2017 JKU Rubicon Rhino - All Purpose Build

[BigBad408]

As promised here are the latest updates. First up was the WARN Zeon 10S Winch. I am again going to throw rocks at Genright. I can absolutely guarantee they don't install this platform in their bumpers with the hardware they provide. I also cannot for the life of me figure out why there is not a nut welded to the inside of the winch tray for the bolts from the front of the bumper to anchor to. I had to grind an open ended box wrench down to almost nothing to fit it where it needed to be and get bite on the nuts. I appreciate GenRight keeping the bumper as tight to the frame as possible, but 1/4" of room wouldn't kill anyone. Factor 55 fairlead and flatlink were used. I really like the flatlink for the "closed" system concept, even though I've never in my life seen a hook fail in rigging. "placebo" peace of mind I guess.


I'm going to display my hypocritical side with this one, the Apollointech SPOD knockoff. I am always about buying the original and all that, but I've always looked at the SPOD sideways as far as cost for what it is. I couldn't understand it. The Apollointech to me costs what this system should cost. Instructions were "normal" in that they weren't GENRIGHT awful but not great either. I haven't tied anything to it yet, ARB Compressor, my A-Pillar lights and Fridge will be tied in. I had to return my ARB Compressor after it showed up looking like it had been drug behind the UPS truck and not in it. If you were on the fence about the Apollo over the SPOD...I hate to say it...but go Apollo. SPOD cuts $100 they'll be back in the market, but until then they have some serious competition.

The voltmeter will get replaced with a G-Screen in the future (when Genesis Dual Battery gets installed). I'll probably replace the switches with single uppers down the road. That way I can be tied into an "always hot" source and when an accessory is on I'll only be burning one LED, not much draw but it will be obvious I have an accessory on. Under the hood is pretty clean. Instructions are lacking on routing, I kept the wiring tight to the firewall with the main harness and installed the breaker on the existing battery box.

 

[BigBad408]

After considering every hi lift mounting option out there....I just went ahead and did the teraflex Hi-Lift mount attached to their tire carrier.

I'm short and my wife is even shorter so Carolina Metal Masters were called on for some grab handles. I also ordered their grab bar mount and installed a RAM ball mount for my iPad.



And then solving a "squeak" problem evolved into a whole lot more. Since I purchased the Jeep every single bump resulted in a "squeak". I could not figure out for the life of me what it was. I finally figured out that the rear trackbar bracket bolt was rubbing the drivers side rear spring. The trackbar bracket with the mopar lift is wider than the factory and the bolt head hits the spring if you don't take the time to rotate the spring so the coil doesn't interfere. So I proceeded to disconnect the shock and brake line bracket to unload the spring and spin it. That's when I realized the fox shocks included with the mopar lift are damn short. They're just long enough to almost max out the stock brake line, with maybe an inch of play. After disconnecting the brake line I thought "a simple drop bracket would give me a few more inches of brake line" and sure enough, Teraflex makes one.



Then I got to thinking about how much "flex" I was leaving on the table with these short shocks. It was eating me up. A set of Teraflex Falcon 3.3's are on the way from Krawloff-road.com. The FOX shocks with the Mopar 2" lift are 23.5" fully extended and the Falcon 3.3's for 2.5-3.5" lift are 27.7" long. 4" of added articulation isn't insignificant. I'll be honest that I haven't found a whole lot of reviews on the Falcons that I didn't feel like were a free set that were sent out to get some people talking about them, so I'm interested to get my hands on them. Should be here by Monday at the latest, I'll try to get them both on and off-road for some feedback.

 

[Blue Baby Sound]

I'll be honest that I haven't found a whole lot of reviews on the Falcons that I didn't feel like were a free set that were sent out to get some people talking about them, so I'm interested to get my hands on them. Should be here by Monday at the latest, I'll try to get them both on and off-road for some feedback.

We're on our second set of Falcon 3.3 and we paid for them both (they're on our four door and two door.) Like the Falcon SS you installed, you won't be disappointed

I have the Apollointech sitting in a box waiting to be installed, thanks for pics and summary. What compressor are you going with?

 

[BigBad408]

We're on our second set of Falcon 3.3 and we paid for them both (they're on our four door and two door.) Like the Falcon SS you installed, you won't be disappointed

I have the Apollointech sitting in a box waiting to be installed, thanks for pics and summary. What compressor are you going with?

That's good to hear. I can't wait to get them on. Coming from the world of motocross and mountain biking it's bizarre to me that fully adjustable suspension is not the norm. I'm going with the ARB Twin http://store.arbusa.com/ARB-On-Boar...-Volt-Twin-Air-Compressor-CKMTA12-P21341.aspx . It's overkill for airing up and down tires but it will give me the ability to run air lockers if Dana 60's are in my future and run air tools with a small air tank.

 

[Molonlabemike]

What parts were used to hook up the ram xmount on the grab handle

 

[ratled]

What parts were used to hook up the ram xmount on the grab handle

Mike I used a Ram medium Touch Claw off the grab bar, a 3” Ram arm, the 2.5” round base and a Ram Tab Tite cradle for 10” tablets on set up

ratled

 

[BigBad408]

What parts were used to hook up the ram xmount on the grab handle

I used a Carolina Metal Masters Grab Bar with a 1" ball mount
https://www.carolinametalmasters.com/products/jk-grab-bar

and this is the RAM mount I used
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-HOL-UN8BU#compatible-devices

With this double socket ball mount
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-B-201U

 

[Molonlabemike]

I used a Carolina Metal Masters Grab Bar with a 1" ball mount
https://www.carolinametalmasters.com/products/jk-grab-bar

and this is the RAM mount I used
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-HOL-UN8BU#compatible-devices

With this double socket ball mount
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-B-201U

Perfect, thank you so much! Works pretty well?

 

[BigBad408]

Friday teaser.....

 

[BigBad408]

Falcon's arrived from KrawlOff-Road on Friday, I couldn't drag the box into the garage fast enough. Install was pretty straightforward...It is installing shocks so it's not rocket science. You have to drill out the outside of the rear shock mount to 5/8" but other than that, bolt on installation.



As I understand it Nemesis and Teraflex are pretty close, so Nemesis designed their inner flares to accept the Falcon front shock's horizontal reservoir. Perfect fit with no issues.



The main reason for me jumping from the Fox to the Falcon's was the realization of how limiting the fox shocks were in length and subsequent down travel. It has a good bit more flex now. On the rear I installed Teraflex's drop bracket on the brake line but up front I used their extended brake lines and their brake line management.



It took a little trial and error to adjust the brake line/management and ABS line to where it moved like I needed it to under full flex. Up front nothing else needed adjusted for the additional flex.



Out back the shocks just look beefy. I had to disconnect the E-Locker wiring harness from where it is retained on the differential, it was pulled taught at full droop, but other than that everything else cleared without issues. This weekend ended up filled with a few more things than I expected so I only got a quick drive in. One of my dislikes about the fox's was the wallowy feeling they had. They just seemed too soft on compression and too quick to rebound. My quick drive on the "soft" setting on the Falcons was a 100% improvement. They were firm but not stiff. There is a section road near the house that is heaved in rolling undulations that when driving across it my wife used to think I was jerking the wheel back and forth because of how much the jeep rocked. It just cruised right through this and ate it up. Hopefully next weekend is a little less eventful and I can provide some off road feedback. Overall very impressed with the build quality and initial impressions compared to the fox shocks.

 

[BigBad408]

Managed to find some dirt/mud and offroad a little this weekend. Jeep earned its first pinstripes on Texas scrub as well. ( I cringed....a lot) I don't have a whole lot of basis for comparison but the Falcons were impressive. On full soft it's a much "firmer" ride without being stiff. When you drop into an unexpected hole there isn't that massive shift of center of gravity and that momentary "oh ****" feeling. There's a lot less side to side rock and movement when running over a dry trail with existing ruts/chop in it. Proof of life photo below.

 

[Boondocker Farms]

I'm going to display my hypocritical side with this one, the Apollointech SPOD knockoff. I am always about buying the original and all that, but I've always looked at the SPOD sideways as far as cost for what it is. I couldn't understand it. The Apollointech to me costs what this system should cost.

Totally agree.......going to install ours tomorrow..........SPOD and others are too pricy for what you actually get, I was going to build my own until I found the Apollointech

 

[BigBad408]

So I somehow convinced my wife that a Genesis Dual Battery kit was an acceptable Valentine's Day present. How romantic is that!? I know "you can build it for half that" and all that... but it's 100% complete, proven and...my wife bought it.



The Genesis kit and battery tray is very well thought out and designed. Install was very smooth and their install video is absolutely fantastic. Hey GenRight...take a lesson... I chose to disconnect all the wiring harnesses from the fuse box rather than try to pull the whole thing out of the way while trying to install the new battery tray(like they say to do in their video). If you do this install....pull the whole thing out of the way. I was worried about stress on the wiring and the connectors. Jeep used a Chinese finger trap, a rubix cube and an enigma coding machine for the connectors. It's a pain to get them back in and seated properly...more on that in a minute.



I went with Odyssey batteries, they seemed the most universally well liked and well reviewed out there. I've made a few tweaks to the wiring routing from this photo to clean it up a little. Now to touch back on the disconnecting the harnesses. I finished the install, turned the key to "on", everything lit up as usual, turned the key to start....and nothing happened. ETC light came on and went out, check engine light stayed on, no codes. I checked grounds, I checked connections. I went in circles for two days wondering if I had somehow fried my Jeep. I pulled the whole system out and dropped the stock battery back in. Nothing. I called Genesis, explained what was going on. First thing he asked was "did you pull the fuse box out of the way or disconnect everything?" I told him disconnect. He said they have seen this before, the connectors are super sensitive and if one doesn't seat right, it has caused similar issues. So I disconnected and reconnected the pain in the butt connectors. Nothing. Did it again. Nothing. I was leaning on the driver side fender contemplating how much damage my Nemesis flare would do if I started bashing my head into it when I saw one of the wiring harness connectors that was relocated from the top of the stock battery tray to outside the Genesis tray. I thought "hey, that also was moved...maybe..." and sure enough the connector for the harness was loose. I clamped it back down and viola! The Jeep fired right up. The connector didn't seem very secure so I zip tied it together for good measure. I have to say I spent two days fairly stressed out worrying I had somehow caused damage. ETC light and a check engine with no code seems to vary from everything from a bad ground to a completely fried computer. I also relocated the circuit breaker for the Apollointech to the center of the hold down with some industrial Velcro. I couldn't find a better place for it.



Since I now had the power for the Apollointech, the G-Screen wiring, wiring for the ARB 50 qt and CB (that's my next update) running across the firewall I decided to put it all in some 3/4" wiremold to clean up the engine compartment. I then realized I was out of black zip ties...so ignore the gaudy white, they'll be gone shortly. I also wrapped part of the ground side of the wiring harness in protective heat wrap. The harness now sits about 3/8" above the EGR piping which gets toasty hot. The guys at Genesis somehow kept their harness closer into the battery. Mine wasn't budging now matter how much I tried to manipulate it.

If you have read my previous posts you know I bought Rigid Ignite lights for the rear bumper, only to find out I didn't have enough room behind the GenRight bumper for them. I ordered some of their A-series lights and installed last night. My ARB 50QT Fridge arrives today, I'll update in the next few days with the platform I built for the cargo area, the lights, the fridge and the Alu-Cab tilting fridge slide.

 

[ratled]

Your wife has a spark of romance in her! Nice job on the install, Shane has the BEST customer support ever.

Any chance you could fab a thicker face plate for the Ignites? Maybe some 1/4" ABS?


ratled

 

[BigBad408]

Your wife has a spark of romance in her! Nice job on the install, Shane has the BEST customer support ever.

Any chance you could fab a thicker face plate for the Ignites? Maybe some 1/4" ABS?


ratled

It would have needed to be a 5/8" piece of ABS for the ignites to work. The Genright bumper sits about 1/4" off the frame. The A-Series came out pretty well...as did the fridge! I'll post up some more detail later.