Where did your Jeep take You this Week?

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Might as well just discuss the spod issue here. That company sucks more dicks than Kamala Harris.
Thanks. OK - here goes (admin - feel free to move it if you so deem) This is about the product and the application, not the company - they were helpful. I believe KH had a head start (pun intended).

During one of the transition builds of my jeep the decision was made by a 3rd party interest to incorporate "high tech" into the old school format of the 1953 M38A1. The old school wiring was removed as were all the switches in favor of MilSpec harnesses and these sPODS.

Immediately thereafter began the problems. In retrospect, the biggest problem was not the technology but the choice to use it. It is the dilemma between theory and practice. The installation quickly revealed a lack of operational knowledge or consideration.

The sPOD screens were the first to pose a problem. The flat touch screens were mounted on the center console to provide "finger tip access", but instead were impossible to read because of dust, demanded I take my eyes off the road to figure out what switch was where, and went into bat-shit crazy mode when I tried to clean them off.

The sPods were converted to the push button controllers and relocated to overhead.

The next issue was the MilSpec wiring. Any change, modification, addition, etc - required the assembly of a new harness and was often met with the statement of "There aren't enough empty pins in the cannon plugs". My response was typically, "WTF not?"

To further complicate the system, a MOTEC was installed and was now controlling fans, fuel pumps, etc through a series of relays, resettable circuit breakers, and those aforementioned MIlSpec harnesses.

While no stranger to modern technology, I flew 777's and other high-performance jets; my roots are in the fighters and bombers of WWII and the muscle cars of the 70's. I understand and appreciate both - but when it comes to off-road, if I can't fix it on a trail or out in the desert, or wherever - it's useless.

Such was the case this past Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon I took my wife for a drive around Moab; twice the jeep died but restarted after resetting the key. I noticed the lights were out in the sPod controlling ignition, and having had a different sPod have a similar experience I assume it might be dirt in the ethernet connection at the control pad.

I cleaned the connection with some contact cleaner and the problem did not reappear the rest of the day. Confident I had fixed it, I got up Wednesday morning eager to hit the trail. The jeep started, ran for about 5 minutes and died. Resetting the key did nothing, neither did flushing the cable or the pad with contact cleaner. Swearing in both English and Italian rendered the same result.

After contacting one of the installers I was directed to perform the following: find the resettable CB, trace that to the actual sPOD unit, measure voltage across the CB, same for the terminals on the sPOD. Next, find the ethernet cable coming out of the sPOD and make sure it's clean and has good contact. Yeah - right!

Fueled by a double espresso and feeling pissed off just enough - I grabbed a set of side cutters and a meter, donned a headlamp, crawled into the space in front of the pax seat, and started cutting zip ties. CBs- located, tested - all good. sPOD units - located, tested - all good, but here is where the problem starts. These units are supposed to be covered, mounted in a dry, clean space, and direct wired to the battery - not daisy-chained. What I discovered was not that.

I had to remove the battery box cover to expose the top of the "electrical compartment" and gain access to the tops of the sPODS. more zip tie cutting and I got to the ethernet cables. Swapping cables did nothing. I flooded the top of the sPOD with contact cleaner, blew it out with air, and went for my truck and trailer.

With the trailer in position, I was about to attach the winch line and decided to try the ignition - it fired! I drove it onto the trailer and told my wife we were headed home. The electrical system was on the pax floor and I didn't know it was fixed or just a fluke.

It took a long time to get here - but here's the issue. sPODs might be good, they might be bad - bottom line, I don't care - I'm ripping them out along with all that fancy MilSpec wiring and reinstalling good old wires with good old switches in an overhead panel.

As far as I'm concerned - mine is not the application for sPODS.

Let the friendly debate begin!


Here's a couple pictures of the sPOD units, how they're mounted and wired, and the wires I had to cut apart to get to them.




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Thanks. OK - here goes (admin - feel free to move it if you so deem) This is about the product and the application, not the company - they were helpful. I believe KH had a head start (pun intended).

During one of the transition builds of my jeep the decision was made by a 3rd party interest to incorporate "high tech" into the old school format of the 1953 M38A1. The old school wiring was removed as were all the switches in favor of MilSpec harnesses and these sPODS.

Immediately thereafter began the problems. In retrospect, the biggest problem was not the technology but the choice to use it. It is the dilemma between theory and practice. The installation quickly revealed a lack of operational knowledge or consideration.

The sPOD screens were the first to pose a problem. The flat touch screens were mounted on the center console to provide "finger tip access", but instead were impossible to read because of dust, demanded I take my eyes off the road to figure out what switch was where, and went into bat-shit crazy mode when I tried to clean them off.

The sPods were converted to the push button controllers and relocated to overhead.

The next issue was the MilSpec wiring. Any change, modification, addition, etc - required the assembly of a new harness and was often met with the statement of "There aren't enough empty pins in the cannon plugs". My response was typically, "WTF not?"

To further complicate the system, a MOTEC was installed and was now controlling fans, fuel pumps, etc through a series of relays, resettable circuit breakers, and those aforementioned MIlSpec harnesses.

While no stranger to modern technology, I flew 777's and other high-performance jets; my roots are in the fighters and bombers of WWII and the muscle cars of the 70's. I understand and appreciate both - but when it comes to off-road, if I can't fix it on a trail or out in the desert, or wherever - it's useless.

Such was the case this past Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon I took my wife for a drive around Moab; twice the jeep died but restarted after resetting the key. I noticed the lights were out in the sPod controlling ignition, and having had a different sPod have a similar experience I assume it might be dirt in the ethernet connection at the control pad.

I cleaned the connection with some contact cleaner and the problem did not reappear the rest of the day. Confident I had fixed it, I got up Wednesday morning eager to hit the trail. The jeep started, ran for about 5 minutes and died. Resetting the key did nothing, neither did flushing the cable or the pad with contact cleaner. Swearing in both English and Italian rendered the same result.

After contacting one of the installers I was directed to perform the following: find the resettable CB, trace that to the actual sPOD unit, measure voltage across the CB, same for the terminals on the sPOD. Next, find the ethernet cable coming out of the sPOD and make sure it's clean and has good contact. Yeah - right!

Fueled by a double espresso and feeling pissed off just enough - I grabbed a set of side cutters and a meter, donned a headlamp, crawled into the space in front of the pax seat, and started cutting zip ties. CBs- located, tested - all good. sPOD units - located, tested - all good, but here is where the problem starts. These units are supposed to be covered, mounted in a dry, clean space, and direct wired to the battery - not daisy-chained. What I discovered was not that.

I had to remove the battery box cover to expose the top of the "electrical compartment" and gain access to the tops of the sPODS. more zip tie cutting and I got to the ethernet cables. Swapping cables did nothing. I flooded the top of the sPOD with contact cleaner, blew it out with air, and went for my truck and trailer.

With the trailer in position, I was about to attach the winch line and decided to try the ignition - it fired! I drove it onto the trailer and told my wife we were headed home. The electrical system was on the pax floor and I didn't know it was fixed or just a fluke.

It took a long time to get here - but here's the issue. sPODs might be good, they might be bad - bottom line, I don't care - I'm ripping them out along with all that fancy MilSpec wiring and reinstalling good old wires with good old switches in an overhead panel.

As far as I'm concerned - mine is not the application for sPODS.

Let the friendly debate begin!


Here's a couple pictures of the sPOD units, how they're mounted and wired, and the wires I had to cut apart to get to them.




View attachment 374426View attachment 374427
damn, what a rats nest! whoever wired that up should be flogged and shackled in the public square.
a 1953 M38A1 should not be that complicated, rip it out and contact painless performance for a proper wiring harness.
 
damn, what a rats nest! whoever wired that up should be flogged and shackled in the public square.
a 1953 M38A1 should not be that complicated, rip it out and contact painless performance for a proper wiring harness.
Rat's nest is putting it mildly. What really concerns me are those hot busses. Trying to decide when to start and how far to take it. The rig really needs to be taken down to the frame, cleaned up, and painted.
 
Ajax mine just east of Phoenix
 

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The wife, pup and I met up with some other Jeepers and ran the Orosco Truck Trail out in Ramona. Fun ride, easy with a couple of maybe moderate sections. Was closed about half way, but still fun. Wife and pup have never been off road before. Got some new pinstripes 🤣 overall a great day!
 
Took the Jeep to visit family and road-tripping/camping up the Northern coast of CA. Rained a bit on us but amazing views.
 

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I asked the wife what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary, like an angel she replies "an epic camping trip". Well, that's a little bit of a tall order to fill on short notice, but I accepted the challenge and started rubbing a couple of brain cells together hoping to generate an idea. Two days later I came back with "would camping on the edge of the north rim of the Grand Canyon, in an area so remote that 99.999% of the humans on this planet will never see it with their own eyes be epic enough?", she replied "sure, but how are you gonna pull that off?", my reply was "we leave day after tomorrow". Luckily I have relatives that live in Hurricane Utah, a short drive from St George and the Arizona Strip which was the start point of this adventure. We hauled ass down to Hurricane and spent the night visiting my Aunt and Uncle at their home. The next morning we hit the trail.
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After about six hours of gravel, dirt, and some (what I would consider minor) 4 wheeling we arrived at our chosen destination and set up camp.

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We camped about 20 feet from the ledge of this..

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Continued...
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Day 2 we took a day trip to the old Grand Gulch copper mine.

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Didn't see another human or vehicle for 3 days, no cell service or internet, perfect! The only downside of this camping trip is that it's going to be hard to beat (but I've got my eye on another place that's even more remote and harder to get to for next year).
 
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Unrelated to the post but, the is a pretty blue Jeep. That would be the color for me if I could afford one.
Thanks. It's always been one of our favorite Jeep colors. We were set on a Mojito Wrangler until Jeep announced that the JT would come in hydro blue. That in itself really changed our minds. Then we talked ourselves into how much more practical a truck would be anyways. And it has been.
 
Thursday night about 1030 my buddy and I decided to run the rubicon late night. Got to the trailhead in Tahoe at 230 am and was at loon lake at 630 am. Really fun time and first time I have never seen another rig on the trail.
 

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