Bedlining the tub
The JK carpet was a dirt and dog hair magnet so I decided to paint the tub. I went the cheap route and did it myself using a product call Plasti-Kote that I found in Wal-Mart for $40.
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First I removed the carpet, plastic trim pieces and moved the wiring looms before cleaning the tub and scuffing it with sandpaper. After wiping it down with mineral spirits I was ready to start painting.
This took me about 4 hours.
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I applied the bedliner with a brush and roller. The first of 3 coats goes on fairly thin and doesn’t cover 100%. At this point I regretted not taking the seats out.
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The second coat adheres a lot better than the first. It’s worth spending time on this coat to cover as much of the tub as possible.
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Update: 10/09/2009. I did this mod in the early summer and so far it’s held up better than I expected. There are no worn areas and hosing out the tub is so much easier than vacuuming the old carpet.
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Filmtools Video Camera Mount
After trying various in-car video camera mounts over the years I knew what I didn’t want. Nothing I’d had in the past worked 100% for a variety of reasons mostly related to stability. After some web research I found this windshield mount from Filmtools and it works very well. Hopefully it’s the last mounting system I need for a few years.
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Rugged Ridge Seat Covers
I ordered some Rugged Ridge neoprene seat covers from Phil and TrailDuty. These are not the most expensive seat covers out there but they seem perfect for what I need. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the fit and how well they seem. Time will tell, but I think these will do the job nicely.
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Hood Lift
Kathy won a hood lift kit in a raffle. This is probably not something I would have bought, however now that I have the kit installed I like how convenient it is.
The install was easy and only took about 30 minutes.
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Axle Shaft Strorage
I got tired of my spare front axle shafts being lose in the back of the Jeep and wanted to find a better ways to secure and protect them.
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I picked up a 6 feet 4 inch (inside measurement) plastic pipe and some end cap type fittings from the local hardware store. One end had a closed cap and the other a screw type cap (so I can get them out). I didn’t bother with plastic glue since they seemed pretty tight by the time I’d hammered the fittings together.
I taped up the threads on the shafts and used some old rags wrapped around the UJ part and the top of the shaft to stop them from rattling. Finally I slid the shafts in to the tube and put the caps on.
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I found some bag mounting straps that came with some MasterCraft canvas tool bags and used these to secure the tubes to the bed of the cargo area.
Basically I just drilled some 1.4” holes trough the tub and bolted the straps in place. I had to remove my relocated EVAP canister to get to some of the bolts which was a pain but it didn’t take that much longer. I also put some silicone around the holes to prevent rust.
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They take up some space but are out of the way and because there are two I can stick things on top of them. I have more elaborate plans to build a trunk with built in storage for my half door tops but for now this solved something that’s been bugging me for a while.
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Relocated Rear License Plate
I relocated my rear license plate using a Rockhard kit and an OEM part used on European JKs to blank out the place where the OEM license plate holder was located. It took a a while to do this because I wanted the wiring to be nice and clean looking.
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The first step was to locate and separate the two wires used to illuminate the OEM license plate near the rear quarter panel.
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The next step was to run the wires in some protective tube over to the other side of the Jeep, through the door opening and then attached to the tire carrier.
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The next step was to locate and reroute the 3rd brake light wires from the rear cargo door over to the tire carrier.
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Picture of the wire coupling behind the spare tire.
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Off-Road Heroes Soft-top
The stock soft-top is functionally but a pain to fold down in a hurry, basically it’s too bulky. When Off Road Heroes first came out with their soft-top I knew I wanted one and it would be the right solution for my Jeep. I wanted something less bulky, easier to remove, the option of a bikini top and a windjammer type back end. The ORH met all of these requirements and I think it looks cool.
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Updated Feb 2009:
I added a Besttop tailgate bar to eliminate the annoying way the ORH top was Velcro’ed to the tailgate. The top is now secured by the Bestop bar so I can open and close the tailgate without having to mess with Velcro.
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Power Tank and Mounting Bracket
Although one of these days I’d like to add a decent compressor for on-board air, for now went with a 10 lbs CO2 tank. I mounted it to the rear of the cage.
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DayStar Hood Wranglers
Common to all JKs is the tendency for the hood to flutter at high speeds or in strong winds.
I won some DayStar Hood Wranglers from TrailDuty and they fixed the problem
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Olympic 4x4 Jeep Safari Mirrors
I needed some mirrors to keep the Jeep legal when I remove the doors so I ordered a set of Olympic 4x4 Jeep Safari mirrors from Phil at Trail Duty. They fit on the top door hinges and only take a couple of minutes to put on or take off. They don’t function that well and are shaky but I rarely take the doors off and just needed something to make it legal since I can’t see anything out of my rear view mirrors
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Updated on 3/8/09:
Homemade mirror holders
I had some Olympic mirrors that I used to bolt on to the door hinges but they were a little shaky. On top of that I managed to snap one of the threaded ends off so I went on-line to find some replacements. I wanted something that was quick to attach but everything I found was in the $120 range and I’ve got more important things to spend money on, so I made some holders.
I idea was to come up with something like these http://www.quadratec.com/products/13023_300.htm with some type of quick release.
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I started off with a scrap OEM control arm and cut some 3 1/2” sections.
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I drilled two 8mm holes all the way through to attach the holders to the jeep and two more 8mm holes half way through to clamp the mirror stem to the holder I then tapped the clamp holes to a 3/8” thread.
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I cut a 45° angel at the top front for aesthetics and then cleaned them up ready for painting.
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After a couple of coats of primer and flat black paint I glued some rubber on the back so they won’t scratch the side of the Jeep.
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The mirror holder kit with the Olympic mirrors (I cut the threaded part of both of the mirrors).
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Mopar Floor Liners
I had Husky floor liners for about a year but they were useless so I replaced them with some floor liners from Mopar.
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Black Rubicon logo and Jeep logo
I got replaced the wrangler unlimited stickers with Jeep stickers and replaced the silver Rubicon stickers with black. No benefit other than aesthetic.
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