ShadowsPapa
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Bill
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2019
- Threads
- 247
- Messages
- 40,440
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- 53,853
- Location
- Runnells, Iowa
- Vehicle(s)
- '25 JTMX, '23 JLU 4xe, '82 SX4, '73 Javelin
- Occupation
- Retired auto mechanic, frmr gov't ntwrk security admin
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- #1
They only sell the Defender for Overland and another model or two of the Gladiator, but I wanted the Mojave this time around and had the Defender already here, from my 2022 Overland.
When I looked at the Mojaves on the lot, I did a lot of measuring, comparing of pictures of my Overland to the Mojave (X) and decided that aside from the possible "soft" suspension on the Mojave, the biggest challenge would be the shock reservoirs. The reservoirs and the hoses from the shocks were indeed a head-scratcher.
I decided to go for it, worst case, relocate the reservoirs and lines - and suffer with front suspension too soft.
The Mojave X frame sits just 1/8" or so higher than the Overland did with the Synergy springs under the front. It's close to needing the different brackets, but the winch install put it right at the break point for different brackets. So that worked out.
Advantage of the Mojave X is that the trail cam helps line up with the plow when mounting it for use.
The latter I had already been through. I had to put Synergy 2" springs under the front to handle the extra weight of things when the plow was mounted in the winter. They were dual-rate.
I prepared by purchasing reservoir relocating brackets, just to be ready. I ended up not using either pairs of brackets.
The solution to the reservoir issue was to loosen the screw clamping them into the lower skid plate bracket and slide the reservoirs to the center of the truck.
As far as the hoses or lines - that's a bit more complex and may be refined when I pull the snow plow brackets off the frame for spring.
I was able to put all of the plow wiring and relays and adapter box where they had been in the Overland. I did make one wiring change - the wire harness I had run back beside the battery (engine side) to the firewall, then to the driver's side along the top of the firewall/cowl area, I instead ran it forward and across the top of the radiator area, under the top bracket there.
This time, the fender liners were also pulled down and out of the way to access the wiring for the turn signals/parking lights. On the Overland, I did it all from the engine bay and under the truck struggling to disconnect the factory connectors and get mine in place. When removing the wiring from the Overland, I found how much easier it was just to take a few fasteners out and access the factory connectors that way. Plus - I wanted to install the DiodeDynamics clear lens marker lights in the fender flares.
Some of the pictures may be from my 2022 Overland because some things are just the same, otherwise - here's pictures and suggestions if anyone wants to break the rules and use a snow plow on a Mojave.
You will need to remove the bolts that hold the reservoir lines to the frame and remove the clamps and wire holders from the hoses.
The top bolt shown here can be loosened to slip the reservoirs inward.
The round brace welded through the frame is very rough cut. It's sharp on mine, like they used a band saw or chop saw and never cleaned up the ends, so I cut pieces of fuel line and wrapped around the reservoir lines to pad them against abrasion.
There's enough of a gap between the JT frame and the snow plow bracket that the hose can fit up between the two. You'll need to make sure the shock hose can't move around. I'll do something different or better next near when I remove the brackets for the summer.
The reservoirs end up really showing in the middle of the frame. It's critical, IMO, to protect them. So I used a skid plate I had from my other truck and cut the ends off to fit between the snow plow brackets. I wasn't going to run it this way. (I'll look for another skid plate in the near future as I can do a lot neater job of cutting it to fit between the brackets and not leave as large a gap)
I cut a bit too much off - if I get my hands on another, I'll do a better job fitting it next time.
More later............. neck and shoulder pain catching up with me......
Continuing on for a while -
I want to give credit to Jerry, forum member jebiruph as he helped with some of the heavy stuff, and where dexterity and a steady hand were needed because my essential tremors had gotten really bad and holding nuts and washers and screws was a problem, and getting the wiring harness connections unplugged (those darned latches) and then my pigtails inserted for the turn signals and parking lights up under the fenders required some steadiness. (and, It was a hurry up and get it done as my surgery was coming up so October and the first 3/4 of November were totally out for any such work)
So, credit where credit is due.
Skipping ahead a bit because I'm not sure how many snow plows there are on a Mojave X at this point in time -
Height of the truck is important. They have a spec and the Mojave X comes in at 22.125-22.25" where the standard brackets are for less than or equal 22".
My Overland with the 2" Synergy front springs was sitting at 22".
once the winch was added to the Mojave, it settled to just a tad over 22 - I figured that's fine as it will have the weight of the brackets and such as well, and the softer suspension will settle some.
The want the snow plow framework - between truck and plow when the plow is resting, to be as level as possible. I believe that is accomplished. (the stand is not touching the wood blocks - they move, so it's truly resting on the truck and the blade is against the ground.)
This is how the section of plow harness came out by the filter box. The other connector there goes to the pigtail I made that connects into the turn signal/park light harness.
The instructions say to cut into those wires, wrap, solder, and seal them but I don't like cutting a factory harness so made my own connector. You need to pull the fender liner down to access it, but it's really pretty easy to do.
This is my connector from the turn signal pigtail I configured - it connects to the screw connector shown above. I bought those on Amazon as they seal nice and are small.
The other parts are from Oracle - they are the pigtails that their lights use to tap into the Jeep's lighting wiring. I needed to modify them just a bit for my use but that was simple with soldering iron and marine type sealing heat shrink.
They furnish the connections to go to the headlamps - you remove headlamps, disconnect factory harness, plug their harness to the headlamp, then connect the factory harness to theirs (all in red bracket)
But for the turn signals and parking lights, (yellow) they want you to cut the factory wiring and use BUTT splices. No way, sorry. My way made it easier to remove the whole harness when I traded my Overland in on the Mojave - unplug from Overland - cut no wires - plug back in to Mojave.
As with the Overland, I removed the plastic cap that plugged the clutch rod hole, drilled it, put a rubber grommet in it, and fed the plow's hand-held control harness through and put the plug back in place.
Here's the harness/cable that fed through the grommet above. The red wire goes to ACC power (on only when ACC is on or truck running) and the other is the connector that goes to the hand-held snow plow control.
I fed the above up and over some brackets under the steering column, the red wire went back behind the center stack over to the AUX switch wire that is hot only with ignition or acc on. It was simple to feed it behind the center cluster - plenty of space between it and the firewall/floor.
More later - going to get some other pictures to show some of where the harnesses routed this time, making it actually easier than I did on the Overland............
More pictures showing some detail of the wiring, the harnesses and so on.
Since I have a winch AND the snow plow and they both want to be connected to the battery's positive post, and I don't like a whole lot of cables all over the place, I ran my snow plow positive from the battery side of the winch solenoid - using it as sort of a terminal block.
I used one short cable from battery positive to solenoid, then another from the battery side of the solenoid to the snow plow fuse.
Details on mounting the lighting control box and one of the sets of relays. I used the existing nut for the bracket for the relays, and a washer and lock nut to hold the back side of the box to the firewall.
Front of box rests on and is attached to a small aluminum brace I made and ran down to an existing bracket on the Jeep.
There was a tab on an existing bracket, so I used it for the front brace on my lighting box ->
To the left - my bracket that the relays are strapped to. I used the existing nut with washer that was already there holding the wiring loom in place.
To the right, the rear mounting tab over an existing stud on the Jeep, and secured with a washer and lock nut
When I looked at the Mojaves on the lot, I did a lot of measuring, comparing of pictures of my Overland to the Mojave (X) and decided that aside from the possible "soft" suspension on the Mojave, the biggest challenge would be the shock reservoirs. The reservoirs and the hoses from the shocks were indeed a head-scratcher.
I decided to go for it, worst case, relocate the reservoirs and lines - and suffer with front suspension too soft.
The Mojave X frame sits just 1/8" or so higher than the Overland did with the Synergy springs under the front. It's close to needing the different brackets, but the winch install put it right at the break point for different brackets. So that worked out.
Advantage of the Mojave X is that the trail cam helps line up with the plow when mounting it for use.
The latter I had already been through. I had to put Synergy 2" springs under the front to handle the extra weight of things when the plow was mounted in the winter. They were dual-rate.
I prepared by purchasing reservoir relocating brackets, just to be ready. I ended up not using either pairs of brackets.
The solution to the reservoir issue was to loosen the screw clamping them into the lower skid plate bracket and slide the reservoirs to the center of the truck.
As far as the hoses or lines - that's a bit more complex and may be refined when I pull the snow plow brackets off the frame for spring.
I was able to put all of the plow wiring and relays and adapter box where they had been in the Overland. I did make one wiring change - the wire harness I had run back beside the battery (engine side) to the firewall, then to the driver's side along the top of the firewall/cowl area, I instead ran it forward and across the top of the radiator area, under the top bracket there.
This time, the fender liners were also pulled down and out of the way to access the wiring for the turn signals/parking lights. On the Overland, I did it all from the engine bay and under the truck struggling to disconnect the factory connectors and get mine in place. When removing the wiring from the Overland, I found how much easier it was just to take a few fasteners out and access the factory connectors that way. Plus - I wanted to install the DiodeDynamics clear lens marker lights in the fender flares.
Some of the pictures may be from my 2022 Overland because some things are just the same, otherwise - here's pictures and suggestions if anyone wants to break the rules and use a snow plow on a Mojave.
You will need to remove the bolts that hold the reservoir lines to the frame and remove the clamps and wire holders from the hoses.
The top bolt shown here can be loosened to slip the reservoirs inward.
The round brace welded through the frame is very rough cut. It's sharp on mine, like they used a band saw or chop saw and never cleaned up the ends, so I cut pieces of fuel line and wrapped around the reservoir lines to pad them against abrasion.
There's enough of a gap between the JT frame and the snow plow bracket that the hose can fit up between the two. You'll need to make sure the shock hose can't move around. I'll do something different or better next near when I remove the brackets for the summer.
The reservoirs end up really showing in the middle of the frame. It's critical, IMO, to protect them. So I used a skid plate I had from my other truck and cut the ends off to fit between the snow plow brackets. I wasn't going to run it this way. (I'll look for another skid plate in the near future as I can do a lot neater job of cutting it to fit between the brackets and not leave as large a gap)
I cut a bit too much off - if I get my hands on another, I'll do a better job fitting it next time.
More later............. neck and shoulder pain catching up with me......
Continuing on for a while -
I want to give credit to Jerry, forum member jebiruph as he helped with some of the heavy stuff, and where dexterity and a steady hand were needed because my essential tremors had gotten really bad and holding nuts and washers and screws was a problem, and getting the wiring harness connections unplugged (those darned latches) and then my pigtails inserted for the turn signals and parking lights up under the fenders required some steadiness. (and, It was a hurry up and get it done as my surgery was coming up so October and the first 3/4 of November were totally out for any such work)
So, credit where credit is due.
Skipping ahead a bit because I'm not sure how many snow plows there are on a Mojave X at this point in time -
Height of the truck is important. They have a spec and the Mojave X comes in at 22.125-22.25" where the standard brackets are for less than or equal 22".
My Overland with the 2" Synergy front springs was sitting at 22".
once the winch was added to the Mojave, it settled to just a tad over 22 - I figured that's fine as it will have the weight of the brackets and such as well, and the softer suspension will settle some.
The want the snow plow framework - between truck and plow when the plow is resting, to be as level as possible. I believe that is accomplished. (the stand is not touching the wood blocks - they move, so it's truly resting on the truck and the blade is against the ground.)
This is how the section of plow harness came out by the filter box. The other connector there goes to the pigtail I made that connects into the turn signal/park light harness.
The instructions say to cut into those wires, wrap, solder, and seal them but I don't like cutting a factory harness so made my own connector. You need to pull the fender liner down to access it, but it's really pretty easy to do.
This is my connector from the turn signal pigtail I configured - it connects to the screw connector shown above. I bought those on Amazon as they seal nice and are small.
The other parts are from Oracle - they are the pigtails that their lights use to tap into the Jeep's lighting wiring. I needed to modify them just a bit for my use but that was simple with soldering iron and marine type sealing heat shrink.
They furnish the connections to go to the headlamps - you remove headlamps, disconnect factory harness, plug their harness to the headlamp, then connect the factory harness to theirs (all in red bracket)
But for the turn signals and parking lights, (yellow) they want you to cut the factory wiring and use BUTT splices. No way, sorry. My way made it easier to remove the whole harness when I traded my Overland in on the Mojave - unplug from Overland - cut no wires - plug back in to Mojave.
As with the Overland, I removed the plastic cap that plugged the clutch rod hole, drilled it, put a rubber grommet in it, and fed the plow's hand-held control harness through and put the plug back in place.
Here's the harness/cable that fed through the grommet above. The red wire goes to ACC power (on only when ACC is on or truck running) and the other is the connector that goes to the hand-held snow plow control.
I fed the above up and over some brackets under the steering column, the red wire went back behind the center stack over to the AUX switch wire that is hot only with ignition or acc on. It was simple to feed it behind the center cluster - plenty of space between it and the firewall/floor.
More later - going to get some other pictures to show some of where the harnesses routed this time, making it actually easier than I did on the Overland............
More pictures showing some detail of the wiring, the harnesses and so on.
Since I have a winch AND the snow plow and they both want to be connected to the battery's positive post, and I don't like a whole lot of cables all over the place, I ran my snow plow positive from the battery side of the winch solenoid - using it as sort of a terminal block.
I used one short cable from battery positive to solenoid, then another from the battery side of the solenoid to the snow plow fuse.
Details on mounting the lighting control box and one of the sets of relays. I used the existing nut for the bracket for the relays, and a washer and lock nut to hold the back side of the box to the firewall.
Front of box rests on and is attached to a small aluminum brace I made and ran down to an existing bracket on the Jeep.
There was a tab on an existing bracket, so I used it for the front brace on my lighting box ->
To the left - my bracket that the relays are strapped to. I used the existing nut with washer that was already there holding the wiring loom in place.
To the right, the rear mounting tab over an existing stud on the Jeep, and secured with a washer and lock nut
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