OP
Thanks, we are very lucky to have stuff like this right next to home now. Seems like it will take a lifetime to explore Utah.
Midnight LJR Build
- Thread starter Midnight LJR
- Start date
Thanks, we are very lucky to have stuff like this right next to home now. Seems like it will take a lifetime to explore Utah.
OP
Yup rear facing for my 6 month old, and front facing style for my four year old.
Just enough room to make a weekend trip work.
Yup I'm in the same situation. How tall are you? Did you have enough leg room?Yup rear facing for my 6 month old, and front facing style for my four year old.
Just enough room to make a weekend trip work.
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OP
6’2” plenty as long as rear facing goes on the wife’s side.
My oldest is a little short on leg room and but sits cross legged a lot so it works out until her legs are able to hang down more.
Most challenging part is getting the seats in and out. I typically just leave the baby seat in and reach in through the hatch and buckle her in. Older one I have to spin around and buckle her once in the Jeep.
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Yup rear facing for my 6 month old, and front facing style for my four year old.
Just enough room to make a weekend trip work.
View attachment 327284
LOL, you have done justice to the the LJ cargo space
But with two young kids, if anything, you carry far less than what my friends do when they go car camping lol.Those reverse lights .. tell me more about them when you get a chance, may have missed them in this build thread earlier. I can tell it's done by @mrblaine just looking at how clean and now unobtrusive the install is.
We use that panel to reinforce the corners and torque box. It is made from 1/2" thick 6061 T6 and then a rabbet joint is cut on each end to lay over the corner armor. The holes are laid out to pick up the lower corner fastener on the armor and then that copied for the upper fastener in each end. I do them fairly often.LOL, you have done justice to the the LJ cargo space
Those reverse lights .. tell me more about them when you get a chance, may have missed them in this build thread earlier. I can tell it's done by @mrblaine just looking at how clean and now unobtrusive the install is.
OP
LOL, you have done justice to the the LJ cargo space
Those reverse lights .. tell me more about them when you get a chance, may have missed them in this build thread earlier. I can tell it's done by @mrblaine just looking at how clean and now unobtrusive the install is.
Yeah Blaine did it for me, I was asking him for something a little extra custom to be done. Obviously knocked it out of the park. He also made the cool little stainless cover, you can just see above it.
Ok, now tell us more about that hinge system in the 3rd picture. I like the way it seems to be designed to use aluminum in the center vs the steel of the exogate. Are the hinges made of stainless?
Also in the 1st what is going on in the rear bumper area? Making a custom bumper, or is that just used to keep that section straight for other work?
My favorite small detail in that photo is the perfectly cut spacers behind the rubber bumpers that hit the spare tire. It's so simple and yet nobody has them mass-produced for the market. Seems like someone with a 3d printer could make those to order to a custom size or someone with a water jet could just make a bunch of 1/4" aluminum spacers. I'd certainly buy some.LOL, you have done justice to the the LJ cargo space
Those reverse lights .. tell me more about them when you get a chance, may have missed them in this build thread earlier. I can tell it's done by @mrblaine just looking at how clean and now unobtrusive the install is.
Great photos - thank you Blaine. I understand it's function now. That rabbet joint and the fastener scheme is super clean, I really love it. Good location for the lights in that space too.
I will never tire of looking at that dual latch setup, that photo is a bonus for me on a monday morning!
OP
Yup, that’s great too. Also the custom power port for our fridge hidden on the side. Funny how much custom stuff is in that one photo.
Your jeep is like a easter egg hunt for details.
I have been wishing for a power port in the rear like that ever since I bought the jeep. It's soooo useful to have. I have that exact same model you ordered in my amazon cart, need to order it. The other wish I have is for interior dome lights to come on when the tailgate is opened. Someone on the forum installed a push switch that activates when the tailgate opens, need to find that thread. I currently have cheap battery operated LED lights with a switch tied to the rear rollbars with velcro lol. It works but it's a silly solution
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The aluminum is just a cover panel to hide the latch hole since it is no longer necessary. It is just along for the ride.
Well, that was a giant pain in the ass. Apparently the rig was involved in a nice little collision that collapsed all of that stuff and made our life difficult. I built that little fixture to pull the torque box back out. They (Poison Spyder) just bent up a 90 cover panel and hung it down over the damage so the owner didn't see it when it bought the rig. We also had to replace the rear bumper crossmember since they just cut the middle out of the one that was missing when we got it.
I'd make them out of 1/8" and 3/16". 2 x 1/8" is 1/4. 1/8 plus 3/16" gives you 5/16. 2 of the 3/16 gets you 3/8". That gives you 1/16" increments starting at 1/8".
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A fridge would be super useful for LJ camping. No room for cooler with ice.Yup rear facing for my 6 month old, and front facing style for my four year old.
Just enough room to make a weekend trip work.
View attachment 327284
OP
Yup, the new fridges are my favorite camping accessory ever.
It is funny how we adapt carrying gear with the vehicles we choose. I guess it goes the other way too - people buy rigs to suit what they carry.
For me .. the TJ has been pretty adequate for 2 people *if* we stay disciplined. Personally, I have found that it's much easier to prepare foods (the kind that stays good unrefrigerated for a day or two) ahead of time, and to make 1-pot hot meals and coffee/tea with just boiling water. Since I have been a lifelong vegetarian, that makes it a little easy in general since meat items go bad FAST even prepared. I make my own stuff for the most part and usually get dehydrated rice and lentils for carbs and proteins, and freeze dried veggies. I can now make a damn good meal with just those and some home ground spices since I have been doing this for years. What gets boring for me is multi-day trips when I end up eating the same stuff many times .. that's when having a small fridge shines, since you can carry a little more stuff and prepare food as needed. The issue is space - most fridges you see on the market are absolutely giant. I have gone back and forth on TJ vs LJ for the rear cargo space, and decided as much as I like LJs .. it is still only mostly a 2 (adult) person vehicle. More space = carrying more junk as the saying goes
@Midnight LJR what fridge are you using these days?
I like having partially frozen water and this year at TJFest I was handing out frozen mini snickers and milky ways to anyone who wanted them.It is funny how we adapt carrying gear with the vehicles we choose. I guess it goes the other way too - people buy rigs to suit what they carry.
For me .. the TJ has been pretty adequate for 2 people *if* we stay disciplined. Personally, I have found that it's much easier to prepare foods (the kind that stays good unrefrigerated for a day or two) ahead of time, and to make 1-pot hot meals and coffee/tea with just boiling water. Since I have been a lifelong vegetarian, that makes it a little easy in general since meat items go bad FAST even prepared. I make my own stuff for the most part and usually get dehydrated rice and lentils for carbs and proteins, and freeze dried veggies. I can now make a damn good meal with just those and some home ground spices since I have been doing this for years. What gets boring for me is multi-day trips when I end up eating the same stuff many times .. that's when having a small fridge shines, since you can carry a little more stuff and prepare food as needed. The issue is space - most fridges you see on the market are absolutely giant. I have gone back and forth on TJ vs LJ for the rear cargo space, and decided as much as I like LJs .. it is still only mostly a 2 (adult) person vehicle. More space = carrying more junk as the saying goes
@Midnight LJR what fridge are you using these days?
