it’s just a lot of work to give you a better impression of my lack of skill

Modification – noun; 1. an act or instance of modifying. 2. the state of being modified; partial alteration.

Upgrade – noun; 1. an increase or improvement:an upgrade in the year’s profit forecast. 2. a new version, improved model, etc. 3. an incline going up in the direction of movement.

B.S. – oh, you already know on this one!

The reality of this post is more of a self serving admission of interest in modifying things than anything else. I have an obsession with changing things. I’ve always had this deeply rooted desire to upgrade things or maybe just take things apart.

what do i mean…

The first computer I was given was taken completely apart within 24 hours

Broken electronics have always intrigued me and I have boxes of too many repair attempts that didn’t work

I don’t measure enough (measure twice & cut once) and so I spend a lot of time doing mockups

I have no problem failing (fail fast & fail forward)

in the end, it will work itself out… mostly

I try to scrutinize every change I decided to make an upgrade to my jeeps. I’d love to think that every idea I have for a modification is a great one, but l’ve failed enough to know that the change has to be defined, very clearly, for it to have any real meaning. If I’m the one defining all this then they should all be great ideas, but I can tell you for certain that not all of them worked out for any real benefit.

Upgrades

For me anytime you take something out and add a newer, better, fancier, etc. version to replace you are upgrading. Trying to make an improvement for some reason you’ve created and are well past justification of said upgrade. Accepting that there is a chance you have to modify something, if you want to add a double din head unit as an example, for the most part you are just changing out an existing thing.

There are some upgrades, like a steering stabilizer, that to my hands and mind are great! In my experience this makes the steering and handling much more smooth and predictable. I’ve upgraded steering stabilizers in both the TJ and LJ. I think it’s a great upgrade. Since it falls into the cheaper side of parts that can be upgraded I’ve always viewed this one as a winner!

Particularly for older Jeeps upgrading the headlights is another winner, winner, chicken dinner. The older lights don’t put out much and the brighter bulbs don’t really do much for me. I’ve just not been satisfied with upgrading bulbs, so I stick with upgrading to modern headlights. The improvements in technology and materials is just too great to ignore, in my mind.

Tires fall into the easy choice upgrade path for me, but there is always the style & function questions to answer. Personally, I’ve had more experience with “All Terrain” tires than I have “Mud Tires” and I tend to stick to BFGoodrich KO2 for my tires. Wheels are a whole other topic and one that I probably won’t get into 🙂

Modifications

Getting into modifications we’re talking about changes to something so you can create what didn’t use to exist. Obviously, mods can run the gambit from mild to wild, but there has to be a chance of “this might really screw up something” to peak my interest. For me, it’s a process where I think through whether or not I would like a modification. Mentally, I try to play through scenarios where I would benefit from some change. That question simmers around for a while until it either fades away or a situation presents itself and the mod happens.

One example of a mod was me adding a table to the tailgate. Turns out what I was sure would be a wonderful enhancement wasn’t. Actually, it was useless in the TJ. I won’t put on in the LJ. There was so little usable space for me that I just ended up frustrated. There was a crazy rattle that was added to the Jeep. The rattle was so annoying that everyone who rode for the first time with me commented on it. I mean, everyone knows older Jeeps make noice, but that table was the worst! I’ve since created a wind screen and a camp table rig that works much better.

A slightly smoother modification I did to the Wrangler was in the lighting department. I installed some lights on the a-pillar of the TJ and wired the switch to a nice location in the center console. At the time I was really happy with this mod. I was so excited to use it, but I never had an opportunity other than lighting up camp to show off the lighting mod I did. When I finally did use them they were a hinderance for me more than an enhancement as they just flooded the hood with light. Great location for the switch, but not the right location for lights.

You can barely see the bottom of a dash tray mod I did. Overall the tray was a good upgrade as it provided more space and a couple of useful compartments. The phone mount was trash, so in the end I didn’t really benefit that much from it. That was also the start of realizing that you really have to get something heavy duty to be able to hold on to your phone! A great lesson learned for not too much money.

By far the best mod to do is to stuff your sound-bar with pillow insulation! Sounds weird, right? Well, that’s what I thought as well. Turned out that after talking to a friend, who use to build speaker boxes back in the day (teenage times), he mentioned that he use to do that with some of the speaker boxes that he built. Turned out that it really helped the over all sound of the sound-bar. What’s not to love about great sounding tunes in a Jeep?

B.S.

There’s not much to say about this one. There is all kinds of stuff on the ol’ interwebs that will have you try all kinds of things. I’ve fallen for some over the years that make me laugh now. Then again, some people will swear by things that have never worked for me and that enough engineering brainiacs have debunked that I’m good without it.

Maybe it works for you and that’s cool. Still working on the angry eyes thing, but for some people that’s just their jam. Whether it’s an upgrade, modification, or just some bull schmog-ma that you want to do; have fun, be safe, and hopefully I’ll see ya out there!