Mndefender

Just aligned mine recently, did it mainly by eyesight. I tried it both toe in and out. On the trail it didn’t really matter which way. Toe out the steering gets twitchy. Toe in approximately 1/4” it drives nice and straight down the road.

On the back wall I used 1 layer of Kilmat, then 2 layers of .25” foil faced closed cell foam, with some pieces of 3/16” aluminum plate scattered in where I could make them fit. Doors were Kilmat on exterior panel and closed cell on interior panel, and then did same on roof.

2 tone body color, 2” bracket lift kit, wheel spacers 1.5” front/2” rear, mirrors, sport fender flares. And then sound deadening the cab, back wall with liner kit, doors-inner and outer skins, and roof. Cab sound level is down another 4-6 db across the range of operation, this is in addition to the exhaust modification I did previously.

I have about 325 miles now with this modification, including a lot of snow plowing, no negative impacts so far, other than what I spoke about in original post.

I bought my 2019 in spring 2020, started having troubles with the window switches by summer. Called dealership and they said bring it in, they replaced the wiring harness for the windows. It wasn’t the switches at all. They told me it was a known/common issue, it was covered under warranty. I don’t know what was wrong with the harness. Working fine since.

I keep lowering my price wondering if there even worth selling.

Anyone on here had long haul covid? I haven’t worked since November 2021. I’m always looking for something that helps me, I haven’t gotten one bit better. And big pharma doesn’t seem to be coming up with anything anytime soon. Thanks Feel free to dm me if you want to be private.

I’m considering the magnetic light bar. I’m thinking of gluing a piece of metal to the underside of the roof skin, if that doesn’t work then I’ll probably make a metal L bracket that mounts to the two screws for the top door hinge. All I know is I hate rust, so the thought of attaching a metal item to something that’s outside is not my first choice.

I knew there would be a HP trade off, that’s just how things work, but I think there’s a little more low end grunt. The surface area of the holes in my silencer are the only slightly less than the stock tailpipe opening. I did this intentionally, knowing I could drill them out larger if needed later. I was hoping to create more reverberations in the silencer. So far I’m happy with the HP trade off, time will tell as I put through more tests. My Defender is a exploring machine for my wife and I, usually tooling around at 25 mph or less, checking out the neighborhood wildlife. It’s amazing how much a couple decibel reduction makes when trying to relax and have a normal conversation. If I want loud and wild I have other things to satisfy me.

Created this inexpensive DIY spark arrestor/silencer device. It’s a 1 1/2” to 2” exhaust pipe adapter, with a 2” washer welded on the end with a 3/4” center hole and 8 - 3/16”. There is fine stainless steel mess right behind the washer. The inside of the 2” portion of the adapter is filled with one stainless steel (Scotch-Brite) scrub pad. A self tapping bolt holds it in place. The existing tail pipe had to be bent upwards to make room to slide the silencer on. There is no change in engine performance other than the machine is a little less responsive at the upper most rpm range, it takes just a little longer to reach max mph. Hasn’t effected engine temperature either. Tailpipe surface temperature increased about 26 degrees. You may look at my db readings and think it’s not that much of a difference, but the tone of exhaust is much more mellow, and doesn’t have any sharp sounds. It’s a really nice change. The decibel system is not a linear scale of sounds, it’s a average of two factors, so just a couple decibels can be a big change. Here are my db reductions, measured with the iPhone app from NIOSH: -5 db standing 6’ behind the machine at idle. -2.5 db in the cab at idle, all windows closed. -3 db driving on paved road at 25 mph, all windows closed. -2 db driving on paved road at 50 mph, all windows closed.

2019 HD8 XT Cab, 14” STI HD Beadlock, 5+2 offset. 30x10 Pro Armor Crawler XG, actually 29” tall with 10ish psi pressure. No rubbing ever, no spacers, shock preload set on middle notch, no lift kit. I chose these because the stock tires are noisy as heck on firm surfaces, really annoying when you can’t hardly have a conversation. I mainly ride on gravel roads and hard pack trails, so I can get by with less lug/tread spacing. I actually wanted to go with an even tighter spacing, like a BFG KM3 or something similar. But I quizzed a lot of riders out on the trails who had tight lug spacing and their biggest complaint was the tight lug spacing throws a lot of rocks. I also didn’t want to give up to much traction either, so the best compromise in my eyes was these XG’s. So far I’m quite happy, been running them for 300 miles/5 months. They are way quieter than stock, bought off Amazon from KJ Motorsports, great experience, came mounted and they don’t leak, not many people can say that about their beadlocks.

A little used trick is to drive the back tires of your tow vehicle up onto blocks. This will make the back of your trailer kneel down a little or a lot depending on location of hitch, trailer axle, etc. A 4x4 under my tires makes the end of my trailer almost touch the ground.