w00t!
This mod has been documented elsewhere, but basically all it takes is tearing apart the CB, taking the LCD off (time consuming), desoldering the stock green LEDs, putting the new red ones on, and buttoning it all back up. My red lights are almost complete!
Upper retainers installed:
and how it sits in the spring:
tomorrow night is a jeep club meeting, so I probably won’t be installing the lower retainers until later this week, or this weekend.
After my limiting straps broke last weekend, I’m working on a new spring containment system. I’m basically ripping it off Iron Rock Offroad’s design (upper) (lower), and using some scrap that was left over at work. Parts made:
Attending: Chris (Mika), Scott (family), Brian, DJ (sans samborghini), Anders, North Shore Wheelers (NSW)
Damage: Brian – valve stem on rock; Chris – transmission pan leak, dented rock rail (!), scratched rocker panel, suspension limiting strap; Bubba (NSW) – valve stem on rock, rocker panel dent.
Stuck: nobody!
Anders set up camp at Sherwood Forest Campground with Dutch (NSW), Chris and DJ got in around 10pm. Started running trails around 9:30a on sat. Anders can supply trail names better than I can, but we did some pretty easy trails up to an AWESOME overlook (Quartz Mountain?), then hit up some harder stuff. A couple rock gardens. Brian tore his valve stem on the first (Gumby’s Rocks); Bubba (NSW) busted the rocker panel and valve stem on the second, longer one (Gorge). After that, we headed back to camp for lunch.
In the afternoon, we hit up some more trails. Tried the ski hill; 2 NSW guys got up it, and then Dutch could only get ~3/4 of the way up. The rest of us backed out. (Wildlife sighting – garter snake! pretty cool stuff.) We ran High Voltage (Chris’ limiting strap), followed by Tailpipe Lane. Most of the NSW group bailed after Tailpipe, and cc4x4, Dutch, and the Toyota truggy ran a couple more trails, including a long rocky trench. Climbing out of it, Chris lost brake assist (vacuum hose came loose – easy trail fix), and banged transmission pan, causing leak. After this, we called it a day and headed back to camp.
Sun. morning, we headed out and found Chris’ tranny fluid was all gone despite a temporary fix, so we headed up to Virginia and bought some ATF, filled back up, and Chris & DJ made it home ok.
Much fun was had by all. Thanks again to Anders for setting this up! Awesome cc4x4/NSW joint run! It’s a long hike, but DEFINITELY worth it. Let’s try to do it again sometime!
My electrical system has gotten to the point where it’s basically a rat’s nest of wiring, with various devices just placed on the dash, because I don’t want to mess with them. Time to redo it.
For a while, I’ve been thinking about moving the climate controls down to where the stock cubby (or ash tray on smoker’s packages) is, so I thought I’d make up a test panel, and see how things work. I’m really liking the idea of switching the two consoles around:
The new panel would hold 2 gauges (the one shown is for transmission temp), 9 switches, two 12v power outlets, and the stock seat heater switches, in addition to all the wiring. Here’s just the panel:
Happy July 4th to all my Jeep friends, and God bless America! 
A friend of mine gave me his Yaesu FT-1500m 2m ham radio the other day. He said he didn’t need it any more. Super cool
Step 1: tear apart the dash (again). 
Here’s my antenna setup:
That’s my stocker radio antenna, cut down to 19″ for 2m operation, attached to a CB stud, with RG-58A that runs through the stock antenna hole, into the cabin, to my radio.
Last night, I dialed in to a nearby repeater (146.82), and had my first chat with another operator (KC9NW)! I’m KC9QHB by the way
The only problem with the ProtoFab tire carrier is that there really isn’t that much room to store things. HOWEVER, it turns out a 30-cal ammo box fits right between the spare tire and liftgate, and is even sort of lockable!
And from the side:
Perfect for storing a tow strap and shackles
And while I’m at it, I’ve found a new (temporary) use for the stock spare tire well. Ammo can toolboxes!
So, having broken my radiator support, having gotten stuck, and watching a friend do a head-first into a tree at Apple Valley Farms, a winch bumper starts to look really good. Problem is, all of the winch bumpers on the market completely destroy the approach angle on a WJ unless it’s lifted about 6 inches in the air. 
The main reason for this is that, on current bumpers, the winch sits directly in front of the box tubing of the frame, so the bumper HAS to stick out a ton. So I’m currently looking into whether I can cut that box tube, replace it with something just as strong (or hopefully stronger), and mount the winch in there.
I want it to have a good approach angle, and also to keep as much clearance on the tires as possible. Something like this:
In order to mount the winch far enough back, I’ll have to cut the grille (not too worried about that), and move the hood latch supports:
I’m thinking of just making longer ones and running them at 45 degrees, out toward the sides of the frame.
I’ll also need to make a new radiator support. I’m tempted to go REALLY simple on this. Just a really thick DOM tube, with some flat spots welded on to hold the radiator. it looks like in the current setup, the radiator just sits on the support, with the help of 2 rubber blocks.
Thoughts? Does this look good? Bad? Am I doing something stupid? Obviously, I’m going to have to do some math to figure out how to redo that box member safely…….
