TJ / LJ Rubicon Factory Locker Compressor Relocation

TJDave

TJ Enthusiast
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2015
Messages
125
Location
San Jose, CA, United States
If you're looking for a place to relocate your factory Rubicon Air-Locker compressors, here's one idea for you.

It doesn't take very much new material and I was able to complete this project with some scraps I had lying around the garage. The only new stuff I bought was some vacuum line, to extend the run to the rear axle, some new conduit, and some Krylon spray paint. I wish I could remember the sizes and lengths of the air-line, but I just brought the 2 hose sizes with me when I went to AutoZone and bought a bunch of length of the same diameters.

It all starts when you remove the factory skid plate and see this:

1.jpg


Be VERY careful handling this assembly as the plastic nipples for the air-hoses are fragile ... if you break one, you're most likely going to be buying a new replacement compressor! I used a small flat-head screwdriver to gently start the hoses moving before even thinking about twisting them off ... gentle is the key word here ...

Each compressor has 2 air lines connected to it: thick and thin ... the thicker lines are the input lines to the compressors. They come together with a TEE, and then a common line runs up behind your gas fill tube (driver side rear). I removed this run by cutting some factory zip ties (up underneath the driver-side rear quarter) and pulling this hose out of the cable bundles ... we'll shorten it and reuse the breather cap up front, later ...

The smaller diameter air lines on the compressors run forward and aft, to the differentials, to actuate the lockers. We'll be completely replacing the rearward run with new hose ... and shortening the forward run ... once the compressors have moved up into the engine compartment. (optionally, you could leave the rear run and use a coupler to "stretch" that hose ... but the hose is cheap enough and I didn't want to risk another place for a leak to start ...)

2.jpg


This is a good time to figure out which one is which ... trace the output air lines to determine which one goes forward and which one goes aft ... mark the electrical connectors to the compressors to make sure you can put it back together correctly. On mine, the 2 connectors were different shades of grey, but I'm not sure if that is standard ...

The topside of this bracket is holding 4 connectors in place. (and smuggling a few ounces of pure Moab Mud ... that stuff get's EVERYWHERE!) 2 of the connectors provide power to the 2 compressors, and the other 2 are for the feedback sensors from the differentials. You only need to disconnect the 2 compressor connectors ... leave the other 2 alone ... they'll just go back into the bundle during the final cleanup steps ...

3.jpg



You can pry the 4 electrical connectors off the bracket with a flat-head screwdriver ... be gentle with these "threads", as you can re-use them in the new location.

4.jpg



After the CAREFUL removal of the air lines, and the electrical connectors, the bracket can come out from under the jeep ... and you get this ...

5.jpg


6.jpg


Save all of the attach hardware, and pry those 6 grommets out of the stock bracket. That bracket is about to become worthless ... but before you toss it, we will use it to transfer the hole patterns onto the NEW bracket.

First things first ... the NEW bracket ... I decided that this would be a good place to put the compressors ... there was even 3 unused holes in the wheel well and I had some sheet-metal screws that happened to fit nicely ...

7.jpg


I found a piece of scrap flat stock steel (bought at HomeDepot for practice welds) it's 3" wide by 10" long ... probably 1/8" thick. Use the stock bracket to transfer the hole pattern onto the new bracket. Hog out the holes using pilot holes and a uni-bit ...

8.jpg


After some tweaking, test fitting, hogging, test fitting and a little more hogging, you'll have this ...

9.jpg


(the 2 extra holes will be used to press the electrical connector retaining "threads" that we tried not to damage above)

After transferring the locations of the 3 wheel-well holes, a little more drilling, and a custom angle cut to the top end (for clearance on the fender) ... it was time to prime and paint the new bracket ...

10.jpg


Attach the compressors to the new bracket, route their electrical connectors around and insert one of the "inserts" into the hole, and mount to the wheel well ...

11.jpg


Now we've gotta' get the air and electronics up to this new location. Let's start with the electronics ...

Climb back underneath the Jeep, make sure that you've got your labels/notes/memory correct, and cut the 2 dangling compressor connectors out of the wiring harness. Don't cut too close to the connector ... you need at least an inch or two of wire when we re-use the connector up front ...

12.jpg


I had some scrap 2c wiring lying around and spliced it into the harness where the connectors used to be ...

13.jpg


I wish I had some shrink tubing, but instead I used electrical tape. Under the tape I twisted the conductors together and used hi-temp solder to seal the deal.

(As an aside, instead of cutting the connectors off and splicing in some new wires, I could have cut away the cable bundles and pulled those wires out, just to see if there was enough length to reach up to the engine compartment ... but that was an unknown, and it seemed like a lot of work, and the extra length does not adversely affect this low-current circuit)

Route the other end of the 2c cables up to the driver-side front ... you can wait to re-attach the connectors until the very end ... after you have re-routed and zip-tied everything in place ... to get the best fit for your cabling ...


Now for the air-lines
This picture of the front diff shows it all. In this case, the breather hose goes up to a spot at the top of the radiator, driver's side ... other then verifying you have enough slack (e.g. if you're recently lifted), leave this and the sensor stuff alone.

The actuator line will need to be pulled from the harness and re-routed up to the engine compartment ... it does involve surgically opening up the existing cable harness ... it doesn't just pull out because it is taped in places ... so just carefully cut away, then zip tie it all back together.

There are many options and great places to zip-tie things on the way up to the compressors ... just ensure there's enough slack to account for articulation, but not so much as to get hung up on stuff ...

14.jpg


I couldn't get a very good picture of the rear diff ... but the idea is the same.

The rear's breather tube goes up and back, to the same driver's side rear quarter area, zipped to the gas-fill pipes ... your stock length might be just fine, but with my lift, I had to run a longer hose here, to account for my rear-end's range of motion.

The stock actuator hose, however, is no way gonna' reach the front ... so I replaced it and ran, and re-ran, and re-ran, and re-ran all the wires and hoses and with some new protective conduit, and a bunch zip ties, I ended up with something that looks like this ...

15.jpg


Once you're satisfied underneath, the rest is a cakewalk. I routed, and re-routed, and re-ran, and zipped, and un-zipped, and re-zipped and ended up with this up front ...

16.jpg


And that's it, you're trail ready and no more worries about submarining your compressors!
 
@TJDave I cannot find 18/2 shielded cable anywhere around here that doesn't come in a 500ft roll' which is $76 at Lowe's. Can any other cable/wire be used as a substitute?
 
Because that's what is listed on Chris's parts list, lol. And that is why I asked if any other wire could be used. So, all I need is 18/2 stranded wire?

Any is fine. Take a look at what Jeep used. There isn't anything special about it, beyond the color and stripes that make things easier to trace.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: taylormade73