Joe's First Jeep

[jcruse64]

Picked up visor cover for passenger side and a rear cubby tray for the driver side. Nice, cheap add-ons.

The Jeep is dried out, so this morning, I put the Bestop Sunrider twill top on. Followed the Bestop Youtube install video. I noticed Quadratec and another video installed the sides on the Jeep first, then get the top up and pop the gnarly little Z-clips in at the rear, and then finish up. Bestop has you connect the Z-clips while not on the Jeep. Since it was just me for the most part, I followed the Bestop way. What a pain! Got my wife to help position it on top, then fastened it all up and ran through opening/closing it. Seems to be in place fine. We went hiking later, and came back home via I24, and ran it over 80mph. Both of us felt like the noise was no louder than with the freedom panels in place. We're both pretty happy with it. It looks good, and is easy to open and close. We'll see next week if it leaks, I suppose.

Noted that I had to pull off the front Mopar grab handles, as the fastener brackets interfere with the Sunrider frame pieces sitting correctly in place, preventing fastening it to the Jeep. Also had issues fastening the passenger side bracket to the top, at the rear. Could not get the 2 provided bolts to start without starting to strip threads. Further inspection showed the the assembler at the factory did not fully tighten the two small bolts on the inside of the bracket, where the captive nuts are located. This kept those nuts out of line for install. Once tightened up, they came into line, but I think the assembler at the factory stripped one of these little bolts, so I'll have to keep an eye on it.. Other than this, no issues installing it.

Sponsored

 

[jcruse64]

Loving the Sunrider for the hard top!

Got the cracked windshield finally replaced last week. Working on getting a couple of extra easter egg decals for it from @pixeldecals, along with some new ones for the body.

Was supposed to get my 2nd Jeep Wave oil change last week, but when I arrived, the dealership had no power. I hung around town for two hours, but they were still down by 430, so I gave up. Stopped at another dealer and got a new oil filter, then hit O'Reilly's for some full synth Pennzoil, and did the oil change and 5-tire rotation myself. Even easier than oil change on my 4" lift '93 W150 Power Ram.

 

[Flip]

Let's celebrate dude!

 

[MIKKY Slim]

Great color ! I like it

snaptube vidmate​

 

[jcruse64]

AJT Design key fob replacement. Had not heard of this company till last week, when a fellow poster mentioned them in another thread. I like that AJT has some color available. This one can hold your key in a hide-away slot in the back of the fob, if you want to pull the drum off the top of the key. Install is pretty easy, until you get to the last stage, and have to do gymnastics to get the two halves completely together while getting the battery to stay in just the right spot for that to happen. Not easy. Other than that, it went just fine. As with Threedom's offerings, the new fob is smaller than the OEM, and no more worries about the key springing out in your pocket, which is the reason I made this mod. I like the color, buttons, and most of the finish of this, but was less impressed by the spot on the nose of both halves of the fob. Looks like where a plastic part had a small piece cut or broken off from a molding operation. For the $$, I didn't expect that little blemish to be there.

 

[jcruse64]

First decal is an easter egg chaser from Don @ Pixel Decals. Working on getting some more items for the exterior from Don.

 

[jcruse64]

Going to do something about the carpet in the cargo area. I'm not a fan of the full system from Armorlite, for the cargo area. Would have been nice to see them cut out the area over the floor cargo tray access, instead of either having the user lift the whole floor cover up to access this, or leave it to the customer to cut it out themselves. That said, I like the looks of the wheel house covers, so I just ordered a set, while the Black Friday deal is on. Also looking at the Mopar cargo floor/seat back cover set, and am waiting on a response from Benny on the options there. I got the Mopar floor mats with my Jeep order, but I will be putting in the Armorlite system in '24, hopefully.

 

[jcruse64]

Got the Mopar cargo area mat system and finally finished putting it in this weekend. Had it in the box for a few weeks and didn't look at the hardware; I was one short on a piece and two too many of another. PM's Benny and he reacted very quickly to send me the shorted piece. Benny has been really responsive to any questions AND covering this packaging oops, and I would not hesitate using his company again at all . I like the end product. Only things I'd change; Blue logo instead of Red, and the floor mat long enough to go the full length of the pull-up compartment top, with a slit for the strap. I still like this better than the ArmorLite cargo area cover, especially having the backs of the rear seats covered. I have the Armorlite wheel well covers and will put them on next. Thinking about putting in the cargo rail option now.

 

[jcruse64]

Did the 20K mile oil/filter change a couple weeks ago and 5-tire rotation last week. Also put new engine air filter in during oil change. Love those hood struts! Bought an air filter for the cabin and will swap when I finally get to doing the dash panel swap, hopefully this week.

 

[jcruse64]

I bought the Armorlite wheel well covering for Xmas, but just got to the install today. I love this stuff! Very likely to add in the front and rear floor stuff soon, SO much better than the factory carpet-only option in 2023.
The pass side was not bad at all to install. The driver's side fought some and I ended up removing the floor cargo-ring section to allow easier wiggling into place. Also was missing the little pop-in ring at the top of the piece on that side that secures the top in, so had to pry the one on the carpet piece off and re-use it.

I wish Armorlite or someone would come up with something for the two cargo-ring floor sections that come carpeted. These are easy to remove. Not really a fan of Mopar's cargo rail strips. I like the Armorlite wheel well covers with the Mopar seat-back covers, but would be nice if the full floor cover actually went to the end of the trap door.

 

[jcruse64]

Couple more pics, including my supervisor.

 

[jcruse64]

Had no commitments this morning, so I installed the Distinction Applied dash panels. I was a little hesitant on this one, since it involves the pass side air bag. There are a few YT videos on this mod, and this one is the one that was most helpful to me (even has same color Jeep and did same color dash panels as us);




Took me just under two hours to do this, and I had to take pass-side panel back off to hunt for clips on the small trim piece that is directly under it. Also spent 10 minutes looking for another clip for the dash top that has apparently entered a singularity, never to be seen again. I also tried taking the HVAC cluster from the wrong point, lol, but caught my mistake quickly and got rolling. I did not have to disconnect the HVAC controls, not did I pull the radio. It was very straightforward and went exactly as the Y'tuber's video documented, except for he is doing a 4XE and I have the 3.6 Etorque. Just make sure you ALWAYS follow step #! for your configuration in getting the battery disconnected prior to doing anything else.

Absolutely LOVE this, really wish it had been an option from factory. Red dash is perfect for some builds, but I hate the red with a blue Jeep. Distinction Applied is not cheap, though I will send my core back to them for pretty nice $$ recoup. Already thinking about a couple other of their products.

 

[jcruse64]

Couple more.

I need to get going and get my front bumper and winch installed soon. Also need to put the roof rack together and get it on there and see what will be needed for wind noise mitigation.

 

[jcruse64]

I still have to put the Bestop rack on the roof; it's assembled and waiting on me. I've been wanting some storage help for the rear, but had not really seen a rack I liked that didn't interfere with either the rear-view or with our dog. More searching showed a handful of members with a shelf that sits up high, from Expedition Gear. It looked like it was exactly what I wanted, but further review showed the company is in Poland and I was a little hesitant to buy because of concerns over safe shipping. I finally decided to do it and am really pleased I did. It was much less expensive than I thought it would be (exchange rate help?) and shipping was actually not bad. The item arrived in less than a week, well packaged and in good condition. Assembly and install was less than an hour, solo, and it looks just as good as the pictures from fellow members who bought one. Very glad I added this and recommend it.

 

[jcruse64]

Oil/filter change today and added the Valvo-max to the oil pan. Looking forward to seeing it work in 5000 miles. Also did 5-tire rotation.

Sponsored