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Thanks for all the love! It has been a long time coming, but I have picked up a few things worth showing. None of it is installed yet, but on the 25th I should be getting around to a few things.
Bumper delivered to my door when I got home from work :-D
Backside
In my messy house with Hella fogs quickly bolted up for fitment. They fit perfect. Thanks Dirtbound!
Close-up. The lights aren't mounted straight because the bolts aren't tighted. Just there for fitment before taking it to powder coating.
How it comes after being built.
Cool email you get from Dirtbound Offroad when your bumper ships.
All 3 lights that will be used on the bumper--very excited for these bad boys as a lot of the mountain roads I drive are foggy so I hope these live up to the test. For whatever reason all the Hella's I have ever bought come from India..
Odyssey 34R deep cycle battery to be wired up for the IBS DBS.
Oh yeah, I decided to get a RTT! Still trying to figure out how it's going to work with the current roof rack. Biggest concern is how high it's going to sit on my basket since it won't fit inside it. Going to be tricky since I have an awning on one side and the roadshower on the other side. To be continued!
Foam mattress
Custom re-located sway bar brackets after my 3 link was installed
Better view
Viair 444C dual compressor onboard air. It is definitely overkill, but having 2 compressors and an air tank, I can more easily run air tools, lockers, and fill up my [mtn bike] tires.
It's lovely. Can't wait to get it installed.
Air relocator kit will allow me to have a quick disconnect in the front of the jeep. This kit will attach to the tank in the rear, run under the jeep and then somewhere up in the front, probably into the front bumper. With all the tent **** around my jeep, if I need to access air in the front of my jeep this is going to make 10x easier. Otherwise I'd be running it under tents or snaking it through a jeep filled with gear.
$6 blowgun because I can
1 million fittings
hoses
Last edited by osinrider04; 02-10-2017 at 05:36 PM.
Excited to see that tent go up. I'm still deciding on what roof rack I'm going to go with. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a CVT tent due to the fact that it comes with a annex. Not 100% sure though. I do like how the Tepui Cover is 1000grams versus the 600grams on the CVT. Good looking build, sub'd!
Got the bumper back from powder coating at the beginning of the week and finally unwrapped it to take a look.
Great detail
Aggressive forward lines give the jeep some much needed character up front.
The shape of the bumper is very complimentary to the xj. This is the corner that wraps around the sides. It leaves just enough room in case you wanted to attach an exo cage :-D
Frame tie in brackets. These are used since I do not have the front unibody stiffeners yet. Once I weld in the stiffeners, these brackets/spacers will come out.
After removal of OEM bumper. I ended up spraying the bare metal black before installing the bumper.
Installed with the Hella 500 in yellow. Looks great in my opinion.
Gear oil change. I have G2 diff covers, not shown, but they have the plugs on the exterior of the covers. It makes changing oil an insanely simple job. No more splitting open the case and resealing every team. Simply unscrew the plug at the bottom to drain, and then open the bolt at the top to fill back up. I can take photos to show anyone interested.
My transfer case has been causing vibration for a while now. It was rebuilt when installed so it was confusing why this was happening. Turns out there is a retaining ring/snap ring in the front output shaft that was missing, thereby causing about 1/4" movement of my output shaft. With 4.88 gears at 70mph this meant serious vibration.
Excited to see that tent go up. I'm still deciding on what roof rack I'm going to go with. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a CVT tent due to the fact that it comes with a annex. Not 100% sure though. I do like how the Tepui Cover is 1000grams versus the 600grams on the CVT. Good looking build, sub'd!
If you're serious about a RTT, make sure you buy a roof rack that functions well with one. My rack is more of a basket with sides and a bottom. This means my RTT will sit up about 5" higher because it will ride on the edges of basket. There are roof racks out there that are better for this. See below:
However, my rack actually works out well for me because I have the awning on one side and the soon to be roadshower on the other, so my RTT needs to sit up a few inches higher to clear whichever way I deploy my tent when it opens. Once I get a chance to install the tent I will get pictures up! CVT does have a good reputation from what I can tell.
If you're serious about a RTT, make sure you buy a roof rack that functions well with one. My rack is more of a basket with sides and a bottom. This means my RTT will sit up about 5" higher because it will ride on the edges of basket. There are roof racks out there that are better for this. See below:
However, my rack actually works out well for me because I have the awning on one side and the soon to be roadshower on the other, so my RTT needs to sit up a few inches higher to clear whichever way I deploy my tent when it opens. Once I get a chance to install the tent I will get pictures up! CVT does have a good reputation from what I can tell.
Ya that's why I was struggling to find the right rack/rails. I didn't want the tent to sit super high and I don't really have the funds to spend $1000+ and the rack I truly want. So for now, I think I am going to go with Rhino Rack Vortex rails. Plus I can transfer those to the wife's jeep when I want to upgrade to a real rack on my XJ.
Ya that's why I was struggling to find the right rack/rails. I didn't want the tent to sit super high and I don't really have the funds to spend $1000+ and the rack I truly want. So for now, I think I am going to go with Rhino Rack Vortex rails. Plus I can transfer those to the wife's jeep when I want to upgrade to a real rack on my XJ.
My opinion is to wait and purchase what you really want just 1 time. I wouldn't buy a rack you aren't completely happy with now knowing you have to get a different one in the future. It always just ends up bugging me knowing I don't have what I want/need after I purchased something.
The start of the dual battery and Viair 444c onboard air system. For now I am using this 2'v2' piece of plywood. It was a good way to get things laid out and wired up. Until I get everything installed in the jeep I won't build any major storage systems.
Trying to figure out how to mount and tie down the battery now.
Battery and compressors tied down.
In-progress with the dual compressors and battery mounted with wiring coming together. Just using rubber bungies screwed down for now. I'll get a true battery bracket soonish.
Cluster-f
This is how it currently sits fully wired up. It looks messy but it's actually done very well. It's all controlled via a guage and switch that reads my PSI. I'll snap a picture of that and post later. Right now the switch and gauge is only in the rear, but I will buying a second setup to run this up front. When I have air lockers it'll be nice to have an eye on things at all times.
Air hose kit...came with the viair setup. Not bad--a bit short so I may get an extension or something better
Carrying case for air hose
Super useful for offroad trips. Now I don't have to worry about where my nearest place to air up will be.
Dual battery wired up. Need to get the loom to make it pretty but here's how it went together in the engine bay. It runs along the driver's side of the car and through the grommet near your feet through the firewall.
Here's the IBS monitoring system. The left is my main (crappy) battery. The right is my Odyssey deep cycle nice battery. When you push the red button it auto displays the health of the bats. Then you have the Link and Auto buttons to connect the 2 for charging. Only the winch and starter will be connected to the main battery. The offroad lights and fridge will go to the Aux battery for camping trips and not leave me stranded. Love this feature!
Got the road shower 3 welded up to the roof rack. My rack now has onboard water, arb awning, 5 Hella 500s, 2 truck bed fork mounts for bicycles, and 2 cross members for my RTT. I think it must weigh 75-100 lbs :-(.
Here's a front view. It was pure luck that the awning and water system are essentially the same length and size, giving my jeep a symmetric/balanced look.
Had to bring the tent with me for getting the cross member mounts mocked up properly. I managed to get my RTT completely inside the XJ and overtop of my new air system. Can't believe it actually fit.
This is the way I currently engage my air system. It's mounted here until I can rerun the wires out of sight. The switch also contains the psi gauge (sorry about the flash from the camera)
02-10-2017, 05:18 PM
