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Not much new lately, but tonight I swapped the positions of my alarm LED and the SiriusXM antenna. I think the wiper blade actually may have been interfering with the reception in certain scenarios, since if the signal dropped out, it would almost immediately return if I turned the wipers on. It happened only rarely, but this was an easy thing to try.
I liked the LED better where it was more centered in the dash, but it's still visible from various places around the truck when mounted here.
I added sound-deadening material to the front doors, covering as much of the outer door skin as possible...
I used some clear plastic tubing so material covering the inner panel could just go right over the lock rods.
2-pin connectors from Amazon will make speaker removal for future maintenance easier.
Inner door panels completely covered, and woofers installed.
I used some leftover grille cloth to cover the factory grilles to hide the drivers and the silvery shiny stuff from view when the door panel is reinstalled. You can see the tweeter mounted here, too. I decided to try just the factory sound-absorbing stuff on these panels for now. I can always go back and add some butyl/foil material later if needed.
The crossovers are mounted in a nice spot, and easy to get to if I want to change the tweeter attenuation.
Finished pic (sorry it's out of focus). The tweeter looks right at home there. The soundstage isn't as far forward as I'd like it to be, but this location seemed to be the best compromise for overall sound quality and imaging without going crazy with custom pods, etc.
dumb question..................did you run all new speaker wires to all the speakers? is the sound material easy to find?
Nothing exciting over the last year, just maintenance. November saw new 5100/5125 Bilstein shocks, new lower ball joints, and new upper control arms. I pulled the water pump a couple weekends ago (for the third time) as it continued to leak between the pump and the block. The last time, I tried to smooth the surface with some sandpaper and emery cloth, and installed a new o-ring. This time, I again replaced the o-ring, and added some Ultra Gray RTV. THAT should do the trick! I also found that my serpentine belt had split, and the inside edge was chewed up. That's what happens when you get it one groove off, and ride on the edge of a pulley instead of down in it. A new Continental belt is going on.
Santa did bring me some Covercraft seat covers, and I have a seat heater kit to install as well, so those will be going in when I have the gumption (and the time). I'm also planning to install a dual-band amateur radio in the near future. Antenna logistics are weighing me down at the moment. ..
Last edited by OhioLariat; 02-24-2019 at 10:20 PM.
Yesterday, I installed a Pro Comp steering stabilizer (220850) that I picked up for $30 on CL. I'm only running 285/70-17's, but for that kind of deal, I thought it would be worth experimenting. WOW! I had no idea how much that steering wheel was moving around on washboard roads and over bumps until I took a drive this evening, and it wasn't moving at all! Best $30 I've spent in a long time.
New sway bar bushings went in as well as the new serpentine belt. ..
9/19/19 - New BFG KO2's. -- I was considering different tires, as I wasn't really happy with the way these wore (mileage), but Discount Tire called BFG, and they offered 25% odf a new set. DT was also running a couple of rebates that netted me about $100 back, so... We'll see how this set does. I went with Load range C this time, and MAN, I'm glad I did! Loving the softer ride, and didn't lose a bit of handling. I may never run E's again. (Jeep started running the C-rated KO@'s as an OEM tire on the Wrangler Rubicon in 285/70-17. This size was only available in E's prior to this.)
10/22/2019 - I took the door panel off to lubricate the driver's side door lock, because it wasn't popping all the way up in cold weather. While I was at it, I thought I'd toss in the new keypad door handle. Yeah, right. Just toss it in.
First, I broke the cap off the modded Christmas-tree fastener I'd fashioned as a lock plug, leaving the broken part in the key cylinder. (I'd pried it from the side rather than top or bottom.)
That should've been my sign to just stop right there. I got it out without any real trouble,though, so I moved on to the R&R. The rearward nut on the handle was a PITA to remove, (I don't recall it being that hard to get to when I pulled it from the donor SCAB.) Long story short, I got to R&R the $%&# thing twice. The new handle ended up hitting the window guide when operated, so I had to remove it and mod it a bit.
After all that, I remembered I had to re-route the cable *outside* of the window channel, not inside, (finally) found the hole in the top of the door to hold the harness up, and realized the plug no longer could attach to it's original spot on the door above the speaker, so I just adhered it to the inside of the door skin instead.
It works and looks great!.... And now I don't even know if I want to keep the friggin' thing! One of the reasons I tinted my windows was so people couldn't see what's in the truck, especially at night. Now, all a prospective bad guy needs to do is press a button on the keypad, and the inside lights up like daylight so an accurate inventory can be taken. I've also determined it's unlikely I'll be able to disarm my factory alarm with the keypad without some ingenuity involving some diodes, a relay, and a $pare remote fob.
... and the only thing I have to show for it is that little round switch.
Well, that and a warm bum.
Ford was nice enough to put a switched hot under each seat (for OEM heaters), so wiring was much simpler than I thought it would be. Passenger side took much less time, and was finished up the next night.
12-12-2017, 07:20 PM
