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Voodoo Blue 82 Complete Refresh

Drove my Scrambler about 60 miles today. Runs great! Got lots of looks and a few questions at intersections. It was about 50 degrees and the Blazer blower motor swap was so much better than stock for the heater. The Magnaflow muffler and the new exhaust sounds sweet. No exhaust drone at higher speeds.

Still lots to do. I will finish drilling the winch mounting plate, then when it’s a little warmer, I need to take the rear bumper off and paint it with the winch plate. Need to finish the wiper linkages. Lots of issues with those and I am going to convert to newer Jeep YJ style wiper linkages. And I think the new springs have settled enough to get the soft top on and start working on the hard doors rebuild. Then I'll add the dual batteries and all my electrical accessories. So still a fair amount to do but at least I can drive it around and have some fun!

Here is a quick video of what it looks like as of today.

 
While I'm waiting for my YJ wiper linkages to arrive, I decided to tackle how I want to mount my electronics on the dashboard. I will run an iPhone, Garmin GPSMAP 66i InReach Satellite messenger and an in a month or two, an iPad mini.

I was looking at different mounting bars and tracks and stumbled across a 1" Ball from RAM Mounts that has a 1/4"-20 bolt on it. That is the same as our dashboard mounting screws. Since I'm not running a dash pad any longer, I ordered one up to try it out. I also got a RAM mounting arm and Garmin clip mount adapter for the GPS/InReach. And I was going to use a RAM Mount for the iPhone but found an article from a dirt biker on the "Quad Lock" system. So, I ordered their water-resistant wireless charging mount.

Here is how it all came together. I love it and it is very solid. I ordered everything else I need except the iPad at this point. I'll be mounting the other devices to a couple more of the dash screws.

RAM Ball mount: RAM-B-273-1U
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RAM Double Socket Arm 1": RAM-B-201U
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Quad Lock Weatherproof Wireless Charging Head V3: QLA-MOT-WCH-3

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Quad Lock Case - iPhone 12: QLC-IP12M

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RAM Spine Clip Holder with Ball for Garmin Handheld Devices: RAM-B-202-GA76U

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All mounted up:

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Here is the Garmin in the mount. When I get the additional parts in. This will go on the dash screw to the left of my iPhone.

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And I will do some wire management and maybe drill a hole in the dashboard to run all the power cables behind and hide them. I have a dedicated 12AWG wire run behind there to power all of this stuff. (in addition to my lower USB and Cigarette lighter plugs)

And a video to see how you get the phone on and off:

 
Looks sweet, but you lost me at "I'm not running a dash pad any longer". But then I dont even have a stereo in my 8 so what do I know about tech?
 
Chamba said:
Looks sweet, but you lost me at "I'm not running a dash pad any longer". But then I dont even have a stereo in my 8 so what do I know about tech?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have put a stereo system in my Jeep either but I bought it with a really nice setup that I can't justify removing. I just really love driving the Scrambler, listening to the drivetrain and surrounding sounds, feeling in tune with the journey. Especially awesome driving 2 tracks through the woods. Weird I guess 🤷

Not that tech isn't cool. I love a big tablet that I use for gps.
 
designerRob said:
I wouldn't have put a stereo system in my Jeep either but I bought it with a really nice setup that I can't justify removing. I just really love driving the Scrambler, listening to the drivetrain and surrounding sounds, feeling in tune with the journey. Especially awesome driving 2 tracks through the woods. Weird I guess 🤷

Not that tech isn't cool. I love a big tablet that I use for gps.
Click to expand...
I'll be putting in a marine grade Fusion MS-RA70 Bluetooth stereo in my Tuffy Console soon. But I agree, I love listening to the drivetrain and the Magaflow muffler behind the V8.
 
Update on the cell phone and other device mounts.

I wanted a little deeper thread engagement into the dash. The RAM part was a little too short. But the threaded portion comes out and I was able to cut down a long 1/4" 20 screw and get an inch of threads sticking out. I did that on three ball mounts and put them in.

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Now I just need to get the iPad Mini for the last one.
 
Working on my wipers again. I had a lot of trouble, actually a complete fail, getting new CJ wiper pivot arms that work with new CJ wiper arms.

See my separate thread here: https://www.cj-8.com/threads/wiper-arms-not-fitting-on-omix-pivots.52683/

I found what looked like a decent YJ wiper linkage assembly on Ebay and purchased it. Once it came in, I got to work.

I will detail out the process and an issue I have but if I can resolve my issue, they will be much better. The downforce on the wipers is a lot more with the YJ wiper arms. And a better and easier to obtain selection of wiper blades is nice. They look good too. Here are before and after shots.

CJ style - they look good but the wiper arms are not fully seated on the pivots due to the issue I had with the Omix Pivots. (see link above to separate thread)

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YJ style:

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I used some YJ Billet wiper pivot nuts from Barney's Off Road (ebay seller) They look nice compared the the factory YJ aged plastic nuts:

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YJ Linkage:

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Disassembled everything and cleaned them up:
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I swapped the YJ motor arm over to the same position on my motor:
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Here is a comparison of the larger YJ pivot compared to the CJ. As others said, you have to enlarge the holes in the windshield frame.

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Here is a shot of the finished hole on the right. It is larger and has two notches.

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I used a step bit to make the larger hole and then a dremel cutoff wheel to make the notches:

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I used a file to smooth the holes out and painted the bare steel:

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You can see the Billet pivot nut here. I bought new YJ wiper arms from AutoZone. They are Dorman 42878. The arms have more spring pressure than the CJ arms. Plus they have holes where you can pull the wiper back and put a nail or pin in that holds the wiper off the windshield.

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I did an initial leak test by spraying a good amount of water on them and so far...so good. Finished shot: (not really...continue reading)

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Unfortunately, they have a pretty big "clunk" when they are running. With the wiper arms and wipers on, it is loud. With the arms off, it is barely present. So the additional friction is amplifying whatever my problem is. Here are some videos:

Running - front view - loud clunk:

Running - inside view

Running - view of the wiper motor linkage from inside the frame. Note that at the near and far ends of the sweep, the wiper motor rod pulls out a bit. That is when you hear the clunk. The video was from a probe camera I have and it does not record audio. Do you think the motor linkage is too short? I checked the pivots that the arms attach to and neither of them hit the side stops. So they have more travel.


Running front view with no wiper arms. Note the clunk sound is barely there:

Running view from inside with no wiper arms. Note the clunk sound is barely there:

What do you guys think? Motor arm linkage too short?

I need to figure this out for sure.

Thanks!

George
 
I am going to do the same on mine and i have bought a YJ wiper motor to do the job, photo shows the differences.
I was under the impression that it was a different spline count and a physically larger shaft on the YJ motor so i wonder if fitting the arm to a CJ motor may be your issue?.

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Dave The Sparky said:
I am going to do the same on mine and i have bought a YJ wiper motor to do the job, photo shows the differences.
I was under the impression that it was a different spline count and a physically larger shaft on the YJ motor so i wonder if fitting the arm to a CJ motor may be your issue?.
Click to expand...
Dave, let me know what you find when you do yours. It seemed like the splines lined up when I put the YJ wiper motor arm on my CJ motor. I don't have a YJ motor to check but the shaft diameter seems the same to me. It does not appear that my motor arm is slipping on the shaft.

Someone (not on the forum) suggested I get ahold of the RipTech guy that makes replacement wiper kits that lay flat for both CJ and YJ's. Supposedly knows a lot about both. I will try and call them tomorrow.

Thanks!

George
 
Dave The Sparky said:
I am going to do the same on mine and i have bought a YJ wiper motor to do the job, photo shows the differences.
I was under the impression that it was a different spline count and a physically larger shaft on the YJ motor so i wonder if fitting the arm to a CJ motor may be your issue?.
Click to expand...

Several years ago I could not get a windshield seal that would actual NOT leak. Someone recommended swapping to a YJ windshield because the YJ windshield is glued in. I've been running a CJ motor (with the YJ arm) on a YJ linkage, in a YJ windshield frame, for more than a decade without that noise.

George, do you have the insulator gasket on your motor? It is the black gasket that you can see in Dave's photo comparing motors.
 
mssldn said:
Several years ago I could not get a windshield seal that would actual NOT leak. Someone recommended swapping to a YJ windshield because the YJ windshield is glued in. I've been running a CJ motor (with the YJ arm) on a YJ linkage, in a YJ windshield frame, for more than a decade without that noise.

George, do you have the insulator gasket on your motor? It is the black gasket that you can see in Dave's photo comparing motors.
Click to expand...
No. I don't have the black insulator gasket on my motor. It was not there when I tore it down. Previous owner must have removed it.

I couldn't source a replacement for the CJ but the YJ gaskets are available. However they don't look like Dave's. His covers the entire surface and the one's available have a gap:

 
RockTractor said:
I'm really loving the black accents on everything. I may have to head in that direction on mine.

What brand of windshield hinges did you use? Are you happy with them?
Click to expand...
Most of the black parts are Kentrol including the windshield hinges. They seem to work good. They are thinner than the stock hinges which I was surprised with but they bolted on with no issues.
 
gpassida said:
Most of the black parts are Kentrol including the windshield hinges. They seem to work good. They are thinner than the stock hinges which I was surprised with but they bolted on with no issues.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Did you use anything between the hinges and the body / frame?
 
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