Wilson - a Sting Gray touring and trail JLR w/half doors

[Kreepin1]

Hooker Blackheart Cat-back Muffler
You may have noticed how much the OEM muffler hangs below any muffler, even more so with the GTC bumper. I had ordered a high clearance muffler months before taking delivery, a Hooker BH-5412.

Then come to find out FCA decided to change the exhaust system on 2021 models and it wouldn't fit. I decided to find out what it would take to adapt it to a 2021. When I test fit it hit the rear sway bar, the rear hanger was 1-3/4" too far back and the front hanger was 5/8" too far back. So I trimmed the pipe that climbs up in front of the rear axle. I took 5/8" off the front and 1-1/8" off the back:

I also trimmed 4-1/2" off the tailpipe, but this was mostly to stay in line with the GTC bumper.

I might cut some more later if I hit it. Most likely I will be adding a second muffler back here as a Winter project. I like a quiet Jeep.

Edit:
I have been super happy with the tone of this muffler. It's a little sporty when you get on it but not obnoxiously loud. I have not noticed any drone, but to be honest I haven't spent any time over 65 MPH yet.

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[Kreepin1]

Grimm Offroad Compressor Mount GOR10013 and ARB Twin Compressor CKMTA12
I know under the hood is a controversial place to mount an air compressor unless it's engine driven. I've had an ARB compressor under the hood of my Samurai for 10 years with no issues. Fingers crossed...

Totally satisfied with the packaging, instructions and quality of the Grimm kit. I feel that ARB is on par with Warn, making some of the best stuff for the off road community. However, Northridge shipped this heavy-ass compressor without any additional packaging. It arrived almost falling out of the box, luckily undamaged and not missing any pieces.

The worst part of the install is pulling the fender. Next time I'll try pulling the bottom rear clips before yanking the fender off, one of the clips was stronger than the fender. Grrrr, makes me want to have a short discussion with FCA engineers regarding the fact that sacrificial clips need to be weaker than the plastic they are clipped to or you've made a sacrificial fender. Not good.

Installing the compressor is a paint-by-numbers job. I spent some extra time on the wiring, salvaging and relocating the zip-tie clip for the wheel sensor harness and routing the power cables through the plastic wiring tray at the top of the firewall. Opening the tray is a little tricky, I had best luck sliding a panel tool into the tray while tugging up on a small screwdriver in the clip.

I used this nice ground on the fender rather than taking it all the way to the battery. I flipped the fuses upside down and wedged them between the battery and the OEM fuse box.

Grimm recommends getting the ARB pump up kit 171302 as it comes with this awesome quick disconnect chuck.

However, that chuck is so close to the hood you can't leave a hose connected. To me that looked like a great way to end up with dirt and mud in the clip. So I plugged a spare fitting and put it in there. When I tested removing it it shot out - HARD!

I thought to my self "Careful kid, you're gonna' put your eye out!"

So back to the drawing board. I used a 1/4" pipe 90 degree street fitting and an old self coiling hose I had laying around. Picked a clip-on air chuck at the local parts store, and ta-da! I really like how this came up. Self storing so quicker to air up after a day on the trail and it doesn't take up any space inside the Jeep. Love it.

The only thing that could be improved would be protection for the wires at the back of the switch.

 

[Kreepin1]

My daughter came up to visit this weekend. She's driving my old daily driver. I had installed a hoist in her garage so she could easily remove/replace the top and she's had the top off all Spring (I'm so proud of her). So I get this call from her. "Dad, I have a question. Does anyone make a lift like this? 'Cause if not you should patent this, it works GREAT!" (I'm so proud of her ) Here is the link to how I make a hoist:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/2-door-over-the-top-hoist.69597/


Anyway, she went home with the wheels and tires off Wilson:

 

[Kreepin1]

OK, I guess an update is way past due...

Synergy Front Track Bar and Sector Shaft Brace
I added the brace as insurance to prevent the frame side track bar holes from ovaling out and leading to handling issues like death wobble. The instructions state you will need to replace the track bar as well. I have to say I want to be a Synergy fan boy. They have some great info on their web site regarding lift, tire size and back spacing that just makes sense to me. Anyone can lift a Jeep to the sky and put some wheels with 3-1/2" of backspacing on. But tucking big tires in tight with minimal lift? That takes some effort.

Take the rear sway bar for example. Instead of longer links, they offer a drop bracket with their lift kits. Why? So the sway bar fits inside the wheel. There is a reason that Jeep and Ford and Dodge use large positive offsets on their solid axle trucks. I feel going to zero or negative offset wheels is just asking for trouble. Plus, I want the tire to tuck up inside the fender when flexed.

Installing the brace is pretty straightforward. Everything was well packed, arrived undamaged and includes outdated paper instructions. So maybe I received old stock from Northridge... One tip, where the instructions say optionally you might have to grind a weld? Ignore that. Mock up the brace and grind every weld, weld spatter or rough spot smooth as a baby's rear, and paint it before doing anything else. You will thank me later. I have to say once you do the prep work, the fit and finish of this brace is pretty amazing.

The track bar required some prep work too. I had to open the corners of the window in the axle side mount up.

Then I found the bar hit the back of the mount.

So I cut the front of the mount per Synergy's instructions:

And pressed the bushing in about 3/16". I don't know who they think they're kidding with this set screw, it took 5 tons on my press to move the bushing...

And it works great!

 

[Kreepin1]

Mojave Sway Bar
Extra points if you noticed the Rubicon sway bar is missing in the photo above. One downside to the Excessive GTC front bumper is that you lose all protection for it. So I elected to replace it with one from a Gladiator Mojave. This mod isn't for everyone as you also have to leave the sway bar connected all the time or manually disconnect and reconnect for technical trails.

I got the following from MoparSalesDirect. I can't recommend them as the bar arrived bare with just the ends wrapped in some leftover packing material. Really? How hard would it have been to wrap the whole bar...
Mojave front swaybar, Mopar 68341373AB, $158 shipped
4 - 6512814AA Hex Flange Head Bolt (or use blue locktite and reuse the existing bolts)
For Rubicon also need one Mopar 68370016AC Stabilizer Bar Bushing Retainer
Synergy Quick Disconnects #8859-01

The contours of the Mojave bar are nearly identical to the Rubicon bar and the 21mm diameter is the same. However, the Mojave bar is hollow which saves a little weight and more importantly reduces stiffness by 20%. My plan is to leave the bar connected for touring, dunes, and easy trails where stability is welcome but the softer bar will give a better ride. For rocks and moderate trails I'll go through the hassle of disconnecting/reconnecting the bar.

The rings for the bushing are like 1/8" further apart, which was no problem:

Synergy Quick Disconnects
Since I'm not planning to lift this Jeep, the first step installing the Quick Disconnects is to cut one of the ears off the axle. No going back now! Second step is to torque the studs to 80 ft-lbs.

At which point they both stripped. Monday I called Synergy and they sent a replacement set. Which also stripped. Monday I called Synergy and they had a team meeting, checked 10 more sets and were getting a 30% failure rate. So I wait for a new batch to be made AND get instructions to only torque to 65 ft-lbs (the same spec JKS uses). One made it but I swear the other started to strip so I stopped. Time will tell if it holds up. At this point I got frustrated, slapped some paint on the scars from cutting the stripped stud off and moved on.

Only to find I'm not real happy with the geometry. These links seem too long without a lift and that steep angle is probably negating any change to roll stiffness I got with the softer sway bar. Once I get springs and shocks squared away I'll revisit this and shorten the links to get the sway bar a little more level.

Edit:
Had the Jeep on a lift changing the oil and I have to admit Synergy got these links right for 0-2" lift. If they were any shorter the bar could invert when unloaded. Feeling better about them!

 

[Kreepin1]

Warn HS9500i Winch
Here is my take on winches. You need one sized to your vehicle's weight but the most important spec is no-load line speed to keep the line tight as 1) you help by driving up the obstacle or 2) some idiot you just rescued tries to drive over your rope.

I've had this winch for years and just washed it up and treated it to a new line and fairlead from Custom Splice. Really great small business. Highly recommended.

35x11.5R17 Nitto Trail Grapplers
I really had my heart set on a set of 37" KM3's but with a national backorder on them, four month (and counting) lead times on AAL fender braces and Paramount liners I just had to lower my expectations. I must say these tires fit an un-lifted Rubicon with stock wheels perfect. They measure 34-3/4" tall, 11" wide at 37 psi and the width is nearly identical to stock; 9-1/4" tread and just under 11-1/4" sidewall on a 7.5" wheel. The front tires just kiss the inside of the fender at full stuff. Rears clear by 1/4" or so. I'll need to get some more trail time to see if there are any clearance issues but I'm pretty optimistic they'll be fine.

Being load range C they ride pretty nice and for a new tire flex better than I expected on the trail. I think 12 psi was too low for rocks. Next time I'll try 14.

 

[Kreepin1]

Mountain Off Road Enterprises skid plates
Those of you with 2-door jeeps probably know the availability of things like skid plates and rocker protection is limited. Those of you with a 2021 3.6 probably know FCA changed the motor mounts. Taken together, there are currently very few available options for Wilson. I gave up waiting for Artec to start producing them and ordered a set from MORE. I had a quick chat with them about aluminum vs. steel and was told the aluminum is holding up fine, but unless your top priority is weight (like for a daily driver) steel is the better choice. So steel it is. I was pleasantly surprised to get them in like three weeks, with great notification when they shipped and excellent packing. The quality of the product is really nice with great paper instructions enclosed. I struggled a bit with fit, but most of that was self inflicted.

I started with the gas tank skid and noticed it hit these two bolts. I figured I could gain 1/4" of ground clearance if I removed this portion of the skid plate. Don't do this, the front of the plate supports the fuel lines. Instead just grind them down. If you do loosed those nuts like I did, be sure to get the plate back in the original position, which I didn't, or you will fight getting bolts to line up. Like I said, self inflicted...

The hardware that comes with these plates is a weird mix of really nice custom stuff (spaces and slide washers) and really crappy bolts, missing washers, etc. Do yourself a favor and replace the 12mm bolts that come with the kit. I also ran into an issue with the driver side motor mount. They want you to slide the brace on the ends of the OEM bolts and then secure with flange nuts. As you can see here there are only enough threads for the nut, so you are about 1/4" short. Pick up two 10.9 10mm x 40 mm bolts (1.5mm pitch). I used blue locktite to secure the bolts.

I forgot to take a picture of the completed product but it looks like it will do the job. I'll have to figure out how to change engine oil without it going everywhere. What a mess!

 

[Kreepin1]

Midland MXT115 GMRS and Uniden CMX660 CB Radio
The off road community is in an awkward transition period when it comes to comms. When I run with some groups CB radio is used while others have adopted GMRS. I didn't want to clutter up the interior with a lot of stuff. What to do? I elected to install a mount in the center console that allows me to swap radios, run a single cable to the back, and switch between antennas to match whichever radio I'm using at the time.

The first step was pulling the console which went pretty smooth except for pulling the knob on the manual transmission. Pro tip: use a large gear splitter to get a good grip and then just yank it off. It turns out you don't need to pull the console, just remove the back section by removing two screws at the top and popping it rearward. Here is where I drilled a hole to feed the power and antenna wires through:

Then I attached the Midland mounting bracket to the bottom of the console lid:

The microphone is mounted on the front of the console:

And I put an external speaker up under the steering wheel. It's aimed through the fabric around the steering wheel and works great!

Here's the wiring alongside the console. This is the only advantage of removing the console:

I found this 2" long NMO to PL259 adapter on Ebay and opened up one of the holes in my Teraflex mount to 5/8" so that I can switch between antennas.

Next I made an adapter for the Uniden CB so that it works with the same mount as the Midland GMRS:

 

[Kreepin1]

Air Conditioning for Dog Crates
While I had the console apart I did this simple mod to make the pups happy. I removed the rear vent diffusers and discovered that the adapters in this kit are a perfect snug fit in the openings.

Then I relocated the diffuser to the end of the hose with some rubber connectors left over from a Suzuki Samurai project years ago:

Then I used a heat gun to help shape the tube.

A quick zip tie and done! This setup is great for spot cooling the pups by setting the controls to blow through the dash vents and then closing those down a pretty good amount of air makes it back to them.

 

[Kreepin1]

DIY Headliner
I like having a bikini top. It keeps the sun off us as well as ticks that drop from trees. So I don't plan to open the front section of the Trektop. I fit two of these sunshades under the top to keep us a little cooler. I put one across the rear over the pups and then one across the front that overlaps the one in the rear. The critical thing to be able to do this is length. The first one I tried was like 27" tall and it wouldn't overlap.

 

[Kreepin1]

Element 50 fire extinguisher
I'm a little skeptical of these, but thought I'd give it a try. I think I'll try to figure out where to mount a traditional extinguisher as well at some point...

The question with all this stuff is "Where you gonna put it?" especially in a 2-door. It "clips" into this location without a bracket. I like that either person can reach it. Time will tell if it is secure enough for washboard roads and such.

 

[Kreepin1]

Well, that pretty much brings this build log up to date. I've got Paramount fender liners and AAL fender liner delete brackets on order but I'm not sure I need them at this point as I went with 35" tires instead of the 37" I originally planned. At this point I need to get some trail time and see what does and doesn't work.

I have to say, Wilson has been a great friend that helped keep me sane while castaway on my own little island during COVID!

 

[MacombRoger]

Great easy to follow build thread. Thank you for posting these things.

 

[Kreepin1]

Great easy to follow build thread. Thank you for posting these things.

You are super welcome! Currently camping outside of Los Angeles and commuting in to visit family. Jeep drives great in city traffic and while no sports car, is fun to drive on twisty mountain roads. Loving the Blackheart exhaust and manual transmission! The dog’s crates work pretty much perfectly, they love sticking their noses up to the vents!

 

[Kreepin1]

Spent a few days in and around Moab. Couldn't have asked for better weather with highs in the low-mid 80's. I didn't do anything too extreme with the wife and dogs on board.

Cruised up to Dead Horse Point to hike and picnic on a cool cloudy day in June! It was 72 degrees when we left at 2PM...

Then we ran Gemini Bridges road over to 191. Easy trail but there is some pucker factor coming down off the mesa.

Sevenmile Rim was a blast. This was my first real test of Wilson off road and he is impressive. I did have to trim small pieces of the rear fender liner. Five minutes with a pen knife and we were underway again. This is Uranium Arch.

Pups were worn out after Sevenmile...

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