This is one of the cleanest builds here on CF. Your stuff is top notch! I especially love the winch wiring and set-up. I know you said updates would be few and far between but I will DEFINITELY be watching for this one.

Sub'd!

 

Thank you.

 

youve done some koole stuff, i like it, next time im at the JY ill have to see if i can pick up one of those subs

and i like the fire wall plug too

 

You find the subs under the driver seat in the Subaru's with the premium sound system. I'm found that the door tweeters are a quick reference to see if the car's even worth looking at. I've never found a sub in one without door tweeters, but some with tweeters do not have the sub.

 

Not to gush too much but your XJ is pretty much my favorite XJ on the internet. It's pretty much everything I would want out of one of these rigs. Keep it up man.

 

Sub'd so I can modify the skid to fit around my hitch. Eventually.

 

Alright, I finally got around to uploading the pics for the tranny cooler thermostat install. I ended up mounting it below/behind the passenger headlight. I got some u-bolts at the hardware store and used the cross bracket as a backer and essentially clamped the thermostat to the steel ribbing used to support the fender. There are two u-bolts. I routed the cooler lines to the thermostat around in front of the bumper bracket, behind the bumper face. The lines to the cooler I ran around the headlight cavity. I used some wire loom to protect the hoses in areas prone to chaffing. One other thing I did with this install was upgrade all the cooler lines to transmission hose. It's a higher pressure rating that just fuel hose and I've seen it recommended by a few sources. I was able to get it at the local O'Reilly auto parts. A little more expensive, but worth it to not puke my tranny fluid when I'm on a trail or a couple hundred miles from home.











Initial impressions have been disappointing. I drove it around town for a while and it did seem to heat up much faster than before. I was actually able to get 150 degrees on my gauge. Highway driving is a whole different story. Still doesn't warm up enough to move the gauge. I have two theories on this. One is that with the ambient temperatures being between -15F and 25F the output of the radiator is just not getting that hot to warm the transmission fluid over 100F. Second theory is that the way I have my sensors mounted, the brass fitting are too much of a heat sink to allow the true temperature to read.

The head sink effect may skew the temp readings, but I think the bottom line is that the fluid, while I'm sure is warmer than before installing the thermostat, is just not able to get that hot in the winter. Everyone talks about the heat exchanger in the radiator heating the tranny fluid up to 200F, but that is just not the case. What everyone seems to forget is that the temp sensor for the gauge cluster is at the output of the engine, by the thermostat, and is the hottest point in the cooling system. The output of the radiator, where the transmission heat exchanger is, is the coolest point in the system. If the output of the radiator was 200F it would not be cooling the engine. I would like to put a thermocouple on the output of the radiator and see what kind of temps that point in the system actually sees. It's very possible, especially with the sub zero temps we've been having around here, that the coolant leaving the radiator may not even be 100F. If that's the case my transmission circuit isn't going to warm up enough to read on my gauge. Now, 90F returning to the tranny with the thermostat is certainly better than say 0F with the fluid all going through the auxillary cooler, but until things start reaching 100F my gauge won't register it.

 

It's been a while since I've been on the site. Not a whole lot of action with the Jeep, and frankly I haven't even been driving it much. Between being on the road for work and riding the motor cycle to work when I'm in the office the Jeep hasn't seen much action. Then there's the fact I have a brand new baby boy in the house as of June. =D. There has been one major change though that also took the Jeep out of action for a month and a half or so.... Completely stripped the roof and windshield frame, POR-15'd it and spayed Raptor bed liner on it.


First off, the windshield frame had rusted on the top edge on the passenger side, above where the sun visor is, so it would leak water when it rained hard initially, then it started leaking with not so hard a rain. Decided this summer was the time to fix it. Took it down when we bought a van in May so I didn't need to be able to drive it. I don't know if I have any pictures of the rusted windshield frame on my camera, but I don't have any on my phone, so sorry. I do have a picture of the roof though. The shop I bought it from repainted the roof and did a crap job on the prep so it was bubbling up, peeling, cracking etc.







I wire wheeled the entire roof to strip the paint before sand blasting the whole thing. This is what I found under the paint. You could see the swirl marks where they wiped the roof down with something during prep that rusted the metal! Can't see it too well in this picture but I think I have some better ones on the camera at home.







I don't have any process pics of painting the roof but I sprayed it with POR-15 and then sprayed it with Raptor bed liner. Finished product turned out well. Now I don't have to worry about scratching the roof with anything.





That pic was taken at the Iron Range Off Road Park in Gilbert, MN. First time I've gone wheeling in a couple years now and had an absolute blast. Was yet again amazed at what I could drive this rig through. Things like climbing up this hill (with a little momentum) I couldn't walk up.




They even had a flex rack deal so I got to try that for the first time. Got up to between 45 and 50. Not sure what those numbers mean but I was happy.

 

I love the level of quality that you put into every piece. Top notch work.

 

You have done a lot of the mods I want to try on my XJ....great job!!

 

Thanks!

 

Found a couple pics of the roof blasting process on my flip phone.

 

Whoa a flip phone! You could sell that to some highschool kid as a "vintage antique"

I like the bedlined roof with the renegade lights. Looks great man.

 

I've got one of those Samsung Rugby MIL spec deals as my phone. Don't have to pay for a data plan and that thing is going on five years and works like the day I got it! It takes some abuse too.

 

One of the newer ones or the older ones? I have a Rugby Pro/Galaxy III (ATT) and that thing is a tank. I drop it all the time and it's completely unphased by shock, dirt, water, etc.