2016 JKU Rubicon Hard Rock - Jolene

[brien]

Almost 10 months since we first bought her, Jolene hit the 10k miles mark while we were driving down to Mexico for a week of exploring there. We pulled over and I took her 10k mile portrait:

She's finally starting to come together but of course the TODO list keeps getting longer and longer with every trip.


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[brien]

While driving around on the El Pinacate Reserve in Mexico checking out old volcanos and huge volcanic craters I was brutally attacked out of nowhere by a huge dust devil that decided to appear immediately on top of us giving us a nice surprise sand and gravel blasting. Thankfully my friend behind me had his dashcam rolling and caught it all on video

 

[Ubiety]

12Gal Trail Trekker

This exists??? Right on! Reading the build thread now and love where you are going with it. Thanks for the ideas! BTW - love the song Jolene, listening now :)

 

[brien]

This exists??? Right on! Reading the build thread now and love where you are going with it. Thanks for the ideas! BTW - love the song Jolene, listening now :)

I know right? Titan has since come out with a v2 model which has the same capacity but looks a bit more streamlined http://titanfueltanks.com/titan-trail-trekker-ii-4040287
Just about every time I think of my Jeep I get Dolly's Jolene stuck in my head now. It's a blessing and a curse, but mostly a blessing.

 

[brien]

Wow, I've really let this thread rot. I got so busy with other stuff that I've been putting off more updates. Here's a few more to try and catch up to present times...

Here in AZ, having branches scraping all over the vehicle is just part of the game, but with the rack I was a bit worried some could hook, so I started looking around for ideas for some DIY limb risers. Everything I looked at and came up was functional, but just didn't quite look nice enough for my taste. I kept looking and looking and looking for the perfect DIY version and finally got tired of looking and putting it off so I headed over to Offroad Elements and picked up their GOBI rack risers. I must say, they were an awesome company to be a customer of. I placed me order and the next day they called me to let me know that they were experiencing a delay and just wanted to apologize because my order would ship a day later than they expected. I'll say that again: They called to apologize about a ONE DAY DELAY. Incredible. They were so nice. A few days later my package arrived and I cracked it open. Right away I knew this was worth the price, they are put together so cleanly and look so good.

Installation was a breeze, took maybe about 20 or 30 minutes

I think they look great

 

[brien]

I also picked up some saddle bags that fit inside the rear roll bar spaces, they provide so much storage space that I was able to stick everything that was under the rear seats into these and they still have plenty of storage space still available.

At the moment the driver's side contains: two snatch straps, some d rings, winch gloves, e-tool

passenger side currently contains: 1/2" socket set, 1/2" torque wrench, winch line damper, shaker syphon hose

 

[bivouac.overland]

I was looking at these bags the other day. Who did you go through to get them?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brien]

I was looking at these bags the other day. Who did you go through to get them?

I got them from Amazon, $99 for the pair, here's a link:

 

[HankinWI]

I got them from Amazon, $99 for the pair, here's a link:

Was curious, do the bags block rear passenger vision out the windows?

 

[brien]

As mentioned earlier in the thread (I think?) I have a SuperFlow air compressor that I carry in the jeep. I love the compressor, it works great, but I swear like 25% of the time it takes to air up my tires is spent screwing on the tiny and awkward-shaped schrader valve adapter. In another thread somewhere around here I was discussing replacing this stupid valve with a quick connect adapter and then a few weeks ago I finally got around to doing just that:

Parts required:
1) Air compressor with less-than-optimal connector
2) (~$12) Standard Bore Lock-On Air Chuck (links at the bottom of this post)
3) (~$4) 1/4" hose repair kit (link at bottom of post)
4) (priceless) 10 minutes of time

first, snip off the useless connection

FIRST make sure you put a hose clamp on the line and THEN shove on a terminator from the repair kit. After the terminator is jammed inside the hose, slide up the hose clamp and tighten it up enough to keep the terminator snug. The terminator will take a bit of elbow grease to get jammed all the way into the hose.

Next you have options since this is now just a regular 3/8" hose threaded adapter. You can slap on a regular air hose quick connect here to make it more versatile, or you can do like I did and just screw the air chuck connection directly onto this end:

All ready to go! I've used it a couple times in the last few weeks and it's made a HUGE difference in how fast and easy I can fill up my tires. I no longer have to fiddle with that annoying screw-on adapter!

Hose repair kit: http://www.homedepot.com/p/HUSKY-1-4-in-Hose-Repair-Kit-5-Piece-41303HOM/205331835
Standard Bore Lock-On Air Chuck:

 

[brien]

Was curious, do the bags block rear passenger vision out the windows?

In a JKU, they do not block the passenger windows at all, I'm not certain, but I assume in a JK they would block at least some of the view. Here's a shot from the back seat of my JKU:

note that in the JKU, that "stuff" directly behind the bag adjacent to where a person's head would be is not a window, it is about a 6 in wide strip of fiberglass of the hardtop. The only windows partially blocked by the bags are the rearmost windows, which are essentially useless anyway since neither passengers nor driver can see out of them when seated

 

[HankinWI]

Cool...thanks Brien!

 

[brien]

Here in AZ the summers get pretty damn hot. In a Jeep, the head just radiates off of the freedom panels and hard top. It's like adding insult to injury. No matter how much the ice-cold AC is blowing from the vents, there's always radiant heat just beaming down from the top fiberglass. I finally had enough of it, so I picked up the MOPAR headliner and insulation kit since I had been hearing that it makes a noticeable difference.

The insert panels are really easy to install, you just clean the location where they will be installed with a bit of rubbing alcohol, then use the supplied double stick tape to slap 'em on with a bit of pressure.
freedom panels before:

freedom panels after:

The JKU kit includes inserts for both freedom panels, an insert for above the rear seat, an insert for above the rear cargo area

It even includes to side inserts that surround the rear hard top windows

As a bonus, I now finally have a place to start sticking up all these patches

 

[brien]

I forgot to mention how well these things work. We've gone from the AC never quite being able to keep up to needing to turn the AC down because it's getting too cold. There is zero heat radiated from the tops anymore

 

[Rubicon72]

Great build so far. Really interested in the headliners. Living up here in the frozen tundra...I am guessing they would be good at holding in heat as well. The freedom top is ice cold in the dead of winter in MN...it last about 9 months.

 

[brien]

Great build so far. Really interested in the headliners. Living up here in the frozen tundra...I am guessing they would be good at holding in heat as well. The freedom top is ice cold in the dead of winter in MN...it last about 9 months.

I've been impressed at how much they change the internal temperature of the jeep. It's made an awesome difference. Here's the ones I picked up, they are the official MOPAR ones, although there are some other companies that make similar versions, possibly for less money
http://www.justforjeeps.com/jkwrhahe.html

 

[Mr.Mango]

Hi Brien. Love this write up. I have a 2010 JKUR and I am always looking for ways to improve it. This whole thread has been very useful. The compressor hack (I have a Smittybilt 5.65CFM) is exactly what I need to do.
It has the same fitting as the one you replaced. Just a pain and your fix is so simple. Thanks!
Rig looks great.

 

[Rubicon72]

I've been impressed at how much they change the internal temperature of the jeep. It's made an awesome difference. Here's the ones I picked up, they are the official MOPAR ones, although there are some other companies that make similar versions, possibly for less money
http://www.justforjeeps.com/jkwrhahe.html

Jesus MOPAR does not mess around with that price...

 

[GreggNY]

Really nice build so far with a lot of thoughtful ideas. I've never seen the roll bar bags before but will probably be picking up a set now

 

[brien]

Hi Brien. Love this write up. I have a 2010 JKUR and I am always looking for ways to improve it. This whole thread has been very useful. The compressor hack (I have a Smittybilt 5.65CFM) is exactly what I need to do.
It has the same fitting as the one you replaced. Just a pain and your fix is so simple. Thanks!
Rig looks great.

Thank you!