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

[R3DRUMS]

Installed the Metalcloak dead pedal yesterday. Ordered Monday morning, fast ship! In the last week I finally wired up my ditch lights to the Lasfit Aux switches, routed the gmrs antenna cable to the dash, installed the midland radio mount to the Ram dash mount, and fabricated a mount for the ghost antenna.

crocs for attention:

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[R3DRUMS]

Also installed my Redarc Towpro Elite TBC last week. Ready for the road/dirt, now if I could find the all elusive time to do it…

 

[Minty JL]

Lemme know when you hit up AOAA or Rausch and maybe I can tag along if you need another Jeep. Not sure what type of sliders you have, but I would def have some for crawl daddy, and depending what line you take on Barney rubble.

Yeah, I'll let you know when we decide on the date.

If you want shoot me a PM with your contact info.

I'm in Severna Park and my other Mojave homie is in Annapolis

 

[HooliganActual]

Nice. Curious as to the wire size and wiring methods you used. Always looking at ideas even I installed mine a year ago - never stop learning.

First off, I know I'm responding to an "ancient" post (~10days, lol) but I've been on the road and am just catching up.

Second, I know this question wasn't for me but I thought I'd share.

I originally installed my rear 12V power panel in the factory location but was ultimately not happy with it as I found I was always having to move things to get to it. So that location frustrated me..A LOT!

When I gutted and rebuilt my bed setup the second time, I relocated it to a more useful (for me) location:

As you can see, it is mounted on the Alu-Cab canopy right side cupboard:

On my first install (in the factory location), I used Ancor Marine Grade Products 121110 Duplex Cable, 10/2 AWG. I love this stuff and have used it all over my build because it is marine grade, which basically means that the wire has been tinned to minimize corrosion. Even though I'm in AZ and rust isn't a big concern, it's just one less thing to worry about.

On the first Build out, I just ran this up to my Aux Switches in the engine compartment. The 10 gauge wire is good for that run for up to 30A circuit (i believe). I didn't figure I'd ever be putting that kind of load on that panel anyways.

On buildout #2, I moved to solar, MPPT, DC-DC, and a House battery, so the configuration changed to the first pics; but the wiring stayed the same. My whole House distribution system goes through a Trigger Controller 4 Plus (seen on the right side of pic) which allows me to remorely control loads using their RF remote or my SmartPhone. The Trigger Controller has four fused circuits that run my 1)Canopy Lights 2) Scene Lights 3) USB Power Panel and 4) Water Tank Pump.

I'm thinking of re-organizing everything again but I'll still use the same bits and bobs.

Cheers

 

[HooliganActual]

I have a couple picks. Light bar is mounted with a couple 50lb magnets (I'll add epoxy once I'm positive I don't want to move it). Wiring is run on magnetic zip tie holders and tied in to the aux wiring by the battery. The back half of the hood scoop is glued on, popped the clips and then a little prying with a pocket knife and it came right off. Nothing to it really.

Fair warning if you weren't already aware; but engine heat weakens a magnets strength. You might want to get to the epoxy sooner rather than later or do something else in the interim to make sure your light bar doesn't drop.

I used 50# magnets to hold KC Cyclones that I was using for under hood lights and in the AZ summer heat they did not hold...and they are much lighter than your light bar.

I wound up modifying the push plugs that were already there to hold the felt blanket...

 

[Zachanadandy]

You'd be amazed how light the light bar is, but I will definitely get the epoxy on there soon.

 

[WILDHOBO]

First off, I know I'm responding to an "ancient" post (~10days, lol) but I've been on the road and am just catching up.

Second, I know this question wasn't for me but I thought I'd share.

I originally installed my rear 12V power panel in the factory location but was ultimately not happy with it as I found I was always having to move things to get to it. So that location frustrated me..A LOT!

When I gutted and rebuilt my bed setup the second time, I relocated it to a more useful (for me) location:

As you can see, it is mounted on the Alu-Cab canopy right side cupboard:

On my first install (in the factory location), I used Ancor Marine Grade Products 121110 Duplex Cable, 10/2 AWG. I love this stuff and have used it all over my build because it is marine grade, which basically means that the wire has been tinned to minimize corrosion. Even though I'm in AZ and rust isn't a big concern, it's just one less thing to worry about.

On the first Build out, I just ran this up to my Aux Switches in the engine compartment. The 10 gauge wire is good for that run for up to 30A circuit (i believe). I didn't figure I'd ever be putting that kind of load on that panel anyways.

On buildout #2, I moved to solar, MPPT, DC-DC, and a House battery, so the configuration changed to the first pics; but the wiring stayed the same. My whole House distribution system goes through a Trigger Controller 4 Plus (seen on the right side of pic) which allows me to remorely control loads using their RF remote or my SmartPhone. The Trigger Controller has four fused circuits that run my 1)Canopy Lights 2) Scene Lights 3) USB Power Panel and 4) Water Tank Pump.

I'm thinking of re-organizing everything again but I'll still use the same bits and bobs.

Cheers

Nicely thought out.

 

[HooliganActual]

Nicely thought out.

LOL...to borrow a quote from Matt at Matt's Offroad Recovery: "We do it right because we do it twice."

Admittedly, I knew where I wanted the end state during the first build but wasn't ready to go there at the time (pre-retirement vs. post-retirement decisions) but being an old engineer, I do try to future proof things where I can...and try to learn from mistakes. And I don't even mean that things I've done are "mistakes" but done with the recognition of the fact that use cases change. Using the bed outlet as an example, I knew I wanted the power in the bed and knew I eventually wanted to bring on a house system, but wasn't ready to do it. So I did a nice install to the factory location, but then quickly realized that that location wasn't right for the way we live out of the back when overlanding. However, it's in those moments that you realize what you really need ['If this darn thing was over here, life would be grand]

For anyone doing a build of any sort I'll leave you with this quotable quote from Scott Adams of Dilbert fame:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep."

 

[WILDHOBO]

LOL...to borrow a quote from Matt at Matt's Offroad Recovery: "We do it right because we do it twice."

Admittedly, I knew where I wanted the end state during the first build but wasn't ready to go there at the time (pre-retirement vs. post-retirement decisions) but being an old engineer, I do try to future proof things where I can...and try to learn from mistakes. And I don't even mean that things I've done are "mistakes" but done with the recognition of the fact that use cases change. Using the bed outlet as an example, I knew I wanted the power in the bed and knew I eventually wanted to bring on a house system, but wasn't ready to do it. So I did a nice install to the factory location, but then quickly realized that that location wasn't right for the way we live out of the back when overlanding. However, it's in those moments that you realize what you really need ['If this darn thing was over here, life would be grand]

For anyone doing a build of any sort I'll leave you with this quotable quote from Scott Adams of Dilbert fame:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep."

Love it. As an IT network engineer, I try to do the same things, but am constantly deciding on better ways to install things. I don’t have a bed camper like you, but needed way better light to see things. I used the factory bed power location for an easy place to install the switch for the lighting. I also find that it’s a “fine” place, but not exactly perfect. But it was fine and a clean way to do it at the time. Someday, I’ll probably change it. Maybe just because I want to do something to the Jeep to clear my head.

 

[HooliganActual]

Love it. As an IT network engineer, I try to do the same things, but am constantly deciding on better ways to install things. I don’t have a bed camper like you, but needed way better light to see things. I used the factory bed power location for an easy place to install the switch for the lighting. I also find that it’s a “fine” place, but not exactly perfect. But it was fine and a clean way to do it at the time. Someday, I’ll probably change it. Maybe just because I want to do something to the Jeep to clear my head.

I really like the Trigger Controller and you may look at something like it when the time comes. It's just basically an SPOD variant (and I use it as such on one of my Wranglers) but I thought "You know, that's an elegant solution to controlling the power in the bed". It's nice that if we are in the RTT and have to come down in the middle of the night that I can remotely turn on the scene lights. I've even used it that way when we were sitting at the campfire and then had to walk back over to the truck to get fresh toddies.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I really like the Trigger Controller and you may look at something like it when the time comes. It's just basically an SPOD variant (and I use it as such on one of my Wranglers) but I thought "You know, that's an elegant solution to controlling the power in the bed". It's nice that if we are in the RTT and have to come down in the middle of the night that I can remotely turn on the scene lights. I've even used it that way when we were sitting at the campfire and then had to walk back over to the truck to get fresh toddies.

I’ll check that out. I do use a wireless controller for the rear bumper lights, for the same reason. It’s nice to light things up if I’m getting out of the tent in the dark.

 

[TheDerb]

Added Fishbone Offroad Tube Fenders front and back. The fender liners are on the way. I have to decide which ones I like the most prior to making that investment. I made the mistake of getting "Hawsksley wolf storms" on the cheap. I'm thinking about trying the Quadratec front fender liners- I saw a guy who had them and I thought they looked really nice.

 

[TheOpa]

Yeah, I'll let you know when we decide on the date.

If you want shoot me a PM with your contact info.

I'm in Severna Park and my other Mojave homie is in Annapolis

There are a few forum members going to AOAA on November 11th. Thread is in the MidAtlantic section.

 

[Minty JL]

There are a few forum members going to AOAA on November 11th. Thread is in the MidAtlantic section.

I planned on going, but my soccer team has a tournament that day and the rest of the weekend.

Maddening because I normally make Veteran's day my day to do car/truck or Jeep things

 

[TestMule]

After waiting for a back order on the rear spats I finally got the XR flare extensions installed.

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