20 10Klb winch I moved over from a previous build, a Warn winch relay kit and some various handles, pouches and stuff; and I've got a decent base of camping and cooking gear that should keep me rolling another year. I'm hoping to get all this Installed, mounted or packed up by late winter, and start hitting the road for some extended travel right around the time the weather finally breaks here in the Finger Lakes.

Trailer is in the plans for next winter. Suggestions on that, or anything I might have missed (and can now add to my Christmas wish list), are very welcome.
What are your thoughts on the Mopar Sun Bonnet you got? Are you happy with it? Can you drive with it on at highways speeds without if driving you crazy with excessive flapping or unsnapping itself? Does it do a decent job in the rain?
 
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What are your thoughts on the Mopar Sun Bonnet you got? Are you happy with it? Can you drive with it on at highways speeds without if driving you crazy with excessive flapping or unsnapping itself? Does it do a decent job in the rain?
Honestly, I canā€™t tell you.

Iā€™m caught in a trap with my sun bonnet. I ordered it from @Quadratec back in November when the sales were on, and planned to install it this spring when the weather got warm. When I got to Florida two weeks ago, I cracked it out and got ready to set it up. The top looks great, but I learned that the version of the sun bonnet @Quadratec sent me, which looks like it was made in 2019, has the wrong size snap studs for my 21 Ruby, so I couldnā€™t put it on. In spite of weeks of calls and emails, and two separate seemingly sympathetic customer service reps telling me theyā€™d get back to me with a fix, @Quadratec hasnā€™t done anything to help. In fact, since last Thursday theyā€™ve just stopped answering my calls and emails. Nothing. Just silence.

So the sun bonnet still sits in its box. Iā€™m giving up on @Quadratec, as in forever giving up on them, and just going to source some snaps that will fit on my own after I get back from my trip south.

Too bad. I had two weeks driving naked in subtropical heat. That would have been the perfect time to try that sun bonnet.

If you are planning on buying one, learn two things from my experience: pick it up from a place you can trust, and make sure theyā€™re selling you one made in the same year as your JT. Apparently the trim screws changed at some point, and you want to be sure youā€™ve got the right version.
 
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John in the Woods

John in the Woods

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The 60 side of the backseat is out. Ready to pick up the Goose Gear platform at OK4WD. Once I found an E14 socket, the seat came out with no issues. Bolts were a little stiff, but nothing like the monsters that were the body bolts!

A91CC541-8221-4D43-AB78-3978E73B3319.jpeg

Not sure if the floor mats need to come out, but Iā€™m sure that will be obvious in a few days.

Now, time to put in a few thousand highway miles. šŸ˜
I did get the Goose Gear platform in. Iā€™ll add a few observations when I get back to my laptop, but the short version is this thing is great. Perfect fit. High quality. And a stunning amount of storage space underneath. I was surprised how much I could get in there.

So far, Iā€™m loving this thing. Glad I took the leap.

Jeep Gladiator Having it all - JTRD sun buggy, trail rig and overlander A4AC1BB6-EDE7-4109-8786-E0D817E24BE8
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