Tummy tuck on LJ Rubicon: Where to put stock air lockers?

gotgneissschist

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San Antonio, TX
Apologies if there is another thread on this - was not able to find it easily! I'm going to be getting a tummy tuck on my LJR - issue is, according to the shop I went to, they would have to entirely move all my air locker components because most of the TJ/LJ tummy tucks don't take the stock Rubi air lockers into consideration. For the labor price of moving them into, say, the engine compartment, I might as well buy new lockers.

I had been planning on running the stock Rubi air lockers until they failed. Is this true, that they need to be significantly re-routed? Or, are there alternate (price-friendly) locations for the existing lockers?

For reference, my LJR has 126k miles, was minimally off-roaded (aka lockers not often used) until I purchased it two months ago, and I have had no issues with them (thus far).
 
I personally would move them yourself. If you can figure out how to extend a 3 wire(?) harness you will be fine. I mounted mine in the engine compartment and extended the harness and moved the air hoses all in maybe 2 hours. I for sure wouldn't pay anyone over $100 to do this. You can do this prior to the tuck. You may have $5 into doing this.
 
I went with the Savvy Under Armor TT and made a bracket to hold the locker pumps (still mounted on their OEM bracket). No re-routing of anything required.

My custom bracket is just a piece of aluminum angle and a piece of aluminum square tubing. The angle is bolted to the brace that runs across the rear of the Savvy skid. The square tubing is used as a spacer under 1 end of the OEM compressor mounting bracket.

If you want a picture, I'll post one when I get home from work.
 
With a little trimming you can use the OE compressor mounting bracket to mount them to the driver's side fender well. Especially nice is you can retain the rubber isolators between the compressors and mounting bracket. That's where I mounted mine ten years ago and it's been a great location.

LockerCompressors.jpg
 
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ABS tray for mine as well. Wanted to get them up and away from the bottom of the Jeep. As far as heat with the proximity to the main Cat under the Jeep, not sure the heat under the hood is going to cause them any issues.
 
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I would much rather work on my locker pumps under the hood then drop all the savvy armor to work on them. Once you install a TT you realize there's little to no room to work on things without dropping the skid. I like to make things more practical.
 
Thanks, everyone! Good to know I wasn't going nuts. I'll be installing the TT next month, so I'll look to see what location is most practical for my LJR at that time. :)