June 20th 2020 NJJA AOAA Ride

In addition to the NJ Beach Invasion event, we did also manage to go on one ride with the club this summer to AOAA. We hit the Antharsite Outdoor Adventure Area back in June on a perfect summer day. It had been dry so there wasn't too much water standing on the property but we still managed to find some.

As this was a mixed ride with some stock vehicles, we stayed on the easy trails most of the day.

Here are some of the highlights:

The Journey is what counts, Adventure Awaits!

#jeeplife #rubicon #jl #jlur #wrangler #artecindustries #jeep #jeepporn #retrorubicon #claytonoffroad

The only Jeep Event COVID allowed me to attend this year... Hoping 2021 will be better!

My wife and our great friends grabbed tickets to the only NJ Jeep event we could find this year that was not cancelled due to COVID. It was the rescheduled NJ Beach Invasion but instead of an obstacle course on the beach and hanging out in the sand shopping for Jeep parts in Wildwood NJ, we were in Cape May NJ at the Naval Air base on Saturday and the Cape May Zoo on Sunday.

There wasn't any room for an obstacle course and there were only a few vendors onsite but we still had a great time. It is always fun being out with like minded friends sharing our passion. Here are a few photos from that day:

Last but not least, I can't forget the Zoo! This cat came right up to the fence and put on a show for us... It's a smaller Zoo and they had some exhibits like the Reptiles House closed because of COVID but they are a great facility and worth the visit if you are in the area!

The Journey is what counts, Adventure Awaits!

#jeeplife #rubicon #jl #jlur #wrangler #artecindustries #jeep #jeepporn #retrorubicon #claytonoffroad

Artec Industries License Plate Relocation Bracket for the JL

 The final part of my bumper upgrades came in the form of the Artec Industries rear license plate relocation bracket. My new ARB bumper does not have a way to mount your license plate and I did not hear very good things about the ARB relocation bracket so I went with the one from Artec based on the recommendation from the sales representative at Northridge 4x4.

This is a really well made (fit for purpose) part and the install and fit were simple. You basically remove the top two lug nuts holding your spare time on and replace them with the supplied new "lug nuts"

The only "tricky" part was assembling the bracket in the correct way. It is easy if you use common sense (or install it wrong and then fix it). This is what it should look like from the side...

This bracket works great with the backup camera and allows for easy access to your spare as well. I purchased a really cheap license plate LED light "bolt" from Amazon for about $6.00 and it works great. One think to bear in mind is that you might need to remove this bracket some day to get to your spare so make sure you install quick disconnects on your electrical wiring so it will be easy to disconnect when you need to.

The Journey is what counts, Adventure Awaits!

#jeeplife #rubicon #jl #jlur #wrangler #artecindustries #jeep #jeepporn #retrorubicon #claytonoffroad

The next day, I installed the front bumper with some help from my friend Chris. This is a very heavy bumper and I would have had zero chance to successfully install on my own. It's a 2 person job!

I had already upgraded to an LOD Stubby front bumper last year and while it was a great bumper and the quality was also very nice, it really did not look "right" to me on my Jeep. It came down to a personal preference and not anything to do with the LOD bumper itself.

The front bumper was pretty easy to install but heavy... did I say REALLY HEAVY??? I can't imagine what will happen to a car that hits my front with a factory plastic bumper, it will end badly for the car...

Once the LOD bumper was off, we followed the directions from ARB and things went pretty smoothly.

• Winch gets mounted on it's cradle
• Fog lights get transferred over from old to new
• Shackle Mounts get installed
• Bumper gets installed
• Skid plate gets installed
• KC HiLites get mounted

The Journey is what counts, Adventure Awaits!

#jeeplife #rubicon #jl #jlur #wrangler #arbusa #jeep #jeepporn #retrorubicon #claytonoffroad

 

ARB Rear Bumper Install for my JLUR

 Sorry that it has been so long since my last post but all I can say is COVID! That seems to be the thing to do right, blame everything on COVID, I missed my trips to Disney - COVID, I did not get to any of the Jeep events I planned to attend - COVID, I have not purchased as many Jeep parts or could get together with friends for the install - COVID!!!  COVID Sucks as we all know but there are still plenty of opportunities to have some great experiences while still being safe. Masks are Key as is frequent hand washing, and if you couple these simple steps with social distancing, then you can still enjoy and explore. I do tend to avoid crowded places as much as possible and will turn around and go home if it looks to "People-ly". Lastly, I tend to head places where others are not, that's part of the fun with Overlanding, it's socially distant by design.

Anyway, I wanted to catch you up on  my bumper installs as I finally pulled the trigger and purchased ARB's Bondi full width bumper and ARBs rear bumper. I got tired of waiting for AEV to release their JL bumpers and the fact that they do not seem too concerned about their loyal customers with their frequent changes to the release date without any information or reasons. The great news is that I am really happy with ARBs products and love how the new bumpers look.

First, here are some observations:

• Well packaged! 
• Really well built bumpers with a high quality matte powder coating
• Well engineered tow points front and rear
• Multiple jack points front and rear
• Plenty of space for my Warn winch
• Mostly "plug and play"

I started with the rear bumper as I was doing the install on the first day by myself and the front is just too heavy for one person to handle while using tools.

As always, I found something to hit with the rattle can, I sprayed the shackle mounts the proper shade of orange before the install for both the front and rear sets. Prior to this I had the original factory plastic bumper installed on the rear so removing it was very easy. Once it was gone, I test fit the new bumper and this is where I hit my first and only real "snag". The shackle mounts fit snug up against the frame rails and have to align perfectly to fit the bolts through and still have the ability to tighten them. 

There are two, (one on each side) sections of the frame that interfered with the install that I could not figure out how to make it work without the grinder! The are not structural but just seem to be "extra" flaring of the metal on the ends. I simply ground off the two edges and it fit like a glove!

My son came out and helped lift the bumper and hold it in place while I tightened everything down but this could easily have been done start to finish by one person.

The next day, my friend Chris cam over and we tackled the front...

The Journey is what counts, Adventure Awaits!

#jeeplife #rubicon #jl #jlur #wrangler #jeep #jeepporn #retrorubicon #arbusa