RubiSc0tt's Big Orange Jeep build

[RubiSc0tt]

Long time, no update. I'll try to keep it brief:
Went wheeling and did some Jeep things. Memorial Day weekend on the way home from Boston! This was the first time I actually got to wheel a familiar trail with this set up so I could compare to my TJ's. I was telling a coworker: Between the wheel base, the 37's, and the Rubi package on the JLUR, this is like cheating. The Jeep is stable, will climb pretty much anything and do most of the work. I will run out of talent before the Jeep does with this set up. the Rock Krawler 2.5" Adventure series had great flex, the 37" Milestars kept good traction and stuffed in the fenders perfectly, and all the skid plates did their job. While airing up, I popped a fuse in my Compressor (again). Started to build a 4 tire inflation system so hopefully it evens out the load on the compressor a bit. If that doesn't work, then I may spring for an ARB Twin. The only thing I dislike more than waiting to air up is not being able to finish airing up.

Next, Had to get creative to get the hard top off. Had my kids (5, and 2) help out. My son was a huge help: I gave him the socket and Torx and he went to work removing all the hard top bolts while I took care of some of the other prep. I managed to muscle the top off the Jeep and onto a makeshift stand (garbage cans).

About a month later, We jumped in the Jeep and headed to the diner for Rock Krawler Suspension's off road night. Decent turnout with lots of Jeeps. Got to see some old friends, and the kids had a good time running around the field and checking out all the 4x4's. I know Jeremy from RK said there will be more of these.

Took the kids up to Lake George. This was the drive up Prospect Mountain. It was hard getting pics at the top, so this is part way up. I explained to the kids there used to be a Jeep trail where you could go to the top, but they closed it half way up due to use and abuse by local rednecks, so you can’t get all the way to the top anymore.

Finally finished my 4 tire inflation system. My son helped out with that, and again, did a great job for being 5. He held the hoses, and helped me mark/ measure stuff. I may do a write up on that build at some point. In preparation for our yearly ocean trip, I rearranged a bunch of stuff in the Jeep (or 6S, as they say in industrial applications). Dumped a bunch of garbage and unecessary junk. Now my compressor and the air up system live in the trunk. Took the remaining oversized tools, a couple cinch straps, and a ripped grocery tote and did a DIY tool Wrap. Check out the write up.

Finally: Our yearly vacation to York, ME. This year was the best vacation yet. Saw a bunch of cool vehicles cruising the beach road. We had fantastic weather, and rolled with the top down most of the week.

Packed to the hilt- FOR ADVENTURE!

pizza party on the beach- as is tradition

Decent mileage for 37’s/V6/ stock gearing.
Driving to/ from Maine Via I90/I495/I95 coming through all the mountains was absolutely BRUTAL with the v6/ 37's and stock gearing. I had to downshift to 3rd on hill climbs to keep up with traffic a few times. Definitely considering at least a regear in the future.

Beauty shots on the coast. First day.

Last evening in Maine. Sunset and receding tide.

Until next time, ocean. We’ll miss you.
Next up: More Wheeling, and another RK off road night. Maybe a Rausch Creek Trip? We'll see. That’s it for now

Sponsored

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Few pics from Last Saturday’s ride in private property in Upstate NY, north of Saratoga. The Jeep performed flawlessly. Didn’t need to pull cable or get strapped once. 12psi seems to be the sweet spot for the Milestars.

FINALLY got to use my DIY 4 tire air up system, and it worked great. 37’s went from 12psi to 37psi in 10-15 minutes, and cut my post trail load up time in half. By the time I got our gear repacked and the kids ready for the road, they were done! Wrapped the hoses and we were on our way home.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

And now, the not fun part…
While ticking away the wires for my ARB twin I must have knocked something because I went to start the Jeep and this happened. NO BUS. Killed power to the Jeep and tried again an hour later- no dice. One of my buddies from our club is a Jeep service tech, came over with his diagnostic tools and we worked for close to 3 hours trying to figure it out. All fuses and connections are good. We started to really dig into it- it seems the entire CAN C circuit is dead- no communication with any of the computers. There was a harness that we moved and the Jeep would start to come back, but we couldn’t figure it out without ripping into the dash further. So, I had it towed to the dealer. As of yesterday (Saturday) they were still chasing wires under the dash that were reading low voltage. Fingers crossed this gets sorted soon and covered by warranty.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

UPDATE:
FINALLY got the Jeep back last Friday (10/21).
So, fun story: had it towed to the dealer 10/6. They kept telling me “No update, we’re still looking at it. “
I call Mon 10/12 for an update (as promised). They put the tech working on it on the phone. He said they can’t get anything to come back consistently- computer system is crashed. He said if he goes to Chrysler they’re going to tell him to start pulling out all my aftermarket shit, and start throwing harnesses at it which is going to get expensive. He thinks the wires going to one of the units got damaged and shorted it, but given they’re a dealer and already short staffed, he can’t chase it down efficiently. Thinks an electrical shop may be able to trace and fix that without having to start tearing everything apart. He also said it’s the “worst car he’s seen in 34 years as a level 3 technician” and made sure to stress “a lot of Aftermarket stuff has been done to this” (4 things, all able to be unplugged, but whatever). At this point I knew it wouldn’t be under warranty, and it would be my word against theirs.
so, I called around to some shops, talked to Jeremy from Rock Krawler who gave me a rundown on how the ESS works, and Derek (old friend and crew chief that helped build several RK race Jeeps) for some info. Had a pretty good idea of what is going on- seems wires got damaged and were making intermittent contact.
Talked to Gil’s garage in Burnt Hills. They said I could have it towed there and they would have a diagnosis next week (10/18 or 10/19).
So I call Gil’s 10/20, and Matt tells me it’s fixed- exactly what we guessed-1 wire severed and 2 that had rubbed through. Picked up the Jeep, and they printed out the pic. I looked at said “you’ve gotta be kidding me.” Matt laughed and said “man, that dealer really didn't Try to hard, did they? Took our guys 4 hours to find it and fix it.” We laughed and I was off.
When I picked up my kids my son said: “Dad, I’m glad your Jeep is back.”
And my daughter scream shout laughed as soon as she got out of the daycare door “WHOAAA DAD’S JEEP IS BACK!!”.
So, with the exception of a “Service ESS system” warning that I’ll probably fix my replacing the 12V battery (maybe), all is well, and the only thing left to do is put the hard top on and do the fluid film before the snow flies.

For anyone interested, the offending wires are circled in green.

 

[rohdawg]

Scott! I’m so glad you got it fixed!

So the tech was referring to your Jeep when he said that?
If 4 mods, all reversible, qualifies as “a lot”, we’re all in trouble. Lol

Really happy to see you back at it.

 

[Tyler225]

Glad you were able to get it fixed! And that it was an easier fix than the dealer made it seem.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Scott! I’m so glad you got it fixed!

So the tech was referring to your Jeep when he said that?
If 4 mods, all reversible, qualifies as “a lot”, we’re all in trouble. Lol

Really happy to see you back at it.

Yep. The only mods that touch the electrical systems:
- Winch- hooked to the battery
- rear lights- Plugged into Aux 3 via blade connector and nice wiring harness
- Twin compressor (hooked to the battery and the switch goes to Aux2, blade connector and wiring harness)
-CB (butt connector and heat shrink on constant hot wire from Aux bundle).
He also started listing off factory options as “aftermarket stuff” (LED headlights, Aux switches, and the LED dome light . All OEM).
Dude seemed pretty overwhelmed and reading between the lines- I don’t think they wanted to bother with fixing it cause they could probably crank out a bunch of oil changes in the time they took troubleshooting.
The best part is my buddy Connor (the Jeep technician from a different Dealer) called it, and we would have found it if we had more time, I think.
Gil’s has a pretty big facility and experienced techs who know how to troubleshoot. It was pretty reasonable as well, so if anything else comes up that k can’t handle, I’ll be talking to them again.

Good to hear from you, Matt!

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Glad you were able to get it fixed! And that it was an easier fix than the dealer made it seem.

Just Reinforces my view of 90% of dealers and warranties. I’m frustrated they had rhe Jeep so long. Could have had it back much sooner.

 

[grandsrus]

Just Reinforces my view of 90% of dealers and warranties. I’m frustrated they had rhe Jeep so long. Could have had it back much sooner.

Is that picture of the firewall?

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Is that picture of the firewall?

I'm guessing the firewall, right behind the main battery, looking down.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Long time, no update! Been busy: got a sweet new job, so I’ve been focusing on that and family. Anyway, update for Mod Monday: ARB License plate relocation!

Before.

ARB license plate relocation kit- $33 +shipping. From Quadratec. I reused the LED I had from my original bumper (instead of the one ARB sent), and plugged the wires into the OEM plate light plug, and they give enough wiring to run it behind the bumper and up the tire carrier.

It’s solid, but I needed to drill holes for the plate light, and for the US Spec license plate, and I had to bend it out a bit because I’m running 37x12.50xR17 on a 17x9 wheel, w/ rash ring. Attaches with 2 bolts to 2 machined lugs ARB includes in the kit.

After.
If anyone is considering it- For the price, you can’t beat it… unless you’ve got a welder (which, sadly, I do not).

Now my plate will stop getting caught/ bent on everything.
I have more pics and a more thorough write up planned. If anyone has any questions let me know.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Quick update with some pics. Went wheeling at a friend’s private property with my club, Adirondack Jeeps. Since this was technically a trail cutting/ maintenance day, they let the big Orange Jeep lead the way, and we would occasionally hop out and cut stuff back. Definitely some solid trails marked and cut, and it helps I had good spotters.
Tough, tight trails, and it started pouring half way through the day. Even so, it was a good run.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Back at it again! This was a couple weeks ago. We went to an infamous trail in Western MA. It rained all day, we all had to winch everything and got soaked, there was a literal river flowing down the trail, but it slowed down toward the end of the trail and was a good day nonetheless. No breakages and other than my compressor not working (ground disconnected),everyone made it home in once piece.
Few pics from the ride:

We met some random lady (Yellow Jeep) as the meet up. She kept insisting on doing a Jeep rainbow so we humored her while we waited for the rest of the group.
“Where are you guys going?”
Trail ride.
“In this weather?”
Yep. Wanna go?
“I just got the Jeep last week. I would, how is it?”
<We all laugh>
Nah, you wouldn’t want to on this one, especially if you just got it last week. We don’t want you to destroy it. It’s a difficult trail, But if you follow our club on socials and send us a message we’ll let you know when we run easier stuff.

Gatekeeper

Had to cut and winch a downed tree off the trail.

Notice the River. it became apparent why the rocks were looking much bigger than a few years ago (erosion), and also why this trail needs frequent maintenance.

Steve’s JLUR at the V Notch. Same as mine (Rock Krawler 2.5” kit, 37” tires)

Reverse angle

Water crossing. It’s better since the NEA4WD clubs have done some maintenance and the State installed more drainage.

End of the trail.

As seen in a few pics, this was the first ride using OnX OffRoad Maps. I subbed to the elite level for a year just to see how it works and I have to say, I think I’m going to keep this. It was super easy to find the trail, map it out, drop waypoints for the start, end, and all the obstacles, and download/ use the maps for the area offline. The ability to login from a desktop and use a big monitor then Sync everything on your account across devices is helpful when mapping as well.

The next day. It was HOT, so I opened the Jeep up and let it dry out while fixing my ground wire on my compressor. During a much closer post-trip inspection, I found this:

this line is 8 years old, owes me nothing, and was looking a bit questionable in a couple spots anyway, so it was time to replace. New one from Amazon on sale for $70

had to move the solenoid pack to get to the bolt

My only real complaint is they didn’t include enough a abrasion guard on the new line, so I had to feed my old one onto it and boy, that sucked.

the red guard will be there as a warning at the end of the drum.
All done.

which brings us to today. I pulled my winch wires, wrapped my ground wire in black plastic 3/8” wire loom to avoid wear, and shorting out, and re-ran them.

looks much better than my original post where I ran them using water pipe insulation, and now it’s protected from any rough edges between the front brace/ grille.
Also noticed my diff diaper u-bolt was rubbing on my pinion yoke. Not cool. So, I unbolted it, muscled the ubolt into a better shape, put it back on, and bent the tabs up on the diff diaper using my floor Jack and gravity/ weight of the Jeep! All that gym time paying off. Put it back on, and tightened it down evenly. MUCH BETTER.

I also tightened down the swingarm on my tire carrier because it was rattling AGAIN. I have a few different solutions to try to fix this, I just haven’t gotten to them yet. As it is, I have to tighten it about once a year so it isn’t terrible, just a pain in the ass.
I finally gave in and removed my CB antenna and tucked away the Coax cable, because my CB is toast and I don’t have a new one, but we mostly use GMRS/ FRS now anyways.

I have a few more maintenance items left before Vacation in a few weeks, so I’m sure I’ll have another update. If not, I’ll be back with vacation pics. Thanks for reading!

 

[grandsrus]

Back at it again! This was a couple weeks ago. We went to an infamous trail in Western MA. It rained all day, we all had to winch everything and got soaked, there was a literal river flowing down the trail, but it slowed down toward the end of the trail and was a good day nonetheless. No breakages and other than my compressor not working (ground disconnected),everyone made it home in once piece.
Few pics from the ride:

We met some random lady (Yellow Jeep) as the meet up. She kept insisting on doing a Jeep rainbow so we humored her while we waited for the rest of the group.
“Where are you guys going?”
Trail ride.
“In this weather?”
Yep. Wanna go?
“I just got the Jeep last week. I would, how is it?”
<We all laugh>
Nah, you wouldn’t want to on this one, especially if you just got it last week. We don’t want you to destroy it. It’s a difficult trail, But if you follow our club on socials and send us a message we’ll let you know when we run easier stuff.

Gatekeeper

Had to cut and winch a downed tree off the trail.

Notice the River. it became apparent why the rocks were looking much bigger than a few years ago (erosion), and also why this trail needs frequent maintenance.

Steve’s JLUR at the V Notch. Same as mine (Rock Krawler 2.5” kit, 37” tires)

Reverse angle

Water crossing. It’s better since the NEA4WD clubs have done some maintenance and the State installed more drainage.

End of the trail.

As seen in a few pics, this was the first ride using OnX OffRoad Maps. I subbed to the elite level for a year just to see how it works and I have to say, I think I’m going to keep this. It was super easy to find the trail, map it out, drop waypoints for the start, end, and all the obstacles, and download/ use the maps for the area offline. The ability to login from a desktop and use a big monitor then Sync everything on your account across devices is helpful when mapping as well.

The next day. It was HOT, so I opened the Jeep up and let it dry out while fixing my ground wire on my compressor. During a much closer post-trip inspection, I found this:

this line is 8 years old, owes me nothing, and was looking a bit questionable in a couple spots anyway, so it was time to replace. New one from Amazon on sale for $70

had to move the solenoid pack to get to the bolt

My only real complaint is they didn’t include enough a abrasion guard on the new line, so I had to feed my old one onto it and boy, that sucked.

the red guard will be there as a warning at the end of the drum.
All done.

which brings us to today. I pulled my winch wires, wrapped my ground wire in black plastic 3/8” wire loom to avoid wear, and shorting out, and re-ran them.

looks much better than my original post where I ran them using water pipe insulation, and now it’s protected from any rough edges between the front brace/ grille.
Also noticed my diff diaper u-bolt was rubbing on my pinion yoke. Not cool. So, I unbolted it, muscled the ubolt into a better shape, put it back on, and bent the tabs up on the diff diaper using my floor Jack and gravity/ weight of the Jeep! All that gym time paying off. Put it back on, and tightened it down evenly. MUCH BETTER.

I also tightened down the swingarm on my tire carrier because it was rattling AGAIN. I have a few different solutions to try to fix this, I just haven’t gotten to them yet. As it is, I have to tighten it about once a year so it isn’t terrible, just a pain in the ass.
I finally gave in and removed my CB antenna and tucked away the Coax cable, because my CB is toast and I don’t have a new one, but we mostly use GMRS/ FRS now anyways.

I have a few more maintenance items left before Vacation in a few weeks, so I’m sure I’ll have another update. If not, I’ll be back with vacation pics. Thanks for reading!

Link to amazon winch line you bought?

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Link to amazon winch line you bought?

This one was on sale at the time and had good reviews:
SPIRANTHES Synthetic Winch Rope... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGPCWC9N?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Sponsored