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Aftermarket key fob for JL?

Uscolt45

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The circuit board isn’t causing the FOB to be huge, bad engineering is. My civic FOB is 1/4 the size of the wrangler one, has the same features. I would guess they just wanted it to be “rugged” and maybe harder to lose while out adventuring.
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flot

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The circuit board isn’t causing the FOB to be huge, bad engineering is. My civic FOB is 1/4 the size of the wrangler one, has the same features. I would guess they just wanted it to be “rugged” and maybe harder to lose while out adventuring.
Agreed. My Ram fob is 2/3 the size and obviously has the same functionality. To add insult to injury both of my fobs showed up with the obvious manufacturing defect where they don't snap together properly.
 

Jebiruph

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The fob is the size it is to accommodate the flip out key. Do the smaller fobs have a flip out key?
 

Uscolt45

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The fob is the size it is to accommodate the flip out key. Do the smaller fobs have a flip out key?
Mine has a key that pulls out of it. But when you don’t need a key to start it does the “flip” matter? It still doesn’t explain its size imo.
 

Jebiruph

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Mine has a key that pulls out of it. But when you don’t need a key to start it does the “flip” matter? It still doesn’t explain its size imo.
With manual locks, the "flip" does matter. If you take the fob apart, you will see that the size is dictated by the size of the circuit board and the flip out key.
 

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Uscolt45

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With manual locks, the "flip" does matter. If you take the fob apart, you will see that the size is dictated by the size of the circuit board and the flip out key.
I’m not saying they don’t make use the fobs size. I’m mainly saying there was no need to engineer it so damn large. Unless it is a 2 mile range and will never need a battery, it’s ridiculous. With or without the flip key. The flip out function wouldn’t take up that much more room on my civic key.
 

Shots

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The circuit board isn’t causing the FOB to be huge, bad engineering is. My civic FOB is 1/4 the size of the wrangler one, has the same features. I would guess they just wanted it to be “rugged” and maybe harder to lose while out adventuring.
The size of the fob is based on the size of the board, it's not oversized to be "rugged". AJT's design is as small as you can make it and the factory design is only slightly wider because of the flip out key. Keep in mind FCA made the physical key easily accessible because it can be used to lock the glove box and center console, not just for the doors when the battery dies. If they had made the key store more compact people probably would have complained that it wasn't easy enough to get to or use for the other functions. Can't make everybody happy I guess.
So yeah, the circuit board is causing the fob to be huge. That's not to say the circuit board couldn't have been designed differently and more compact. But the board is what's making the fob so big.
 

sacourtney07

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What pisses me off is for SPORT owners they used the same big ass FOB. I installed my own power locks so I have that big ass FOB and a TINY little DOOR LOck/Unlock fob. I wish I could remove the RFID parts that get the jeep started and make a small fob. I hate push start honestly. Why couldn't they keep it simple with a standard keyed ignition.

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Since you have the little fob for the doors, you're in a perfect position to do what I did.

Take the Jeep fob apart and remove the battery. Now you need to press it against the ignition button to start the Jeep, but you need to press it with the certain side of the fob or it doesn't work. There's a little black thing in there that is the actual proximity sensor for the push start. You can pop that out using a pin.

What I did was take the circuit board and stuff it in a hollowed out brick from a phone charger. Then I took the little electronic sensor and taped it to one specific corner of the brick. You don't need to use a charger brick, any little knick-knack will do. Now just keep this little junky thing in your cup holder. Whenever you get in the Jeep, touch it to your ignition button. You need to touch it with whatever part has the sensor in it.

If somebody were to break into your Jeep, they would never think to try to press the push-start using the arm of a plastic dinosaur, for example.
 

RubenZ

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Since you have the little fob for the doors, you're in a perfect position to do what I did.

Take the Jeep fob apart and remove the battery. Now you need to press it against the ignition button to start the Jeep, but you need to press it with the certain side of the fob or it doesn't work. There's a little black thing in there that is the actual proximity sensor for the push start. You can pop that out using a pin.

What I did was take the circuit board and stuff it in a hollowed out brick from a phone charger. Then I took the little electronic sensor and taped it to one specific corner of the brick. You don't need to use a charger brick, any little knick-knack will do. Now just keep this little junky thing in your cup holder. Whenever you get in the Jeep, touch it to your ignition button. You need to touch it with whatever part has the sensor in it.

If somebody were to break into your Jeep, they would never think to try to press the push-start using the arm of a plastic dinosaur, for example.
Hmm. you got pics of what you did?
 

rickyrobert

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I may be weird, but it doesn't bother me in the slighest. Granted I have XL hands, but i actually prefer it to my smaller keys. Makes it easier to find in a bag, easier to hold on to in slippy/wet conditions. Just doesn't bother me.
 

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sacourtney07

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Hmm. you got pics of what you did?
Ya. The arrow points to the sensor/transmitter slot in the original fob. Just make sure that’s near the green chip and you know where it is in your fake key. Then I popped open the white wall charger and stuck everything in there. Regular push start won’t work because of a lack of battery, but you can push the wall charger on the ignition button. I just leave it in the locked Jeep and carry the metal key part for the doors.

If a car jacker figures it out, he deserved the Jeep.

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relayer4u

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I just got the AJT Design key fob and I think it is great! I put the key on my key chain and putting the AJT product together was a piece of cake. The hardest part is getting the chip out of the factory fob, but the utility knife edge tip does the trick.

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rockadile

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MY wife has a Cherokee with the same features as my Wrangler. As some others comparing them to Ram fobs, it is about 2/3 the size of the Wrangler fob. It does have a pull out key vs the flip out key but I don't see how that really would create the need for the size difference. One thing I do notice though is that my remote start works a lot farther away for my Wrangler vs the Cherokee. I wonder if that is part of the reason for the bigger fob/circuit board in the Wrangler fob.
 

Wsg1970

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Resurrecting a thread here… but with keyless entry being more of a standard option now, I wish I had a fob that didn’t even have the buttons, maybe* the metal key (non flip) for backup on doors but could be so much smaller.
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