[85IrocZ-28]

If you need to correct your speedometer due to larger tires, it is more complicated on the WJ that on a ZJ. The ZJ has gears in the t-case that can be swapped out, but the WJ uses the rear ABS signal for the speedometer. And because the ABS signal is taken at the wheels, after the axle gears, my speedo still read way off even with 4.56's.

Motomummy sells the SpeedoDRD module made by 12 oclock labs. They sell and make these for bullet bikes, but model U1 (universal model) works great on the WJ's. It modifies the ABS signal, up or down, to correct for different tires.

I installed the DRD module today...I should have done this years ago! It is nice to have a speedo that reads correctly.

The first thing I did was remove the charcoal canister to give room to work with more of the wires. I then unplugged the harness from the ABS module, peeled back the harness cover, and found the wires:

- Black with orange stripe wire in harness - strip insulation away but do not cut the wire - connect DRD's black wire
- Blue with pink stripe wire in harness - strip insulation away but do not cut the wire - connect DRD's red wire
- White with orange stripe in harness - cut the wire, and strip insulation from each side - connect DRD white wire to ABS module side, DRD blue wire to body side (Green w/Yellow stripe on newer WJ's)

The two first wires are power/ground, and the other two connect the ABS signal and modify it. I will not post how to program it here, because they have great instructions with the module and on their website. It took me about 2 minutes to program it...very easy to use. You don't need any special equipment or electronic skills, there is a button on the module. You use that button, and count flashes on the LED's on the module, it is easy to program.

Factory wires ready to connect:



DRD wires connected to the ABS harness:



After a quick test run, I soldered the wires to the harness. This pic shows one soldered, and the others soldered and covered in electrical tape. I currently have it set to a correction of +16.8 but may change it to 16.6 to dial it in a bit more, I need to do another freeway speed test. I am using two different GPS apps on my android to dial it in. I did notice that the speedo stays at 0 until I hit about 3 mph or so, and it also floats at 3 mph for a split second after I stop. Not that I am concerned about the 1-3 mph range, so I am not worried.



I then covered the harness with the factory sheath, covered in new electrical tape, and routed the DRD module away from the abs module.



The DRD module is now placed up against the firewall, just behind the master cylinder and brake fluid reservoir. It is very small, about 3/4 of an inch wide by 1&1/4 of an inch long, with a wire tail about 12 inches long. $70 to fix the speedo, well worth it.



Thanks to Moony, TheKSmith, (both on Jeepforum) for providing me with help as I did this!

 

[85IrocZ-28]

Annual Thanksgiving trip to Moab. As always, it was great to hang out with good friends and also get to know others even better.

Poison Spider:



With her Daily Driver:


The Waterfall:


A few miles into Golden Spike, my spring retainer broke. I knew this would cause me to drop the spring a couple of times, but I would have to deal with it later. We pulled the spring and removed the broken retainer post.


Gulch below Zuki Hill:


Crossing Golden Crack. I knew I would drop a spring...


Awesome jeepers holding the spring in place for me while I inched forward until it re-seated.


Just leaving some white paint on the crack:




Fixing a dropped coil one more time WJwheelin's expert welding skills had me fixed up the next morning.


If it weren't for Team1k, I never would have attemped Easter Egg hill nor the Intimidator. Expert spotter for sure!


Boreal, SanJuanGrand, and others keeping my body and glass off of the rock. It really tips you, much worse than it looks:


Approaching the intimidator, right next to a high cliff ledge:


The Intimidator is off camber and ...well...very intimidating.


Looking forward to the next trip, time to edit some vids.

 

[shawn.m]

Awesome pics as always.
I just drove though that area on vacation with my wife. Did national arches, Capitol reef, Bryce and Zion. The whole time going " I need my jeep"

 

[85IrocZ-28]

Yeah, it is a Jeeping Heaven!

 

[85IrocZ-28]

My winch (Smittybuilt, less than a year old) was frozen in the engaged mode. According to 4wp, they have seen this a few times. They hooked me up with a new outer cover, selector lever, and install kit.

There is a spring that rests into a bore in the outer cover, with a steel ball on top of it. The selector compresses the spring, and rests on the ball. The selector has two cavities in it that the steel ball rests into, thus keeping the spring loaded selector in the engaged or freel spool modes. This bore filled with water, corroded, and the spring/ball would not move.





When I installed the new cover/spring/ball/lever, I filled the bore with grease to prevent future corrosion. I also added a cover to prevent further issues.



Today I visited two salvage yards and picked up the following:
- Rear interior panel for the drivers side cargo area (I put a hole in mine)
- Drivers door lock mechanism (mine is making some funny noises, sounds like it is on its way out)
- Hood latch (I have to slam mine to get it to shut, time to replace)
- Two pieces of rear door seal (the usual WJ seal shrink...I am going to piece in some extra material at the bottom seam so that it doesn't fall out of the corners anymore)
- A few door clips to replace those that I will inevitably break when I R&R the actuator
- Bottom half of the airbox (2 of my 4 clips have broken off)
- Black center vent and radio console (in case I decide to do a double DIN, this will allow me to modify it and have a spare)

EDIT-----
Rear interior panel installed, hood latch fixed, and bottom half of airbox installed. It was cold, so I will do the door lock mechanism later.

The hood latch ended up being fine. I noticed that I didn't have enough support on the upper radiator support, so I installed two 1/4 thick nuts between the two vertical support bars in the middle of the grill and the front lower bumper area. this forced the upper radiator support to move up just slightly. I also noticed that the hood still wasn't latching easily. I found that the cable was not releasing, and it was because it was pinched between the outer fender and the Charcoal canister (when I replaced the booster I must have pinched it. Hopefully the cable is fine. I moved the cable from pinch spot, and it is working fine now. It is good to have 4 working latches on the airbox. I did notice that the latches had lost much of their spring. So I removed each one, pinched it slightly, and now they all grab and hold the top of the airfilter box on very well.

 

[85IrocZ-28]

All those wheeling trips have had their toll on the exhaust system. I have had to weld the inlet back onto the muffler two times, and now this happened:


I was just going to put a turn down on it and call it good, but I just decided to run over to a local exhaust shop and have a magnaflow installed. I also had them cut the hanger and raise the rear of the pipe about 3 inches. It matches the lines of the Protofab much better now.

 

[jforse]

Great build! I love how clean your WJ is.

 

[85IrocZ-28]

Thanks. It gets scratched on the rocks (sliders and bumpers), but I try and touch it up annually to keep it looking good.

 

[Kruilty]

Necro'd....Great build, and wheeling pics and stories.