Bought two new pillar covers on Amazon from a Brand called USTAR. They look great. But, the metal clips were backwards. I had to flip the clips around before installing. Install was a real pain.

Wrong

Correct

 

Took the kidos fishing. Only thing we caught was a sunburn and a good time. The 5.3 just purrs along up and down the hills. It ain't fast but it is torquey. My prototype spare tire rack was great. I just need an action packer or something to fully utilize it.

 

Got Torque Pro up and running on an old Galaxy S3 using the 10 dollar Amazon blue OBDII reader. I don't know how accurate it is but I don't like those coolant temps at all, granted it was 95 degrees outside. Looks like the inline thermostat mod just moved up in the priority list.

 

Karmakannen (and others), how do the rear door hinges hold up to the extra weight on the spare tire. I’ve been considering a spare tire rack for a high lift jack and possibly a bit more but I don’t want to over do my hinges.

 

The tire mount is more of a concern than the door hinges. Door hinges are usually strong enough to carry additional weight, but only if the door is locked. Bike carriers attaching to the rear door have been sold for ages and they are good for up to four bikes. I had one on my Volkswagen van back in the days.

 

Trail Damage! Eeeek!
Went to Hidden Falls Adventure Park today with the Austin Land Rover crew. Had a blast and took this little truck on 31 inch tires places it never should have gone. Traction Control with a center diff lock and 20lbs of air in the tires and this thing is a GOAT!

 

Flushed my power steering fluid. Saw a good bit of tiny metal flakes. Made a huge mess as well. Should be less messy next time haha

 

As stated above, I'd be more concerned about the tire mount. I'll let you know how mine holds up. I'll be reinforcing it when I get bigger tires though. I figure the extra tire weight and the rack will be pushing my luck.

12 hours after installing my rack and less than 24 hours after bending the last part for it, someone at a gas station comes up "hey, who makes that rack? Mind if I take a picture?".


I installed my tera firma steering yesterday. It handles great on the highway. Looks good too since I cut my front bumper a bit. Now if I just get bigger tires to get the cruising rpm down a bit.

 

Fyi if you have steering whine. My power steering was whining since my low pressure hose kinked on me. I put in half a thing of bars leak high mileage power steering repair. It quieted down within the first day. It might not be silent, but it's a lot smoother and quieter. I was surprised. Not exactly related, but on the same subject of snake oil. The liquid moly mos2 for gears with some synthetic lucal really quieted my transfer case. What came out of it was pretty gross though haha. Maybe any transparent oil could have helped.

 

Finally got the led bars wired and setup properly. All I now need is to clean up the wires a little and make a switch panel inside.
Got the wires tucked nicely behind the plastic side trim of the windscreen.


Next, the front and back workilights. Also need to get some powerblock for positive cables in the enginebay before I have a foot long bolt on the positive battery terminal with all the extras.