Not today, but over the past four months
On 11/30/20 I flew to Cleveland, OH to test drive and purchase an ’04 TJ Rubicon with 25,000 miles on it. I arrived in Cleveland just before the first BLIZZARD of the year. Test drove the TJ on 12/1 in a foot of snow, made the purchase, then began the long drive back to Alabama. Before hitting the interstate, I stopped to fill up with gas less than 10 miles from the dealership. After filling up, pulled out of the gas station and got a CEL. Thinks to myself, “Oh no, 600+ miles from home in a blizzard and this.” Pulled the codes (I previously scanned using my code reader while test driving and got nothing) and determined it was a downstream O2 sensor. Reset it and drove it home. Same code came in two more times on the drive. Looooonnnnng drive for a taller person (6’3”).
I’ve done the following since:
- Aligned the front end, rotated tires, and changed all filters and fluids. (The oil hadn’t been changed in three years, but the Jeep only had 600 miles on it over the last three years.)
- Installed four O2 sensors. The one causing the CEL had to be cut out and a new port installed. No CELs since.
- Removed the interior and installed Noico black and silver 80 mil sound deadening mat and Red 150 mil.
- Installed Husky mats in second row and behind rear seat (matches the front mats that came with the Jeep). When I went to get in for the test drive, the dealer had Armor All-ed the mats and I damn near broke my neck stepping onto the mat from the ground. lol
- Installed roll bar grip handles front and rear
- Installed Quick Charge 3.0 Dual USB Charger Socket with blue LED voltmeter on center front console – wired to only be hot with the key in ACC or ONView attachment 241839
- !!!Installed Misch Big Boy brackets!!! IF YOU’RE TALL AND YOU DRIVE ANY DISTANCE, THIS IS A MUST! NIGHT AND DAY ON COMFORT LEVEL WHEN DRIVING FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME!!!
- Installed Tuffy 251-01 flip seat security drawer under driver seat (provides room for detachable stereo control, radar detector and other small items)View attachment 241841
- Installed OEM Jeep towing receiver (#82213636) and wired it using the Curt 55363 4-pin harness
- Removed the entire OEM stereo system and installed the following:
- 3 sets of Polk DB 522 speakers (one set in Select Increment Mod-Pods near the kick panels; dash speakers were installed into Select Increments Dash-Pods; Sound Bar speaker enclosures were poly filled and speakers themselves went into Boom Mat speaker baffles)
- Kicker CompRT 43CWRT672 center console mounted sub (followed how to from here and YouTube on custom fitting; easy install)
- Rockford Fosgate M2-750X5 750W amp (under driver side dash mounted vertically in upper corner near fire wall) with a remote mounted to the forward center console. The amp is a 5 channel, the dash speakers are NOT driven by the amp. Due to their poor imaging location, I decided not to amplify them and instead drove the mod-pod, sound bar, and sub locations. The dash speakers provide nice filler.View attachment 241842View attachment 241843
- Pioneer DEH-X8800BHS (I have this same unit in another vehicle, it’s good quality and I’m used to its control system)View attachment 241844
I’ve installed numerous stereos over the years, so I’m comfortable doing so. This one was fairly straight forward with two exceptions (all components and materials from Crutchfield’s):
- I really wanted to mount the amp under the steering column like so many have done, but due to the amp’s size, I couldn’t make it work where I had any reasonable access to gain controls, etc., so I found a new location. I fabricated a 90 degree bracket, attached it to a cutting board to which the amp was mounted via screws and spacers. Bracket was nutted to a bolt protruding vertically (about two inches) behind the driver side dash up high near the fire wall. It was a PITA to create the right angle for the mounting bracket, but with trial and error, I’m pretty happy with it. And the stereo will blow you out of the Jeep.
- Changing Sound Bar speakers required removing the hard top. I searched for a way to do it without removing the sound bar (it was still cold), but could find no contortionist way to access the two Torx screws on the top of each enclosure.
Next on the to do list is to replace the rear window lower weather stripping, install the Boom Mat hard top liner, troubleshoot the low speed fan setting not working, and order a BesTop Supertop NX Black Twill (currently backordered). I am in the market for OEM half doors in decent shape, color irrelevant, if anyone knows of any. (I found a few on FB, but they were too far away and no one was willing to ship.)
Near term projects are to remove the ARB bumper and have it powder coated black, refurbish the Warn winch, and refurbish or replace fasteners.
After that, I will attack the rust underneath. Although the Jeep only has about 27,000 miles on it now, it’s seen many winters in Ohio and the PO wasn’t exactly diligent about removing salt, mud, etc. There’s definitely rust there. I’ll find out how serious soon enough.
One other thing that I did and had I known then what I know now, I would not have done . . . I installed a hoist in the attic above my garage primarily for hard top removal/installation and storage. The problem is that the hoist has no creep speed so it’s way too fast when lowering onto the Jeep. I ended up having to use tie down straps suspended from the hoist to slowly lower the top onto the Jeep. I will re-think this, but will probably use the hoist to remove the top and store it above the garage door track. To lower the top, I think that I will hang four eyehooks from the ceiling, and use ratchet straps to take over lowering from the hoist before the top reaches the Jeep. That way I can fine tune the speed and positioning.
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And this being my first post, I would be remiss if I didn't say thanks to all of the members and previous posters. I've been lurking here for several months and this site is a wealth of information! THANKS!
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