arnt they supposed to be on the market ? need to get something soon here on mine

 

About 10 days ago the company told me they had received their shipment of LED pods from the manufacturer, and they have also received their order of all the custom brackets from that manufacturer, and they were working to get everything listed on their web site. That's all I know. You can contact them if you want to get a more current update.

 

And speaking of the LED pods...

Anyone going to the Smokey Mountain Jeep Invasion this weekend? MORryde and Retrofit Offroad are sharing a booth and my Jeep is there (sort of, it's on a big banner). If you are going, stop by their booth and say hi to Ryan (MORryde) and Joel (Retrofit). Looks like a huge booth, if I had known it would be that big I would have driven on of my Jeeps down for the booth.



The Retrofit JKU is in the booth, it's sporting a bunch of the new MultiPod LEDs and mounts, as well as the hardtop slider window kit, half door slider kit, side mounts, tactical spare cover, etc...

 

Joel posted a video on the Retrofit Offroad Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/retrofitoff...8473582455156/

 

When I first posted about the DIY awning I said that for use in windy conditions tie-downs and stakes would be a good idea to stabilize the awning. I implemented them yesterday.



The lines are paracord, and I terminated each end with a grommet. On the awning side the grommet slips over the support rod; on the stake side the grommet is attached to the stake with a keyring.



I sewed a small bag to store the stakes and guy-lines...



...and the bag tucks nicely inside the awning cover for travel.



One more thing... the shade I used for my awning is actually about 6 feet long, but I'm only pulling it out 4 feet because I want the support poles to fit in the awning cover bag. But multi-part tent poles would allow a 6' extension and the poles would come apart to still fit in the cover bag. The multi-part tent poles are seem stiffer than the driveway marker poles I used, so even for a 4' extension they'd probably be better than what I used. Something like these I saw at Field & Stream yesterday:

 

Nice ! A sewing machine, and the skills to use it , a valuable asset indeed. I have an old Dome Tent that's seeen its last season, those shock-corded poles just got a new lease on life ! Great Ideas and Execution, as always ! Thanks

 

I finished up a few more details for the Garvin rack today.

Securing the sand ladders. Hardware store 1/2" j-hooks cut to an appropriate length + some large washers cut from scrap 1/4" aluminum. Nuts take a 3/4" wrench, which is the same size as the Jeep lug wrench.



Rubican mounts. I made up a simple bracket so the mount can clamp to the bars of the rack. Here's one Rubican mounted flat on the rack.



Using the stacking adapters, multiple Rubicans can be carried up there:





The mount can also be bolted to the side of the rack. I put the spigot in this one, might be a useful place for a water supply:

 

For a long time I've been sourcing parts and planning to do what I've been calling the "Retro Rhino" grille kit for the JK. Styled like the old Gladiator "Rhino" front end, this would be a bolt-on set of parts to backdate the styling of the JK to the Gladiator "Rhino" look. I've written about it from time to time in this thread.

Now that the flat fender project and a few other projects are done, I've finally got some time to work on the Retro Rhino project. I'm doing a scaled-down version that will use the stock JK fenders, so the front panel will be slightly narrower than the JK grille. The original FSJ front hood and panel are about 70" wide (roughly 10" wider than the JK tub), so scaling is very necessary which makes some of the original components way too big, so I've sourced scaled down and updated components.

This next photo shows the components I will be using - original JK headlights, scaled-down turn signals, a scaled-down Jeep grille emblem, and modernized/scaled "pie plates" (these are actual grilles with openings rather than being solid like the originals).



The drawing the components are sitting on shows the scaled-down front panel width compared to the red JK hood at the top of the photo - the panel is a bit narrower than the JK grille.

There will be 3 fiberglass components for this kit - a hood, a grille panel, and a center grille. The reason the center grille will be molded separately from the grille panel is so that it can easily be finished differently - chrome plated perhaps. The first component I'm working on is the hood.

I'm making the hood by splicing parts of an original FSJ hood together with a JK hood. The result will be a hood that bolts up perfectly to the JK and matches the curves of the side of the JK but has the raised center section and front profile of the FSJ hood. The first step is to narrow the FSJ hood so that the raised center section will be the correct width for the scaled-down grille. I'm taking 9" out of the center. In the first photo the 9" to be removed is marked; in the lower photo the hood has been narrowed and welded back together.



I also needed to narrow it on each side of the raised section in the center, and since the FSJ hood will be spliced into the JK hood, a lot of the FSJ hood won't be needed, so I cut most of it away. In the next two photos, the narrowed/cut FSJ hood is sitting on top of the JK hood. You can see the weld seams from additional narrowing I've done on each side. The lines of the JK hood and the sectioned FSJ hood are starting to flow together pretty nicely.









This is very much a background project, so I won't be posting regular updates.

 

Outfitted for a trip tomorrow to Boston. Two of the kids live there and both are moving this week so I'm bringing a trailer and the roof rack to help them.

 

Nice set up, Safari to Boston !