Joe's First Jeep

[jcruse64]

Overland Outfitter's door pockets for the front installed this morning. My driver-side OEM door net is still fine, but I never use it. My wife always has something stuffed into her side's net and it is starting to sag badly.

Install is fairly easy and should take less than an hour, not counting forgetting where you laid hardware or tools and having to search for them. You do have to drill a few holes on each side, but this is into the plastic door panel, and they are small holes. If one ever wanted to take these pockets off and run with the OEM nets, you'd likely never notice these holes and you don't remove the OEM nets as part of the install, unless you just want to.

These pockets will not hold as much junk as the OEM nets, as there is not any stretching out of the storage volume with the canvas, but they will still hold as much or more than the new, plastic or metal offerings, I think. One thing I did not like after installing is that the vendor didn't really design enough fastener points along the top edge of these pockets. I noticed in pictures of fellow members on here that the top edge did not stay tight against the plastic panel, and I didn't really like that look. The vendor sends extra screws, so I put one extra one on each side on the top edge of the pockets to tighten that up a bit. The vendor has leather or grommets at the screw attach points to keep the screws tight fitting and avoid the screw heads eventually wearing through the canvas. In my opinion, they should have added one or two more leather-reinforced points along the top edge. Other than that, I have no issue with the product, and really like the look, so far. We'll see in a few weeks/months, but I like the look of them versus the nets.

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[jcruse64]

Not a lot done in a while. I still have a front bumper and winch to add. My Bestop Sunrider for the hard top had an issue with the passenger-side J-hook breaking. This left the top a bit less than taught, when close, and a lot more rippling and noise. I pulled it off this winter. I contacted Bestop back before the winter, with pictures to the issue, and to my surprise, the warrantied it and sent the repair kit with the new, no J-hook system for free. Thank you @Bestop !!!! I finally got around to the repair on this, it was very easy to do. Today, I cleaned the top with the recommended 303 cleaner, let it dry, and then sprayed it down with the 303 protector. I'll put it back on tomorrow.

I picked up the Hothead liner for this Sunrider last year, and though it fit fine, I saw a few weeks later that they had made changes to the product to allow for more velcro to be used to keep the liner in place. I contacted them, and they told me right away they'd ship a replacement with the changes, and I could ship mine back to them in that box. Thank you @Hothead Headliners !!!

When we get back from vacation, I'm going to pull my seats and install, finally, my Armorlite flooring. I've not decided on adding any extra heat/noise barrier under it, but I'm ready to see the carpet go.

Also did oil/filter/air filter change today and rotated the tires. Just a bit shy of 50K miles now, and still on OEM shoes. They still have some life left in them, but I will be shopping for new shoes before long, and will be looking for some rims to go with them, making the move from 33" OEM to 35".

 

[jcruse64]

Forgot, I also finally installed the Azuto "gutter" for the rear glass, to divert water coming off glass when opened. Weather outlook shows lots of opportunity for evaluation. Very easy install.

 

[jcruse64]

Installed the Sunrider. The 303 products for cleaning and waterproofing the Sunrider are very good. I tested the top after sitting for 24 hours post-treatment and the water beaded up on it and rolled off. Got the Hothead liner in, and it sure looks like the addition of velcro on the front lip is going to hold it in place just fine.

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