2015 project thread (week 1 spod and CBI rear bumper)

Tengu · 2015-01-30T23:14:20+00:00

Since Christmas I have been accumulating items to add to The Kraken, aka my 2010 5th gen trail edition. I have not installed everything as I was waiting for items to come in. Here is a list of orders and arrivals as of week 1 of projects. (last Friday) ARB onboard air compressor Spod CBI Rear Bumper x Vision LEDs for the under carriage Engo 10000s wench Rigid Dually LEDs for the holes in the rear bumper Still on order Shrockworks Front bumper OPOR 1.5 spacers Weather forecasted to be gorgeous, check, rear bumper arrived and taking up space, check, I’m off to the races. Arriving home from work, after making a margarita, I figured I’d start some light prep work. So I decide I’d put the rigid lights in the bumper before installing it. Immediately I was foiled. There are grooves where nuts drop down in that align with the bolt that retains the light to the bracket. Three of the four nuts dropped in fine, but one of the little wells was not shaped right, so the bolt and nut would not align, thus making it impossible to mount the light to the bracket. I called Rigid warranty, being the weekend, no joy. So do I dremel the well out and potentially void the warranty? No, I figured I had enough to, do so I returned it. Two margaritas, and the sun down, I decided apply more margaritas to my face, and to punt bumper prep to the next day. The next morning I wake up to my son texting to say that he was helping grandpa clean and repair the whaler in prep for it’s new motor. SO… there goes my helpers for the day. Drat, foiled again. On to Plan B Not wanting to waste the beautiful day that it was, I decided to install the Spod. What is an Spod do you say? Say you want to run lights, air compressor, air lockers, and etc. With each item you have switches, wiring and wiring harnesses to deal with. That means every item has to go through the firewall. With the Spod, you wire it to your battery, you wire your component to the spod, and you only run one set of wires through the firewall for in my case 6 switches. It also contains a circuit with relays, and a fuse bank in one neat tidy package. What you see below is one spod with it’s wires you run through the firewall on the left, 6 switch bank with a “modular” mounting bezel in the center, grey switch removal tool, spod, sticker labels, and mounting stuff. If I’m not being clear enough, youtube spod. Sure it is spendy, but it is quality, and simplicity. Why do I say “Modular” mounting bezel? When I bought the Spod, I went with the barebones FJ model that did not come with a face plate like most of the other models. So I was thinking I’d run three of the switches to existing oem switch holes in the dash, and use the handy dandy “modular” mounting bezel for three of the switches. Looking at the site you see a template for 1, 2, 3, and 6 slot cut holes. Also a picture of the bezel apart and you it would fit together. So I thought I’d get a few pieces that I could make into the number of slots I needed. Well it came in it was a solid 6 piece block. Apparently, if you want a 3 piece, you have to call. The web site doesn’t give you an option, and it doesn’t tell you that modular is only if they set it up for you. Had I known that, I would have gotten the Tundra version so the plate would at least be metal. Cinde over at Spod was very friendly, and she Jedi mind tricked me into looking at the slot on the center console under the lighter which frankly I forgot was even there. I liked the idea of that slot as I would be less prone to flipping switches with my knee. Step one I started by going to my parents house to do the job, and to jack with my son and dad while they weren’t helping me with my bumper. I figured I’d run a coat hanger through the firewall to pull the wiring into the engine bay. Step one, find a wire hanger… coat closet, no wire hanger. Guest closet, no wire hanger, Master closet, not accessible yet due to sleeping mother, Other closets, storage, aka no hangers. What? No wire hangers anywhere? What is this, Mommy dearest house? Modified step one, drive back home to pick up two coat hangers. (as they say in the teams, two is one, one is none) Drat, foiled again. Having returned, I poke the straightened hanger through the rubber cover thingee into the driver’s area. I looped the end around the white plug end of the cable and taped the hell out of it. Back in the engine bay I pulled like hell on the wire until the bushing gave birth to the plug with braided covered wires. I did that first because I thought the SPod was going on the side wall by the fuse box. Upon eyeballing the location and the mounting base, I realized the location would not work and I started doubting it could really fit anywhere I wanted it. Drat, foiled again? Just then my son shows up in his FJ. So I immediately query him as to where the FJ guys were putting it and look under his hood. The FJ guys put them on the passenger side firewall, but the space is a lot bigger, and the firewall a lot flatter under that hood. I ended up putting it there but it is quite an awkward fit. Like I said before, the firewall isn’t as flat. To find a place flat enough I had to go kind of high, which I’m hoping it leaves me a big enough space below for the compressor. Keep in mind the spod has a lid that has to open. The area makes that tight. Luckily if placed right it fits, and you won’t need in there often. So, maybe you can see where I tapped into the firewall, and mounted the mount above, (I know bad lighting) but you should better see it below. BTW, self tapping screws? Pfffffft, whatever, I drilled it. Back in the cab, we have to get to the part we are mounting the switches to. Start by pulling the two side pieces off. As Antman says, pull to you. They come straight back. Once you see the type of clips they have, you’ll not be as fearful to pull them, and other panels off. I had better luck on the bottom first. Next pull the a/c section out. It pulls even easier. I didn’t bother unplugging it, I just flopped it over to the side. Next the center console part has to come out. This is easy as well, just pull it up. You will need to take your shifter knobs off. I also put it the vehicle in neutral. Then there is a piece that goes between the console cover and the piece we are after. There are two screws to get that part out. Finally, disconnect the lighter and mp3 connectors, and out it goes. I used a dremel disk to cut a hole in the rear of the pocket for the cable to exit, and a part of the pocket. Keeping in mind the angles, this is what I ended up with. Remember, most of it will be covered so it does not have to be too pretty. (although it did clean it up some) Here is what I ended up with Back in the cab, pulled the other part of the dash down to aid in the wiring. (I’m not small and cramming myself under the dash wasn’t happening. This part just pulls forward from the top. (again thanks Antman) I then used the second coat hanger to help run the other end of the cables to the connectors. I replaced all the stuff in the reverse order, after a good cleaning fo sho, and viola! Spod in place. Back in the engine bay the three cables are connected and run along the firewall. The tree cables consist of the one from the dash to the Spod, and the positive and negative leads to the battery. Switches on (but nothing connected to spod yet) That ends day one.