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

[Bandit’s Lair]

Yeah living in the desert I rarely have bugs which is amazing. 3” of rain last year. I remember driving in Texas at night. I don’t miss it at all and won’t ever go back. Give me the dry heat.

Until you run into bees looking for moisture then all bets are off. Ran into em so bad in the desert one run some of the guys I was wheeling with were calling me the bee whisperer. I had spilled Monster in the LJ and we were running down a wash with some pretty gnarly ledges. I didn’t want to screw up the Jeep so I ignored the bees. Wish I still had the picture but it disappeared with my FB account. Had a swarm inside the Jeep while I was creeping up on a 3’ drop. Eventually I sacrificed a sammich bag to the desert put a rock in it between 2 rocks and filled it with water. First time I purposely left trash in the desert but those dudes were SERIOUS!!!!

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[Mud Pie]

Yeah living in the desert I rarely have bugs which is amazing. 3” of rain last year. I remember driving in Texas at night. I don’t miss it at all and won’t ever go back. Give me the dry heat.

My eye-opener was when I was riding on my motorcycle, open face helmet and rode through a swarm of love bugs hovering over the road. I had to pull over because I was coughing so hard. I have no idea how many I ingested.

 

[slodsm]

How’s the ride with these new shocks?

Not bad at all. Stiffer than worn out rocksports, softer than new falcons. I haven’t driven them much yet, but about 10 miles of beat up caliche road to get to the highway and 15-20 miles to the gas station on west Texas ranch road and I was happy with them.

I head back home next Wednesday and I’m going to go to Barnwell and go wheeling Sunday. That’ll give me a better idea.

 

[Freems]

Not bad at all. Stiffer than worn out rocksports, softer than new falcons. I haven’t driven them much yet, but about 10 miles of beat up caliche road to get to the highway and 15-20 miles to the gas station on west Texas ranch road and I was happy with them.

I head back home next Wednesday and I’m going to go to Barnwell and go wheeling Sunday. That’ll give me a better idea.

Thanks I’ve been eyeing those as well.

 

[Gatorac]

When I saved so much money on the pre-runner lights from Quadratec vs the new ones the other guys just made, I spent that on these pod lights. I like how they fill spot in the Venator bumper.

Big shout out to the customer support team at Rugged Ridge. One of the plastic surrounds popped out some time ago and was lost. I reached out to them looking to buy a replacement. They sent me 2 new ones no questions asked for free.

Thanks to this forum, I checked the brake light in my tailgate and discovered it was out. Luckily replacement of that was pretty easy. Always something to keep you busy with a Jeep.

 

[Cattywumpuss]

I installed rear door storage boxes. I say boxes (not pockets) as they are solidly built out of powder coated SS. Actually a lot more sturdy and thicker than I was expecting considering I got them from Amazon on the cheap.

Installation was super easy as they have tabs that go inside the OEM netting border and then are supported on the bottom by a screw that goes in to the OEM hole in the door and bolts that go through the bottom of the box.

Looks really nice installed (apologies for dusty installation finger print marks in pics) and adds to my storage space whilst blending in.

I chose to leave the nets in place, but I suppose you can remove them if you like.

 

[Mightytalldude]

Not my JT, but my wife's '19 JLU. Picked up a 1683 mile '26 Rubicon X steering wheel for a steal, and swapped it to her JLU. A nice refresh to the '20 COVID hand sanitizer wrecked steering wheel. Also brings that new vehicle smell with the off-gassing. I did a similar swap back in January with mine adding in a Mojave wheel on mine. Much easier the second time.

 

[Hootbro]

Not my JT, but my wife's '19 JLU. Picked up a 1683 mile '26 Rubicon X steering wheel for a steal, and swapped it to her JLU. A nice refresh to the '20 COVID hand sanitizer wrecked steering wheel. Also brings that new vehicle smell with the off-gassing. I did a similar swap back in January with mine adding in a Mojave wheel on mine. Much easier the second time.

Looks good!

 

[Stan H]

Now that I don’t know. I’ll let you know if it becomes an issue.

Here get ya one of these .

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

Here get ya one of these .

Wonder if I could mount that horizontal on my roof bars and use it on Teslas……

 

[Stan H]

Wonder if I could mount that horizontal on my roof bars and use it on Teslas……

Do it

 

[Mud Pie]

Not my JT, but my wife's '19 JLU. Picked up a 1683 mile '26 Rubicon X steering wheel for a steal, and swapped it to her JLU. A nice refresh to the '20 COVID hand sanitizer wrecked steering wheel. Also brings that new vehicle smell with the off-gassing. I did a similar swap back in January with mine adding in a Mojave wheel on mine. Much easier the second time.

My wife did that EXACT same thing to her 2005 Jeep Liberty !! I have a pic somewhere before we sold it in 2022 with 286,000 miles on the original engine and tranny with NO leaks. Ran like new, looked like new. Full tan leather interior, no cracks at all in the seats, a few wrinkles in the drivers. She pretty much rode alone so everything looked spanking new.

I noticed her leather-wrapped steering wheel was looking bad. I was with her one time, she gets in, squirts hand sanitizer in her hands, rubs them together, then RUBS HER WET HANDS all over the steering wheel. Shocked, I say, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING ?!?!". She jumps then asks, "What ??" "WHY are you rubbing hand sanitizer on YOUR OWN STEERING WHEEL ??" "You're supposed to. COVID." "Who told you THAT ?" "You're supposed to sanitize areas that people touch." "YOU, and only YOU, drive this Jeep, it's not common use, STOP. You're destroying the leather !!".

She didn't. About a year later she complains, "My steering wheel is very uncomfortable." I knowingly go out to look at it. It looks like the skin of an unwrapped Egyptian mummy. "You still putting hand sanitizer on it ?" "Well, not as much, the pandemic is over, but I do it sometimes out of habit. Can I get a new steering wheel ?" "For you to ruin again ? No. Live with it, you did it.".

 

[Hootbro]

My wife did that EXACT same thing to her 2005 Jeep Liberty !! I have a pic somewhere before we sold it in 2022 with 286,000 miles on the original engine and tranny with NO leaks. Ran like new, looked like new. Full tan leather interior, no cracks at all in the seats, a few wrinkles in the drivers. She pretty much rode alone so everything looked spanking new.

I noticed her leather-wrapped steering wheel was looking bad. I was with her one time, she gets in, squirts hand sanitizer in her hands, rubs them together, then RUBS HER WET HANDS all over the steering wheel. Shocked, I say, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING ?!?!". She jumps then asks, "What ??" "WHY are you rubbing hand sanitizer on YOUR OWN STEERING WHEEL ??" "You're supposed to. COVID." "Who told you THAT ?" "You're supposed to sanitize areas that people touch." "YOU, and only YOU, drive this Jeep, it's not common use, STOP. You're destroying the leather !!".

She didn't. About a year later she complains, "My steering wheel is very uncomfortable." I knowingly go out to look at it. It looks like the skin of an unwrapped Egyptian mummy. "You still putting hand sanitizer on it ?" "Well, not as much, the pandemic is over, but I do it sometimes out of habit. Can I get a new steering wheel ?" "For you to ruin again ? No. Live with it, you did it.".

Making a woman accountable for her actions.

 

[WanderingTrail]

My wife did that EXACT same thing to her 2005 Jeep Liberty !! I have a pic somewhere before we sold it in 2022 with 286,000 miles on the original engine and tranny with NO leaks. Ran like new, looked like new. Full tan leather interior, no cracks at all in the seats, a few wrinkles in the drivers. She pretty much rode alone so everything looked spanking new.

I noticed her leather-wrapped steering wheel was looking bad. I was with her one time, she gets in, squirts hand sanitizer in her hands, rubs them together, then RUBS HER WET HANDS all over the steering wheel. Shocked, I say, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING ?!?!". She jumps then asks, "What ??" "WHY are you rubbing hand sanitizer on YOUR OWN STEERING WHEEL ??" "You're supposed to. COVID." "Who told you THAT ?" "You're supposed to sanitize areas that people touch." "YOU, and only YOU, drive this Jeep, it's not common use, STOP. You're destroying the leather !!".

She didn't. About a year later she complains, "My steering wheel is very uncomfortable." I knowingly go out to look at it. It looks like the skin of an unwrapped Egyptian mummy. "You still putting hand sanitizer on it ?" "Well, not as much, the pandemic is over, but I do it sometimes out of habit. Can I get a new steering wheel ?" "For you to ruin again ? No. Live with it, you did it.".

And this is why men don't live as long as women. Brave, very brave, or stupid, only time will tell.
Note: My wife has the same steering wheel issue in her Honda.

Ron

 

[Mightytalldude]

She's extremely happy with the solution. New wheel, no staining, plus the new ones are just ever so slightly larger, so more comfort. Mine was beat to heck with hand sanitizer, and my attempt to rejuvenate it probably made it worse. Hers would be just as bad if not more, but she's in the medical field, so wears surgical gloves most of the day while working. I was planning on a Mojave wheel for hers like what I did with mine, but colors matter. "No ugly orange or red stitching!" Rubicon X wheel FTW. This is the second steering wheel from this eBay seller. Lots of Jeep parts, fair pricing, quick shipping and great quality. https://ebay.us/m/jwd8Fu

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