What did you do TO your Gladiator today? [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS, NO GUN TALK]

[CoachA]

You might not be done yet. That reservoir Should be oriented up so it doesn’t get hit by anything. It’s a tight fit up there but it does fit without coming into contact with anything. Installed mine bout a month ago.

Thanks for the tip. I’ll get on it tomorrow.

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[CoachA]

Reinstalled the Sunrider for the summer.

Nice ride. What roof rack is that? It seems to play nicely with your Sunrider, and I have been looking for the same type.

 

[Volksparts]

Nice ride. What roof rack is that? It seems to play nicely with your Sunrider, and I have been looking for the same type.

Looks like the JCR half rack. I've been running this rack last couple years now without issues. Great customer service too. They also sell grab handles and lights if you want to mount those on. The only thing you don't want to do (learn from my experience) is mount a case on it and run a sunrider. It caused a bunch of turbulance and flapping of the sunrider. Thought it was the sunrider itself but in the end was the pelican case being mounted on the rack. Removed the case and no more sunrider wind noise.

 

[ZUUL]

Reinstalled the Sunrider for the summer.

What's your opinion on the half roof rack (JCR?)? I'm leaning into that size so that I can run a Sunrider, too.

 

[Varooom]

Installed a "Jeep" Adventure HD front bumper and Badlands 12000 winch from Harbor Freight. I think it turned out nice.
I was worried that the extra weight woulld cause the front end to sag a little but it looks fine. There is a 30lb difference in weight between the stock bumper and the Jeep bumper and the winch is another 65lbs. So, 95 additional lbs on the front.
I rolled my Ram 1500 down my driveway about 60 feet and winched it up the driveway to the Jeep to get that tight wrap of the rope that was suggested in the instructions. Worked great.
Varooom

 

[carsmarshall1]

Tailgate ladder and front camera.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Tailgate ladder and front camera.

Looks like same ladder I have - wife gave to me for Christmas 2 or 3 years ago.
Which camera did you opt for? Resolution?

 

[carsmarshall1]

Looks like same ladder I have - wife gave to me for Christmas 2 or 3 years ago.
Which camera did you opt for? Resolution?

Amazon wifi to my phone. Was the easiest way just commented to my 3rd aux switch to turn on.

 

[Mumbly]

Howdy. New to the forum, but not to Jeeps. Traded a Ram 1500 for a 2023 Overland on Tuesday …getting new tires this Tuesday …installed a Bullet Point grid on the dash for phones and eventually a sPod …more to come. Glad to be back in a Jeep. Cheers.

 

[TheDerb]

Got my eBay Knockoff Rubicon steel bumper on.
The bumper itself was $399 with free shipping on eBay.

There were no instructions and about 400 extra fasteners. I removed my OEm wiring harness for my halogen fog lights and reused the wiring harness and lights in the new bumper.

It took me 5 minutes to hook the bumper up to the truck after the original plastic bumper was taken off. I just zip tied the wiring harness when all was said and done to make sure it was out of the way.

It comes with a winch Plate, which was nice. You probably cannot install the winch after you have installed this bumper if you don’t have a set of ratcheting wrenches. Even with ratcheting wrenches I was definitely crossing my fingers when I installed the winch after having already hooked up the bumper.

I believe that any Rubicon that comes with a Plastic front bumper comes with a steel skid plate that is held up by oem brackets and does not come into contact with that oem plastic bumper. This oem skid plate is a different part than the steel skid plate that the Rubicon steel bumper comes with. This steel skid plate that comes with the plastic bumper is held very closely to the oem bumper by these brackets. These brackets WILL prevent you from tightening the knock off bumper completely, so the brackets need to come off.

This is where my frustration started. The bumper is listed as a replacement, and even though I’ve never gone with Chinese knockoffs, I have bought plenty of replacement parts. This bumper had no welded on nuts, so you have to tighten both sides of every nut and bolt connection, whereas the oem has tack welded fasteners on it.

This also means that the oem steel bumper skid plate fir rubicons doesn’t work on this bumper. Again- I got passed at this because replacements need to work with preexisting pieces.

so, after being pissed off about it all night, I pulled out my old handy dandy Bosch Jig Saw, attached a carbide thick-metal blade to it, and cut about an inch off of the plastic bumper skid plate this morning. It worked like a dream. I did have to remove the top bracket and add an m8 nut and bolt and a few washers, but after reattaching, spraying primer on the bare metal from the cuts, and spraying the chrome fastener, you can hardly see I cut it down.

Overall, without several tools, plenty of mechanical knowledge, and a $400 jigsaw, This would have been a gigantic waste of $400- and I still have to get a return accepted on the rubicon oem steel bumper skid plate knockoff that cost me $150. I give it 2 stars out if 5, and only because it’s so cheap. I had to spray primer on about 20 spots. It also comes with the wings to go from stubby to full-size.

But I’m happy with it, and one day if I want to spend 3x as much or can somehow find a 392 bumper in the cheap, I’ll do that.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

This bumper had no welded on nuts, so you have to tighten both sides of every nut and bolt connection, whereas the oem has tack welded fasteners on it.

Actually, they use clip nuts in most places, not welded on nuts. Look at the parts illustrations.
I bought a box of stainless clip nuts and used on my bumper, negating the need for a wrench on the inside. OTOH, the serrated flanges on the huts do grip the steel meaning where I didn't use clip nuts, there was no need to hold a wrench on the nut.

I've had mine off and on multiple times, apart for powder coating and so on.

here's a factory steel bumper - clip nuts, not welded on. Only a couple are actually welded on a factory bumper if you look at the breakdown and parts list.

 

[cico7]

I would like suggestions for front camera.
can you plug into the stock head unit?
blue tooth to my iPad would be ok too.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I would like suggestions for front camera.
can you plug into the stock head unit?
blue tooth to my iPad would be ok too.

There are cameras that you can plug into the stock radio/head unit - but use the cargo cam input (Think that's the right input) not the trail cam input.

There are those that BT to a phone or tablet, too.
I asked because I liked the looks of what he had mounted and he didn't complain so I figured it must have been "Jeep owner tested" and thus likely ok.

 

[JTzntz]

Nice ride. What roof rack is that? It seems to play nicely with your Sunrider, and I have been looking for the same type.

What's your opinion on the half roof rack (JCR?)? I'm leaning into that size so that I can run a Sunrider, too.

Thanks! Yes, it’s a JCR. I like it and got it so I can remove the freedom panels and/or use the Sunrider. It is small though, but am still able to mount up a cargo box or other items up top as needed. Also able to mount a small awning on it, with is a plus. I don’t drive with the awning mounted - I use the Ironman 4x4 quick release awning mounts. I can move the mounts to mount the awning on the back of the roof rack for shade over the bed for tailgating, or on the side when I have the cargo boxes mounted for trips.

 

[Sarge502]

Added a Warn winch plate so I can install my Warn VR10-S. Also added a decent portable on-board air option

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