I finally got around to installing my EVO Tire Carrier. You can tell by the white deer that the parts actually arrived back around Christmas. Once again my wife had to drag Jeep parts into the garage while I was gone.
I went with the aluminum skins to lower the weight. It seemed like painting the AL was more difficult although I am an amateur. I used a rattle can of self-etching primer and then black over that. At some point I may have the skins powder coated or anodized, but for now its good enough. It takes some patience to put these on but its not difficult. A well placed beer or bourbon will help reduce stress. The carrier is BEEFY. I painted this in the same manner as the skins. When it gets scratched I can easily touch it up.
A trained observer will realize that I removed the EVO facia and installed a Shrockworks stubby rear bumper. I had nothing against the EVO set up, but I like having a bumper and I can always change it back. The Rigid back-up lights were easy to remove from the old set up and install in the cut outs built into the Shrockworks bumper.
In addition to adding the tire carrier, I have been tweaking the castor, toe in, control arm length and such to get the road manners sorted out. It drives well enough for now, however I think I will eventually go with long arms and coilovers.
Another issue I dealt with was the ESP/BAS light coming on. I thought I had damaged one of the wheel speed sensors but after checking the codes I had a 'steering angle' issue. It turns out my steering was almost TWO turns off??? :thinking: :doh: I had the steering wheel tied down during the axle swap as well as the hydro-steering install so I am not sure how that happened. Operator headspace and timing no doubt.
My ability to work through all the above modifications was greatly aided by all the solid info I have picked up from the Wayalife Forum.
Many thanks to all who have shared your Jeep knowledge! :rock: