"Bruce" the 2014 Jeep JKUR Build Thread

[KlausVanWinkle]

Happy Death Valley Thanksgiving.

Pleasant Canyon Loop

Titus Canyon

 

[shays4me]

Nice photography!

 

[Comanche Scott]

Looks like an awesome trip! :beer:

 

[kojackJKU]

What other rigs were with you on the trip, Looked like an awesome time!

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

I was solo for the first two days. Then I was with an 80-Series on 35s, 4 100-Series, a 200-Series and me.

 

[kojackJKU]

cool, the rig in the middle is the best. haha.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

I'll have to post a more detailed most about all the hidden mods. But here are some quick updates in the mean time.

I used the Teraflex antenna mount to attach my 2m Ham radio antenna. The bracket is designed for thinner CB antennas. So I had to drill out the top hole to fit the ham antenna mount. To get a better ground, I removed the powdercoating from the outside of the bottom holes where the bolts contact the surface. The antenna cable routes through the rubber passenger side tailgate grommet, through the tailgate, behind the cargo area plastic and under the carpet to the head unit under the passenger seat.

Anyone who's blown a front diff on the trail with me, knows that I tend to bring along every tool known to man. Without drawers or extra space, I used this post to consolidate my onboard tool kit to just the essentials. 4 tool bags are now 2 that fit in the underfloor bin in the cargo area. I left out a hammer since my ax has one built in and is always in the Jeep

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

Missing my ARB OBA set up, I spent way too much time taking apart my old MV50 air compressor last week. Plans to create a dual MV50 OBA set up turned into a ported and rewired MV50, which turned into non functioning MV50 and a bag of junk to return to Home Depot. Learn from the mess on my kitchen table. Don't mod your MV50. Just count your blessings when it works or buy something better. Next stop, 12v Puma air compressor.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Bummer! Sorry to read about the compressor failure

It seems like it's luck of the draw. Which is typical of cheap Chinese product. After I finished the mods and upgrades on the one mounted in the old Scout, it does work really well though.
Here is the first one I modified. You can see in the first picture the head is slightly different from yours.
The second one I did was slightly different again. Also found one of the crimp connectors missing for the positive lead, and a bunch of little things that would have caused premature failure.
Did a *bunch* of work to make it run well. Basically disassembled the whole thing, and put it together like it should have been done.
.

.
Just before installing it as an OBA system on the old Scout

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

Yup. That's what I did too. The cylinder was really dirty also. My problem was I ported the head too far so it didn't hold pressure. And when resoldering the motor leads, the bare wire touched the casing. I never started it but I figured it would short out. I tried putting my ported head on a new one. That's how I tested it. Also, installing the larger 1/4" NPT fitting cracked the head. I put it back together and threw it in the junk drawer.

The replacement one was missing the O-ring at the bottom of the cylinder and leaked. I used the O-ring from the old one for the trip, then returned it to amazon afterward. I hope the Puma will fit in the engine bay.

I did a little black friday shopping for the Jeep and got the Evo Protek skid system for $339. Those will probably go on this weekend.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

If you've been reading this thread, and I hope you have, you know I've been trying to figure out what to do with the suspension. After talking to Teraflex extensively, I swapped in some front 2dr 1.5" coil springs and some rear 4dr 1.5" coil springs. This was supposed to give me a 1" lift front and rear as well as more load capacity.

This turned out not to be true. Initially, it was 1" higher front and rear. But the driver's side was 1/2-inch taller than the passenger side and the Jeep sat almost level. I put a bundle of firewood, camp chairs, sleeping pads, a bin of food, fridge and camp kitchen in the back seat and cargo area and the rear end sank 2". This ruined the breakover angle and caused me to high center on small ledges twice. The negative rake was so bad that oncoming drivers flashed me with their high beams the entire way home thinking my low beams were my high beams.

I swapped the stock springs back in during a rare Santa Monica flood. And now I'm trying to return these springs to Northridge/Teraflex. I'm assuming mine were defective because they didn't provide the stated lift, the linear spring rate couldn't handle any load and it generally drove like crap. Once I swapped the stock coil springs back in the stance immediately corrected itself even with a load in the back. Time to wait for the AEV lift.

Teraflex low rider suspension:

 

[Comanche Scott]

Really valuable information! Thanks for posting this. :beer:
I'm very interested in how your skid plates work out.
How is your evap canister holding up? Any thoughts on a relocation, or skid plate for it?

 

[DEFENDERBEAM]

what model antenna did you install? how long is it?

I installed a diamond antenna, and it supposedly doesn't need additional grounding, and seems to work fine.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

what model antenna did you install? how long is it?

I installed a diamond antenna, and it supposedly doesn't need additional grounding, and seems to work fine.

Mine is a diamond. That might be true. The mount is pretty extensive. Maybe creating a ground is more for CB.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

what model antenna did you install? how long is it?

I installed a diamond antenna, and it supposedly doesn't need additional grounding, and seems to work fine.

I don't think I hit it. But I was planning on relocating it. My friend had the protek skids and loves them. I keep hitting the transmission crossmember. And the proteks help protect that.