All I wanted was to mount my new license plates. I was rolling with temporary paper tags. Jeep’s steel rear bumper uses a plastic mounting bracket. Mine was broken, so I bought a replacement, but I couldn’t find install instructions. I searched all the Jeep forums and couldn’t find answers. Someone posted a picture of the steel bumper without the plastic mounting plate, so I had a hint. I decided to wait for my new Texas plates to come in.
The new plates finally arrived. It took a while since I requested HAM radio operator call sign plates. This way any other radio operator can contact me on or off road. So here I am at Home Depot. I came here to pick up a four pack of 1/4” x 3/4” machine screws. I was excited, finally ready to scratch another task off my todo list. But something unexpected happened.
My Jeep somehow got surrounded by 1/4 million dollars worth of awesome off-road vehicles! A black G-Wagons that is seriously modified for over-landing. A white G-Wagon that didn’t look too modified. And a shark colored Porsche Macan. Ok to be fair the black G-Wagon was the real deal, and the other two were probably mall crawlers. There was also a forest green Toyota Tacoma TDR Pro that had some nice mods.
I walked around taking pictures, hoping I wouldn’t annoy any of the owners. I took a couple dozen photos before my iPhone overheated and shut down. Having lived in Coppell, TX a dozen years ago, I’m not surprised at the three week (so far!) string of 100+ degree weather. I got into my Jeep, gave my iPhone a while to cool off, then I was able to take a few more.
The Vehicle owners haven’t come out yet, so I went ahead with my original plan and swapped out the license plate mounting bracket. As it turned out, I was overthinking the replacement process. I yanked out the mounting bracket, pulling the left side first and then the right side by the light. It came off easily. The light cable is a weather proof quick disconnect so it was easy to get it all off.
I had the new plate already mounted on the new plastic mounting bracket. All I had to do was disconnect and remove the light from the old plastic mounting bracket and attach it to the new mounting bracket. Then connect the cable to the new plastic mounting bracket and push the mounting plate into the steel bumper. Lots of alignment clips to ensure the new plastic mounting bracket goes into the right position. I added a couple pieces of 3M double sided tape under the bottom of the license plate to prevent any rattling. I might circle back and drill a couple holes to add two more screws.
I mounted the front plate to the winch fairlead bracket that is at an odd 45 degree angle. I don’t like the front license plate location, but it’s where Jeep wants you to mount it if you have a winch. I think it’s stupid for two reasons. First, how the heck can the police read the front plate, not to mention rocks will turn it into it a mangled pseudo skid plate in no time.
I found a few winch fairlead bracket flip up license plate holders on Amazon. I’ll order one to see if that does the trick. I’ll check the forums first to see if anyone has any recommendations. I wish more brick and mortar stores with stock would exist. Meh, someone of course needs to own a $500M yacht, a barbie wife, and rocket ships to pretend to be an astronaut. That all costs money, so screw brick and mortar stores, right?
So the black G-Wagon owner came out and was cool when I asked some questions. It had two high but rear facing snorkels. He told me they’re made by a third party. I never saw a dual snorkel. I have a snorkel on my todo list because on several long desert terrain trips, I really could have used cooler air coming into the engine. I’m not one to exceed Jeep’s 32” fording depth limit, so I’m not doing it for water. Though rear facing snorkels are not terribly bad, I’m not keen on 70mph droplets being force fed into my cold air intake. I originally wanted a dome shaped snorkel, but now I’m rethinking things.
I asked about the patches on the rear window. As it turned out, they’re Toyota CJ patches, if I remember correctly. Like Jeep’s BOH. He confirmed he does serious trips. That’s refreshing, given the number of posers out there. I didn’t ask about the other mods, since every off-roader has different needs and goals. Who knows, maybe I’ll see that G-Wagon again on a trail somewhere.
Overlander at large 