It was not as straight forward as I would have been lead to believe. The first issue I ran into (which was not fault of SPOD) was that the previous owner had completely destroyed the two screws that hold the center Footman's Loop for holding down the freedom tops on this JK. After calling local jeep dealership to get new ones and being told they are not a dealer serviceable item (what!?!), I found some replacements that were not perfect but would do. Just for the record, the best you can find at the local hardware store is probably Button Head Cap Screws with an allen wrench socket in M5x20mm.
After getting that mess taken care of I went to mount the SPOD SE 8 switch unit above the mirror and found that when closing the center freedom top latch that the latch hits two of the connectors in the SPOD unit. This did not make me happy considering the cost but I replaced the 90 degree connectors with straights. This allowed me to bend them down a bit to clear the latch but also pushed them into the factory plastic that runs above the mirror.
You can see here the two I replaced.
So this jeep is a manual and the grommet they want you to shove the cable through is a total pain to get to. I guess I should have gotten an automatic. But this brought me to my biggest issue which was the placement of the source. I already have an on board air system manifold I built in the location that SPOD wants to mount the source box.
![20160806_155849[1].jpg](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/305/305182-06a7430993871e9a2734fa17121863b3.jpg "20160806_155849[1].jpg")
The bracket that I made that mounts everything is higher than the bolts on the fender and takes up the area that SPOD wanted to use.
So I decided to remove the Blue Sea fuse panel and mount the SPOD source in its place. By modifying the SPOD mounting bracket, I was able to get it to mount to my manifold mounting bracket. It actually turned out to be pretty clean.
Clearance to the hood is good and everything is fitting up nice. I figure I am going to run the compressor off the SPOD for the time being until I run out of switches. At that point then I have to decide how to wire the compressor back to the battery. Here is how I left it today.
One thing I did notice when closing the source box up today, was that there is a spot to wire in signals from the high and low beam headlight switch. This signal can turn off switches #1 and #2. Thinking I may end up putting the lights pointing forward on the rack on these two circuits to have them actuate with the high beam light switch. Would be convenient for quickly turning the lights off when approaching another vehicle.
After getting that mess taken care of I went to mount the SPOD SE 8 switch unit above the mirror and found that when closing the center freedom top latch that the latch hits two of the connectors in the SPOD unit. This did not make me happy considering the cost but I replaced the 90 degree connectors with straights. This allowed me to bend them down a bit to clear the latch but also pushed them into the factory plastic that runs above the mirror.
You can see here the two I replaced.
So this jeep is a manual and the grommet they want you to shove the cable through is a total pain to get to. I guess I should have gotten an automatic. But this brought me to my biggest issue which was the placement of the source. I already have an on board air system manifold I built in the location that SPOD wants to mount the source box.
The bracket that I made that mounts everything is higher than the bolts on the fender and takes up the area that SPOD wanted to use.
So I decided to remove the Blue Sea fuse panel and mount the SPOD source in its place. By modifying the SPOD mounting bracket, I was able to get it to mount to my manifold mounting bracket. It actually turned out to be pretty clean.
Clearance to the hood is good and everything is fitting up nice. I figure I am going to run the compressor off the SPOD for the time being until I run out of switches. At that point then I have to decide how to wire the compressor back to the battery. Here is how I left it today.
One thing I did notice when closing the source box up today, was that there is a spot to wire in signals from the high and low beam headlight switch. This signal can turn off switches #1 and #2. Thinking I may end up putting the lights pointing forward on the rack on these two circuits to have them actuate with the high beam light switch. Would be convenient for quickly turning the lights off when approaching another vehicle.