What did you do with your Grenadier today?

[Tazzieman]

Yesterday - tiny job - I adjusted my aftermarket rear view camera so it can swing up and down with greater sweep as required.
Today I bought my first car magazine since I gave up a chronic classic car (Octane , Classic and Sports car, classic Land Rover etc) magazine buying habit (around the time I reserved the Ineos)
My wife was complaining about the library I had accumulated over many years. "Surely that's enough for the nursing home years". She's probably correct.
And yes they do become a bit repetitive.
Anyway our Aussie mate @GrenX has become a bit famous , so I broke the habit.
SWMBO won't mind , as she loves the Grenadier

 

[255/85]

Had a little snow in the neighborhood today. Lovely wet, slick Cascade Concrete. The stuff is just slicker than snot.Like a cross between a snow cone and something out of the abominable snowman's soiled nappy. Returning home I stopped on the hill a few hundred yards down from our place. The tracks on the left are from the wife's TJ this morning on her way to work. There'd only been one other vehicle up until I stopped for a picture.

The vehicle had been doing fine in high range with the center diff locked most of the day on the OEM Bridgestones. I jumped back in and dropped into drive. At the first touch of the accelerator the vehicle broke free and immediately began sliding rearward and to the right. Judicious use of the go pedal managed to slow things enough that I came gently to rest just a few car lengths back down the grade and up against the curb. The parking sensors complained a bit as I caught my breath.

So low range and lockers it was. Still, it wasn't pretty. At one point I was literally 90 degrees sideways in exactly the same place as the image. Several wild fishtails later I had some momentum again and made it the rest of the way home.

I warned my better half and she found a semi-plowed street to come up on her way home but, when she turned the corner above us, her unlocked Jeep slid off the crown of the road and into a shallow culvert. I could here her revving the engine and spinning tires from the front porch. I grabbed a shovel and a few flattened cardboard boxes, walked up the hill, and dug her out.

 

[AaronS]

In anticipation of rising prices, I bit the bullet and put in a pretty big order with Owl... a set of 60s; rail/side steps; visors, mirrors, Leitner load bars, GP Factor table, and some smaller items. Also bought a DropRacks XL roof rack to pair with the Leitner bars. Should make for a fun weekend come April when I pull it out of storage!

Still debating whether to go with larger tires, but won't make that decision until I put some miles on it. Currently, the odometer stands at 323.

Put some miles on that thing!!!

 

[vtgrenadier]

Put some miles on that thing!!!

I wish I could!! Still deep in salt season where I live and this one's a keeper... at least until I see how others fare over a winter or two, it'll stay in storage. First impressions weren't great, honestly, as the very first photo I took a year ago showed rusty windscreen frame hardware of one on the lot... highly reminiscent of the Winter of '92-'93 when the NAS110s first appeared with corroded safari cage bolts. By Year 2, LRNA replaced doors under warranty and in the second winter of ownership, my '94 Defender 90 interior seatbelt brackets were rusty. Yes, corrosion resistance has come a long way, but bleeding hardware out-of-the-gate was not reassuring.

 

[TK42one]

Added some color today

 

[AndyT]

I cleaned up the wiring for my dimmer switch i built for my roof rack lights.
I also wired in the starlink to a permanent mount on the roof rack. I fought and fought with that all afternoon.
It was erratic, sometimes it worked great other times i just had no power to the starlink.

In the end i started suspecting that the cable from @DVA Mechanics had issues. It seems to be position and vibration dependent, and i think its the plug that goes into starlink that made a partial connection that was sensitive to the vibration. I ended up sacrificing a cigarette lighter cable that i had and put a Deutch connector on it. After that it worked perfectly. I probably had 2 hours of debugging into it by then. Painful...

I got the sides done and i got the wiring cleaned up.
From this
View attachment 7884831

To this:
View attachment 7884830

Happy camper now. Just the last little bit of wiring for the rear lightbar and i'm done.

@parb I love what you did with your scene lights. Question(s): 1) can you provide a link to your dimmable switch? 2) Are all LED lights dimmable, or will some lights not work right or not last when dimmed? I just installed Morimoto 1Bangers to my roof rack wired to an on-off switch, but I would rather have the option to dim it when I dont need the power of the sun, which is probably 90% of the time.

 

[AngusMacG]

Odd thing happened…hopped in the truck and pulled out but the CarPlay portion of the infotainment screen was black. As i drove about 5 minutes later the entire infotainment screen went black and reset itself. Of course the ADAS system reset at the same time, guess they are tied together

 

[AaronS]

I wish I could!! Still deep in salt season where I live and this one's a keeper... at least until I see how others fare over a winter or two, it'll stay in storage. First impressions weren't great, honestly, as the very first photo I took a year ago showed rusty windscreen frame hardware of one on the lot... highly reminiscent of the Winter of '92-'93 when the NAS110s first appeared with corroded safari cage bolts. By Year 2, LRNA replaced doors under warranty and in the second winter of ownership, my '94 Defender 90 interior seatbelt brackets were rusty. Yes, corrosion resistance has come a long way, but bleeding hardware out-of-the-gate was not reassuring.

Salt schmalt... they don't salt the roads nearly as much as they did in the '80s.

 

[parb]

@parb I love what you did with your scene lights. Question(s): 1) can you provide a link to your dimmable switch? 2) Are all LED lights dimmable, or will some lights not work right or not last when dimmed? I just installed Morimoto 1Bangers to my roof rack wired to an on-off switch, but I would rather have the option to dim it when I dont need the power of the sun, which is probably 90% of the time.

@AndyT thanks for the kind words.
This is the dimmer switch. I got it from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D98MX7XS?tag=globalgrena0b-20

Not all led lights can be dimmed but most can. I hooked it up first and tested my arb and stedi lights, all dimmed well.
This switch can handle 7Amp , my arb lights is 1.5A each so I have room for two more per side.

I made a hole through a piece of aluminum flat stock that I rattle can sprayed with satin black to match the roof rack. I mounted the switch through a hole I drilled for the switch in the flat stock. To hide the back of the dimmer switch I bought some silicon tubing and put the tubing over threaded portion of the dimmer switch. Looks great. This was the right size silicon tubing, just cut off a piece and put it over the back of the dimmer switch.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K3WWS8Q?tag=globalgrena0b-20

I wired the two lights i have on each side of my grenadier to one dimmer switch. The lights are connected in parallel, I pulled one wire over the bottom of the roof rack from the dimmer. I opted to mount the dimmer on the driver's side.

I placed another dimmer switch in the rear and it is controlling a stedi mini light bar that I have mounted on the rear of the roof rack. My idea was to have two independent light zones. So far it has been great.

I bought extra Deutsch dt plugs and made my own connectors for the dimmer switch so I can remove the lights without cutting the wire.

 

[AndyT]

@AndyT thanks for the kind words.
This is the dimmer switch. I got it from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D98MX7XS?tag=globalgrena0b-20

Not all led lights can be dimmed but most can. I hooked it up first and tested my arb and stedi lights, all dimmed well.
This switch can handle 7Amp , my arb lights is 1.5A each so I have room for two more per side.

I made a hole through a piece of aluminum flat stock that I rattle can sprayed with satin black to match the roof rack. I mounted the switch through a hole I drilled for the switch in the flat stock. To hide the back of the dimmer switch I bought some silicon tubing and put the tubing over threaded portion of the dimmer switch. Looks great. This was the right size silicon tubing, just cut off a piece and put it over the back of the dimmer switch.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K3WWS8Q?tag=globalgrena0b-20

I wired the two lights i have on each side of my grenadier to one dimmer switch. The lights are connected in parallel, I pulled one wire over the bottom of the roof rack from the dimmer. I opted to mount the dimmer on the driver's side.

I placed another dimmer switch in the rear and it is controlling a stedi mini light bar that I have mounted on the rear of the roof rack. My idea was to have two independent light zones. So far it has been great.

I bought extra Deutsch dt plugs and made my own connectors for the dimmer switch so I can remove the lights without cutting the wire.

Very, very cool. Thanks for providing the links. I wish I saw this before going down my rabbit hole of finding ways to wire my lights. I ended up using all three roof outlets that are controlled by EXT3, but left side and right side lights are independently controlled by their own switch and my two rear chase lights are wired to one switch. I wanted the flexibility to turn the lights on and off independently even if EXT3 was switched on. Anyway, it works, but the lights are extremely bright. I'll either go down the route of wiring the side lights to dimmers or see if I can put a red filter cover over them. Thanks for sharing what you did. One of these days I think I am going to post the various "upgrades" I've made to my truck.

 

[parb]

Very, very cool. Thanks for providing the links. I wish I saw this before going down my rabbit hole of finding ways to wire my lights. I ended up using all three roof outlets that are controlled by EXT3, but left side and right side lights are independently controlled by their own switch and my two rear chase lights are wired to one switch. I wanted the flexibility to turn the lights on and off independently even if EXT3 was switched on. Anyway, it works, but the lights are extremely bright. I'll either go down the route of wiring the side lights to dimmers or see if I can put a red filter cover over them. Thanks for sharing what you did. One of these days I think I am going to post the various "upgrades" I've made to my truck.

I'm heading down to overland expo in Costa Mesa next month. If you plan to be nearby let's catch up, I know there are a bunch of other Grenadiers there and it will be cool to catch up. I know some of the local guys are talking about setting up a get together that weekend one evening at a local brewery.

Here is what I got going on my roof:
I run a big 24.7A lightbar on the 25A roof circuit.
The side and rear lights on the 10A circuit. The dimmer switches starts in the off position when you turn on power from the switch in the cabin, which is what I wanted. I also power my starlink mini from the same 10A circuit.

This way I can power on the starlink from inside the cabin while driving without turning on the lights. Works like a charm and functions exactly like I wanted it.
Now I can't turn on the lights without turning on the starlink, but I envision that is a rare time when that happens. And I have the starlink on a dt connector so I can disconnect it manually if I wanted to.

Anyway, that was my reasoning.

 

[AndyT]

I'm heading down to overland expo in Costa Mesa next month. If you plan to be nearby let's catch up, I know there are a bunch of other Grenadiers there and it will be cool to catch up. I know some of the local guys are talking about setting up a get together that weekend one evening at a local brewery.

Here is what I got going on my roof:
I run a big 24.7A lightbar on the 25A roof circuit.
The side and rear lights on the 10A circuit. The dimmer switches starts in the off position when you turn on power from the switch in the cabin, which is what I wanted. I also power my starlink mini from the same 10A circuit.

This way I can power on the starlink from inside the cabin while driving without turning on the lights. Works like a charm and functions exactly like I wanted it.
Now I can't turn on the lights without turning on the starlink, but I envision that is a rare time when that happens. And I have the starlink on a dt connector so I can disconnect it manually if I wanted to.

Anyway, that was my reasoning.

Overland Expo sounds cool, but looks like i have a backpacking trip that weekend. If i end up deciding to go to Overland Expo I'll message you. Always fun to hang with fellow Grenadier owners.
I would really like a light bar but I don't think I would get much use out of it. I just don't see myself driving offroad in the dark, but I do love the way a light bar looks on the Grenadier. More research is needed on this. My next major purchase will need to be skid plates. I've already done some damage to the underside of my truck so I need some protection before I really do something expensive. My playground has been Anza Borrego so far and still so much to explore. I think my next "minor" project will be to add some additional lighting in the rear cargo area. I got a Bison Gear shelf and once that's loaded up, the ceiling light is blocked, so I want to add some lights coming from the side. This truck is fun to work on...

 

[Nadir5]

Added a DIN plug to the cargo area to have always-on power available for a National Luna fridge I take when camping. Wired in the National Luna Touch Light into the GP Factor table cubby while I was at it.

Also installed the Agile Offroad ball mount for my cell - liked it so much decided to get a second to mount the face-plate of my HAM radio (the main unit will be under the back seat). I like the fact that I can remove the radio when I’m not on a trip, leaving the interior less cluttered.

 

[CRH]

Odd thing happened…hopped in the truck and pulled out but the CarPlay portion of the infotainment screen was black. As i drove about 5 minutes later the entire infotainment screen went black and reset itself. Of course the ADAS system reset at the same time, guess they are tied together

Mine swapped the speed and information panel on to the other side covering the sat nav but not completely to the opposite side, in middle of satnav, only the once, turned off, open and shut door waited till it shut down and restart. Never done it again few months back.