What did you do to your JK today?

The cost difference is usually due to the extra employees that are needed to do the paperwork and hassle with the insurance companies. The amount of time spent with an insurance claim is probably five to six times the effort of just writing you an invoice. The insurance companies are laden with red tape. It is the insurance companies that make the hurdles so high. Mostly to battle fraud. It’s a chicken or egg first issue.

An employee that takes five bathroom breaks a day and spends more time on the phone than actual work is still $25-30 an hour here in California. Both the insurance company and the glass company have the same issue. So double that cost now. lol. You got me going.

I finally ordered the replacement door entry guard stuff to replace the broken plastic junk that I had installed previously.
This time I went with the pre cut adhesive-backed grip tape version.

Anybodyhome said:

New Safelite windshield installed yesterday.
It had a nice collection of rock dings and the sand blasting was pretty evident, but the other morning it was cracked from to top to side right in front of my line of vision.
Went online to Safelite and set up the appointment, they came to me and had it done in less than an hour.
Here's the thing, though, as you're going thru their web app, they ask if it's an insurance job or are you paying out of pocket. So I tried both to see what the difference would be:
If they billed my insurance company: $1000
If I paid out of pocket: $440

Anyone care to guess why insurance rates are so high?

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Damn! I'll stick to my friends snd family contact!

RubiRecon said:

Does that plate over the vent screw up the heating and A/c flow?

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Got the vent swapped out tonight. There is a picture below that shows how the spare tire delete plate is bumped out around it to allow it to function. The license plate bolts are just inside the top corners of each side of the vent.

My original vent didn't have any flaps. I am fairly certain it was a redesign as it looked like the spare tire bracket had never been off. I did snip 1 of the vertical pieces behind the flap to get the wire plug through.

Took it out to test the Starlink mini. Anza borrego. Top of fish creek trail.

WSS said:

Took it out to test the Starlink mini. Anza borrego. Top of fish creek trail. View attachment 128876View attachment 128877View attachment 128878

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That's pretty great speeds for the middle of nowhere.

WSS said:

Took it out to test the Starlink mini. Anza borrego. Top of fish creek trail. View attachment 128876View attachment 128877View attachment 128878

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Did you go with the Roam 50 or Roam Unlimited plan? Did you mount the Starlink or just have it layin out? Great speeds and great lookin Jeep too.

JeepJeezy said:

Did you go with the Roam 50 or Roam Unlimited plan? Did you mount the Starlink or just have it layin out? Great speeds and great lookin Jeep too.

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I went with the roam 50. The mount was way too simple. I put adhesive backed Velcro on the inside of the hardtop and used non adhesive Velcro to “strap” it up against the hardtop. It worked great, it shows no obstruction when searching. Really cool to have that on the trail.

I changed the oil, rotated the tires, and installed the Power Stop Z36 pad/rotors. I'm trying out the Valvoline Restore & Protect 5w30 oil to see how it does on my 3.6 with 220k miles. I plan on changing the filter in 1k and 3k miles and then change the oil & filter again at 5k miles. I've read some really good reviews and studies on this oil. I really like the video Lake Speed Jr. did on it.

I've had great luck out of the Z36 brake kit on my TJ with 37's. I figured that if I was changing brakes, might as well try them on the JK. The picture of the rotors make it look like the big brake kit, but it is not.

Just bought a 2018 JK rubicon recon
My first Jeep.

Bought a smittybuilt xrc transmission skid.

Open the instructions…. Says I need a 2.5” lift.

What the hell …. lol.

Ok , maybe I can return it but would anyone know what I have to do to make this fit?

Jeep is completly stock. Only 18,000kms on it so it’s kinda new ish.

Reapertsm said:

Just bought a 2018 JK rubicon recon
My first Jeep.

Bought a smittybuilt xrc transmission skid.

Open the instructions…. Says I need a 2.5” lift.

What the hell …. lol.

Ok , maybe I can return it but would anyone know what I have to do to make this fit?

Jeep is completly stock. Only 18,000kms on it so it’s kinda new ish.

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The obvious. Get a 2.5" or higher lift.

Reapertsm said:

Just bought a 2018 JK rubicon recon
My first Jeep.

Bought a smittybuilt xrc transmission skid.

Open the instructions…. Says I need a 2.5” lift.

What the hell …. lol.

Ok , maybe I can return it but would anyone know what I have to do to make this fit?

Jeep is completly stock. Only 18,000kms on it so it’s kinda new ish.

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Welcome to JK world. I bought my first JK about 4 months ago. So I’m not sure what the lift involves but do your research before settling on a specific brand of lift. A 3” might be more future proof but I am not the one to be throwing out opinions at this point. Enjoy it, make sure you have plenty of time and money .

I did an odd project today. New dome light fixture. I’ll start back about a month ago when I had a nice sound system installed. The overhead sound bar had some static noise and vibration when “enjoying” the sound. I accidentally tracked it down when I switched the dome light bulb. It was a combination of the bulb loose in the holder and the actual mount and clear lens shaking. So I bought a utv led dome light off of Amazon and modded it to work in the sound bar. The switch was junk. I really did not need a switch so I disassembled the led light and soldered the pcb board with a small lump of solder making the switch “on” and then utilized the power wires in the sound bar to handle the switching.

Here are some pics of the project:

These are the main parts, I used the old mount to mark/trace the edges onto the carbon fiber patterned kydex. Not real carbon fiber but looks cool.



After I was certain the lines were close enough for government use, I ground the kydex on a belt grinder.




After fit testing, I drilled and tapped the sized kydex with 8/32 holes and a 3/8” hole in the middle to route the power lead





I used button head screws as it’s all I had in hand, the button was a little too large in diameter so I ground them slightly



Using a drill to hold the screw threads lightly, I could turn the heads down



Finished light looked and fit good




Out of the shop and into the jeep, I cleaned all the old double stick foam with denatured alcohol and made sure I had polarity correct and everything would fit check



Used some fresh gorilla double stick to hold everything in place, it sticky stuff




Then used a pair off red butt connectors to tie the led in and put it carefully up into place. Looks a little “updated” now.



Plenty bright now. Better than stock and I can listen to my Mille pro speakers rattle free!





This was the light I used, just white.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LYR93NH?tag=jkforum-20

Dirty Dog said:

The obvious. Get a 2.5" or higher lift.

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Yes I am aware of that lol.

I really just wanted to keep it stock and make the skid fit.

Fine. I’ll go get a lift.

WSS said:

Welcome to JK world. I bought my first JK about 4 months ago. So I’m not sure what the lift involves but do your research before settling on a specific brand of lift. A 3” might be more future proof but I am not the one to be throwing out opinions at this point. Enjoy it, make sure you have plenty of time and money .

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Yes I agree. Was just trying to keep it stock and make the skid fit. The more I read, everything points to getting a lift.

For what I’m doing, I’ve decided on the AEV 2.5” dual sport plus geo correction brackets and exhaust spacers.

Hopefully that allows me to add the skid and 35’s without further mods or damage / wear to any other parts.

Thanks for your reply.

Reapertsm said:

Yes I agree. Was just trying to keep it stock and make the skid fit. The more I read, everything points to getting a lift.

For what I’m doing, I’ve decided on the AEV 2.5” dual sport plus geo correction brackets and exhaust spacers.

Hopefully that allows me to add the skid and 35’s without further mods or damage / wear to any other parts.

Thanks for your reply.

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You'll want adjustable control arms instead of the brackets.

And with 35's you need to regear. You will want at least a 4.10 with 4.55 gears being better. This is assuming you have a 3.6 with an automatic.

Yes thank you.
Since the model I have is a Rubicon Recon I already have the 4:10 so should be good there.

According to AEV , I would not requires adjustable arms if I use the geometry correction brackets.

It is also a manual transmission

Reapertsm said:

Yes thank you.
Since the model I have is a Rubicon Recon I already have the 4:10 so should be good there.

According to AEV , I would not requires adjustable arms if I use the geometry correction brackets.

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Not all Rubicon's got 4.10 gears. I'd pull your VIN to verify.

I wouldn't put a lift on without adjustable control arms. Your ride, ground clearance, and alignment will be much better. Don't skip out.

Reapertsm said:

It is also a manual transmission

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Ahh, the "anti theft" feature.