Building an E-Ticket ride - 06 LJ

E-Ticket · Jun 1, 2026

Strange, the front Yukon locker has 3.6 ohms measured across the stator. The Eaton, measured yet again, is at 1.8 ohms. Maybe it is nothing but I don't know enough about electrical to understand how the Eaton used to be 3.6 ohms (measured by Mac in Moab last year and again by me with two different electrical testers), and now it is 1.8 ohms.

Hopefully it works in the field as it is now in the garage and I will know in a few days when I can get out and wheel it.

E-Ticket · Jun 17, 2026

I got out today with a local club from Summit 4x4 and ran Black Canyon Creek.

14 rigs including 2 TJs and 2 LJs, the rest JKs, JLs and a couple of Broncos.

It was hot and I got to test the operating temps of the engine and the transmission with and without A/C on, climbing vs decending, etc.

It was a tight and tippy trail in areas and there is a washout that we had to winch across. It was interesting to see the various rigs with different wheelbases and widths and how the lines worked or didn’t. Several rigs got a wheel up right where a flop would send you down a nasty ravine. Everyone made it through with a few needing a couple of trys to get a better line.

My locker issues seem to be resolved, so that’s a plus.

I spent most of the day with my coolant just a hair above the 210 line. Most of the day my transmission temp was at or below 210, regardless of A/C.

Towards the end of the day we had a long climb out of the area and the transmission temp kept climbing until I turned off the A/C, which brought it back down. By that time it was about 100 degrees outside.

After a few minute break I started up and got a CEL! P0303, and given the circumstances I think it was heat soak. I’ve ordered the sleeve to insulate the #3 injector, hopefully that will solve it.

It was a good day of wheeling but too damn hot to be at lower elevation. The A/C barely offset the heat coming through the black hard top. I’ve got a “hot heads” liner kit waiting to install next time my hard top is off, that should help. Regardless , for the rest of the summer I will be looking for some higher elevation and cooler temps.

Pics:

If I can get some pics of me I will update to add them.

lBasket · Jun 17, 2026

E-Ticket said:
I got out today with a local club from Summit 4x4 and ran Black Canyon Creek.

14 rigs including 2 TJs and 2 LJs, the rest JKs, JLs and a couple of Broncos.

It was hot and I got to test the operating temps of the engine and the transmission with and without A/C on, climbing vs decending, etc.

It was a tight and tippy trail in areas and there is a washout that we had to winch across. It was interesting to see the various rigs with different wheelbases and widths and how the lines worked or didn’t. Several rigs got a wheel up right where a flop would send you down a nasty ravine. Everyone made it through with a few needing a couple of trys to get a better line.

My locker issues seem to be resolved, so that’s a plus.

I spent most of the day with my coolant just a hair above the 210 line. Most of the day my transmission temp was at or below 210, regardless of A/C.

Towards the end of the day we had a long climb out of the area and the transmission temp kept climbing until I turned off the A/C, which brought it back down. By that time it was about 100 degrees outside.

After a few minute break I started up and got a CEL! P0303, and given the circumstances I think it was heat soak. I’ve ordered the sleeve to insulate the #3 injector, hopefully that will solve it.

It was a good day of wheeling but too damn hot to be at lower elevation. The A/C barely offset the heat coming through the black hard top. I’ve got a “hot heads” liner kit waiting to install next time my hard top is off, that should help. Regardless , for the rest of the summer I will be looking for some higher elevation and cooler temps.

Pics:

View attachment 694738

View attachment 694739

View attachment 694740

View attachment 694741

View attachment 694742

View attachment 694743

View attachment 694744

If I can get some pics of me I will update to add them.

View attachment 694737

Some people paint the top of their hard top white so it doesn't get too hot I've seen

rasband · Jun 17, 2026

E-Ticket said:
It was a good day of wheeling but too damn hot to be at lower elevation. The A/C barely offset the heat coming through the black hard top. I’ve got a “hot heads” liner kit waiting to install next time my hard top is off, that should help. Regardless , for the rest of the summer I will be looking for some higher elevation and cooler temps.

You need to wrap up your move so you can drop the hard top, I think wheeling with all that higher up weight has got to be tough.

It's great to hear the locker wasn't having any issues after all that frustration!

E-Ticket · Jun 17, 2026

lBasket said:
Some people paint the top of their hard top white so it doesn't get too hot I've seen

True. I’ve got a white JL with a white top and it barely gets hot in the same heat.

E-Ticket · Jun 17, 2026

rasband said:
You need to wrap up your move so you can drop the hard top, I think wheeling with all that higher up weight has got to be tough.

It's great to hear the locker wasn't having any issues after all that frustration!

I am looking forward to those things happening for sure!

rasband · Jun 17, 2026

E-Ticket said:
True. I’ve got a white JL with a white top and it barely gets hot in the same heat.

One of our cars is white with a tan interior for this reason, I suspect the rest in the future will all be white too.

E-Ticket · Jun 17, 2026

rasband said:
One of our cars is white with a tan interior for this reason, I suspect the rest in the future will all be white too.

I didn’t pick mine like that on purpose when I bought it in MN but I’m glad I’ve got it now that I live in AZ.

Rickyd · Jun 17, 2026

E-Ticket said:
True. I’ve got a white JL with a white top and it barely gets hot in the same heat.

I was told it is at least a 40 degree difference from white to black when i was building experimental composite airplanes. Low temp cured parts painted a dark color afterwards would soften and warp. They needed to cure at a higher temp than they would experience in the applications

E-Ticket · Jun 17, 2026

Rickyd said:
I was told it is at least a 40 degree difference from white to black when i was building experimental composite airplanes. Low temp cured parts painted a dark color afterwards would soften and warp. They needed to cure at a higher temp than they would experience in the applications

The difference is drastic. I can put my hand up on the inside of white top and it is warm but not really uncomfortable. The black top, no chance. You can’t touch it without burning yourself.

rasband · Jun 17, 2026

Rickyd said:
I was told it is at least a 40 degree difference from white to black when i was building experimental composite airplanes. Low temp cured parts painted a dark color afterwards would soften and warp. They needed to cure at a higher temp than they would experience in the applications

I believe it! The sauna affect is way less in the white vehicle. On rare occasion I miss that feeling for the first 30 seconds in a blazing hot car... but not enough to change it.

E-Ticket · Jun 17, 2026

I’ve got a temperature meter, will check them tomorrow side by side to see what the actual temps are.

Rickyd · Jun 17, 2026

E-Ticket said:
I’ve got a temperature meter, will check them tomorrow side by side to see what the actual temps are.

If the white surface is shiny it can throw off infrared thermometer guns.I use a thermocouple style or put something matte in the conditioned space i need to shoot with the lazer if i can't get a good read.

E-Ticket · Jun 17, 2026

Rickyd said:
If the white surface is shiny it can throw off infrared thermometer guns.I use a thermocouple style or put something matte in the conditioned space i need to shoot with the lazer if i can't get a good read.

The outer surface of the white one is shiny and the black one is matte, but they both have a matte white inner surface. Hopefully the readings on the inside will be a good comparison.

E-Ticket · Jun 18, 2026

Results of a quick and dirty test are below. The results track my "top of the head" observations that the white top is far cooler. The black top has a very nasty interior temp of almost 170 deg F! Interestingly, both tops were slightly hotter inside than outside with the sun on them, perhaps due to their textures or the wind.

	JL white top		LJ black top		Delta
	C	F	C	F	F
hard top exterior	45.6	114.1	72.8	163.0	49.0
hard top interior	48.0	118.4	76.4	169.5	51.1
shaded seat back	44.6	112.3	49.6	121.3	9.0
door panel	47.5	117.5	47.5	117.5	0.0

45 minute heat soak in bright sun, windows closed
89 deg F ambient temp, wind up to 15 mph

*Sorry for the lame formatting as Excel does not cut and paste over well here

E-Ticket · Jul 4, 2026

I’ve got a trip to The Rubicon Trail coming up and need more room for gear. Inspired by @Wildman , I got the Genright small cargo rack and TJ specific tailgate brackets.

You have to be creative to make it work. First, I added some angle aluminum to extend the upper mounting surface to match the width of the rack and also to give more options for drilling the holes to hold the rack.

I wanted to push the rack off the tailgate about 1.5" to clear my antenna bracket, so those angles helped for that too. You use two existing threaded holes in the tailgate and then add two more (lower) using rivnuts.

I centered it on the tailgate and drill away, then hit a major snag...the hard top glass interfered! I seems they designed it for use with a soft top or no top.

Moving the rack back off the tailgate did not help and would put a lot more stress on the brackets. So, despite my strong desire to keep it centered on the tailgate - I had to move it 3" to the driver side to get clearance to open the glass. I've got two hole patterns so I can center it when I don't have the hard top on.

Interference when centered on tailgate:

Shifted over 3" driver:

Detail of the bracket install...yes I need some longer fasteners when Ace hardware is open again tomorrow.

I also found gas "can" that fits it very well. I figure I may need some extra gas on the Rubicon as I can go through nearly a half tank wheeling all day and that will be 3 days of slow and go. I can also hang a trash bag off the rack and keep it out of the rig.

The edges of the rack are all sharp, so I hit them with some emery cloth and I've got some rubber edge trim on order to protect against any chafing on the plastic gas can. I also have a rubber sheet coming to put down under the tank for more protection against any rubbing on the fastener heads. I will use a couple of bungee cords with plastic ends to secure the tank on the rack. Hopefully it doesn't leak, but if so it will be outside.

Wildman · Jul 4, 2026

I don't have a hardtop so hadn't ran into that clearance issue...
But I do agree with a lot of the edges being sharp plus the cutout circles and need to smooth them out a little bit. I wonder if you could mount the fuel cans on the support brackets to open up your rack for light camping gear or other stuff?

I picked up some L track tiedowns off Amazon too. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KMX37VB?tag=wranglerorg-20
You can also get the higher quality ones that GR links from Cargo Control on Amazon also. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GT1CVX3N/?tag=wranglerorg-20

I also have a smaller cargo net that I used to use on my motorcycle.

E-Ticket · Jul 4, 2026

Wildman said:
I don't have a hardtop so hadn't ran into that clearance issue...
But I do agree with a lot of the edges being sharp plus the cutout circles and need to smooth them out a little bit. I wonder if you could mount the fuel cans on the support brackets to open up your rack for light camping gear or other stuff?

View attachment 697956

I picked up some L track tiedowns off Amazon too. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KMX37VB?tag=wranglerorg-20
You can also get the higher quality ones that GR links from Cargo Control on Amazon also. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GT1CVX3N/?tag=wranglerorg-20

I also have a smaller cargo net that I used to use on my motorcycle.

Thanks Rick. I've got all the camping gear inside. I built a rack for that a while back, sits on top of my spare.

GoldenGorilla · Jul 4, 2026

lBasket said:
Some people paint the top of their hard top white so it doesn't get too hot I've seen

Some people wear tinfoil hats.

Wildman · Jul 4, 2026

E-Ticket said:
Thanks Rick. I've got all the camping gear inside. I built a rack for that a while back, sits on top of my spare.

I want to build a rack for the inside also so I can have stuff under it and then on the rack too...

The angle iron seems to be the trick for spacing it away from the tailgate.
I imagine I'll use mine for carrying my chainsaw when doing local trails too...

The Rubicon is on my bucket list too and I need to get down there and run it soon...

Hope you have a great trip and look forward to the trip report.

Building an E-Ticket ride - 06 LJ

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