Dave's I should be spending this money on my house build.

This isn't necessarily in order but I've got a Jimmy update. I helped my dad install a 3" lift from ORD on his 85 Jimmy a few weeks ago. Overall the install went really well and I think it looks 100% better now. It needs a 1" block in the rear to sit level but that's easy enough down the road. Just sucks that he has to buy new U bolts when we do it as we already cut these off.

On jack stands to start the teardown.
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Making some progress on the front end.

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back on it's feet.

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A week or so later we took it on it's maiden voyage to try and play in the snow. When we got there the snow was melted from a warm rain the day before so we took the dirt road home and played in the mud a bit instead. Overall everything seems to be working great on it and it rides better than it did before with the stock flat leafs in the front.

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So far the Maxxis RZR tires seem to be great, the look super wide considering we have the same size tires. (33x12.5x15)
 
In continuing my now completely out of order update I found a small offshoot trail from a road that dead ended at a nice spot with a creek. I find a lot of trails like this that just keep getting narrower and narrower until they end at an inconvenient spot to turn around. I'm getting good at backing out of narrow trails though.

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The offshoot trail went straight up the side of the mountain and looked like nobody but a side by side had been up in a while. It lead past a nice little grove of Giant Sequoias.

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I wouldn't recommend this little trail to others though as it lead to an unhappy looking man's back yard. He seemed slightly perturbed that I was in his back yard but he allowed us through to the paved road I could see on my GPS. I don't think he's ever had someone drive up there before, I'd guess he goes up and down in his UTV. It wasn't marked no trespassing anywhere though so he shouldn't get too angry about it.
 
I didn't take a ton of photos but I got my bed tred installed in the front of the Jeep on Saturday ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0097JQ9B4/?tag=wranglerorg-20 ). I also added a layer of sound deadener ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0751CBXBT/?tag=wranglerorg-20 ) and a layer of foam backed mass loaded vinyl ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TH8OC4/?tag=wranglerorg-20 ). So far I've seen about a 1db drop at 60mph. Not enough to notice but I have a feeling when I do the rear I'll get a little more out of it. I was mostly looking for thermal insulation as much as sound. I did notice on my way into work this morning that I could cook my feet quite well with the heater on high. I think the steel tub was robbing a lot of heat previously as well as giving it off in the summer.

Build quality: 3.75/5
The surface of the bed tred is fairly hard and seems very durable but has fairly deep texture that I think may be hard to clean in the future. The foam adhered to the back is fairly thin, just over 1/8" thick. Some kind of closed cell foam with a hardish texture not the super soft kind of foam. They also include 2 foil faced fiberglass insulation mats that need to be adhered to the flooring before install. They need to be cut in couple places to wrap around the shape of the flooring.

Fit: 4/5
For fit they did a really good job of molding the tub, I almost wonder if the vacuum form it over a jeep tub that has been built up with something as they fit really well to the overall shape. You will need to do some trimming though to make it fit perfect and the material is quite stiff and less than fun to work with. It takes a little messing with to get it shoved into place to see where it needs to be trimmed. It would have been even easier if I pulled the front of the console too but I only loosened it.

Appearance: 4.5/5

Personally I think the stuff looks great and definitely adds a finished look over the bare metal I had before. I'm looking forward to doing the rear of the cabin as well as adding carpet under the door sills to finish that area off. Now that I have AC I'm looking to have a more refined cabin since I run around with doors on more than off.

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Finished up the rear Bedtred. Overall I really like the look that it gives the jeep. I think it's going to be a pain to get all of the dirt out of the texture after camping/ offroading. I already need to scrub the rear passenger footwells to get them clean again. I really need to get the floor mats for back there. It also took a lot of trimming to get the rear fender pieces to fit worth a shit, they were quite oversized from the factory. I could tell that doing this in the summer would have made working with the mats easier.

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Made another snow trip over MLK weekend. The road we wanted to go down was closed (it was open 2 weeks ago) so we went back to our previously visited road although this time we took it down hill. It was a great day for a drive, the sky cleared up and made for some excellent views on the way down.

I recently lost all my recorded tracks when the SD card in my phone died so I didn't have my old tracks for this road. When dropping onto the road there are a couple forks that are deceiving and at first I took the wrong one and ended up buried pretty deep on the shady side of the mountain. I was trying not to air down in case we ran into another closed gate that is a ways out of sight from the main road (<1/8 mile). Even with the front locked and the truetrac doing its thing in the rear I wasn't going anywhere but sliding off the side of the road and getting buried deeper. I decided to air down (nothing to lose, I was stuck) to 7 psi and the Jeep crawled right out. It really is amazing what airing down does for traction in the snow. I didn't get any pictures while I was stuck but I had to kick snow from around my tires just to see the tops of my wheels.

It was really great making the first tracks in the snow the whole way down the road. Duke got to run almost the whole way through the snow and he was loving it. The snow is his happy place for sure. Getting near the Wishon campground we found out why we were making the first tracks in the snow when we found a downed oak tree. Probably a 10" diameter tree where it broke. I used a couple soft shackles and my big tree strap to drag it off to the side of the road then we cut off a couple of the branches with a folding saw that my dad carries. It's the kind that holds a sawzall blade.

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I've been piecing things together to mount my Viair 300p to the ABS tray under the hood of my Jeep. I've always hated the coiled hose that came with it and it's somewhat of a pain in the ass tote around and set up every time I need to air down which has been pretty often this winter. The interior real estate is also pretty valuable to me so any space I can free up inside is a big plus for camping gear and passenger space.

If this all works out the way I hope I'll sort out all the info and make a how to thread for anyone else interested in DIYing their own on board air. Some of these items came in packs of multiple but I'm leaving the entire cost because, well, that's what it cost me to get it here. Some items could be sourced at your local hardware store but the convenience of amazon meant that I bought just about everything there.

The end goal should leave me with an interior switch that runs power through the pressure switch to the relay to power the compressor. I really wanted the pressure switch so that the compressor can kick of for a while between tires without any input from me. The compressor will have an air line running to the winch plate with a quick coupler and the rubber cap to keep debris out. In the end I shouldn't have to open my hood to air up any more. I'll also have a nice soft 1/4 hose that can be trimmed to length and that will pack into my tool bag or under a seat. I'll also never have to fight with a stupid fucking bullshit coily hose that kinks into itself the first chance it gets.

Parts list:
Viair 300P ($135)
Inline fuse holder ($7.99)
1/4" NPT to 1/8" NPT reducer ($4.99)
1/4" NPT Check Valve ($6.63)
1/4" NPT Female Tee ($7.50)
1/4" NPT Street Elbow ($5.68)
Bulkhead Fitting ($11.99)
1/4" NPT/ Air Line Push to Connect Fittings ($13.99)
1/4" Air Line ($12.99)
"T" Type Quick Couplers ($11.91)
Dust Cap ($2.78)
Pressure Switch ($10.90)
40amp Relay ($9.99)
Air Chuck ($8.99)
1/4" 25' Air Hose ($19.47)
OTRATWW Switch ($15.50)

So far I've only gotten as far as mocking up the compressor under the hood to make sure it fits and putting as many fittings on it as I can. I've got a lot of wiring and work left to do and it will probably be a week or two before I get it done.

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Love the squarebody! My son has a suburban 1977 here is a vid of his that he made...so fun...he has wheeled some insane trails and led all the jeeps for the day haha locked front and rear of course and 40s dont hurt but its YUGE



Helped my dad get his new bumper and winch on the other day. Came out pretty good.

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I went to my dad's Sunday to hang out with him and work on mounting my compressor while he smoked some beef ribs on the BBQ.

We started off by taking the end cap off of the VIAIR pump and found that the motor housing was sealed up quite well. Decided to leave off their end cap entirely as I was planning to add my own switch in the dash and relay at the ABS tray.

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One of the factory holes in the compressor mounts partially aligned with an existing hole in the ABS tray so I decided to make some new holes for 10-24 screws that went into the well nuts I had. I put some wicking thread locker on the screws after I got them tightened up.

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Well nut sitting on the compressor head.

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It was a bit tricky but I was able to find a mounting position that allowed the pump to be mounted to the tray prior to installation. It did take some effort though, I had to remove the evap canister and the master cylinder to make room to fit the assembly into place. I'm glad I took all that apart though as it made it so we could pre-wire the majority of the compressor and only had to run the fused power to the distribution center.

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Then we worked on the winch plate. Placing the bulkhead was a bit tricky but it worked out great. In addition to the front crossmember there is a brake line that is precariously located but being careful while drilling the hole kept it in tact. I used a 3/4" unibit and some cutting oil to drill the hole for the bulkhead fitting. Then before tightening it I installed the street T and the air line fitting to the bottom. My dad tightened the bulkhead with a socket and ratchet while I held the fitting with a wrench. Getting the nut on the bottom of the bulkhead tight was the toughest part, you could get almost enough stroke to flip the wrench around the other direction and get another bite but not quite. Eventually I got it tight enough. I should probably put some wicking thread locker on it the next time I think about it.

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So far I'm happy with the air hose and air chuck but now I need to find a good gauge that I can use one handed. I'm thinking something along the lines of a 0-50psi gauge with a bleed button and angled chuck. I can live with the one I have for a while now.


Next part will be adding the switch to my panel in the dash and connecting it to the pressure switch. I want to run the interior switch on ignition power so that the compressor won't continue to run in the even that I leave it on after a trip. I think it would be easy to do being that it holds air so well.
 
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I went to my dad's Sunday to hang out with him and work on mounting my compressor while he smoked some beef ribs on the BBQ.

We started off by taking the end cap off of the VIAIR pump and found that the motor housing was sealed up quite well. Decided to leave off their end cap entirely as I was planning to add my own switch in the dash and relay at the ABS tray.

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One of the factory holes in the compressor mounts partially aligned with an existing hole in the ABS tray so I decided to make some new holes for 10-24 screws that went into the well nuts I had. I put some wicking thread locker on the screws after I got them tightened up.

View attachment 142128

Well nut sitting on the compressor head.

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It was a bit tricky but I was able to find a mounting position that allowed the pump to be mounted to the tray prior to installation. It did take some effort though, I had to remove the evap canister and the master cylinder to make room to fit the assembly into place. I'm glad I took all that apart though as it made it so we could pre-wire the majority of the compressor and only had to run the fused power to the distribution center.

View attachment 142130

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Then we worked on the winch plate. Placing the bulkhead was a bit tricky but it worked out great. In addition to the front crossmember there is a brake line that is precariously located but being careful while drilling the hole kept it in tact. I used a 3/4" unibit and some cutting oil to drill the hole for the bulkhead fitting. Then before tightening it I installed the street T and the air line fitting to the bottom. My dad tightened the bulkhead with a socket and ratchet while I held the fitting with a wrench. Getting the nut on the bottom of the bulkhead tight was the toughest part, you could get almost enough stroke to flip the wrench around the other direction and get another bite but not quite. Eventually I got it tight enough. I should probably put some wicking thread locker on it the next time I think about it.

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So far I'm happy with the air hose and air chuck but now I need to find a good gauge that I can use one handed. I'm thinking something along the lines of a 0-50psi gauge with a bleed button and angled chuck. I can live with the one I have for a while now.


Next part will be adding the switch to my panel in the dash and connecting it to the pressure switch. I want to run the interior switch on ignition power so that the compressor won't continue to run in the even that I leave it on after a trip. I think it would be easy to do being that it holds air so well.
the install was very useful since I want to do exactly the same. The only question I have is about the ground cables. Is it better to run a long into the battery's negative? (for both the relay 85, black cable from air compressor, but also ground from in dash switch)

Or is it safe and okay like you've done it above?
 
the install was very useful since I want to do exactly the same. The only question I have is about the ground cables. Is it better to run a long into the battery's negative? (for both the relay 85, black cable from air compressor, but also ground from in dash switch)

Or is it safe and okay like you've done it above?

The dash switch is only running the small electro magnet in the relay to switch the larger wire from the battery to the compressor. The ground in the dash only runs the LED indicators in the switch and I have them piggy backed from one switch to the next.

I haven't run the comp for a long period of time yet but I don't think there is going to be any issue grounding it to the tray. It would be better to run a ground all the way to the battery sure, but I don't think it's necessary.

There is a ton of ways to wire it, I used the existing wire coming out of the motor with an eyelet crimped on so I didn't have extra splices/connections. Then I used the bolt as a distribution block grounding the compressor and relay to the ABS tray since I rubber mounted the motor. IIRC I took a wire off of the motor housing to a bigger eyelet and a lead coming out of that eyelet to the relay. The big eyelet went through one of the mounting bolts to the tray.

I'll try and remember to get a couple extra pictures for you, I didn't get any good ones of the installed wiring.
 
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I've got the first trail run on my new seats and so far they are great. They are a bit firmer than I expected but they aren't uncomfortable even after a few hours on the trail. They hug your hips and shoulders pretty well and give you a nice planted feel. There weren't many off camber situations on the local trail I took them on but I can tell they will hold you in a lot better than the factory seats.

Install was super easy on my '01 seat bases, took 4 bolts out, mounted the brackets, and bolted the seats to the bracket. I abandoned the fold and tumble cables and will just reach under the seat to let rear passengers out, I always had to let them out anyways as my wife didn't like messing with it. (no matter how much I lube the base it's still sticky)

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