My JKuR build

I decided it wasnt worth going to the dealer for them to tell me that the sawybar motor or its connection was shot (i already knew that as the programmers returns a code saying it cannot communicate with it).
Yesterday I ordered the evo rubicon manual swaybar disconnect  from northridge4x4 80.99 shipped. It should be here next Thursday by end of day and hopefully pull the bumper and install it that same night.

i'll have to deal with the 'sway bar' flashing light on the dash some other time but at about 120 (quoted) to turn it off, it can wait until it burns out or its at the dealer for some other reason.

So i finally got around to installing the CB using a quick Disconnect coming straight from the battery for power (initially thought of splicing into the Cig lighter but it was easier to go form battery)
Here are the pics:







Ran the coax all the way to the front along the factory wire looms and then across the front passenger floor.
I cut the CB's wiring off after its inline fuse added a quick connector to those ends and did the same to the other ends (ground and power)
will probably tape up the quick connect wires with black tape and or a small wire loom to just clean it up a bit

a little vacuuming wouldn't hurt either lol  

Also i haven't gotten a mount for the radio I haven't decided if either velcro it to the shifter panel or get a bracket that goes on that screw . using the bracket would be having to undo it every time i remove the cb


All cleaned up




I turned on the cb for testing i could hear people on a few channels and am still trying to figure out squelch and RF .. Does any one have a SWR meter that i could use to tune my antenna?

Nice install...very clean. I did the same thing with quick disconnects on the passenger side of the center console. I mounted my bracket through the tub with a couple of screws so that when I remove the bracket the carpet covers up the tiny holes

Are the JK spare tire carriers plastic? I wouldnt think that would provide a good ground for the cable. A couple of guys in the club have SWR's

Tonellin wrote:
Are the JK spare tire carriers plastic? I wouldnt think that would provide a good ground for the cable.  A couple of guys in the club have SWR's

The carrier is metal. I sanded down the powder coating on the antenna bracket to get better contact and just incase im thinking of getting 10 gauge wire to make a ground strap and route it through the tail gate to the body

I too was worried about a good ground, I did the same thing and ran the wire from the swing out tire carrier to the roll bar.

Yup, we ran it the exact same way. It took a little bit of dremeling inside of the bolt hole to get good ground contact, but the carrier did just fine. You can use a multi-meter with another definite ground to confirm it. (If you don't own a multi-meter yet, definitely grab one. One of the better tool investments you can make)

CrawlingForward wrote:Yup, we ran it the exact same way.  It took a little bit of dremeling inside of the bolt hole to get good ground contact, but the carrier did just fine.  You can use a multi-meter with another definite ground to confirm it.  (If you don't own a multi-meter yet, definitely grab one.  One of the better tool investments you can make)

Agreed on the multimeter. If you plan on using it for just basic tasks, harbor freight usually has a coupon for a free multi meter with a purchase.

Note that using the continuity function to check to make sure you haven't shorted the antenna positive to chassis will probably give a false positive.. Better to check the resistance manually cause the resistance of the antenna itself is really low. I thought I had a short when I was installing mine, but uh, I didn't.

If you are going on the run this weekend, I have an SWR that you can use

Andrew Miller wrote:If you are going on the run this weekend, I have an SWR that you can use

Yea i'll be there early/on-time to be able to tune the antenna. Thanks!!

If any one has a multi-meter that they would like to poke at my jeep with then feel free to join on my cb/antenna set up experiment
I dont think i'll be able to get one by the end of the week

I can bring my multimeter.

Thanks Andrew and Dongalonga for offering your devices

Lately i have been feeling a few hard downshifts from the auto tranny and just broke the 90k mile mark a few weeks back, given that i am not the original owner and I dont know if the PO did a trans oil change which would have been due around the 60k mile mark I figured i should do it anyways. The process doesnt seem to easy as it involves dropping the pan to change the filter.

Last night i checked the oil level after being at normal operating temp and it was about half way between low/good but with very little hint of pink.I was hesitant to just 'top it off' so I scheduled to bring it in to a dealer and was quoted roughly about $2-250.

Dropping an auto Trans pan isn't difficult. Do it yourself and save some money.

dongalonga wrote:Dropping an auto Trans pan isn't difficult. Do it yourself and save some money.

It's not too difficult from what i've read but i couldn't wait until the weather got better (since it was raining/snowing all weekend). I took it in saturday morning and was quoted 225 (the only charged 1 hour labor plus parts, oil etc..) then found my oil pan to be rusted and if left on it would probably start to leak soon so i had them replace it right there. So 265 out the door, not happy about having spent the $ on an oil change but i'm glad i didnt have to spend the 2 hours on the ground doing it, on the plus side i've noticed about 1.5 mpg increase around town in the 100 miles driven over the weekend and no hard downshifts.

Nobody wants a transmission issue, glad to hear that the transmission is doing ok.

Good to hear it's running right.

I have done any mods to the jeep in a while and its mainly because i cant decide on what i want to do and also the pockets aren't so deep given other plans. recently im getting alot of noise from the tailgate area and i think it may be the weight of the 35' tire sitting on it is beating it up, so the solutions are:
1-get rid of the tire/carrier and leave it at home until going outside the city (which is a pain since i dont want to be wondering 'am i going to nee a spare') or let air out of the spare and throw it in the 'trunk' area (not optimal for space use aka carrying groceries )
2- get the teraflex hinged carrier at about $650-700. might as well get a full bumper + carrier for that price since my current one was dinged at OFR last yr
3-if i get a bumper + carrier then the jeep will be dragging its ass since it will likely sag the rear (it only has a spacer for the rear) so i will have to get 2.5' coils(the front already has these) and maybe brake line extensions.
or
4- include option 1 plus get a proper lift at 3.5" likeRK 3.5 flex (minus the front track bar since i would go with synergy and the rear bracket since i have the TF bracket already) and deal with a dinged bumper as a 'character' piece

Did you do the tailgate reinforcement kit?

dongalonga wrote:Did you do the tailgate reinforcement kit?

i didnt do the reinforcement kit ( i assume its the one from mbrp that your are talking about)
This looks like a gimmick or maybe a band aid to me fro two reasons:
1- its not actually relieving the stress on the tailgate from the added weight (everything is still on the sheet metal going through the simple stock hinge)
2-if this actually worked other manufacturers would have similar items instead of full hinged/carriers or bumper/carriers

What i did was increase the bumpstops to prevent the additional tire wobble and keep it tight.

The problem with the JK is the opposite of the TJ. The sheetmetal of the actual tailgate is flimsy and needs reinforcing. The hinges are relatively strong.

Ordered a Bestop TrekTop NX and should be here by the weekend. This Thursday i will be ordering new front inner axle seals along with a Poison Spyder diff cover (getting tired of carrying diff fluid with me everywhere). Will just use the standard oil RTV seal rather than lubelocker (i did my diff oil when i purchased the jeep 2 years ago and no leaks using RTV so i don't see any reason to switch)

Great choice on the top, those looks so good on the JKU's

Good luck on the inner axle seals, let me know how much of a pain it is so I can put off doing mine even longer haha

I love my lubelockers. No scraping the gasket off the housing or diff cover and bolts - for me the $20 or so for lubelockers allows me to pop the diff cover off more frequently since you can reuse them

Tonellin wrote:Great choice on the top, those looks so good on the JKU's

Good luck on the inner axle seals, let me know how much of a pain it is so I can put off doing mine even longer haha  

I love my lubelockers.  No scraping the gasket off the housing or diff cover and bolts - for me the $20 or so for lubelockers allows me to pop the diff cover off more frequently since you can reuse them

Yea, not having to scrape the rtv might be worth it.Considering this now

Do it. You won't regret it. Just follow the torquing procedure and you will be both leak and RTV free!