12' Gecko Build

Thanks gents. I really like the way they look. I think they need to break in a bit because I wouldn't quite call them comfortable just yet. But the Tweed fabric is pretty tight and stiff so I think they should break in a bit. The angle and height of the seat are awesome though and something that was of concern when buying the fixed back seats

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Well I do need to update 1 thing on this
I don't think that occupancy sensor is picking up any weight. I had my wife take off her seat belt while driving and it never registered or dinged at us so it knows it's plugged in but it's not picking up the weight by being all the way in the bottom of the seat

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dillard09 said:
Those seats look clean!! How is the side bolstering when getting in and out?
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Getting in really isn't any difference. Getting out is definitely more noticeable. I'm only 5'9" and I can't step over the bolster and reach the ground so I put some weight on the side of the seat and my handle on the roll bar to get out. It's not "hard" but not really like stock at all. I am glad I didn't go with seats that have any more bolster though these are plenty

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desertrunner said:
Getting in really isn't any difference. Getting out is definitely more noticeable. I'm only 5'9" and I can't step over the bolster and reach the ground so I put some weight on the side of the seat and my handle on the roll bar to get out. It's not "hard" but not really like stock at all. I am glad I didn't go with seats that have any more bolster though these are plenty

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Gotcha. Same for me at being 5'9". I have been in and out of the PRP Enduro Elites that Bubba has in his War Pig and they were comfy and easy in and out. Just seen how the sides were in those I was curious. If I did eventually go with a harness bar I'm not sure if you can recline or not.
 
dillard09 said:
Gotcha. Same for me at being 5'9". I have been in and out of the PRP Enduro Elites that Bubba has in his War Pig and they were comfy and easy in and out. Just seen how the sides were in those I was curious. If I did eventually go with a harness bar I'm not sure if you can recline or not.
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I think the bolster on these are a good middle ground of support and not to much of a pain to get in and out. Not super comfy as of yet I just feel like I'm sitting on a hammock of tight fabric rather than on a cushion so I hope these break in a bit or I may be making another change later on down the road.
The plan is to go harness bar and a 4 point but these are fixed back seats so I can't recline anyways so I'm not losing anything with the harness bar.

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So I have been very frustrated with the way my Jeep steers for a while now. I feel like I have a 2-3" dead spot in my steering wheel and it's a bear to drive. I swear I have done everything right in regards to steering components / geometry and I kinda thought the only way to get rid of it was to go hydro assist. Well tonight just to idiot check myself I had the wife turn the wheel back and forth so I could check the likely culprits and found this.....

https://youtu.be/jkSrfC2pdIA

This is an Exodus DL that I installed only a few months ago and it has maybe 500 miles on it if that. Being that the pitman arm needed to be reamed quite a bit to make it fit I can only imagine I Fucked it up some how making it THAT loose. Looks like I'm gonna have to pull it off and figure out what's going on there :/

Bubba can I just ship you my pitman arm?!?!? Haha

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Talked to Bubba today and we both agreed looking at the video that the stud isn't moving in the pitman arm so the ream should be correct and it looks like just a bad TRE. Gonna get a new one sent out and hopefully it will steer better haha. Another big shout out to Bubba for some awesome customer service and quick reply to my PM here last night. 100% will keep giving him my $$$ haha

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desertrunner said:
Talked to Bubba today and we both agreed looking at the video that the stud isn't moving in the pitman arm so the ream should be correct and it looks like just a bad TRE. Gonna get a new one sent out and hopefully it will steer better haha. Another big shout out to Bubba for some awesome customer service and quick reply to my PM here last night. 100% will keep giving him my $$$ haha

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Thanks man, hopefully it was just a dud TRE. Trying to get that shipped out to you today!


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Ok a couple things to update here.
1. Bubba is amazing. He watched my video and no questions asked sent me out a new TRE. awesome customer service!
2. I'm pretty confident this is the source of my sloppy steering feeling. Put the new TRE in tonight and the steering already feels tighter and much better than it did before.
3. I still have some suspicion that part of this issue is my fault with the ream. Before driving anywhere I had the wife turn the wheel back and forth again and it still looks to me like I have some vertical movement in the TRE. (Video below) maybe it's the ream? Maybe it's that I'm not torquing it down hard enough? I'm not sure but I don't think I'm quite done trouble shooting this. I had a hell of a time reaming the pitman arm to start and ended up with striations and an uneven cut. When I finally got the drill on it it smoothed out. BUT while it feels smooth to the touch it does have the striated look to it. I took a picture of the old TRE and you can see the stripe looking contact points....

https://youtu.be/OgGuswOft3w20191209_210552.jpg

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desertrunner said:
Ok a couple things to update here.
1. Bubba is amazing. He watched my video and no questions asked sent me out a new TRE. awesome customer service!
2. I'm pretty confident this is the source of my sloppy steering feeling. Put the new TRE in tonight and the steering already feels tighter and much better than it did before.
3. I still have some suspicion that part of this issue is my fault with the ream. Before driving anywhere I had the wife turn the wheel back and forth again and it still looks to me like I have some vertical movement in the TRE. (Video below) maybe it's the ream? Maybe it's that I'm not torquing it down hard enough? I'm not sure but I don't think I'm quite done trouble shooting this. I had a hell of a time reaming the pitman arm to start and ended up with striations and an uneven cut. When I finally got the drill on it it smoothed out. BUT while it feels smooth to the touch it does have the striated look to it. I took a picture of the old TRE and you can see the stripe looking contact points....

https://youtu.be/OgGuswOft3wView attachment 338601

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Maybe it’s my imagination but I think there’s some up and down movement, noticeable between the pitman arm and the TRE nut.


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fiend said:
Maybe it’s my imagination but I think there’s some up and down movement, noticeable between the pitman arm and the TRE nut.


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Click to expand...
I'm not seeing it but I have been staring at this thing for a while so it's possible I'm missing it. I'll have to steer test it again tomorrow and get my fingers in there to feel around and see if there is any movement at the top. Not sure what the torque spec is supposed to be for these or how I would even get a torque wrench in there so I have been using my judgement on tight enough to get the cotter in the castle nut and maybe it's just not enough.
I reamed it with a drill and the pitman arm in a vice. The surface felt smooth and the reamer had no wobble in it and fit tight in the taper. So maybe the torque is really my issue.

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So with all the work I did to this thing and triple checking every measurement I was curious how close I got everything during the set up. Had some extra time today so I threw it up on an alignment rack to get a print out. Turns out it's not too bad. The only thing I missed the mark on really was the caster at 5. I was shooting for 7 with the PR44U, being that it's at 5 makes me think I could get it to drive a little nicer and maybe get what little vibration I feel at 75mph smoothed out with less pinion angle. Also looks like one of my front uppers is slightly longer than the other with the caster not even on each side.

Anyone see anything funky? I might adjust my front uppers just a little more an call it a day 20200217_141849.jpg

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I kept thinking the front of my Jeep looked a bit saggy. Not sure if the plush rides settled or sagged a bit but I had a set of 3/4" spacers laying around so I threw the front set in today and I think it looks much better now. Honestly the next set of 3" plush rides that show up for sale I may jump on them. With how wide this thing is I think the extra height will look good and I can finally buy some longer rear shocks. Can't see a whole lot of difference in the pictures but it's definitely noticeable in person20200405_154216.jpg20200405_172925.jpg

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Well as if I wasn't having enough fun dealing with the radiator in the 4dr, when I pulled up to AutoZone to look for a better bleeder funnel the horn on my 2 dr just started blaring constant....
Started it back up it stoped.... Hit the hazards and boom back on. Can't lock the doors from the inside and seems to have some connection to the hazards when I use the key to lock or unlock.

Sounds like I might be in for a clock spring replacement soon as well.....

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Horn can't go off if it's got no horn.... Haha I pulled the horn and the fuses gonna have to live with it until the 4dr is back up and running so I can troubleshoot this one

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desertrunner said:
Horn can't go off if it's got no horn.... Haha I pulled the horn and the fuses gonna have to live with it until the 4dr is back up and running so I can troubleshoot this one

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Click to expand...

You could send the 4 door back to Hawaii... I’ll take care of it for you while you work on the 2 door. Just an option..


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