theksmith 2,785 Posted December 28, 2021 thanks @4x4tographer for this moody shot of Gadget cresting a long climb on the Hieroglyphic Mountain Loop! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 2,785 Posted January 5 (edited) Aimee got me 2 new Rigid Ignite Series (flood pattern) LED lights for christmas. i already had a pair in the diffused pattern, which work great to light up the sides of the trail near the Jeep. i wanted these new ones to fill in the front corners better between where the diffused ones and the headlights hit. i really like that the tiny size of these make for a somewhat stealth install. a couple examples of what exactly these are lighting up below. shots on the left are headlights only, shots on the right are with the ditch & cornering lights on too. in this animated overlay, frame #1 is low beams only, #2 adds the ditch & cornering lights, and #3 adds the high beams as well as my rock lights. i ended up pointing the new cornering lights slightly more forward after this test. FYI, the headlights are ProComp and the rock lights are custom wired 12v COB LED "DRL" strips. i'm very content with both the pattern and total amount of light i have for the typical night wheeling situations i encounter. Edited January 5 by theksmith 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 1,924 Posted January 5 Looking good! Those Ignites are surprisingly bright for their compact size. I honestly never noticed the pair you had on Gadget until you flipped them on during a night run. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgaz 399 Posted January 5 Your 3 part animation is the best light comparison I’ve ever seen. You should think about getting into the IT field. 2 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 2,785 Posted January 10 ran across this photo @kaspily took of Gadget on Turkey Creek trail a couple months ago - did some stylizing and i like how it came out: 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 2,785 Posted January 14 (edited) a tiny upgrade... soon after getting Gadget, i did a "delete" on the windshield fold-down-bumpers and footman-loop, just using painted bolts and washers to fill the holes. then at some point i upgraded to a pair of Vector Offroad Hood UFO's for the larger holes. well i was on the Vector Offroad site again recently and noticed they had a mini version for the smaller holes now... so i bought a pair to replace the 2 other sad little bolt heads. a quick couple spray coats to paint-match, and now there's one less thing to tingle my OCD spidey-senses. Edited January 14 by theksmith 5 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trail Toy 1,039 Posted January 14 (edited) I removed my bumper stops and used the existing holes as a corner/starting point to cut my hood for my louvers, 2 less holes I had to drill. Forgot to mention I did that when I originally posted about the install. Edited January 14 by Trail Toy 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 2,785 Posted January 26 we had a great time running the Cherry Creek trail last weekend! check out @4x4tographer's trip report & photos here... thanks to @kaspily for these photos of Gadget: 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 2,785 Posted January 29 i noticed about a week ago that the front driver's door would sometimes not lock with the fob, then the past few days it started to happen more often than not. manually locking/unlocking worked fine, so it seemed the linkage and mechanical aspects of the latch were OK. after double checking the main door harness plug was secure and not corroded, i went ahead and ordered a new latch. one thing worth noting, my quick research indicated that if 2 or more locks suddenly fail, it's often a problem inside the TIPM rather than the actuators. on the JK, the electronic lock actuators are built into the latch assemblies and each door has a different part number. the driver side power door latch assembly is Mopar part #4589277AL and currently runs $150+. even the Dorman brand is $100+. given those prices and the fact that it's not a critical part, i decided to take my chances with a random brand from Amazon for $55. it seemed to work fine - one of the linkage clips was in the wrong hole when i received it, so i'm glad that i compared it to the original carefully before installing. replacement wasn't difficult, but there are a ton of steps. this youtube video shows how to remove the trim panel. then this video shows all the other steps to get to the actuator/lock assembly. BE SURE you note the tricky part about unclipping the window before you try to remove that inner panel! 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 2,785 Posted January 29 (edited) Edited January 30 by theksmith 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
