Today I received the strong box in the mail and got it installed. The installation was straight forward and without any issues. I believe I’m going to like it.

• Bestop 42640-01 HighRock 4×4 Under Seat Lock Box for Wrangler JK, Driver side

I received the cover the other day, but didn’t give it a trial fitting. Today I got around to it. It’s fine for my purposes. Right now the fore/aft dimensions are a little too tight for it to pull completely over the rear fender, but just barely so. I’m sure it will stretch a bit. It may even stretch and fit by morning. It’s got a nice little indent and hole for the antenna, which also makes it easy to orient when placing it on the Jeep. There’s enough slack that it should accommodate accessories around the body, if they don’t stick out too far.

• Smittybilt 835 Full Climate Cover

By-the-way, I did the turn the mirror over mod’ while the dealer was still in the car showing me the different features. He was amazed at the difference in visibility. That evening, when I took my wife for a ride, one of the first things she exclaimed was how great the visibility was through the windshield. She said it was like you were already outdoors. Very soon I’ll do the rear head rest zip tie / spring release mod’ and visibility will be as good a it can get with the doors and top still on.

Today I got a few more tasks completed.

• I installed “Rugged Ridge 11591.08 Textured Black 4.25″ Round Side Tube Steps“.
  • They went on with relative ease. It was easy, but there were a lot of bolts to tighten.
• I spray painted the muffler matte black.
  • I can’t stand nice looking vehicles that show an ugly silver, stained, and dirty muffler under the bumper.
  • I just used Rustoleum high temperature paint on it (after buffing with steel wool and cleaning).
• I undercoated the vehicle using Rustoleum spray-on undercoat.

That’s enough for today 🙂

I absolutely can’t stand huge keys, so I made the following mod’ to my basic key.

• Use an blade to make a slice through the rubber key cover, going from the base to the top.
• Pull off the cover, using the blade to trim away some rubber that will be sticking through perforations on the inside.
• Use a Dremel cut off wheel to cut away the extra key material on the side opposite the RFID chip.
• Use the Dremel to cut off the plastic on the side of the RFID chip. Be careful to leave some plastic all around the chip and of course be careful not to damage the chip.
• Optional: Use some sandpaper to smooth off the trimmed plastic just a little.
• Dip the key into or spray it with Plasti Dip.
• Let the Plasti Dip dry.
• Use an X-acto knife, or similar, to cut out the key ring hole at the top.
• Done! A crotch/pocket friendly key.

Notes:

1. This works with the “basic” key only.  This won’t work with one of the key-less entry keys.  However it does work with the “smart key”.  As I mentioned in the steps above, just be careful not to cut into the RFID chip.
2. My Plasti Dip had thickened too much and I didn’t have any naptha to thin it, so this isn’t the smoothest finish. The nice thing about Plasti Dip is that I can remove it just like I did the original cover and then make a nicer application.

While the dealer was still in the vehicle giving me “the tour”, I turned the rear view mirror upside down.  This vastly improves visibility through the front windshield.