Jeep Gladiator Smittybilt XRC Gear

The Jeep Gladiator will make the 3rd Jeep I have owned; yet, this is the FIRST time I have ever installed an aftermarket bumper & winch! I absolutely LOVE the finished look and am impressed with the simplicity of the installation, albeit a bit time-consuming :) In this video, I go through the installation with checkpoints on progress of removing the OEM plastic bumper and replacing with the Smittybilt XRC Gen 2 stubby front bumper paired with a Smittybilt XRC Gen 3 12k Pound Winch w/ Synthetic Rope!

Smittybilt XRC Gen 2 Front Bumper

Smittybilt XRC Gen 3 12k Winch w/ Synthetic Rope

Smittybilt Winch Shackle


https://youtu.be/dmRmthsYBOE

Tablet-Powered OBS Light Board

In the current state of the world with COVID-19, it has become increasingly difficult to travel and go to studios where high-end technology may exist, such as professionally built lightboards. If you are a hobbyist and love DIY projects, you can absolutely make your own at home for a few hundred dollars; however, one of the biggest drawbacks of a real lightboard is when you need to do LIVE broadcasts! Why? It is MESSY! If you are perfect, and don't make a single mistake with your drawing, perhaps not; however, for the rest of us, sometimes you will make a mistake, draw a box too small, need to re-trace an arrow, etc.. On a physical lightboard, this creates a nightmare with trying to carefully erase what you drew without smearing the neon dry erase marker over the rest of your design. For this reason, the physical lightboards are best suited for video creation where you have plenty of options for edits in post.

This is why I wanted to come up with a better way to do a LIVE lightboard'ish stream where you are achieving virtually the same net effect without all the expensive hardware, and with the beauty of technology, you have the beloved UNDO button to save the day! Further, I will show you a way with the application I leverage to build out layers. Layers are an amazing way to tell a story on the lightboard in stages. You can pre-draw some of the basics on a few layers.. Let's say part 1 you layout the infrastructure basics, or whatever you are presenting on.. This is your starting point. You then have the ability to freehand on a new (blank) layer where you can easily hide it when you are ready to bring in your second pre-drawn layer to continue the story! This is simply amazing and not possible on a real lightboard. Pre-drawing IS possible on a physical lightboard, but it's a one time thing for live sessions. Once you go live, that's it, whatever you had on the board is what you start with, everything else will be ad-hoc.

If you are interested, have a look at the video tutorial I put together that walks you through exactly how to create this yourself, all for $19.99!! This will require you to BYOD, but after that, the only software license you'll need is, indeed, only $19.99!

AirServer For Windows 10 x64 Universal (Recommended)

AirServer For Windows 10

AirServer For MacOS

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)

Concepts Application


iPad

Apple Pencil

Microsoft Surface

Surface Pen

Android Tablet

Android Styli


https://youtu.be/x4gFWxd1w0w

Jeep Gladiator Cup Holders

One of the very first things I noticed after swapping over from the Ram Rebel to the Jeep Gladiator was the sheer lack of drink holder space :) The Ram had cup holders for days, 2 in the front center, 2 in the rear center, 2 in the rear armrest, 1 in each door (front & rear), etc.. The Jeep only has 4 total in the whole thing, and two of those are tucked away in the rear armrest. I needed a solution...

I noticed some ads that kept popping up for these little inserts that you could install on the front doors (and rear doors if you like) that would provide an ABS plastic cup holder at the edge of the OEM netting. Many reviews said these were flimsy and would come loose, so I didn't put much stock in them; however, after considering they were very cheap, I figured I would give them a shot and see for myself.

Well, i'm sure glad I did because these are just what I was looking for! They attach at the bottom with an existing bolt in the door, come with double-sided tape to help secure the edge and finally come with an optional self-tapping screw that you can screw into the plastic trim. I opted to use the screw because I wanted the most secure fit I could get, and frankly, I think without it, that 3M tape would absolutely come loose, which is probably what people are complaining about in the reviews.

Check out the install & very quick review video below!


https://youtu.be/u9C18H_h5HM

Get your hands on a set of these!





Jeep Gladiator CB Radio Install

This 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon JT is my 3rd Jeep (5th if you count two Grand Cherokees, WJ & ZJ) I have had thus far.. One thing that I thoroughly enjoyed was taking my Wrangler up to the North Georgia mountains and doing some trail rides.. I met a ton of awesome people & made a few good friends along the way; however, that likely wouldn't have happened without the trusty CB radio!  Why?  Think about it, if you are trail riding, 80% of the time is likely spent inside your Jeep, by yourself, until you decide to stop & take a break.  This is a perfect time to continue the conversation on a CB.  Further, the CB is very important for spotting people over obstacles, and when cell reception dies, is one of the ways for a group of like-minded peeps to stay in touch while offroad.

In the past, the Wranglers really posed no challenge for CB installs.  There were countless mounts that you could buy for the antenna to be mounted to the spare tire carrier & simply run the coax through the swing gate, hide it behind the plastic panels or roll bars, and done.  Further, the CB radio itself had a few easy mount options, such as just going with the old Cobra all-in-one radio that is straight out of 1999, or installing a Tuffy Single Overhead Console & mounting the CB inside (my install of choice, check it out here!)

For the JL & JT's, not so much.. There isn't really a clean way to mount a CB radio, especially if you want a full-size CB.  As I have mentioned in my videos, I am personally just not a fan of seeing the exposed CB radio as I feel that case/enclosure was never meant to be seen, but rather mounted inside an enclosure.  This is why I loved that Tuffy console so much, literally a perfect mounting option with the only downside being you have to be careful with your head getting in & out (but as you'll notice from my install, I added bumpers to the corners for safety lol).

There is a CB Bar you can buy for the JT's or JL's, but again, the CB looks like it's just hanging up there out of place to me.  I also REALLY wanted a PA system as I have had countless opportunities to have a blast on that thing; however, that requires a full-size CB.  So, on this JT, at least for now, no PA.

I landed on a President Bill compact CB radio after reading countless raving reviews on it.  I found, what I would consider, a nice spot to mount it, up & out of the way.  While the shell is still exposed (contradictory to what I said above), it is flush mounted up & out of view, so it minimizes the visibility of the radio itself, plus it is tiny :)

Here are some pics of the install + a video!

Stay tuned...

https://youtu.be/hTlcJSWiPNs

PARTS LIST