jrm223

Yea, I've seen talk about the "advanced" braking system somewhere in the forum, applying the rear brakes first. I coast down as much as possible and I'd say I'm generally pretty light on the brakes, when I'm able. Just goofy how we always used to change front brakes only (well, maybe 2:1 or 3:1) and now I'm changing rear brakes only, haha.

That's an interesting observation. I reset mine at every gas fill-up, even though I no longer keep a log book of my fuel mileage, so it's never gone past a few hundred miles for me. You did a pretty awesome build, though!

Tint goes on the inside, so I don't know why that would help with preventing rock chips. I've heard of a special coating that can be applied to the outside of windshields that fills in all the micro surface imperfections on glass and thus prevents small rocks and such from causing damage. The professional treatment runs a few hundred dollars, so I haven't looked up anyone to do it. But, doing some Google searching, I see there are DIY kits available, too. Something like this one - I may have to try this out soon, it would probably help make bug removal easier, too. I have to clean my windshield weekly because it gets too hard to see through the dead bug guts, lol.

I had my 2015 into the original dealership for some service back in beginning of June at 102K and they told me my rear brakes had "2 mm left" and wanted like $330 or something for the rear brake job, I told them no. Bought the pads & rotors from Rock Auto ($50) and finally got around to changing them a few weeks ago at around 108.5K. The rotors had no discernible wear on them (no lip), so I didn't bother swapping them out. But, I did swap the pads - with far more than 2mm left on them - due to the uneven wear pattern. In this pic, the close pair is passenger side and the far pair of course is driver side. The three thick ones were roughly 60% of the material thickness on the new pads. My front brakes still look brand new, though, and they're also OEM original. I put plenty of grease on the slide pins, so hopefully it won't have this uneven wear, again. I've seen people talking about doing rear brakes at like 5K to 35K miles on TC's, so I guess I can't complain too much. Good job on the 200K! I've had one windshield done also (out of pocket, $400) and prefer not to do that again, haha. My insurance policy doesn't cover windshields, unfortunately.

Yours has already outlasted my OEM battery, haha. I had to get mine replaced back at beginning of June with 102K miles on the van, also a 2015 model.

When I added cruise control to my van, I found that I had to enable BOTH the cruise control and ASC in order for the CC to work on my 2015. I don't recall having any DTC's from enabling only the CC, like you're seeing, but the CC didn't work until the ASC was also enabled. I also don't have (nor have even heard of) the bbfly adapter you're using, so that could be a culprit? I've heard of lots of cheap knockoff adapters causing issues or not working properly and I think Forscan lists all known good adapters that work properly. Here's the Amazon link for the one I have - I've had zero problems with mine, FWIW.

My 2011 Ranger 2.3L 5M was averaging 28-30MPG with me driving in northern IL including Chicago suburb traffic, before it got wrecked in Nov 2012... My '15 TC was getting 27-28 MPG in Illinois, but only 24 MPG here in rural Texas with higher speed limits and I also put 215/65R16 all-terrain tires on it, lol. Getting stuck fairly constantly with the Conti's this spring was a PITA, so the AT's are worth it for me. My warm-up is definitely quick here most of the year. Some days, the coolant temp is already above 100*F before I even start the van, haha.

As far as I know, the gen 1 USA is all the same body. The difference in heights you're seeing is most likely ceiling height versus door opening height - there's unibody framework above the door opening that hangs down several inches for both generations. I have a gen 2 and the ceiling height (cargo model, no headliner in cargo area) is easily 6-7" above the lowest point of the rear door opening. So, the G1's probably have a ceiling height of 59.1" but a rear door opening height of 53.7".

The antenna doesn't come apart, so you'd need a sort of large hole to pass-through the connector that goes to the radio. I just have the wire going out through the driver side sliding door (tacky, but whatever); never noticed any leaking but the wire is also only like 24awg or something. Eventually, I'd like to get an antenna that uses NMO base - which does require drilling a hole, but it's sealed up when the antenna is put on. Here's a pic for those unsure of what NMO mounts look like. I've heard of people sticking the satellite antenna on their dash in the windshield, but I don't know about all that. Mine on the driver-side roof loses signal when drive-thru's have that little overhang above me, even if it only covers half the van. So I don't understand how the dash can keep a reliable signal, but who knows. When I do the NMO, I'll probably end up putting it on the passenger side, instead.

I added a Curt hitch, myself. Took about 20 minutes alone, including getting the car on the ramps in back, lol. My van didn't have cruise control, base XL, so I added factory cruise control for about $125 for the steering wheel and 5 minutes of my time on the laptop enabling CC feature. No aftermarket kits or wire splicing required. My 2015 XL van with AM/FM/Aux base stereo has (obviously) an Aux port, down in the center console below my elbow. I "bought" a free Sirius XM radio kit during a Christmas sale in 2015, plugged it in & been good ever since. No extra parts or real work needed since the radio sits in the cupholder, aside from running the antenna wire up the B-pillar and onto the roof.

I bet its structural. Why chop up your van when you can use a $5 ratchet strap to compress the fork for the little bit of extra room that you need? Those dirt bikes have tons of travel that you can use to your advantage.

We all have the baby brother Transit Connect here, but the steering wheel in the big Transit's looks the same as ours, so I bet it should be do-able.

It should probably be positioned towards 2 o'clock so that the wiper blade starts spreading the fluid out sooner. At 12 noon position, your wiper goes through half the window before finally getting to the fluid.

After reading this thread, I'm glad my 2015 XL didn't come with factory locking lug nuts. People tend to ask a lot of questions about my lug nuts, haha. Technically, you could even call them "locking" because you need a 4" deep socket to remove them. Now I just need some better looking wheels to go with them.

Gen 2 definitely does use individual wiper motors - and they have to be pulled out when you need to do front struts, so look forward to that one ? Guess how I know, lol. Anyway, when I put mine back in, I had a bunch of trial & error to get the arms lined back up on the motors & functioning properly. When you start the van, the BCM does a brief wiper self-test which verifies the down position, you could put the wiper arms into the up/vertical position on the windshield (make sure to offset them so the passenger side comes down first), then turn on the key to see if the self-test brings them to the down position like it's supposed to. I'm guessing y'all already checked every fuse just to make sure nothing is blown, yea?

OEM cameras do not use RCA plugs like aftermarket cameras do, so y'all shouldn't expect the camera to just swap over to an aftermarket DIN radio. I suspect you'll be running a whole new camera with wiring.

You might double-check for a ground issue on that side. I haven't seen the wiring in a gen 1, but my gen 2 has ground screws where the wiring connectors are in the back of the van. I'm also wondering if there might be a separate fuse for each side, too? Those are easy to check, lol.

"Configuration and programming" - ForScan Lite for Android: No - so it looks like you can read & clear DTC's and run some of the vehicle self-tests (Service functions), but not change parameters like enabling cruise control or disabling the perimeter lights.

On that link, I selected my own vehicle info (2015 FTC) and it shows this image. Maybe plugs HP7, HP10, HP11; although I'm sure there's more like 6+ per side?

That's a Cali plate, yea? Either it's not the same Toaster, or he & wifey moved. Those Jeep threads from 4-5 years ago have him living near Annapolis, Maryland - he surprised another member in a mall parking lot one day, along with his wife... That other member (handle Jeep Momma) reports that she's been carrying mace everyday since that "coincidental" parking lot meeting and some continued cyber-stalking of her blog...

Ironic, since Toaster/Angry Red Birdie/et al had to join an Australian Jeep forum after getting banned from nearly all the American forums, back before his FTCF days, lol.

I've actually looked into it a little bit myself. I have a barn door cargo van (no windows at all in back) and there's times that I definitely wouldn't mind having a liftgate, instead. At one point, I had a loaner TC passenger wagon with the liftgate, so I had taken pictures of where the brackets mount on top, plus pictures of the side connections & wiring. On the top, you'll see the triangle pattern where the bolts for the liftgate brackets go, but of course they're not drilled-out on a barn-door van. From what I remember, the studs were welded to the brackets, so there would be nuts that get installed from inside the van. Then you'd need to install the hydraulic lift shocks & redo some wiring. The used liftgates that I've found were usually $500+, so not a worthwhile upgrade for me. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have the pictures anymore, unless I misplaced them in my USB hard drive in a folder that's not related to Transit Connect, lol. For shade, I'd just check your states tint laws and get the darkest legal tint installed, use high-quality ceramic tint for maximum heat-reduction, too. People doing camper TC's will make Reflectix shades to fit the windows and block sun/heat/peeping Tom's.

I don't know what response to give this, other than "Wowww...." For reference, his reply was to a guy that had a steering pull to the left on a Jeep JK and it's post #311 in that 42-page (1047-post) link that MRTN put up above. Steering pulls to the left? Disconnect the battery for 15 minutes, it'll get cured right up! Fifty150, man, don't even joke about trying to bring him back here! lol

Why not hit up a U-Pull-It or other junkyard nearby? Should be real cheap to buy a set of the plugs there. I'd be inclined to just get some Dicor self-leveling putty that's used on RV roofs around vents and other openings, they'll never leak again. It's also available in black, if you don't want white. A bit ghetto, but it's like $11 for a tube and maybe 20-30 minutes of your time, rather than chasing all over the place trying to find the OEM plugs for probably 10x the cost.

I'm just befuddled how long this has been going on and he still does the same ole crap! These Jeep ones go back 5+ years already, then we had him like a year or two ago. One thing I noticed is his comments about his "username being hacked" blah, blah, blah - I remember him pulling that same crap here, too. Yep, hackers are just out to get him everywhere he goes; or maybe the same hacker has been obsessed with him for many years and hacks him at all the forums? lmfao