M&G Install on 2007 or later Jeep Wrangler

[hypoxia]

Scott, Is selling the system a better option than the trade in M&G offers?

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by hypoxia

Scott, Is selling the system a better option than the trade in M&G offers?

Hypoxia,
You have a PM.
Scott

[Spk64]

Received the kit yesterday and the instructions are decent along with the pictures Statgeek provided I expect the install should not be that difficult. Shifting the ABS is the bigger portion of the install it appears. some slight wiring re-routing. I will try to add to the install pictures as I do mine.

Steve

[Statgeek]

Originally Posted by Spk64

Received the kit yesterday and the instructions are decent along with the pictures Statgeek provided I expect the install should not be that difficult. Shifting the ABS is the bigger portion of the install it appears. some slight wiring re-routing. I will try to add to the install pictures as I do mine.

Steve

Good luck Steve! For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that my install guy never cut a single wire. He did have to re-route them, but as far as I could tell he didn't have to cut them. The only cutting involved was some of the plastic "housing" on the inside of the wheel well to make room for the elongated package that the M&G creates once it is in place.

[NevadaNick]

Yes there is wiring that you unplug when doing the install and you have to get some extra slack in it to be able to plug it back in. Its in the instructions and is no big deal. Truly the hardest part is getting in there to cut the plastic abs mount out of there. I used a dremel with a cutoff wheel and a hacksaw blade to get it done. It also leaves an openeing to the wheelwell that i glued a peice of plastic over to keep mud and water from coming into the engine compartment. The instructions dont say anything about that. I mounted the breakaway tank to the firewall above the brake master cyl and the control valve to the side of the master on the fender. There is not much space for adding these items in there.

[walt2137]

Be sure to mash the brake a couple times to delepete the vacuum in the brake canister before removing the brake cyl.
One other thing when you finish the installation use a temp gun to take the temp of brake rotiers and make a trip for a mile or so without touching the brak s and take the temp again to double check the adjustments also M&G has trade in units that they rebuild for a lot of toads for about 1/2 the price on the new ones and it is such a simple design that the only thing that can wear out is the O ring. I also think it's the best trouble free and simple toad brake out there for a coach with air brakes.

[jleamo1]

Completed mine, I agree with Nick, the hardest part was cutting the ABS side mount out. I am not a fan of leaving that hole open in the bottom, I think I will fill it in with black silicone, its directly above the drivers side tire so it will kick up slop onto the bottom of the ABS module. No room on the JK engine compartment like I had in the TJ. Next onto the wiring for the lights, I bought plug and play kit from Hopkins hopefully it goes in easily.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by jleamo1

Completed mine, I agree with Nick, the hardest part was cutting the ABS side mount out. I am not a fan of leaving that hole open in the bottom, I think I will fill it in with black silicone, its directly above the drivers side tire so it will kick up slop onto the bottom of the ABS module. No room on the JK engine compartment like I had in the TJ. Next onto the wiring for the lights, I bought plug and play kit from Hopkins hopefully it goes in easily.

jleamo1,
If your Hopkins harness is the same one as mine, it's pretty much a simple operation to install it. There's a couple of items I'd like to point out if I may.

1. If your Jeep has a Tow option on it, that is, a receiver and, a four way flat plug back there, you'll have TWO plugs on the back of the left rear tail light housing. If you don't have the TOW option, you'll have one. If two, then you'll be disconnecting the one with only 4 wires and inserting the Hopkins plug there.

2. On the other side, here's the approach I took. When you remove the right tail light and housing, you'll observe some expandable foam, in the bottom of that cavity. It's there to obviously keep that entire area sealed from what's kicked up by the right tire. Well, in one of the you-tube videos about installing that Hopkins kit, it shows the Gent who's doing the install, TEAR OUT ALL THAT FOAM!!!! He did so, so that he could peal back the black plastic and insert the large Hopkins plug, that is to be connected to the right tail light.

Well, I wanted to do as little damage to that foam and that sealed area as I could. So, I did what about 98% of the males out there, WOULD NOT DO and that was/is, to cut those wires on that Hopkins plug, about 8" or so from the plug. Now, you have a small, about 1/4" diameter group of wires. So, all I did then was to drill a 1/4" hole in that plastic bottom, right through the foam. Now, I inserted that cut wire harness, up into that cavity, right through that drilled hole. There's enough extra wire that you can pull it out the tail light housing and solder all those back together.

And, you've kept the integrity of that foam and plastic. WAAAAAAAAAAAY cleaner that tearing all that foam out.

3. By the way, I spent a whopping $5-$6 bucks on about 10'-15' feet of 1/4" black plastic wire loom and inserted that entire Hopkins harness, all directions, into that loom. It's much easier to deal with, looks a ton cleaner and, when you look at the underside of the back of our Jeep, because of that loom and the way I did it, it looks like the factory did it.

4. As for the wires that head towards the front of the Jeep, well, I pulled another trick out of my sleeve. I don't own a fish tape so, I have some 36" welding rod hanging around. The first thing I did was cut off the 4 wire flat plug since I was not going to use that anyway. Now I have a open ended flat set of wires. I taped that open end to the tip of that welding rod.

I then poked that welding rod into the frame of the Jeep, at or near the left rear shock and, pushed to an opening that was or is, down the frame, enough to retrieve the other end of the welding rod. I pulled it out, along with the four wires. I continued to do that, all along the frame. I did it all the way up and over the front suspension section too.

When done, the entire run of that wire, is now IN THE FRAME and completely protected. It protrudes out of the frame, real close to the front bumper. There I installed my 6-pin round connector and attached the wires as needed.


Anyway, I thought I'd throw this at ya for some ideas just in case you might be wondering your approach on this Hopkins setup. Good luck.
Scott

[jleamo1]

Scott, thank you for the recommendations, I wouldn't have pulled the foam out either. We do not have the trailer tow option, so that will simplify that. I have a wire fish somewhere, now I will have to search for it. I did already loom the main harness to keep it protected. Loved the creativity of the welding rod use!!

[Spk64]

Great information Scott! I purchased the same Hopkins wiring kit and will follow your lead on the installation.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Spk64

Great information Scott! I purchased the same Hopkins wiring kit and will follow your lead on the installation.

Thank you. The wiring for the Hopkins kit is all individual. So, I got enough loom to completely encompass all of it, from plug to plug. It's way cleaner, and protects all of it for eons to come. And, like stated earlier, when it's all installed, it looks like the factory did it, instead of having all different colored wires hanging all over the place.

I've done all my own wiring of toad lights now for about 35 years plus. And, like stated, in many of my posts on the subject, I continue to use the stock tail light bulbs as toad lights for many reasons. The most important one is, the stock tail light bulbs are strategically located in the housing, directly in front of the designed reflective background. That position, emits the maximum amount of light projected towards a following driver, unlike the "added" sockets and bulbs.

And, in using the stock bulbs, it's always been a cut-and-solder job for me, to make things work correctly. I've never minded that, it's fun for me to do a good solder job. But, this Hopkins kit, without a doubt, is a no-brainer for sure. The hardest part is laying on your back, fishing the bulk of the wires, along the inside of the frame, all the way to the front. Not a big deal but, as one get's a bit older, it's just not as easy to do when things (THE HUMAN BODY) was a bit more flexible.

Good luck on your application.
Scott

[426smartin]

Hopkins kit at amazon in warehouse deals less then 18.00 Just got mine with hole in plastic box ---looks good--- beats 75.00 everywhere else part # 56200 for jeep jk

[Spk64]

The install has been completed. Followed Scott's advice and put all the wiring and hose in wrap. The hopkins kit was an easy install. 2007 did not have all the spray foam just a small foam panel that lifts up to run wires under it. I ran the wiring inside the frame for majority of the length. Was very easy to do using a 48" piece of 1/4" nylon tubing. Easy to fish and snake from opening to opening in the frame.
Installing the M&G was just like many had described the ABS module has to be removed and some plastic cut away.

This is what it looks like before starting any of the work.


First step is to remove master cylinder and the ABS module.
ABS module has one bolt in the end and the bottom is prongs pressed into a rubber washer. It is easier to move both pieces out of the way to do the install.

My install required 2 areas to be cut away. A small notch so the M&G cylinder can be installed. and removal of the "tower" that the ABS module is bolted to. Cutting was accomplished with a Fein Multi-Tool very easy operation with this tool.

Next need to remove the tower.


Next is relocating one of the holes for the ABS module stud to mount back into. The second stud will sit in the hole created from the tower removal.

And rubber grommet insstalled.

Next up is bolting everything back in place. Before starting make sure master cylinder mating surface is clean and flat. Ditto on the vacuum booster.

The it is just adjusting the rod per the M&G instructions Loctite when finished.
And this is with everything bolted back in place. getting it back in place did require removal of some plugs and moving the harnesses around some as it is a tight fit getting it all back in.


Next up the is the finishing touches on the bumper and the breakaway.

[Spk64]

I tried to find a spot on the firewall and it was just too crowded and would require moving some harnesses that I felt should stay where they were. So I found a spot next to the ABS module that it fit nicely with ample clearance when hood closed. As you can see I wrapped all the wiring and tubes with the wrap to protect and clean it up.



Next were the attachments at the bumper. I chose a Rock Hard Bumper as they had the mounts to work with the Blue Ox and I liked the look. I did purchase the version for a low mount winch but a winch may never get mounted. Without a winch it let me fab a nice mount for the air line, lights and break away switch.
Used the laser cutter and built a proto version out of acrylic to make sure I liked it. I did use the smaller SMI air fittings instead of the large fittings M&G supplied. Much cleaner setup and I still have the SMI on the Suburban.

Then some paint.



And the back side. Eventually a cover will hide all this also.


Bench tested the system with an air compressor and worked as it should.

And next weekend will test it out on a small trip to West Virginia.