Storm Cloud - 2023 4xe Rubicon Build

[Storm Cloud]

I'm liking that bull bar. Do you have a link for it, probably going to get the same. Thanks.

2018-2022 Jeep Wrangler JL/JLU & Gladiator JT Front Steel Bumper Mid Hoop (grimmoffroad.com)

Enjoy!

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[Msquad]

Thanks.

 

[Storm Cloud]

I finally got around to getting my wheels on.
My favorite project was to paint the Fuel logo in the center caps of my wheels with the 4xe blue. Turned out pretty good!

This is how I started out

I removed the center caps

Took them apart with a T15

4 coats of paint and clear coat later....

reassembled

and here we are!!

This is what they look like installed

From this angle, you can also see the ceramic tint I put on. Special shout-out to @hybrid_eg for hooking me up with a great tint guy for a great price. I went with 20% on the front doors and 50% over the factory tint for the back. I also did a 70% on the windshield to maximize the heat rejection. The windshield is barely noticeable, and the tint looks darker in the front in this picture than in person. It's just dark enough to look tinted, but light enough to still be able to be seen when I wave....

My next project was the Alpha HD Tire carrier. It has that red lever that just won't match with my Jeep, so I painted that too.

 

[Storm Cloud]

I added in a couple of minor improvements that I can't rave enough about. First of all, I got the Desert Does It Seat Jackers to help alleviate some fatigue on my legs. I'm 6" tall and I tend to like the front of the seat to be raised up. Unfortunately, you can't do that with our seats. These little puppies fixed that for me. I just did it on the driver side because who cares about the passenger....

The next little addition I made for my comfort was to add in a Quadratec Dead Pedal

I suppose you could add in any brand, but I really liked this one because it looks OEM, is full length, and has the rubber pad addition. What stinks is that the 4xe is missing the bolt that you need to attach it to. I found this image online that illustrates what is missing. The red circle is where it should be, the green is what we have.

So in order to make it work, I had to get a couple of coupling nuts from amazon and a threaded rod to extend the bolt far enough to connect the dead pedal. I just put on a nut, added the rod, and attached the dead pedal. I then secured it with the second nut and tightened the Hell out of it until it didn't want to move any more.

The ride is so much more comfortable now. I will never be able to understand why Jeep didn't put in a dead pedal from the factory. I get that people use removable mats, but the dead pedal can flip up and out of the way for easy mat removal and cleaning, so that doesn't cut it for me.

 

[Storm Cloud]

It’s something I had read about on these forums many times, but I didn’t have a clue how real the complaint was, until I experienced it myself. The reverse lights really do suck! I’ve been driving my Jeep for a minute now, but for whatever reason, I hadn’t had to back up in a dark area at night yet. A few days back I did, and I couldn’t believe how Jeep skimped out on our backup lights.

Luckily, Oracle Lighting had a solution that I had already prepped for. I already was prepared for the fitment issues on the driver side with the steel bumper, so with my Dremel on standby, I went to work.

It was actually a really easy tear down. The hardest part was getting a 16mm up to the top bolt near the center on both sides. It needed a deep socket and there just wasn’t room, so I had to use a ratcheting socket. What stunk was that there was barely any room to move around so I was stuck going one click at a time, back and forth. It took forever to get that one bolt off and then I had to do it again on the other side.

The driver side didn’t want to fit at all. I ended up having to grind down all around it to get it to fit. It was still a super snug fit and to top it off the head of the bolt on the 8mm that holds the light in the bumper snapped off when I was tightening it down. It was so snug getting it in, that I just let it go. There’s no way that is going anywhere.

I had read a lot about people having issues with the wiring harness for these lights, but I had zero issues with it. I hate splicing into wiring and this really was plug and play. No issues at all and I would highly reccomend going with this.

In the end, it turned out great.

This picture is a great time to show off my custom tow hitch cover, thanks to PPE Off-road.

Here is a comparison of before and after from inside the cabin. It goes from dark and grainy to bright and clear. It really is like night and day, pun intended…

 

[Msquad]

Nice work.
My daughter was asking me what I wanted for my bday. Just sent her a couple links (lights and harness). Ha, thanks for sharing, it is a bit annoying backing up at night and not being able to see. Guess that will be remedied some time soon.

 

[Storm Cloud]

Nice work.
My daughter was asking me what I wanted for my bday. Just sent her a couple links (lights and harness). Ha, thanks for sharing, it is a bit annoying backing up at night and not being able to see. Guess that will be remedied some time soon.

You will love them. It really is amazing how something so minor can make such a big difference. Happy birthday!

 

[Storm Cloud]

I remember several months ago when I was on these forums, I saw a post by Oracle about their skid plate with lights built in. I knew it wasn’t practical but I had to have it. So I ordered it and it’s been sitting on my garage for months. I finally got around to putting it on and it was way easier than I thought it would be. It was literally a few screws, two wires, and it was done.

 

[kubicon]

Nice build! Great touch on the painted F.

Do the lights under the bumper put out a lot of light?

 

[Storm Cloud]

So today is my birthday and my nephew bought me the Mopar Performance Wipers. The wife is sick so I had time to play with the Jeep and install them today.

To remove the wipers you just pry off the cap

and you can use your Jeep toolkit to loosen the nut underneath

once removed you need a wiper removal tool to pry off the wiper arm

take them off and set them aside. I didn’t take any picture but you remove the plastic cover with a trim removal tool. It’s held in by a few clips.

set it aside and then pop open the hood to swap out the wiper tubing. Attach it to the tube on the right. If you remove it at the el low, it snaps right in perfectly.

route the new tubes behind the foam underneath the plastic trim we removed earlier

then route the short tube to the nearest wiper arm and the longer tube along the front of the space to the other wiper arm

remove the old blades from the arms and snap in the new ones. Then feed the tubes through the spring and up to the blade where it attaches

then attach the clips to secure the tube in place. One near the mid bottom area and one closer to the blade.

Snap the plastic cover back in place with the tubes sticking out by the arm

Finally, snap the tubes coming from underneath into the tubes we put in the arms and secure the arms back in place.

Enjoy

 

[MesaAZGuy]

Happy Birthday! Nice work on all that. I made my list! Thanks for posting

 

[Storm Cloud]

Happy Birthday! Nice work on all that. I made my list! Thanks for posting

Don’t forget to share what you do to your Jeep! I love getting ideas from everyone’s build threads.

 

[TheBirdie72]

Op - Your Jeep is looking great!

 

[SoCalDriver]

I remember several months ago when I was on these forums, I saw a post by Oracle about their skid plate with lights built in. I knew it wasn’t practical but I had to have it. So I ordered it and it’s been sitting on my garage for months. I finally got around to putting it on and it was way easier than I thought it would be. It was literally a few screws, two wires, and it was done.

Which bumper hoop bar do you have on your bumper?

 

[Storm Cloud]

Op - Your Jeep is looking great!

Thanks Birdie! Lift going on soon and then it will be time for some action shots!!!

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