So, what do you do when your travel vehicle dies?

[sleazy rider]

Sitting here sipping coffee and impatiently awaiting the blue energy efficient delivery van with Jeep parts. Added the LED turn signal bulbs for the front into the mix since I'll be yanking the grille again. Waiting on the headlight refund to be credited and will replace the taillights with some good TBD LED version.

Tomorrow contains a trip to Discount Tire for tire maintenance. Balance, rotation and break the spare tire loose.

Found a lemon yellow OEM grille locally on CL and debating on adding a dash of color to an all black JK. Price is right. Worst case, I end up doing a gloss black wrap on it for $30. Neighbor has a sapphire blue JK with a gloss black grill that put the thought in my head. His isn't as tall, but sports 35s! Hmmmm...

OH! I slid under the JK and realized it has at least a 3" lift because other track bar locator parts were swapped too along with extended sway bar connectors.

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[sleazy rider]

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Ooooooh, shiny. Love the covered parking for this. Meguires spray wax, Windex on the windows and Back to Black for plastics. Interior this afternoon.

Got a monthly arrangement at the local car wash for the ultimate wash package. Silly, because a single wash is $5 less than the monthly fee.

 

[sleazy rider]

Welp, I’m over the Amazon fast delivery since half the stuff ordered this week has to be/been returned because of incompatibility even though it’s listed for my specific Wrangler. 4 Wheel Parts is 5 miles away and I’ll be darkening their doorway from now on.

 

[sleazy rider]

Hah! Cruising for sale ads pays off. Got a clean gloss black OEM grille for a damn reasonable cost. Shipping tomorrow.

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[JRB]

Hah! Cruising for sale ads pays off. Got a clean gloss black OEM grille for a damn reasonable cost. Shipping tomorrow.

In a world/time with so much overpriced stuff, it's great to find bargains.

Especially when brand new things that are overpriced, don't live up to the expectations or even get honored in their warranty. There's a list of once great american companies I've bought a lot from in the past that fall under this category now, what a shame!

Good ol' sales, and used deals are at least keeping me going!

 

[sleazy rider]

Found and signed up with a local offroad group via book of faces. We'll see about using this beastie in it's native environment. Got some flat fenders on the way to add more clearance for the wheels. Let's play!

 

[tommudd]

Hah! Cruising for sale ads pays off. Got a clean gloss black OEM grille for a damn reasonable cost. Shipping tomorrow.

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That grill will look WAY BETTER !!

 

[sleazy rider]

Well, spent about 20 minutes rolling around under lil piggie and found some suspension part numbers to google. I’m giggling like a preteen high school cheerleader. It’s a full 4” lift With all the trimmings. Explains why it rides so nice with no wiggles on mud tires.

 

[sleazy rider]

That grill will look WAY BETTER !!

I never saw an aftermarket grille on these that looked good. The frowning headlights are just WTF? ugly to me. I got the black grille screens to keep bugs out of the radiator. They actually serve a purpose.

 

[sleazy rider]

Got the roof panel bag and gave the topless thing a whirl. It’s just as much fun as remembered. Tried out the KC lights on the windshield mounts a couple nights ago and severely yellow output with no throw. They’re out. Got some nice new LED cube lights (installed on the Liberty too) to replace them. Toss in a 52” windshield light bar and mounts from the same folks and I shouldn’t have an issue with night vision anymore. They do white light well!

Put a spare tire blanking plate on the rear tailgate door to clean that mess up. The plastic vent was tore up bad. I’ll add a states traveled sticker to it later on when the traveling begins.

Need some wrinkle paint to touch up scuffs on the bumpers and side rock bars.

 

[sleazy rider]

Guess I’ll be buying some HF tools. Need a butane soldering iron and supplies, some shrink wrap and odds and ends to install the new lighting packages. :/ I brought a fairly well stocked six drawer top box, but missed a few things. lol

 

[JRB]

hft has many hidden goodies that are quality for the money, or just things at a right price that just need to work one time.

grab their marine heat shrink if you haven't tried it, it's heavier wall thickness and got the waterproofing melty goo built right in!

 

[sleazy rider]

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Installing the grille inserts permanently. Only have two blocks of the proper size to tension the zip ties in back. Thought about doing it steampunk and using black pop rivets with backing washers.

 

[tommudd]

I like the steam punk idea

 

[sleazy rider]

I like the steam punk idea

Yeah, it’s probably gonna happen. The 3M adhesive body tape isn’t playing nice.

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[sleazy rider]

The new LED lights and light bar/mounts arrived and got installed yesterday. As expected from the reviews, there was some serious wind whistling going on at highway speed. Ordered some push on channel trim rubber for the top and bottom cooling fins to eliminate >that<. It showed up today and works as advised in reviews.

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[sleazy rider]

Hmmmmmmmmmm…

While I was up on the door jamb doing the lightbar trim install, I noticed some track rails on the hard top for roof crossbars. I’ll get some pictures in a minute, but Google is failing me. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

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ETA:They’re Thule custom rail mounts. E-Trailer website has the image needed to confirm.

 

[sleazy rider]

Good grief! Thule is doggone proud of their stuff. Feet and rails are near $500, plus hardware.

 

[sleazy rider]

Not so angry anymore. Still waiting on the headlight bezels via USPS. They’re MIA, last seen in Philly. A week ago.

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[sleazy rider]

All the forward facing lights are getting connected today. Neatly. Well routed, tied off and tucked away. Aiming session late tonight. It’s coming together.

Next up, flat fenders and wheel wells. Maybe. Need to put one up against the oems and see how much space is gained.