theksmith 3,839 Posted October 25, 2021 4 minutes ago, Trail Toy said: Now he needs to get that bad ass rig out on the trails! I have a run on Sat., fairly easy one at that. 😉 B works most every weekend right now. we hope to have time this coming Saturday before work to go flex test it and see what needs to be done still with bump stops or trimming. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,839 Posted December 29, 2021 guess i forgot to update this, but we did finally go flex test just before Thanksgiving... we found the only rub point to be the front tires barely contacting the bumper with a wheel completely stuffed and steering at full lock. the brake lines with the relocation brackets are fine as well. Fiona is ready for some mild trails, but needs an engine/tranny skid and some real rock-rails before tackling anything "moderate" or harder. father-son flex: 1 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,839 Posted December 29, 2021 (edited) Brady and i spent a couple evenings this week installing a Rockford Fosgate P300-12 powered/loaded subwoofer box Santa brought him. it fits perfectly on the passenger side leaving about 3/4" from the tailgate when moved far enough rearward that the back seat can still fold down. it could fit on the driver side in front of the tailgate hump, but the seat would not fold if placed there. with the soft top, we wanted to try and make this a little theft resistant so we temporarily removed the actual subwoofer in order to bolt the entire enclosure directly to the Jeep's floor pan from inside the box. the OEM "floor trunk" cover got sawed in two so half can still be opened to access the jack, tools, and other stored emergency items. we used an inexpensive 4 Gauge Amp Wiring Kit from Amazon to run power directly from the battery and a pair of RCA's from Brady's aftermarket head unit. the 4 AWG is overkill for this particular sub's integrated amp, but i figured he might want to install a hard-mount compressor in the future and can now tap off that same power wire. some split braided PET loom and heat-shrink i already had was used to protect and clean up the look of the wiring. at some point we may fab up a small metal bracket to protect the wiring from random cargo knocking into it. the sub hits decently hard considering the relatively small enclosure volume and low amp wattage. the all-in-one design also made for an easy install and i think it really filled out the sound since his aftermarket BOSS head unit's built-in amp struggles to push any real bass out of the four JBL 3-ways we installed last year. Brady seems happy with it, which is all that really matters! Edited December 29, 2021 by theksmith 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgaz 546 Posted December 29, 2021 Well thought out, clean installation (as usual) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,725 Posted December 29, 2021 Nice install! Clever move sawing the flappy door thingy in half. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,839 Posted January 5, 2022 last week we also installed some VDP stubby bumper caps. below you can also see the pair of generic headlights with halos Brady bought himself with some Amazon gift cards he got at Christmas. i helped him wire the white halos to be on with the Jeep, and he didn't want to use the switchback (amber) mode so we left that unhooked. B and his friend installed a new Pypes cat-back exhaust together one afternoon too. my only contribution was to cut off part of the factory muffler that was being a PITA to remove. the new exhaust has a nice tone, just a bit loud IMO - but i'm old, so what do i know? i realized while snapping this next photo that he needs to add an evap canister relocation kit or skid-plate to the shopping list! 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,725 Posted January 5, 2022 Looking nice! Stubby or bust in my opinion! Also, that’s a tiiiiiiny “muffler” 😁 Looking forward to hearing how it sounds at the Holiday Party. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,839 Posted January 5, 2022 (edited) it is in fact a tiny muffler. though it's a bit loud for my taste, it actually does a surprising amount of muffling considering its size. i've heard JK's with the similar size "cherry bomb" mufflers and the Pypes system is a fair bit quieter than those and a lot less raspy. Edited January 5, 2022 by theksmith Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dzJeepChic 2,439 Posted January 5, 2022 Awesome stuff! Can't wait to see Fiona & B on Saturday!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 3,839 Posted January 10, 2022 looking back at Fiona from in Gadget: 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
