Last week, I put on my JKS spare tire license relocation bracket. It takes the license plate from its original location, where it can possibly snag on rocks, trees or brush and relocates it to the center of the spare tire. It was an opportunity for me to put a bottle opener in the old location. But the real reason for this change was for me to install a rear view camera in the center of my spare tire. Since I went with a spacer on my rear tire carrier, my tire is positioned upside down, so the top wheel slot isn't centered. Unfortunately all the aftermarket camera mounts are designed for top center slots. No biggie- I just have to be smarter about it.
Well my first real challenge was trying to get the OEM license plate holder off of my Jeep without having to remove my aftermarket bumper, which was covering access to the screws. With patience (and small hands) I was able to remove the nuts from the back. Yay!
The other major challenge was to figure out a way to preserve my third brake light. The JKS kit instructs the purchaser to cut the wire to the third brake light, which will be used to power the LED license plate light, then to just saw off your light fixture. The intent was to save the installer from having to fish and reroute wires through the tailgate. It took a little figuring out, since their instructions suggest that you can save your 3rd brake light with 12' of additional wire, but they don't tell you how to do it. I had to trace the original hot wire back to the harness, then I used vampire clamps to attach and I ran the new wire to the spare tire mount. I cut no original wiring, so I just kept the 3rd brake light fixture and wiring just like it came from the factory. I stole the ground from the 3rd brake ground and voila! I had power to the LED lamp! The rest went like a breeze.
The other project I just completed was to finally install the Poison Spyder Bombshell differential covers. (Last week, I went ahead and bought one for my Dana 30 front.) The installation was simple and straight forward. I didn't have to jack the Jeep. I happened to have a wire brush attachment for my cordless drill, so all was pretty quick. I wanted to fill them with Mobil 1 75W-90 synthetic gear oil, but O'Reilly was out, so I bought the Lucas Oils equivalent instead. the only snag I encountered was when it was time to fill the fluids, I found that my gear oil pump was crushed and broken :( I left it on a bottle of transmission fluid and left it under my BMW project car. The car has been neglected for so long that all the air has gone from the rear tires and the chassis crushed the bottle. Bummer.
Other than that, torque specs are 22-25 ft/lbs and Poison Spyder gives you exactly the amount of gasket sealant that you need to complete each side! I love the looks of the covers and now I can wheel with more confidence!
