Sunnyside's Gladiator build begins...
- Thread starter sunnysideup
- Start date
onlyone
Active Member
I’ve run Synergy arms and their stuff is nice. Metalcloak springs suck ass, but their other hard parts are nice and are all made in USA. I bought some lower fronts control arms and other than the gold, they are very nice.
If it wasn’t for the price, I would have went with Synergy just due to the double adjuster. But then again, you only adjust them once so…. The bushings are the same. I would say MC between the 2 for the price. You can’t beat Johnny joints in the end, other than what little maintenance they require.
Personal preference I guess. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of those choices. Pick the ones you can get the best price on between them.
If it wasn’t for the price, I would have went with Synergy just due to the double adjuster. But then again, you only adjust them once so…. The bushings are the same. I would say MC between the 2 for the price. You can’t beat Johnny joints in the end, other than what little maintenance they require.
Personal preference I guess. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of those choices. Pick the ones you can get the best price on between them.
sunnysideup
Active Member
I've used synergy stuff... I agree it is good quality. I think they use Johnny joints too?
benatc1
Hooked
They definitely don’t, It has a fancy name, that I can’t think of but If I recall, Eddie did a video on their newer joint a while back, I know their website had it too.
sunnysideup
Active Member
Yep I just looked it up.... it is a similar joint. Easy to adjust on vehicle too!
sunnysideup
Active Member
42,000 miles and the LArge battery dumped on me... got a AGM replacement, made by northstar. Can't go without power in the winter!
I aslo added a ditch light. This was a KC offering. Many of our trails are tight and ledgy... just decided it might help me to seea little more out the side. It's very bright! Flood pattern...
I aslo added a ditch light. This was a KC offering. Many of our trails are tight and ledgy... just decided it might help me to seea little more out the side. It's very bright! Flood pattern...
sunnysideup
Active Member
Also did a little decorating
... and installed a second solar panel that goes on top of the tent. It only charges one small battery pak that runs lights, radio, phone chargers, tablet charger, and a small fan. The solar panel sits in the black section in the pic below!
radi
o, phones, and a fan... up in the camper.
... and installed a second solar panel that goes on top of the tent. It only charges one small battery pak that runs lights, radio, phone chargers, tablet charger, and a small fan. The solar panel sits in the black section in the pic below!
radi
o, phones, and a fan... up in the camper.
WJCO
Meme King
What's the lumens on that light? Do you recall the model?
sunnysideup
Active Member
2200 lumens flood .... KC-2" C-Series C2 LED
It is the right sort of light to make a whole area bright... not a long distance light... I've played with it a bit... works great...no wistles or noise... had to drive in rain for 3 days... no water got in... pretty happy with it.
It is the right sort of light to make a whole area bright... not a long distance light... I've played with it a bit... works great...no wistles or noise... had to drive in rain for 3 days... no water got in... pretty happy with it.
sunnysideup
Active Member
Been a while since I did an update... I ended up going with metal cloak arms, I had asked questions around on serveal forums and facebook and I continued to hear of them lasting great, staying quiet, and they were the most recommened over all. I also got in on the 15% off sale with free shipping. They work, and the truck drives great.
Then at Christmas one of my kids bought me a diesel heater.... I made a removable shelf for it in the back and it can heat either the roof top tent or my ground tent. I can take the elbow joint off and heat the inside, or attach it and run the hose out the top and up into the tent. It will get a good test out ice fishing this weekend... my homemade topper already had a vent in it I just bought a joiner and its set to go! They put out a lot of dry heat! Totally removable, and its been mounted in a similar way to all my overland stuff... I can install or take it out of the truck in about 5 min!
I also installed the metal cloak bracket for the rear sway bar mount. Very solid!
Then at Christmas one of my kids bought me a diesel heater.... I made a removable shelf for it in the back and it can heat either the roof top tent or my ground tent. I can take the elbow joint off and heat the inside, or attach it and run the hose out the top and up into the tent. It will get a good test out ice fishing this weekend... my homemade topper already had a vent in it I just bought a joiner and its set to go! They put out a lot of dry heat! Totally removable, and its been mounted in a similar way to all my overland stuff... I can install or take it out of the truck in about 5 min!
I also installed the metal cloak bracket for the rear sway bar mount. Very solid!
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sunnysideup
Active Member
Used the tent to have a place to feed the crew ice fishing, the heater worked great...did not use much fuel... Brought a birthday cake for a surprise, caught a few fish. Mounted up a spare tank of fuel for the heater...but never needed it. Ice was 18 inches thick and we caught a few small trout!
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sunnysideup
Active Member
Well... I have found the fox 2.0 shocks to not do well when the truck is weighed down with a lot of items. My Jk had a full set of adjustable kings on it- so I had a high bar set. I found I didn't need to adjust them much and they worked great. So, rather then sell a kidney or two to buy a new set of shocks for a 3 to 4 inch lifted gladiator- I went with non adjustable Bilstein b8 5160's... They are stiffer, but I needed that for the loads the truck carries. I occasionally would even bottom out the fox2.0s on the city streets here where I live, hitting the bump stops hard on dips in the street. This became pronounced with the ice ruts we had all winter. The same dips and holes now never contact the bumpstops with the new setup. I know adjustable are the way to go for many- but I could not handle the price right now. I am happy after riding on them for 2.5 weeks... I think loaded down they will do much better. I also was seeing the fox shocks leaking in the real cold temps, and they made a lot of squeaking noises at every corner and stop. So, I went ahead and went with a different shock. I will have 5 fox 2.0's for a 3.5-4 inch lift for sale (3 front, 2 rear- one front needs rebuilt I'm thinking 300 shipped). I also noticed that the metal cloak arms made the pics that I added in Dec... The last picture is a deal I found for the next set of tires... I got them for 270 each new shipped (wal-mart)- like almost half price, so even though I have a few more months on the nitto's- I'm ready when they are gone to put the new shoes on. I got Yokohama Geolander x-at in the 37x13.5x17 (the price was an error but several of us got full sets before they changed it back to 220 more per tire.) Like the specs on them... just have to try them out!
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bobfriesenhahn
Hooked
That is one long paragraph! I have seen the Yokohama Geolander on the Subaru Outback and was not aware that they came in large sizes. Let us know how they work out.
sunnysideup
Active Member
Well, I let the other tires get down really low on tread and swapped these in last week! The folks that mounted them said they used very little weight for a 37... they balanced really nice. They are a little quieter then the ridge grapplers.... but similar, The size is pretty true.... just under 36 inches tall at 30 psi with wieght on the tires. I did some highway, and one trail with them... aired them down only to about 18 on that trip, but they had no problems- but the other tires would have done the same.... I'll track how they wear. They are a good option for a "hybrid" tire.
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sunnysideup
Active Member
sunnysideup
Active Member
My home built topper has seen a couple years of use now.... and I came up with some things I wanted to change. I got rid of the window and replaced it with a much larger "hatch door". Since my kitchen is set up at the back of the truck, the things in front of the kitchen are a pain to reach over the top of everything to get to them. This hatch door puts most of those items within reach. On the other side... I had the mounts for the rotopax gas container... over time there have been a couple of things I didn't like about it... Because of the gap between the mounting plate on the inside and the topper wall- there was a bow effect going on where the mounts were. The HDPE was "sucked in" enough to notice. I spaced the mounting plate on the inside to pressagainst the outer wall-and made a plate for the outside to flaten it out so there is no bowing in the HDPE. Now I feel a lot more confident about it strength. Thh three bolts go through the beams on the frame of the topper as well... so if a branch does catch on the rotopax- it is held by three beams three bolts, then inside plate and the outside plate with 8 bolts, and then the inner plate is held on by 4 more bolts. The nice thing about building your own stuff is that you can change it if you don't like it! Got the heater in for the fall and winter- we are already seeing snow in Montana.
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sunnysideup
Active Member
I have used a very cheap method of keeping the insides of the topper light enough to see. I have 3 push button led light strips from walmart. Two ofthem are over 2 years old and been on 50 plus days and nights camping... still on the first set of batteries. They each use three triple a's to power them. I just added the third light over the new hatch. NO DANGER of ever forgetting them and draining the main battery in the Jeep. They are more than brite enough to see everything in the topper. I also used a white HDPE board for the roof which allows lots of light in during the day.... and I have windows front and rear. I have extra batteries for them... I wonder how long until I have to replace them? Anyway... it is a cheap way to cook, and work out of the back of the truck without any danger of killing a battery.
