Paintbiscuit's Fishing Jeep

[Paintbiscuit]

Just as background, this is the first car I ever purchased! I bought it with 55k miles which is easily 1/5 the miles of the 3 hand-me-down cars I've driven since first getting my license. I'm not going to build this out as a rock crawler because I still kind of perceive it as a brand-new luxury vehicle compared to my daily driver

I've been stuck in it twice. Once in some really bad mud, but I was able to winch out. The second time was driving on a frozen lake while ice fishing and drove into a deeper snow drift. I had a makeshift traction board but I still wasn't able to quite get myself unstuck before someone else came along and pulled me out. After being stuck that last time, I upgraded tires (BFG K02s) and I havent been stuck since. I've been wanting lockers for a long time just for some extra security when I'm at the dunes or in mud and snow. Again, no rock crawling on this one.

My Jeep is a 2006 with the 4.0L and six speed manual transmission. It has 3.07 gears and right now I'm on 31" tires. I feel brave for dropping a locker in a Dana 35 with 3.07s . . . but I've been thinking about locker options for a really long time, and I think it's the right decision for me not to re-gear. The appropriate ARB Air Locker came up on a closeout sale for 25% off so I pulled the trigger!

The Jeep is patiently waiting in the garage for a new windshield on Tuesday. I'll be putting in the compressor sometime around wednesday and dropping in the locker next weekend. Stay tuned!

 

[Paintbiscuit]

The ARB onboard compressor is mounted but not wired up yet. By the way, this is the 12V "high output onboard compressor" (model number CKMA12).

I chose to mount this in a three step process.
1) Loose fit the three air fittings on the compressor (solenoid, pressure switch, quick connect hose) and mark a convenient orientation on my empty ABS tray
2) Remove the ABS tray and mount the compressor bracket. I removed the compressor from itss bracket and drilled three holes in the ABS Tray
3) Replace the ABS tray with compressor bracket attached, then finally replace the compressor into its bracket. I removed the three air fittings for this process just to buy myself a little more space.

The compressor is pretty small and I'm sure someone could install it without removing their ABS tray first. But I hate working in small spaces and it just seemed easier to do it this way!

 

[Paintbiscuit]

Just a small complaint, the wiring harness provided with the compressor came out of the box with a broken clip. Not sure whether I want to be nit-picky and have them replace the wiring harness, or if I should just put it on and move on.

What would you all do?

 

[DrDmoney]

Just a small complaint, the wiring harness provided with the compressor came out of the box with a broken clip. Not sure whether I want to be nit-picky and have them replace the wiring harness, or if I should just put it on and move on.

What would you all do?

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It wouldn’t be nit-pikin to have it replaced but I would probably probably just put it on and move on cause time is more important me, I can’t stand waiting for things to finish a job.

 

[Paintbiscuit]

It wouldn’t be nit-pikin to have it replaced but I would probably probably just put it on and move on cause time is more important me, I can’t stand waiting for things to finish a job.

I agree that time is more important . . .

Speaking of which, does anybody in Colorado have a diff spreader I could borrow? I ordered one on Amazon that was supposed to come in today. Apparently the package made it all the way to Amazon's shipping station in Loveland (15 miles away) where somebody decided the package was damaged and is undeliverable. The package is apparently being sent back to California now and I have been refunded . . . It's going to take a week for a new one to ship to me.

I spent a couple hours with Amazon customer service trying to explain that the tool inside the package is ~20 pounds of steel and is almost certainly not damaged despite what the box looks like. It was already 15 miles away from me, I just want them to continue shipping it. But apparently all the supervisors I talked too are profoundly unable to control or reverse these shipping decisions that were made by some random worker in the small shipping station. They also apparently can't find any way to expedite shipping of a new one.

So my jeep is just going to be on jack stands with an empty diff until I get this figured out. I'm highly annoyed.

 

[DrDmoney]

I feel for you brother, I had ordered a GenRight aluminum gas tank and skid for an upcoming Moab trip. I was worried I wouldn’t have enough days off work to swap it before the trip then the COVID-19 thing happened, now I have all the time and no Moab trip cause they canceled my reservation and GenRight called today to say they can’t get me a tank for 2 weeks cause their welder is sick.

 

[bobthetj03]

Put the carrier in the freezer for half a day, then stab it in.

 

[Paintbiscuit]

Shout out to ARB customer service; because my project was delayed for other reasons, I went ahead and called about the broken clip on my wiring harness. They very quickly sent out a new one and I already got it in the mail today, I'm very impressed and grateful!

 

[taylormade73]

Just as background, this is the first car I ever purchased! I bought it with 55k miles which is easily 1/5 the miles of the 3 hand-me-down cars I've driven since first getting my license. I'm not going to build this out as a rock crawler because I still kind of perceive it as a brand-new luxury vehicle compared to my daily driver


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@AndyG I recommend probation and he be watched closely for calling his rig a car.

 

[AndyG]

@AndyG I recommend probation and he be watched closely for calling his rig a car.

Thank you , good catch . I'm writing him up right now , and you sir , get a gold star for reporting that infraction.

I'm reminded of Bob B., guy I went to high school with . Bob genuinely thought he was a firetruck. So one day in the hallway at school I pulled Bob over for bad driving . I literally though I was going to have fight may way out if that . I let him off with a warning.

 

[Paintbiscuit]

Thank you , good catch . I'm writing him up right now , and you sir , get a gold star for reporting that infraction.

I'm reminded of Bob B., guy I went to high school with . Bob genuinely thought he was a firetruck. So one day in the hallway at school I pulled Bob over for bad driving . I literally though I was going to have fight may way out if that . I let him off with a warning.

I request a deferred sentence from the judge, may my record be cleared as long as I don't install an angry bird grill? haha

That's one of the weirest high school stories I've heard in a long time!