Off-Road Ranger I
2016 JKU Rubicon Hard Rock - Jolene
- Thread starter brien
- Start date
Advocate III
Off-Road Ranger I
Thanks! This reminds me, I should post some more updates. I've made a few other changes that are still not reflected here yet
Off-Road Ranger I
Ok, time to get this thread a bit more up-to-date.
A few more bits have been added to the rack over the past few months. We always have an e-tool in the rig, but i've been meaning to pick up a more realistically usable shovel to have for actual recovery situations, so I picked up the ever-popular $22 Razor-Back 26" super socket shovel and a pair of quick fists and slapped it all up on the side of the rack. I love the location. easy to get to, but still out of the way
A few more bits have been added to the rack over the past few months. We always have an e-tool in the rig, but i've been meaning to pick up a more realistically usable shovel to have for actual recovery situations, so I picked up the ever-popular $22 Razor-Back 26" super socket shovel and a pair of quick fists and slapped it all up on the side of the rack. I love the location. easy to get to, but still out of the way
Off-Road Ranger I
Next up was an upgrade we've had our eyes on for quite a while since this desert heat is unrelenting, and having shade is a major deal. We picked up a Foxwing awning from Rhino-Rack/Oztent. Since I knew ordering brackets from GOBI was going to be a total shit-show with months of waiting and zero communication, I looked around for alternatives. Thankfully Fourtreks makes mounting brackets for about $100, and the quality is fantastic
installation was a bit tricky to do solo, but with strategic use of bungee cords I was able to manage without damaging the awning or the vehicle.
Fully deployed:
The brackets aren't perfect for the GOBI Stealth rack, unfortunately, so this left the awning mounted with a slight backwards lean. It works for now, but I think i'm going to email Fourtreks and see if they can mill me some that raise up a bit more which is needed for the stealth rack. I forgot to take a photo of the lean when i was installing it, but you can see it in this photo:
When deployed this means that one side of the awning is about 2 feet higher than the opposite rear swing-out side and then i fiddle with the support poles to level it all out, which puts a bit more stress on the rear swing-out arms that i'm comfortable with long-term.
installation was a bit tricky to do solo, but with strategic use of bungee cords I was able to manage without damaging the awning or the vehicle.
Fully deployed:
The brackets aren't perfect for the GOBI Stealth rack, unfortunately, so this left the awning mounted with a slight backwards lean. It works for now, but I think i'm going to email Fourtreks and see if they can mill me some that raise up a bit more which is needed for the stealth rack. I forgot to take a photo of the lean when i was installing it, but you can see it in this photo:
When deployed this means that one side of the awning is about 2 feet higher than the opposite rear swing-out side and then i fiddle with the support poles to level it all out, which puts a bit more stress on the rear swing-out arms that i'm comfortable with long-term.
Enthusiast II
Off-Road Ranger I
Off-Road Ranger I
For easier access to the rack contents, especially when we have the big plano cases up there, i installed some door hinge foldout foot steps. I decided to just go with one on each side for now since I don't have the front insert for the rack yet, so there's not really a need for steps on the front doors just yet
Off-Road Ranger I
I also picked up some X-Bull recovery tracks. The price is actually sane on these, and they seem really durable so far. They are rated for 10 tons. They stack at 4 1/8", which is almost an inch more than stacked Maxtrax (3.3"), but for $200 less i'm ok with that. I would like to figure out a more long-term mounting solution, but for now, bungeed to the rack will do just fine
Off-Road Ranger I
Next up I wanted to tackle some annoyances with the interior. Mainly the stock locations for the USB ports. The stereo system has an auxiliary input USB port located inside the center console between the front seats. There's also a power-only USB input on the front panel of the stereo head unit. Daimler cripples this USB port because they charge extra for the feature of being able to connect your phone in case you don't spring for the additional "hands-free" remote module, which includes the poorly located aux port. The results of all this stupidity is that I needed to put my phone in the center console out of sight if i wanted to connect via USB instead of Bluetooth, or if i wanted it mounted on the dash and just charging through the built-in usb port, i had an ugly wire running up the front of the stereo head unit, which would more often than not get hooked around the shift knob and then violently ripped out of the socket if i switched gears without noticing. Anyway, i'm rambling. The short story is: i had to move things around because i was tired of the USB locations.
The first step was an evening of spelunking and taking things apart to see what parts I would need to purchase and what bits I could reuse.
Thankfully the phone connectivity remote unit for uconnect has a standard USB-mini input, so i wouldn't need to cut into any factory wiring.
I ordered a bunch of cables and while waiting for those to arrive, my mind started wandering... this is where we deviate from what you thought this post was about, that post will come next, but for now... while I had this all ripped apart, I figured I might as well wire up a new USB charging port for use by people sitting in the rear seats. (At this time, my mind also wired to a more involved project, which i'll cover in yet another post)
Since we recently had our third child, and she's only a couple months old, my wife has been mostly sitting in the back passenger seat next to the baby whenever we go on camping trips. Having USB ports back there would be more convenient for her, and I'm sure much appreciated.
The most time consuming part of this was figuring out a place to mount a new 12v USB panel where it would actually fit. There is surprisingly little open interior-space on some of these dash and console panels, which i guess makes sense. After trying a few locations and finding out there wasn't enough room, i settled on the area directly on the back of the center console, just above the cup holders and below the little led light for the cup holders.
I had decided on this location at first, but immediately canned it after looking inside and figuring "there's no way it will fit". After the other locations i attempted also came up as failures, I decided to look again at the center of the rear panel. I even made a clay plug to smoosh inside to figure out the actual volume available. turns out, there was just enough space for my 12v panel to fit.
The other benefit of this location is that is was very close to the 12v wiring that leads to the power port inside the main storage bin of the center console, so I could tap right into that, so that's where I started.
first a quick splice into the power and ground:
Then I soldered on my additional wires and cleaned it all up with some shrink wrap on the splice:
Next was the most difficult part emotionally. This is the point of no return, if i screw anything up here, there's no way to recover, and the modification could end up an ugly disaster.
first the pilot hole (my heart pounding)
then the hole drill to take it up to the size i needed
Success! Ok, at this point my heavy sweating stopped and my heartbeat returned to normal. I hadn't screwed up the drilling, and everything was looking good.
All that was needed was to screw in the new USB panel and connect my new power splice to it
I'm super happy with out it turned out. I think many people would see it and not even know it was added later. And of course, I tested to make sure it worked:
This is actually the best USB charger in the vehicle now. The bottom USB port of this new connection is 2.1 Amps, which will even charge an iPad
The first step was an evening of spelunking and taking things apart to see what parts I would need to purchase and what bits I could reuse.
Thankfully the phone connectivity remote unit for uconnect has a standard USB-mini input, so i wouldn't need to cut into any factory wiring.
I ordered a bunch of cables and while waiting for those to arrive, my mind started wandering... this is where we deviate from what you thought this post was about, that post will come next, but for now... while I had this all ripped apart, I figured I might as well wire up a new USB charging port for use by people sitting in the rear seats. (At this time, my mind also wired to a more involved project, which i'll cover in yet another post)
Since we recently had our third child, and she's only a couple months old, my wife has been mostly sitting in the back passenger seat next to the baby whenever we go on camping trips. Having USB ports back there would be more convenient for her, and I'm sure much appreciated.
The most time consuming part of this was figuring out a place to mount a new 12v USB panel where it would actually fit. There is surprisingly little open interior-space on some of these dash and console panels, which i guess makes sense. After trying a few locations and finding out there wasn't enough room, i settled on the area directly on the back of the center console, just above the cup holders and below the little led light for the cup holders.
I had decided on this location at first, but immediately canned it after looking inside and figuring "there's no way it will fit". After the other locations i attempted also came up as failures, I decided to look again at the center of the rear panel. I even made a clay plug to smoosh inside to figure out the actual volume available. turns out, there was just enough space for my 12v panel to fit.
The other benefit of this location is that is was very close to the 12v wiring that leads to the power port inside the main storage bin of the center console, so I could tap right into that, so that's where I started.
first a quick splice into the power and ground:
Then I soldered on my additional wires and cleaned it all up with some shrink wrap on the splice:
Next was the most difficult part emotionally. This is the point of no return, if i screw anything up here, there's no way to recover, and the modification could end up an ugly disaster.
first the pilot hole (my heart pounding)
then the hole drill to take it up to the size i needed
Success! Ok, at this point my heavy sweating stopped and my heartbeat returned to normal. I hadn't screwed up the drilling, and everything was looking good.
All that was needed was to screw in the new USB panel and connect my new power splice to it
I'm super happy with out it turned out. I think many people would see it and not even know it was added later. And of course, I tested to make sure it worked:
This is actually the best USB charger in the vehicle now. The bottom USB port of this new connection is 2.1 Amps, which will even charge an iPad
Off-Road Ranger I
Ok, with that new USB port out of the way, I was ready to continue on my relocation of the stereo USB aux port. Originally I was going to remove the port from the center console and reinstall it on the dash somewhere. After opening it all up and looking at it all, there was no way the existing port could be fit in the dash anywhere. They simply just wasn't enough interior room for the internal part of the aux port. It was surprisingly large, about 1" x 1.5" x 2". So I scrapped that plan and found a much smaller USB panel that I figured i'd be able to mount in a discrete location on the dashboard.
It arrived and I took a bunch of measurements. My hope was to find a spot where the port would be oriented for horizontal entry, if it faced vertically, i was worried it would more easily be filled with dust or dirt. After some careful measuring, I found I could fit it inside the dash's center storage bin if I located it towards either side, and down about 19mm from the top.
I transferred my measurements to the dash component and cut out a small hole just using a utility knife.
panel in place:
I used a USB-mini to USB-A female to create a more useable connection to the remote uconnect module:
At this point I played around with the additional cables that I had picked up. I had found a USB y-connect cable that said that it would provide one powered USB lead and one power & data USB lead. I figured with that I would be able to still connect up the port inside the center console, and just use it for charging only. Unfortunately, after i hooked all the wires up to test it out, the splitter only sent power (and data) to one of the Y branches. the other was not even getting power. I suspect it has to do with the stereo's usb module only sending out 1 Amp, but at this point i was to impatient to investigate further so decided to just skip the splitter and wire up just the one port in the new location - leaving the center console port dead for the time being, which was the original plan anyway.
The USB-mini to USB-A fit just perfectly in a small bit of dead space right next to the mounted uconnect module which is located behind the panel below the climate controls panel:
And with the dash back in place, I couldn't be happier with the new location:
It arrived and I took a bunch of measurements. My hope was to find a spot where the port would be oriented for horizontal entry, if it faced vertically, i was worried it would more easily be filled with dust or dirt. After some careful measuring, I found I could fit it inside the dash's center storage bin if I located it towards either side, and down about 19mm from the top.
I transferred my measurements to the dash component and cut out a small hole just using a utility knife.
panel in place:
I used a USB-mini to USB-A female to create a more useable connection to the remote uconnect module:
At this point I played around with the additional cables that I had picked up. I had found a USB y-connect cable that said that it would provide one powered USB lead and one power & data USB lead. I figured with that I would be able to still connect up the port inside the center console, and just use it for charging only. Unfortunately, after i hooked all the wires up to test it out, the splitter only sent power (and data) to one of the Y branches. the other was not even getting power. I suspect it has to do with the stereo's usb module only sending out 1 Amp, but at this point i was to impatient to investigate further so decided to just skip the splitter and wire up just the one port in the new location - leaving the center console port dead for the time being, which was the original plan anyway.
The USB-mini to USB-A fit just perfectly in a small bit of dead space right next to the mounted uconnect module which is located behind the panel below the climate controls panel:
And with the dash back in place, I couldn't be happier with the new location:
Member III
Looking good so far. Redoing the USB stuff in the dash is on my list as well. I already covered the kids and the wife with some that I installed in each of the B pillars. I like how you did yours in the back of the center console.
Enthusiast III
A must!While we were on that trip where that last posted photo was taken, my 4 year old was playing in the distance at the side of the creek that ran along side the campsite. I heard him yell something, and then noticed him start casually walking back towards us. He came up to me and in the most nonchalant manner said "I cut my finger". I glanced down as he raised his hand - it was just blood. blood everywhere. Apparently he had found a large piece of glass and was throwing it around trying to break it more. Thankfully after we cleaned it up, we were able to see that despite the amount of blood that was initially covering his hand, his actual wound was a fairly small stellate laceration that we were able to manage with bandaids, which is good, because that's all we had with us.
It was a pretty big wake up moment for me, since at that campsite we were probably a good hour and a half away from any kind of civilization. I had been planning on getting a proper med kit in the jeep for quite some time, but thanks once again to my habit of analysis paralysis, I never did get around to buying one. The moment we got home from that trip I placed an order for the Outer Limit Supply Weekend Warrior kit, along with a mounting bracket that I could use once the GOBI rack arrived. The kit comes with too much to list here (here's the full list), and we've added a few additional items like Quickclot, a LifeStraw and some allergy medicine that we might need.
Off-Road Ranger I
It was beautiful being in all that golden tall grass in Agua Fria, although it was slightly unnerving realizing that if a wildfire broke out we'd be absolutely screwed. I definitely need to schedule another trip up to that part of the state.
In other news, I really need to update this thread, wowzers...
This is true lol of the fire breaking out that is, but wow that grass just looked like something out of a dream man! lol so cool.
Off-Road Ranger I
I meant to post this a while back, but forgot until just now. Here's a talk I gave at a conference about some technical customization I did to Jolene where I hacked into the CAN bus and hardwired a RaspberryPi directly into the vehicle's communication network.
WARNING: Kind of a technical talk, but may be of interest or value to some of you. Feel free to reach out to me if you want more details or have any questions. If you try any of this, note the disclaimer i call out in the video - It's not my fault if you accidentally kill your vehicle or another person.
ENJOY!
WARNING: Kind of a technical talk, but may be of interest or value to some of you. Feel free to reach out to me if you want more details or have any questions. If you try any of this, note the disclaimer i call out in the video - It's not my fault if you accidentally kill your vehicle or another person.
ENJOY!
Off-Road Ranger I
Since I haven't posted a proper update in a while, here's something of significance! Some relatively major changes have been done to the tires and suspension.
Last week I put in a 2.5" AEV DualSport XT lift to raise us up a bit more, and yesterday morning I put in OME heavy load rear coils. This has been a long time coming, and now that I've installed it, i'm not exactly sure why I waited so long (2 years). The purpose of the lift was two-fold:
Last week I put in a 2.5" AEV DualSport XT lift to raise us up a bit more, and yesterday morning I put in OME heavy load rear coils. This has been a long time coming, and now that I've installed it, i'm not exactly sure why I waited so long (2 years). The purpose of the lift was two-fold:
- I wanted to (and did!) put on some slightly larger tires. I swapped out the stock BFG KM2 tires with some BFG KO2 285/75/17 (~34")
- I wanted to put Old Man Emu Heavy Load (OME 2620) rear coils in to help solve our sagging issue when we're fully loaded down. We also purchased an expedition trailer which will add even more weight to the rear.
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