What have you done to your 100 Series this week? (60 Viewers)

[devlooper]

Is that the Ironman awning? How you liking it? Price is very tempting...

Yep!

I actually own quite a bit of Ironman stuff (bumper winch, awning, frame mounted recovery points, fans, kinetic recovery rope, soft shackles and awning room)

I like it! For what it is it’s easy to setup no frills and simple awning. The poles are sturdy, fabric is good zippers and case are solid. Overall I’d buy this thing again!

for something as simple as an awning it’s hard to mess up but I do like that I can buy nearly every part on their website if something were to break. I don’t have any complaints with it so far!

 

[ClassyJalopy]

This arrived. But I leave for a wheeling trip tomorrow, so the triple locked dream gotta wait a bit.

 

[ShenValley100LC]

Well prior to the side of the road incidence I posted earlier I:
- Greased the drive train
- did BG EPR and MOA again, seems to keep everything in pretty great shape (I got my 7,500 mile oil analysis back from Blackstone and it looked great)
- Also test ATF, I'll probably post that in the relevant thread. Did a drain and fill on this one, but even though I had a new transmission bolt to replace the old I strip the hole too much and didnt have a tap on hand so I need to get one. I couldnt get the new one in at all so I put the old in and put FIPG all around it and tightened as much as I could. Its not holding and not leaking so I'll probably just leave it till next oil change.

- Also did two cans of BG44K in the gas tank after EPR and the oil change. I get horrible gas mileage and I think all you who post these 400 mile on one tank post are liars. But I got a noticeable improvement on the way home fully loaded with a solid 13.67 mpg! I'm usually at like 12 with bumper, awning, couple boxes of gear on the roof, plus a cooler, plus water tank, plus five humans in the car....it tends to be heavy.

After the infamous side of the road and tow of shame to friends garage we ended up redoing the wheel bearings on the drivers side and putting in a new cv axle and new snap ring which I luckily had sitting in the garage and my brother-in-law drove down to us. Which now between the greased drive train and hub flange/new cv the R-N-D clunk is pretty much gone. Front diff bushing still needs replacing but eh.

Anyways arrived at our campsite in South Carolina at midnight instead 3 pm, whole place was flooded and had to drive up next to the dune/beach access point, which ended up being a pretty killer spot. All my photos are of kids and not the car so this is literally the only photo that works for this forum. Pretty good trip considering I went beach camping 3 kids (4yo, 3yo, and 9 month old). Borrowed some blow-up paddle-boards from a friend and blew em up with the air compressor, might be my next toy.

- Also going to recommend a 3 gadgets/toys (I finally got some unemployment money from when our plant had to shut down due to Rona back in April)
1) 11 inch dewalt jobsite fan, I run it off 2x of their 6ah batteries and bring a charger along to run off my solar/AGM, over friday-monday I used 1 battery and it moves a serious amount of air. plus if you have their chainsaw, their flex volt 20v/60v can run this fan or your chainsaw which can be space saver.
2) IDK why but we've always had crummy beach towels that come from who knows where, they just show up, they weigh 20 lbs, and stick to sand like duct tape. So I finally got a set of turkish towels and they really save a beach trip, light weight, store small, dry fast, and sand does not stick to them, theyre excellent for rubbing sand off of kids too.
3) I got 2x JBL charge 4 bluetooth speakers, 20 hr battery life, they pair for a stereo sound, and water proof. Used them all weekend to blast tiki music to complete the ambiance. highly recommend.
3.5) I built a pvc pressurized water tank on the side and it was great. So nice to rinse kids off before getting in the car or tent. Got really warm in the summer sun. We went down to Florida after South Carolina and were at a beach with no showers and used it (it was warmer than our homes shower, which was actually not great).

Crossed 512,000 (officially, speedometers been off due to tires for a while) miles on the truck. This was the 3rd Virginia-Florida trip this year, and there's still two more to go.

 

[TexFJ]

Windshield replacement leads to trip to the body shop. Will get it done right, but the wallet will feel it I'm sure. Captain Slow is worth it though.

For all the threads and concern about proper windshield installs, interesting to see that I may be suffering the results of a bad install, but also that my local Safelite was very aware of the 100 Series and brought up rivets vs. screws without me prompting them with anything other than a "you guys familiar with how tricky these are?" comment.

And if you are wondering, that's a remote start antenna hanging there.

View attachment 2357678

I just found the screws in mine.... How could they do that!!!!!

 

[JLink]

Well if anyone else was hoping to post in here about installing some Slee sliders, make sure you check them first. I got mine on Monday and immediately jumped into installing them. As I was tightening the lower nut on the u bolts I noticed the tab on the slider bending. Pulled them back off, called Cristo, he had just learned of it himself. Seems there’s a batch that wasn’t fully welded before going to powder coat. He’s sending me a check to pay for a local shop to sand blast them so I can finish welding them, then bring them back to the shop for powder coating (again)..

Certainly not what I was hoping for, but I understand things happen. And in my mind he’s making it right.

I did get to install the Slee front skid (in aluminum) and it is really nice. Definitely will protect better than the oem one, and barely weighs much more.

 

[Austin Hot Shoe]

I think I figured out the source of the pleasant "earthy" odor from my air vents Went ahead and cleaned the MAF sensor and Throttle Body (gunked up pretty good) as well.

View attachment 2357295

you think?

 

[nsaladin]

Well if anyone else was hoping to post in here about installing some Slee sliders, make sure you check them first. I got mine on Monday and immediately jumped into installing them. As I was tightening the lower nut on the u bolts I noticed the tab on the slider bending. Pulled them back off, called Cristo, he had just learned of it himself. Seems there’s a batch that wasn’t fully welded before going to powder coat. He’s sending me a check to pay for a local shop to sand blast them so I can finish welding them, then bring them back to the shop for powder coating (again)..

Certainly not what I was hoping for, but I understand things happen. And in my mind he’s making it right.

I did get to install the Slee front skid (in aluminum) and it is really nice. Definitely will protect better than the oem one, and barely weighs much more.

Have any pics of this? I just installed some a few weeks ago. I got the ones without steps.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Added 9" dinner plate size Lumitek LED lights. Installation was a PITA . Had to elongate the mounting holes on my ARB bar (and sand and paint the unprotected area) but the big light still doesn't have enough clearance to allow proper aiming. The top of the light is touching the top bar and the lights are still pointed down!
@geanes did you have the same issue with yours?

Went for a quick test drive and was really disappointed by the light output. They are completely outshined by my HID headlights. Perhaps they need to be aimed a little higher? but not sure how I'd do that since there isn't any room left

 

[highkick05]

Added 9" dinner plate size Lumitek LED lights. Installation was a PITA . Had to elongate the mounting holes on my ARB bar (and sand and paint the unprotected area) but the big light still doesn't have enough clearance to allow proper aiming. The top of the light is touching the top bar and the lights are still pointed down!
@geanes did you have the same issue with yours?

Went for a quick test drive and was really disappointed by the light output. They are completely outshined by my HID headlights. Perhaps they need to be aimed a little higher? but not sure how I'd do that since there isn't any room left
View attachment 2359118View attachment 2359119View attachment 2359120

some sort base plate mount ?

 

[CORunner]

Windshield replacement leads to trip to the body shop. Will get it done right, but the wallet will feel it I'm sure. Captain Slow is worth it though.

For all the threads and concern about proper windshield installs, interesting to see that I may be suffering the results of a bad install, but also that my local Safelite was very aware of the 100 Series and brought up rivets vs. screws without me prompting them with anything other than a "you guys familiar with how tricky these are?" comment.

And if you are wondering, that's a remote start antenna hanging there.

View attachment 2357678

Wow. My windshield just started leaking, worried about what I will find. PM of what you think of the body shop you are using. I haven't pulled anything apart yet, but guessing I have rust too.

 

[jLB]

Added 9" dinner plate size Lumitek LED lights. Installation was a PITA . Had to elongate the mounting holes on my ARB bar (and sand and paint the unprotected area) but the big light still doesn't have enough clearance to allow proper aiming. The top of the light is touching the top bar and the lights are still pointed down!
@geanes did you have the same issue with yours?

Went for a quick test drive and was really disappointed by the light output. They are completely outshined by my HID headlights. Perhaps they need to be aimed a little higher? but not sure how I'd do that since there isn't any room left
View attachment 2359118View attachment 2359119View attachment 2359120

We’ve got some very similar Chinese 9” LED Lights on my son’s ARB, without running into that issue, but from what I can see in your picture, the metal brackets between the light and bumper are shaped a little differently...

 

[ClassyJalopy]

some sort base plate mount ?

Can you please elaborate more? At this point, I am seriously considering shaving off about an inch from the back of the lights (those are heat dissipation fins not actual back cover) to make room for adjustment

 

[saucebox]

Can you please elaborate more? At this point, I am seriously considering shaving off about an inch from the back of the lights (those are heat dissipation fins not actual back cover) to make room for adjustment

Can you reverse/180º the mounting brackets to push the body of the lights forward? Hard to see from the pic if that's possible.

IDK if shaving sounds like the right plan—too much labor for lights you already mentioned were kind of disappointing. Good spots should blow your HIDs out of the water.

 

[highkick05]

Can you reverse/180º the mounting brackets to push the body of the lights forward? Hard to see from the pic if that's possible.

IDK if shaving sounds like the right plan—too much labor for lights you already mentioned were kind of disappointing. Good spots should blow your HIDs out of the water.

Yeah that's an ARB bar too so you would think standard 9" lights would fit. Probably why I triple check all measurements with aliexpress. Even with the head units I'm checking I wont even consider it if there are no measurements jsut skip.

 

[highkick05]

Can you please elaborate more? At this point, I am seriously considering shaving off about an inch from the back of the lights (those are heat dissipation fins not actual back cover) to make room for adjustment

I would visit the hardware store and find some stainless steel. Shape some additional brackets for these parts and extend the lgiht forward the exact amount you need (probably only mm's) shake a can of mat black galv paint and done. Perhaps a quick fix until you decide to change over again.

Wish I could change mine, I have 9" HIDs from the stone ages. Effective but not working atm due to faulty wire tap joints, not a fan of yellow either. Need 6000K to match philips LED high/low beam headlights and LED light bar.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

We’ve got some very similar Chinese 9” LED Lights on my son’s ARB, without running into that issue, but from what I can see in your picture, the metal brackets between the light and bumper are shaped a little differently...

View attachment 2359275

Exact same lights! Exact same issue!

Can you reverse/180º the mounting brackets to push the body of the lights forward? Hard to see from the pic if that's possible.

IDK if shaving sounds like the right plan—too much labor for lights you already mentioned were kind of disappointing. Good spots should blow your HIDs out of the water.

This is how much I'd need to shave. I wish I had $1000 to drop on quality lights, I would much rather buy some underbody armor than spend on LEDs. If there was a decent options for about $200 I'd be all over that!

I would visit the hardware store and find some stainless steel. Shape some additional brackets for these parts and extend the light forward the exact amount you need (probably only mm's) shake a can of mat black galv paint and done. Perhaps a quick fix until you decide to change over again.

View attachment 2359310

This might be the ticket! Thank you.

 

[highkick05]

@ClassyJalopy

Holes would need to be perfect in line, or perhaps the back bolt would allow slight movement anyway.

 

[jLB]

Exact same lights! Exact same issue!
View attachment 2359312

I agree, that the lights look like they came out of the same Chinese factory.

The difference seems to be, where my son's are aimed a bit high, the front face is well out over the lower bar, and we don't seem to have the same clearance issue (without modifications).

As I said, it appears that the metal brackets supplied with the lights are slightly different in size/shape, between yours and ours.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

With only a couple hours away from our departure time, I have bravely decided to not deal with this at the moment. Will tackle this once I get back.

 

[geanes]

Added 9" dinner plate size Lumitek LED lights. Installation was a PITA . Had to elongate the mounting holes on my ARB bar (and sand and paint the unprotected area) but the big light still doesn't have enough clearance to allow proper aiming. The top of the light is touching the top bar and the lights are still pointed down!
@geanes did you have the same issue with yours?

Went for a quick test drive and was really disappointed by the light output. They are completely outshined by my HID headlights. Perhaps they need to be aimed a little higher? but not sure how I'd do that since there isn't any room left
View attachment 2359118View attachment 2359119View attachment 2359120

I have the IronMan bullbar, so I don't have the lower crossbar to deal with. Can you turn the brackets around? You might have to redrill the holes on the side. As for light output, it's not a focused light at all. They are really more of a much brighter flood light. Aiming them up helps get more downrange output. Mine are slightly brighter than my high beams. But, they have a much wider spread which is great in deer country.

Been happy with mine for 3 years. Just ordered my Stedi lights which should be a huge improvement at a not insignificant cost (MUCH less than ARB or Baja). Type-X ™ PRO LED Driving Lights Keep in mind, the price in AUS$, so $689.99 is really $477 USD. Still expensive, but superior performance from all my research. I'm switching over a few of my other "Amazon" lights to Stedis as well for the increased performance.