The LJ-8 hit a milestone today

jscherb

TJ Enthusiast
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Feb 13, 2020
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Location
Elmira, NY
LJ200K1.jpg


I bought it in 2009 with 22,500 miles on the clock.

In the almost 180,000 miles I've owned it it's been to 45 of the lower 48, including all 4 corners of the country; it's been to the Arctic Ocean at the north end of the Dalton Highway in Alaska and it's done thousands of trail miles in Colorado, Utah, California and other places. It's never let me down, and it's pretty much only needed basic maintenance and replacement of wear items - seals, brakes, clutch, cats, etc. Of all of the "this is a bad year" problems people write about, the only one I've had is the swelling check valve in the gas tank, and that was taken care of with a GM filler hose. The 6-speed still performs as new, no problems with OPDA, etc.

In 2010 I designed and built the Safari Cab hardtop for it and in 2014 I completed the CJ Grille Kit so it's looked just as it does today for many years. Took this photo shortly before posting this:

LJ200K2.jpg


Of the three Jeeps I have it's always been and still is the one I enjoy driving the most.

I fear the day when parts become unavailable and some unavailable stupid sensor or something makes it undriveable.

If all goes according to plan, it'll be doing another Colorado trail trip this July.

A few photos from various trail adventures over the years...

3D Trail at Easter Jeep Safari:

LedgeDescent_zpshphsbcdq-1.jpg


Crossing the Animas River north of Silverton, Colorado:

rivercrossing3_zpsfc3b2715-jpg.239043


At Tincup Pass in Colorado:

tincuppass_zps17d93374-jpg-jpg.239046


At the Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway in Alaska:

daltonarcticcircle_zpsd511c541-jpg.304381


It's been a very fine daily driver and trail vehicle and I'm looking forward to many more years enjoying it.
 
View attachment 325473

I bought it in 2009 with 22,500 miles on the clock.

In the almost 180,000 miles I've owned it it's been to 45 of the lower 48, including all 4 corners of the country; it's been to the Arctic Ocean at the north end of the Dalton Highway in Alaska and it's done thousands of trail miles in Colorado, Utah, California and other places. It's never let me down, and it's pretty much only needed basic maintenance and replacement of wear items - seals, brakes, clutch, cats, etc. Of all of the "this is a bad year" problems people write about, the only one I've had is the swelling check valve in the gas tank, and that was taken care of with a GM filler hose. The 6-speed still performs as new, no problems with OPDA, etc.

In 2010 I designed and built the Safari Cab hardtop for it and in 2014 I completed the CJ Grille Kit so it's looked just as it does today for many years. Took this photo shortly before posting this:

View attachment 325474

Of the three Jeeps I have it's always been and still is the one I enjoy driving the most.

I fear the day when parts become unavailable and some unavailable stupid sensor or something makes it undriveable.

If all goes according to plan, it'll be doing another Colorado trail trip this July.

A few photos from various trail adventures over the years...

3D Trail at Easter Jeep Safari:

View attachment 325475

Crossing the Animas River north of Silverton, Colorado:

rivercrossing3_zpsfc3b2715-jpg.239043


At Tincup Pass in Colorado:

tincuppass_zps17d93374-jpg-jpg.239046


At the Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway in Alaska:

daltonarcticcircle_zpsd511c541-jpg.304381


It's been a very fine daily driver and trail vehicle and I'm looking forward to many more years enjoying it.
It really is amazing to think where this vehicle has taken you! :love:
 
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I've enjoyed watching your projects for years Jeff! The Exegete was the first mod I added to my LJ. Hope for all of our TJ era Jeeps sakes we have plenty of sensor to out survive us.
 
Congrats on hitting the 200K club. I'm almost there myself at 194K. Keep the projects coming Jeff!
 
I've enjoyed watching your projects for years Jeff! The Exegete was the first mod I added to my LJ.

Thanks!

The Exogate on my LJ is a hybrid - it includes parts I fabricated as part of the design and prototyping process back in 2011, parts from a production v1 Gr8Tops Exogate, parts from a MORryde/Gr8Tops v2 Exogate, and parts that may or may not get into production some day, like the Exogate Cargo System receiver mounts. Most things on the LJ that I've designed and have ended up in production are like that - my Safari Cab hardtop has many features Gr8Tops decided not to include in the production version.

[/QUOTE]
Congrats on hitting the 200K club. I'm almost there myself at 194K. Keep the projects coming Jeff!

I've got a number of projects going on but I haven't been posting them here because the crowd here seems to be mainly interested in mechanical issues. I've been doing designs for overlanding/camping (a solar panel/kitchen battery charging system, for example, and I'm involved in a cargo drawer system project), and a lot of fabric designs for Overland Outfitters. I've convinced OO to add a bunch of TJ designs to their line, hopefully TJ people like them. I've also been doing a few things with the Exogate Cargo System. Anyway, lots of projects going on but maybe none worth posting here.


BTW, anyone planning to attend Jeep Beach this week? Overland Outfitters is borrowing my JKU for their booth at the Vendor Expo there so I'll be at the Vendor Expo.
 
Nothing will happen to that LJ that you can’t handle.

Not trying to schmooze- but you are a gifted, exceptional person-

I’ve actually sat and tried to think of how you approach things- to “get inside your head “ so to speak.

Part of the beauty of this thread is you have gotten out there and used it for what it is intended.

That shot of the Animas- I know the area - Heaven on earth around the western slope.
 
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Well here I'm looking at another thread worth seeing but I'm not sure about a couple things:

I've got a number of projects going on but I haven't been posting them here because the crowd here seems to be mainly interested in mechanical issues. I've been doing designs for overlanding/camping (a solar panel/kitchen battery charging system, for example, and I'm involved in a cargo drawer system project), and a lot of fabric designs for Overland Outfitters. I've convinced OO to add a bunch of TJ designs to their line, hopefully TJ people like them. I've also been doing a few things with the Exogate Cargo System. Anyway, lots of projects going on but maybe none worth posting here.

In my opinion, FWIW (ha!) , you almost need your own sub forum section.
 
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@jscherb I’m not sure what’s more awesome, the LJ or the places it’s taken you.

I grew up 40 minutes from Ouray and although I’m a late-comer to the Jeep world, I get up there as often as I can. I’ll hopefully be hitting some trails in Colorado in July as well.
 
@jscherb I’m not sure what’s more awesome, the LJ or the places it’s taken you.

I grew up 40 minutes from Ouray and although I’m a late-comer to the Jeep world, I get up there as often as I can. I’ll hopefully be hitting some trails in Colorado in July as well.
The Ouray Hot Springs pool is a must do stop when we're in the area.

A few weeks ago I got out my Colorado trail books and maps to think about planning an off-road expedition for this summer. As I was going through the books I was reminded of how many of the trails I've done over the years (I've been doing Colorado expeditions for about 10 years), so I decided to make a list of the Colorado trails the LJ has done (this is not a complete list - I've done many forest service roads and un-named trails in addition to these). Alphabetically:

Alpine Tunnel Road
Argentine Pass, McClellan Mountain
Arrastra Gulch
Aspen Mountain
Balanced Rock Road
Black Sage Pass
Boreas Pass
California Gulch
Cinnamon Pass, Wager Gulch (Carson Ghost Town)
Coffee Pot Road
Corkscrew Gulch, Hurricane Pass
Cottonwood Pass
Cumberland Pass
Dakan Road, Long Hollow Road
Devil's Punchbowl
Dotsero Crater
Dry Mesa Jeep Road
Engineer Pass
Escalante Canyon Road
Georgia Pass
Grizzly Jeep Trail
Guanella Pass
Hagerman Pass
Hancock Pass, Alpine Tunnel
Imogene Pass
Kebler Pass
Kendall Mountain
Last Dollar Road
Marshall Pass Railway Grade Road
Marshall Pass to Sargents
Marshall Pass via Poncha Creek
Medano Pass
Montezuma Basin
Mosquito Pass
Mt. Herman Road, Rampart Range
Nevadaville Loop
North Fork Cutoff
Ohio Pass
Oh-My-God Road, Russell Gulch
Old Monarch Pass
Old Stage Road to Gold Camp Road
Ophir Pass, Alta Lakes
Paradise Divide
Pearl Pass
Picayune Gulch, Placer Gulch
Pikes Peak
Pomeroy Lakes and Mary Murphy Mine
Red Mountain Mining Area
Rollins Pass East
Rollins Pass West
Saxon Mountain
Shelf Road, Phantom Canyon
Shrine Pass
Silverton to Animas Forks
Silverton to Lake Como
Stony Pass, Kite Lake
Tincup Pass, St. Elmo
Transfer Trail
Waunita Pass
Weston Pass
Yankee Boy Basin

In addition, I've done almost all of the trails in the Moab area that my LJ is capable of (2" lift, 32" tires), and a few that it wasn't (I won't post photos of the LJ being strapped over a too-big obstacle unless someone insists). Also some off-road and off-pavement miles in Alaska and trails in the Mojave Desert (the Mojave Road and more), trails in Death Valley and a few other random places need to be added to the list above.

What I'm thinking of for this year's expedition is exploration in Colorado above I-70 - most of my trail expeditions are exploration, not "how big of an obstacle can I climb over" and this would be exploration too. I'm thinking of exploring the headwaters of the Colorado River this year and some of the old railroad lines through the area. The map below is pieced together from three different Colorado trail and guide books and shows approximately what I'm thinking - the red dashed line shows one possible route through the area.

PiecedMap.jpg


The approximate east to west distance pictured on the map is 125 miles; the actual route I would do would be much longer. A lot of the route is paved, but some of it is trails and some of it is unpaved or gravel roads. There are many side detours/trails that could be explored as well.

This is still in the early planning stages, I've got more research to do. And if anyone has any thoughts or recommendations about this part of Colorado, please post them.

Last year we did Rollins Pass from both sides; this is in the same area and was the original railroad route over the continental divide before the Moffat Tunnel was completed. It was a fascinating trip through history. From that expedition:

The route was obsoleted in 1928 when the Moffat Tunnel opened, which eliminated about 30 miles of treacherous trackage over 11,660' Rollins Pass and replaced it with a 6.2-mile long tunnel under the Continental Divide (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moffat_Tunnel) and since the 50's most of the old railroad right of way has been a trail. It's a fairly easy but uncomfortable trail covered with 6"+ embedded rocks and 9"+ deep holes for a large part of the way, but there are no technical challenges.

The route is divided into two separate parts, you can't go completely across - there is a short tunnel at the summit that's been closed for some years now, so you can approach the summit from the east and the west but you can't go all the way across through. Back when the right of way was first opened as a trail (and the tunnel was open), the Forest Service published this:

RollinsPassMoffatRoad.jpg


Approaching Needle's Eye Tunnel from the east. It's the black dot roughly in the center of the photo. The Jeep is at about 11,500 elevation.

NeedlesEyeApproach.jpg


The tunnel is barricaded at both ends but I'm tall enough to take a photo over the barricade. You can see the barricade at the other end in the photo.

NeedlesEyeTunnel.jpg


It started to rain just as we were beginning our descent from the tunnel. It rained the rest of the afternoon. The trail didn't get slick but all the potholes filled quickly with water. This photo was taken on the way down, about a mile from where the trail is closed before the tunnel.

LongCut.jpg


The west side of the trail isn't as rough and uncomfortable as the east side, but the last two miles to the Needles Eye tunnel is pretty rough. Lots of rain was forecast but luckily it held off until the last two miles on our way out. The west side is more interesting for railroad buffs since there are several relics left over from when the trail was a railroad line, like the Rifle Sight Notch trestle:

RifleSightNotch.jpg


Not having been used in 93 years, it's not in very good shape.

RifleSightNotch2.jpg


Clouds closed in at the summit, and at one point visibility was down to less than 50 feet.

RollinsClouds.jpg


The west side of the Needles Eye Tunnel, I visited the east side the day before:

NeedlesEyeTunnelWest.jpg


From the tunnel, it's about a mile hike to the Devil's Slide Trestles. These are a real engineering feat, I haven't figured out how they could build these hanging on the side of the mountain. Clouds prevented great photos:

DevilsSlide1.jpg


Anyway, enough of that trip, this illustrates the type of exploring I like to do. I've got similar photos of historic mining and railroad ruins from all of my Colorado exploration.
 
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love the milestone @jscherb. And, as far as I am concerned, any of your projects progress are worth posting, assuming, of course, you would like to post about them. You have helped me back in the day with the door/window repairs on my CJ so I appreciate your attention to detail. Yes, we all love the mechanics/technical side of the TJ, but I have found your work to be as interesting...so my vote would be to post away!
 
View attachment 325473

I bought it in 2009 with 22,500 miles on the clock.

In the almost 180,000 miles I've owned it it's been to 45 of the lower 48, including all 4 corners of the country; it's been to the Arctic Ocean at the north end of the Dalton Highway in Alaska and it's done thousands of trail miles in Colorado, Utah, California and other places. It's never let me down, and it's pretty much only needed basic maintenance and replacement of wear items - seals, brakes, clutch, cats, etc. Of all of the "this is a bad year" problems people write about, the only one I've had is the swelling check valve in the gas tank, and that was taken care of with a GM filler hose. The 6-speed still performs as new, no problems with OPDA, etc.

In 2010 I designed and built the Safari Cab hardtop for it and in 2014 I completed the CJ Grille Kit so it's looked just as it does today for many years. Took this photo shortly before posting this:

View attachment 325474

Of the three Jeeps I have it's always been and still is the one I enjoy driving the most.

I fear the day when parts become unavailable and some unavailable stupid sensor or something makes it undriveable.

If all goes according to plan, it'll be doing another Colorado trail trip this July.

A few photos from various trail adventures over the years...

3D Trail at Easter Jeep Safari:

View attachment 325475

Crossing the Animas River north of Silverton, Colorado:

rivercrossing3_zpsfc3b2715-jpg.239043


At Tincup Pass in Colorado:

tincuppass_zps17d93374-jpg-jpg.239046


At the Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway in Alaska:

daltonarcticcircle_zpsd511c541-jpg.304381


It's been a very fine daily driver and trail vehicle and I'm looking forward to many more years enjoying it.

200k well traveled miles, Jeff! I've read your posts on many forums over the years. I've only recently added a Jeep to my stable, but have always enjoyed your projects regardless.
 
This is one of the coolest LJ's out there.

Thank you. Of the three Jeeps I have, the LJ is my favorite. If I could only keep one of them, the JKU would go in a heartbeat and the 2006 Wrangler pickup would go next but I would hang on to the LJ.

AllCleanMay21a.jpg


Love the milestone @jscherb. And, as far as I am concerned, any of your projects progress are worth posting, assuming, of course, you would like to post about them. You have helped me back in the day with the door/window repairs on my CJ so I appreciate your attention to detail. Yes, we all love the mechanics/technical side of the TJ, but I have found your work to be as interesting...so my vote would be to post away!

I'm working on a Jeep-tub trailer project with a camper top based on an LJ Safari Cab hardtop now and on the back it will have a TJ side-swing tailgate + barn door upper with MORryde's Tailgate Reinforcement and Savvy low-profile LED tail lights. The Savvy lights aren't exactly compatible with the reinforcement plate but there's a simple way to make them work together without modifying the reinforcement or the tail light, I'll post about that if people are interested. It'll be a few weeks before I can post about it though, won't have time to work on it until I get back from Overland West.

The LJ doesn't get to go on this Overland West trip, it'll be the JKU because it'll be in both the Overland Outfitters and MORryde booths (their booths are together and the JKU will be between them). There's lots of MORryde and OO gear on/in the JKU and they both want it for their displays. Outfitted and ready for the trip:

RTTInstalled3.jpg


Anyone here going to Overland West?

BTW another thing I haven't posted about here because I didn't think people in this forum would be interested is my DIY/budget solar charging system. The solar panel slides out from beneath my roof rack and keeps the fridge/kitchen battery charged when the Jeep isn't running. (When the Jeep is running the alternator keeps the kitchen battery charged).

SolarDeployed2.jpg


BTW the solar charging system it is a TJ/LJ thing too because I use the same rack on the LJ and the LJ is also wired for solar charging. If people are interested in Jeep camping/overlanding stuff like this I could post the details of the solar setup and more.
 
Congrats on a lot of fun miles in the best vehicle of our time.

Also really like that top with the roll up side windows. I'd like to get one of those someday.
 
Thank you. Of the three Jeeps I have, the LJ is my favorite. If I could only keep one of them, the JKU would go in a heartbeat and the 2006 Wrangler pickup would go next but I would hang on to the LJ.

View attachment 330591



I'm working on a Jeep-tub trailer project with a camper top based on an LJ Safari Cab hardtop now and on the back it will have a TJ side-swing tailgate + barn door upper with MORryde's Tailgate Reinforcement and Savvy low-profile LED tail lights. The Savvy lights aren't exactly compatible with the reinforcement plate but there's a simple way to make them work together without modifying the reinforcement or the tail light, I'll post about that if people are interested. It'll be a few weeks before I can post about it though, won't have time to work on it until I get back from Overland West.

The LJ doesn't get to go on this Overland West trip, it'll be the JKU because it'll be in both the Overland Outfitters and MORryde booths (their booths are together and the JKU will be between them). There's lots of MORryde and OO gear on/in the JKU and they both want it for their displays. Outfitted and ready for the trip:

View attachment 330592

Anyone here going to Overland West?

BTW another thing I haven't posted about here because I didn't think people in this forum would be interested is my DIY/budget solar charging system. The solar panel slides out from beneath my roof rack and keeps the fridge/kitchen battery charged when the Jeep isn't running. (When the Jeep is running the alternator keeps the kitchen battery charged).

View attachment 330593

BTW the solar charging system it is a TJ/LJ thing too because I use the same rack on the LJ and the LJ is also wired for solar charging. If people are interested in Jeep camping/overlanding stuff like this I could post the details of the solar setup and more.

I will be at Overland West. Would love to chat without you about the trailer based on the safari cab. Sounds cool!
 
Congrats on a lot of fun miles in the best vehicle of our time.

Also really like that top with the roll up side windows. I'd like to get one of those someday.

Thank you.

My top is homemade, and I designed it with the features I thought a proper Jeep top should have, such as the removable hard sides/roll up soft sides. The good news is after I completed the construction, Gr8Tops licensed the design and put it into production, so you can buy one: https://gr8tops.com/shop/jeepmodels/wrangler-lj-2/lj-safari-cab-full-hardtop.

The bad news is that Gr8Tops eliminated a number of the better features of the top, such as the roll-up sides. I had even arranged for a fabric products manufacturer to make the soft sides for Gr8Tops to sell and a number of pre-production sets were made, but Gr8Tops never put them into production.

Adding the soft sides feature back in can be a DIY job; mostly it's a sewing job. If anyone wants to tackle that job I can provide details of the sides and advice.

I will be at Overland West. Would love to chat without you about the trailer based on the safari cab. Sounds cool!

Look for my JKU there and I should be nearby, it'll look like this at the show (these photos taken at the recent Jeep Beach in Daytona, where Overland Outfitters was using it for their display:

Daytona22b.jpg


Daytona22a.jpg


About the Safari Cab based camper top... when I designed the Safari Cab and its modular parts, I planned that the parts could be assembled into a camper top for Jeep-tub trailers. This is the first set of parts made in my molds in my home garage, these parts are the ones on my LJ to this day:

AllKit1.jpg


I discussed the camper top idea with Gr8Tops and they provided some preproduction parts from their molds and I molded a few others for me to build a proof-of-concept camper top. The parts assembled very easily into a camper top and they even displayed it at a Jeep show in Pennsylvania as a possible future product. I never fully finished it, I just assembled the basic shell at the time. Didn't put windows in or do anything about the interior for the proof-of-concept build. These photos were taken in 2011:

CamperShow1.jpg


Rear barn door:

CamperShow2.jpg


Front hatch:

CamperShow5.jpg


Showing its parentage:

CamperTwins1.jpg


After Gr8Tops showed the trailer once I disassembled the shell and the parts have been sitting in my yard ever since. I'm now working on completing it - adding windows, painting it, etc.

The yellow Jeep-tub trailer underneath it in these photos I built out of the back half of the red LJ I cut in half to make my Wrangler pickup, plus the back half of a YJ I picked up. It was sooooo much work to make a nice trailer out of it that I was inspired to design an easy-to-build fiberglass Jeep-tub trailer kit:

Assembled1-3.jpg


That design was picked up by a company and kits can be found in two lengths at www.dinoot.com.

That project led to me designing a military replica trailer kit in fiberglass, which Dinoot also now manufactures:

WithRetro4_zpsa65303c0.jpg


One last trailer thing - I'll have the same yellow Jeep-tub trailer at Overland West, but with a different camper top on it. This was another design I did to make DIY camper tops easy and affordable - most of this shell it 1/4" plywood; the rounded corners are fiberglass parts designed to match the round corners of the Jeep tub and make it easy to assemble inexpensive plywood sides. This trailer is being used by Overland Outfitters to bring their products to the show to sell (which included a bunch of new TJ products), and it can be seen in the background of the Jeep Beach photos above.

tiltup2_zps8rjkiejo-jpg.159491


There's lots more trailer stuff I could show but this post it getting too long. I'll look forward to seeing you at Overland West.
 
Just because the LJ has over 200k on the clock doesn't mean it's close to retirement...

Earlier in the thread I posted this map, I was considering exploring the headwaters of the Colorado River this summer. The trip is on and I'm outfitting the LJ for it now.

PiecedMap.jpg


Highlights of the trip include some trails - Pole Hill near Estes Park, Old Fall River Road west out of Estes, Flat Tops Trail (82 miles) and perhaps Hay Flat, North Supply Creek and Deadhorse Loop. Also checking out some of the historic railroad sites on the old Denver & Salt Lake Railroad (last year we did Rollins Pass, which was the highest point on that railroad). And, trying out the hot springs at Hot Sulphur Springs and Steamboat Springs, and a stay at the Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge. Maybe I'll call this the Hot Springs expedition :).

Even though most of the planned trails for this trip are fairly easy, it's much better to carry my recovery gear and not need it than to need it and have it at home in the garage, so the first thing I did was install the winch mount. My winch mount and winch live in the garage most of the time so when I'm leaving on an expedition I bolt the mount in place and throw the winch in the receiver.

WinchMount.jpg


I use this mount on both my LJ and my '06 Wrangler pickup and I have a similar mount for my JKU, so the same winch serves on all three Jeeps. Testing the winch in the driveway, I've want to make sure the remote batteries are good and everything works as expected:

WinchTest.jpg


The winch slides into the receiver so it can be used in the front or the back of all 3 Jeeps; for the interstate run from upstate NY to Colorado I usually carry the winch in the back. It's out of the way there and can be moved up front in a minute when needed.

WinchInBack.jpg


Also part of the recovery gear are 4 aluminum sand ladders/recovery tracks. There won't be any sand on the trails I plan for this trip, but there may be mud, so I put these up top.

SandLadders.jpg


The sand ladders also serve as anchor points for the winch, in the event there aren't any convenient trees or rocks to winch from.


Also to be carried on the rack is a second spare. It's not in the photo above because the Jeep won't fit in the garage with it on top so I'll put it up there the night before we leave. The trip is planned on a fairly tight schedule which would be disrupted by trying to get a tire fixed or replaced, so I like to carry a second spare as a precaution.

Inside the cabin, the overhead/swing-down MOLLE panel has a few more recovery items. A small shovel and a small tree saw are mounted on the panel. The long cable is the extension for when the winch needs to be used in the rear receiver. It's also a jumper cable extension; the battery clamps are also mounted to the panel. Both of these plug into the winch cable that lives in the engine compartment; that cable reaches the winch when it's in the front receiver but the same cable also serves as a jumper cable with the clamps. The panel swings up against the inside of the hardtop so it's out of sight and the gear on it doesn't take up any real storage space.

SwingDownMolle(1).jpg


We're not camping on this trip so I don't have the full Trail Kitchen installed but we are bringing the fridge for snacks and lunch. It's on a homemade slide for easy access. Other gear in the cabin:

CabinAnnotated.jpg


  1. Battery and power panel for the fridge. This battery gets charged by the Jeep's alternator and can be used as a second battery to start the Jeep in case the main battery fails.
  2. Compressor and related supplies (hose, tire repair supplies).
  3. Ammo can containing the TrailVision camera system. The trails I'll be doing on this trip won't require the extra views the Trailvision system can provide, but it's in the Jeep in case I decide it will be helpful; it can be set up in a few minutes and offers a 3-camera view of the details of the trail ahead.
  4. First Aid kit; hanging on the rear slope of the roll bar. Out of the way but quickly accessible.
  5. (On the floor well behind the passenger seat) Hydraulic jack. Much quicker and easier than the factory jack.
  6. Winch/recovery bag. Includes winch line damper, ground anchor (bolts to the sand ladders), tree saver strap, snatch block, winch remote and other related gear.
  7. Tool bag.
  8. Cool Bag hanging on the seat back. Can be used to keep drinks and snacks cool on the road and easily accessible from the driver's seat and also can be used to carry lunch on hikes to picnic spots away from the Jeep. Also strapped to it is a picnic blanket to spread on the ground when we stop for lunch.
  9. 35,000-lb recovery strap in a roll bar bag on the vertical part of the main roll bar hoop. Out of the way but easily accessible.
  10. (Above the roll bars) Overhead/Swing-down Molle panel. And on the roof rack, the sand ladders and an extra spare.
  11. CB. This is only in the Jeep for expeditions, it's on a clip-on mount that hangs on the back of the center console.
  12. A pair of shackles hanging on pouches on an Overland Outfitters Zip & Go mount on the seat back.
  13. Small hatchet hanging in a pouch on the roll bar.

Most of the gear listed above doesn't live in the Jeep all the time, I put it in whatever Jeep I'm using before the trip.

Before leaving on the trip, I add the GPS coordinate of the trails we plan to do to the GPS.

GPSTrails.jpg


I have three of the same GPS, one for each Jeep. They're older models (Garmin 2555), and easily found on eBay for $50 or less so it's not a big investment to have 3, and they work just fine even though they're older. Usually I'll load the trails on two of them and bring the second one as a spare just in case the first one fails. If the trail is from a trail book, I'll also scan those pages and bring a printout on the trip, a piece of paper is much easier to deal with on the trail than a book that you need to hold open to a page.

TrailScan.jpg


Just about ready for the expedition :).
 
It's very cool to see how much use and enjoyment you've gotten out of this vehicle. A true testimony of its versatility and capability! (y)
 
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