Storm Cloud - 2023 4xe Rubicon Build

[Storm Cloud]

I’ve been spending so much time fixing up the Jeep that I have yet to take it off-roading. Finally, I plan on getting it out this weekend while the wife is away. In preparation, I added on a FAD skid, just in case….

The stock skid is really easy to get to. You can see 3 of the 4 mounting locations here. I was on the last screw but the screw on the opposite side of the one shown here was a little hard to reach with my bear paw hands.

Once the FAD Skid was removed, you can see the components it protects. I imagine breaking any of that would be pretty bad news.

I went with the Rock Hard FAD Skid. Like usual, I painted it Surf Blue to match the other bling underneath. You can see my steering stabilizer relocation bracket on the table. That will go on tomorrow, hopefully.

You can see the difference between the OEM skid and the Rock Hard. This new armor is way beefier.

It was a 5 minute job with only 4 bolts. The hardest part was wiggling my big hands into position to get the passenger side bolt. The other 3 bolts were nothing. It really took longer to get set up and find the tools than to install the plate, but I think it worked out just fine.

From the rear, you can see how well it covers up the components

I have to admit, the FAD Skid isn’t very visible, so it’s mostly my OCD that made me paint it, but while few people will notice it, I will know it’s there and it just makes me happy.

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[Storm Cloud]

Steering stabilizer successfully relocated. I used an RPM clamp with a Rock Jock Bracket. Now I’m ready for the trails…. Other than the oil pan skid that’s on my mind….

 

[Storm Cloud]

She's finally been broken in! Thanks to @kah.mun.rah for inviting me up to Hungry Valley for Storm Clouds' maiden voyage! It was a blast and I plan on writing up a review of some of the things I've added on. Definitely had some saving graces.

For now, here are some pictures from the adventure and I'll get working on the rest later.

Here we are waiting to head out after dropping the puppies off at the groomer.

Hungry Valley was beautiful, and it was empty, considering it was a holiday weekend.

I'm ready to go and see what this 4xe can do

We also went with @kah.mun.rah junior, and his jeep, and met up with another friend there.

I did get the chance to get a little dirty. I know better than to get into mud, considering the mess it can make inside the engine bay, but I just couldn't say no.

You can see the end result is not going to be fun to clean

It was a blast and I learned quite a few lessons (besides stay out of the mud). I'll hopefully have something put together in the next few days.

 

[Storm Cloud]

So after having several days to think about my trip, a few things have come to mind.

First of all, this 4xe is amazingly capable. Yes, I'm on 37's and lifted, but at no point did I ever feel a lack of power. My biggest fear when getting this Jeep was that the 4.10 gearing would limit it, once I lifted it and put it on bigger tires. The torque is insane and I can honestly say that I haven't noticed a difference. Even going up the freeway on the way there, through the pass, which is all uphill, I never once felt it lagging or feeling sluggish. While crawling up rocks and trails, it chugged along like it was nothing. I was truly impressed.

Remember that no matter how careful you are, unless it's just a flat road, going offroad will damage your rig, even if you're careful. So with that in mind, get some skid plates. One of the first things I added on to my Jeep was rear LCA skid plates. The control arms and shocks are so dangerously low, that it seemed inevitable that they would get hit and were just waiting for a devastating situation.

Sure enough, first run on the trails, and that's the spot that got damaged. Without that there, I can only imagine what might have happened.

Also, don't be afraid of scratching your rims. It's a Jeep, think of it as badges of honor that show the world that you actually use it for its intended purpose. (That and the fact that you may not be good at picking lines....) At first, I thought I would get them repaired, but like a cool scar, they look kind of good and give the Jeep some street cred.

These fender gaps are annoyingly adept at attracting small pebbles. I've read about it before, and I have some rubber tubing in my garage to fix it, but I never got around to installing it. Now I know that the hype is real! What a pain in the butt to have to run a credit card through the gaps while airing up just to get rid of things that shouldn't be getting stuck so easily in a fender. Come on Jeep, this is an easy fix for something that is a predictable and well known result.

Mud is terrible. It's a lot of fun to make a big splash and see your Jeep covered in dirt, but cleaning it up afterwards was a nightmare. It took 2 washes and a lot of elbow grease. Let's not talk about the engine bay. I didn't take pictures of that, because I was so irritated, but trust me on this one, don't do it if you don't want to put in the work afterwards.

Electric mode on the trails is incredible. It's so nice to be able to hear nature while climbing up the hills. You can hear your spotter clearly and it just feels better with the windows down.

The Clayton suspension was awesome. No creaks, no issues with flex, it rode beautifully. I'm running the Fox 2.0's and initially, I've been thinking they run a bit soft on the road. However, off road, they rode really nicely. I had zero complaints. I'm still trying to decide on if I want to upgrade to Falcon 3.3 or 3.5's in the future, but that will be when I get the chop kit and fender liners. I need to enjoy what I have for now.

Go with friends. It was a blast and I would have still enjoyed it alone, but going with a group made it so much better. It was fun to watch other people try obstacles and to have them there to cheer you on. Another plus is you can use them as photographers! Pics or it didn't happen!

Finally, Don't forget to disconnect those sway bars. I'm new to wheeling, so I kept forgetting to check if they had reconnected or not, and I know they did a few times from going too fast down the trail. Things would have been so much easier if they had been disconnected and I would have gotten better pictures too! You can see on here that I forgot, and I was tipping all over the place. Still made it though....

 

[Storm Cloud]

The holiday season is hectic, but I’m already set for a trip to Pilot Rock in January. In my last post I mentioned all the Little Rock’s that got stuck in the fenders so I figured it’s time to fix this. I saw a video done by [Banned Site] on YouTube and I decided to use it.


I bought some rubber tubing on Amazon and went to work with scissors and a plastic trim tool. That really is all you need.

I won’t go into detail too much because the video covers it better than I could, but cut the tubing to size, jam it in with the trim tool and you’re done. I will say that to get it in nice and tight you’ll need to go over it a few times pushing in from the top and bottom but it’s a quick install.

The end result looks great, in my opinion.

 

[jcruse64]

Nice ride, and great build and documentation!!!

I like your colors on this. We just got the Hydro Blue Pearl, and I wish I could have had the option for the blue stitching and trim accents, like yours, over the red. It's still very nice, but I don't like the red combined with this blue, and will be "modding" it away in the future.

Really nice ride!!!!

 

[Storm Cloud]

Nice ride, and great build and documentation!!!

I like your colors on this. We just got the Hydro Blue Pearl, and I wish I could have had the option for the blue stitching and trim accents, like yours, over the red. It's still very nice, but I don't like the red combined with this blue, and will be "modding" it away in the future.

Really nice ride!!!!

Thank you. A lot of folks go with Katzkin for the seats. You should check them out. I love the Hydro color, it really looks awesome on the light.

 

[Dryver]

The holiday season is hectic, but I’m already set for a trip to Pilot Rock in January. In my last post I mentioned all the Little Rock’s that got stuck in the fenders so I figured it’s time to fix this. I saw a video done by [Banned Site] on YouTube and I decided to use it.


I bought some rubber tubing on Amazon and went to work with scissors and a plastic trim tool. That really is all you need.

I won’t go into detail too much because the video covers it better than I could, but cut the tubing to size, jam it in with the trim tool and you’re done. I will say that to get it in nice and tight you’ll need to go over it a few times pushing in from the top and bottom but it’s a quick install.

The end result looks great, in my opinion.

Nice! I'd bet that one of those plastic splining tools for window screens would make this job even faster.

 

[pmarold21]

The holiday season is hectic, but I’m already set for a trip to Pilot Rock in January. In my last post I mentioned all the Little Rock’s that got stuck in the fenders so I figured it’s time to fix this. I saw a video done by [Banned Site] on YouTube and I decided to use it.


I bought some rubber tubing on Amazon and went to work with scissors and a plastic trim tool. That really is all you need.

I won’t go into detail too much because the video covers it better than I could, but cut the tubing to size, jam it in with the trim tool and you’re done. I will say that to get it in nice and tight you’ll need to go over it a few times pushing in from the top and bottom but it’s a quick install.

The end result looks great, in my opinion.

I did the same with the same result. It is super easy and has already prevented a lot of road pebbles from getting stuck between the fender and body. Highly recommend this ‘upgrade’.

 

[Storm Cloud]

I did the same with the same result. It is super easy and has already prevented a lot of road pebbles from getting stuck between the fender and body. Highly recommend this ‘upgrade’.

I can't wait to take her off road soon and see just how big a difference it makes.

 

[pmarold21]

Nice! I'd bet that one of those plastic splining tools for window screens would make this job even faster.

I’m not sure you could get the splining tool all the way down into these crevices. But it might work.

 

[Storm Cloud]

It’s been a minute, but I figured I could post a couple additions I made after Christmas.

My nephew bought be the XG Cargo Gamma Adventure storage bags. I am extremely impressed with the build quality. They fit perfectly, don’t rattle and they add in some much needed storage space in the rear. I’m still not sure what I will put in there, but next time I hit the trail, I’m sure they will come in handy.

One thing I was surprised about was that they block absolutely ZERO of the visibility out of the rear of the Jeep. When I’m driving, I don’t notice the bags at all and can see just as well as I could without them.

One thing I’m thinking of doing is coloring the Orange stitching. I’d love it if I could figure out how to make it blue, without risking making it look ugly. I’m pretty sure I could just sharpie the stitching and make it black without issue though. At the same time, I don’t know if it’s worth the effort. XG makes the Gamma Stealth Bags that are the same as these, but in all black and with a couple of extra goodies, but for an extra $100, it’s just not worth it, in my opinion.

Another addition was these vent covers off of Amazon. Super easy install and I like them even more than I thought I would. I didn’t really notice the lack of “bling” on the black plastic vent covers before. They just blended in and were out of sight and out of mind. But once I put these on, you notice the vents in a good way. They don’t stand out too much and aren’t flashy, but they add a bit of a fit and finish to the dash area that is lacking.

They are attached by some 3m tape on the cover and there is a trim ring that goes on around the cover. You just have to be very meticulous when you put these on and ensure they are centered. On the first one I put on, I didn’t know what I was doing and it is slightly off center. You can‘t tell when you look at it, but when you rotate the vent between the open and closed position, it scrapes the inside of the vent area, ever so slightly. It’s very minor and it isn’t much of an issue because I tend to leave the vents in one spot all the time, but it still irritates me. The other 3 went on perfectly so I’d recommend starting any install on the vent you would use the least.

Pardon the dust and oily spots…

I haven’t written up anything on the Kraken system I installed. Once I get some good pictures taken, I’ll have to add a post on it.

 

[Storm Cloud]

I was washing the Jeep this weekend and tried out a new product. Cerakote is a trim protector that’s supposed to keep the black plastic nice and shiny. BEWARE! I followed the instructions that say to wash the plastic and dry it well before applying, but something I didn’t realize was how well it has to be washed. You have to ensure that any and all chemicals are removed from the trim or else you risk a chemical reaction that will essentially burn the plastic and leave a white haze on it that can’t be removed.

i messed up the hood vent scoops the worst, but ended up replacing them with new ones while I was at the dealer getting a software update. These are the only pictures I found. You can see a white haze around the edges. That’s not the light playing with the shine.

On the side view mirrors it left white streaks that I’ll probably live with for now, since the pinstripes I get off-road will do more damage in time anyway

And on the tail lights, you can see white splotches. I’m going to just buy covers and if I like them, I’ll be fine, otherwise I may go flush mount tail lights in the future.

While I’m on the topic of washing the Jeep, let’s talk about inner fender liners. Damn they get dirty, and no matter how much soap and water I used, I couldn’t get them clean.

But I remembered a post I saw on these forums, and I wish I could give credit to whomever it was that posted it, but olive oil is magic! I wiped the liners with a paper towel and some olive oil and they magically were as good as new!

it’s been a week almost and they still look shiny. This picture doesn’t do it justice. I was afraid the oil would create a sticky film and it would get dirtier over time, but itactually created a protective barrier and nothing is sticking. I’ll keep doing this until I upgrade the liners.

 

[Storm Cloud]

For Christmas, I got the XG Cargo Gamma bags for extra storage in the back and I have to say I love them. The standard bags that I have come with orange stitching and that was something that always bugged my OCD. I like things to have continuity with the grey and blue on the Jeep. I could have bought the stealth gamma bags, which are basically the same, but with black stitching and a couple of accessories that I find unnecessary, but for $100 more, that didn’t seem worth it.

The solution:

I bought fabric paint pens to dye the thread and get it to match!

I think the results turned out pretty good. It’s not a perfect match, but pretty close.

Before:

After:

 

[Storm Cloud]

So after the fiasco with the Cerakote trim coating I mentioned a couple of posts back, I finally had enough of the tail lights with white marks all over them and decided to get the Rugged Ridge Elite Tail Light Guards. Super easy install and they actually look pretty good, in my opinion. I never considered them before but I’m glad I added them on.

They covered up all the splotchy areas and it looks good as new!

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