bRIBEGuy's 2000 XJ

[raf2379]

nice, gonna drive it around Boulder Creek and show it off a bit or what? I hear there is beer in a fridge located at 597 boulder creek circle

[bRIBEGuy]

nice, gonna drive it around Boulder Creek and show it off a bit or what? I hear there is beer in a fridge located at 597 boulder creek circle

Ooooh, now that's a tempting offer! 

Gotta get the license plate relocated again (third times the charm, right?), and do a bit of wiring, but it might be up for a few Langdon laps this weekend.....

[TL-Iguana]

Ooooh, now that's a tempting offer! 

might be up for a few Langdon laps this weekend.....

Laps as in driving around right? Don't stop at Immortals house.... That is definately not the lap you are looking for. His is the one with the porch light on all night, and a large cactus next to the door...

[EEP]

Nice job with the mods! I had to do a bunch of trimming on the bushwackers as well. Don't know why I bothered, after ripping both rear ones half off they don't fit so well anymore LOL. I have to admit they are tough.

[bRIBEGuy]

I think I'd cry if (when?) the flares got ripped off after the amount of work it took to make them work!

Guess I'll need wider wheel spacers (or wider tires) to get the stance back out so the fenders aren't the first thing to hit a tree!

[raf2379]

I think I'd cry if (when?) the flares got ripped off after the amount of work it took to make them work!

Guess I'll need wider wheel spacers (or wider tires) to get the stance back out so the fenders aren't the first thing to hit a tree!

come over one day and we can bend up some real fenders out of DOM

[Dingleberry]

come over one day and we can bend up some real fenders out of DOM

Which one's Dom? And why is he bent? 

[bRIBEGuy]

Planning some upcoming electrical work, and gonna work on a way to make the POS JCR license plate relocation bracket actually work reasonably.  But for now, the XJ got cleaned up a bit, and is just happy to back at home in its proper garage.

[bRIBEGuy]

And some more updates.....................

Ordered up some RotoPax swag from 4Wheel parts (horrible experiance...), and decided to keep working on the swing out.  Only to find out..................yup, you guess it, THEY DON'T FIT!!!

I contacted JCR about this, and they told me that yes they do fit.

Yes, they would........if the rear hoop and mount on the tire carrier had been welded in CENTERED as opposed to offset.






Yup, looks like one side is 18-7/8" for the opening, while the other side is 20-1/4".  JCR's  response to those pictures and an email: That range of variance is within their acceptable tolerances. 

WTF!?!?

So after almost a week of emails with JCR and no solution being offered, it was time to break out the drill and files.   Started by redrilling new mount holes, then filing them out into long ovals.




After modifying the spout on the RotoPax container a bit, and a bit more creativity, the 2 gallon container JUST fits in place (with a solid push).

[bRIBEGuy]

By this point I've now seriously regretted ordering a JCR skidplate.........not convinced I really want to give that company any more of my cash. 

Anyway, went to close up the swing out and..............oh ya, the RotoPax containers hit the Tailgate.  FML.




So, the Trim piece with the old license plate light gets pulled off.....only to reveal worn bubbling paint and surface rust.




Time for more sanding, rust converter, and bedliner, me thinks.

[bRIBEGuy]

And then it was back to electrical work........................

Unplug the rear wiring harness in the driver side rear quarter panel.  Using a multimeter figure out which wire is for the license plate light.




Splice in a new wire.




Solder it up and heatshrink.  Run the wire across to the passenger side (under the carpet).




Drill a hole in the plastic cap by the tail light.




Fish thru the power wire, and a ground wire.




Twist and shout.




Cover up with cable cover, and seal up hole with liquid electrical tape.




From here I ran the wire down a bit and zip tied it behind the bumper, then back up and to the swing out.  I added a set of plugs to it would be easier to remove the license plate mount/light....which has to be done in order to pull off the spare.






The licence plate mount itself was bent impropperly by JCR, so it didn't sit square or level.  Uhg.  And the standard mounting hols place the plate a significant distance away from the tire.  Enter more drilling and bending..........  And then, it was time to mount the included LED plate light.  Yup.......3mm mounting hardware, and 1/4" holes in the mount.  Frick...................

Spent some time fishing around in a box of RC car hardware, and came up with a solution.  Got it all mounted up, and then remembered I still needed to mount the ground wire.  Did that.









Oh ya............I mounted up the Aux reverse lights too.  Haven't done the connecting wiring yet though.......

[bRIBEGuy]

With the cut & fold rear end, I was showing a lot of tire, and in hopes of avoiding attention from crappy ticket monsters, I figured it was time to look into some mudflaps.  A quick stop at Airhawk Industries scored me these:




Next up was some quality grinder time with a piece of 2x2 L-Bracket.





Primed them up and got them mounted up.  I'm using the frame tie ins that connect the JCR bumper/side armor to the "frame".  I figure if they're strong enough to use as a jack point, then mounting mudflaps from them should be a non-issue.  :p




Cardboard templating...





And the final flaps all trimmed up.




Drilled the mounting holes in the brackets, hit 'em with some ghetto fabulous spray paint, and things were starting to come together.





And all mounted up on the Jeep.