Question regarding the Windsheld defrost

[DanW]

I tried the electrical tape on the 5/8" plugs but they still popped out as soon as I turned the defrost fan speed to 2.

Lol, maybe I got lucky with Chinese quality and mine were a little wider. I did have one come out, but I put it back and it stayed. IF they were only just a tiny bit bigger!

Here is the updated link:

Ebay

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[BadAssBumbleBee]

Lol, maybe I got lucky with Chinese quality and mine were a little wider. I did have one come out, but I put it back and it stayed. IF they were only just a tiny bit bigger!

Here is the updated link:

Ebay

Those are the 5/8" plugs I originally tried to buy, but the seller doesn't ship to Canada so I ended up just getting some that I found on Amazon. The Amazon 5/8" ones I got were quite different from those, so that may be why mine didn't stay in.

 

[waynegold]

Get the little plastic plugs off Ebay. They work well. Problem solved.

Just tried on my UK version and it didn't work ! Made absolutely no difference and going back to Jeep next week and i will update after

 

[mister]

Isn’t it wonderful learning of problems you never knew you had. My solution was to take a piece of rubber and trim it to fit snug in the opening. Then punched a 7/16” opening at the location of every other square. What a difference! Considerably more air movement 8-10” further out on each side. Doesn’t show any signs of moving on the highest setting, but time will tell.

It was a quick & fun project.

 

[Mikeyut3]

Do we have a forum sponsor in the business of manufacturing something “professional” ? Id be down for a group pre buy to fund it!

 

[waynegold]

Do we have a forum sponsor in the business of manufacturing something “professional” ? Id be down for a group pre buy to fund it!

There must be a jeep solution as mine which is right hand drive, but from the same factory as your left hand drive model, has the left side and centre working, but not the right side. I am back at Jeep tomorrow and will update after, although we go into another COVID lockdown on Thursday - so no idea if they will have time to find a fix !! Lets see

 

[tts42572]

It's really pretty sad that there have been so many people complaining about this issue and it's never been addressed.

I'm planning 2 use of these to just drop in the vents. (See post #155 in this thread for example photos). Seems like a pretty clever solution and easy enough to put in for winter and take out for other months.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3YFZXT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I haven't gotten my Jeep yet....expect to have it later this month. But have already bought these as winter is coming upon us and want to be prepared. Planning to leave the 4-5 vents in dead center open and plug the 10-11 on either side of those to help force more air out to the edges.

It's hard to believe Jeep hasn't done something about this though. I wonder if it's an issue with every single Jeep or just some? I'm guessing it's all of them but some just don't notice it or don't have the severe winter weather where it would bother them. Either way, definitely a safety hazard. I mean, I could just see the negligence lawsuit that could come from this when somebody in a Jeep gets in a serious accident because their visibility was hindered due to the poor defrost mechanism in the Jeep. Heck, this thread might wind up in court someday as evidence as to how far this issue goes back especially when there are Jeep care comments throughout this thread and multiple reports of people reporting this issue to their dealers.

Do we have a forum sponsor in the business of manufacturing something “professional” ? Id be down for a group pre buy to fund it!

 

[bigfoot21075]

Isn’t it wonderful learning of problems you never knew you had. My solution was to take a piece of rubber and trim it to fit snug in the opening. Then punched a 7/16” opening at the location of every other square. What a difference! Considerably more air movement 8-10” further out on each side. Doesn’t show any signs of moving on the highest setting, but time will tell.

It was a quick & fun project.

Great idea - looks good. Where did you find the trim you used?

 

[Tapper881]

As fall is upon us -- I figured I better get busy and do a little design work and 3D print some vent plugs. Here is what I cam up with: Some are designed to block the airflow, while others angle the airflow to the wings. Thoughts? Anyone want to test/provide feedback for improvements?

 

[DanW]

As fall is upon us -- I figured I better get busy and do a little design work and 3D print some vent plugs. Here is what I cam up with: Some are designed to block the airflow, while others angle the airflow to the wings. Thoughts? Anyone want to test/provide feedback for improvements?

If you are looking for a gunea pig, I'd be game! Or you could send to me the 3D print design and I can print them out and try them. I promise I won't make a business enterprise out of it. I am not into that kind of thing for making money. Besides that, I'd be using a work 3D printer, as I don't have one. I would never be able to print more than a 1 off.

I really like the angled design to guide the airflow to the sides!

 

[iblowatsports]

+1 on this, I have a 3D printer and I do CAD work as well. I'd love to try out some of these designs and tweak them to see how they work on my Gladiator

 

[iblowatsports]

I 3d printed these. Currently, I printed 2 strips long enough to cover 10 vent holes each. I can go larger on my printer;s bed by a few more holes at least, but the holes seem to taper a bit as they go out past where I have the strips currently. Time will tell if the design works or needs to be tweaked. Also, I printed this with PLA which is not known for high temperature resistance so I also need to monitor if they are affected by the defroster on high heat settings and how they hold up in summer temperatures. The latter wont be able to be tested until next summer but, worst case I can just take them out in the summer. If it can't stand up to the hot defroster temperature, I may be forced to learn how to print ABS which is much more temperature resistant.

Any chance you could put the models up for these? I print in PETG most often, which should hopefully handle the temperature a bit better than PLA

 

[smarshall]

Any chance you could put the models up for these? I print in PETG most often, which should hopefully handle the temperature a bit better than PLA

As fall is upon us -- I figured I better get busy and do a little design work and 3D print some vent plugs. Here is what I cam up with: Some are designed to block the airflow, while others angle the airflow to the wings. Thoughts? Anyone want to test/provide feedback for improvements?

I would be up for trying them in PETG as well. I like the angled design.

 

[Mikeyut3]

Any chance you could put the models up for these? I print in PETG most often, which should hopefully handle the temperature a bit better than PLA

Thats the beauty of these forums. We can get together and refine this then have a nearly commercial grade item. Id be down to work on refining it as a tester and even start something to begin a group purchase.

 

[iblowatsports]

What I'd really like to do is having something underneath the defroster vent grill, rather than just plugging up some of the vents. I have no idea how hard it'd be to get the grill off (without damaging it), but I think having something that mounts to the underside that is a continuous wedge shape to divert the flow of air to each side (with some holes to keep center flow as well) would be the best setup and would look stock if done right