Topic: The dilemma: Rockcrawler v Expedition

[Jeffy]

Maybe it is the Rio Grande package   

Reclining seats are optional on most Jeeps.  Stock Base model seats don't recline.  Keep in mind that the Rio Grande was a luxury package used to fill the gap of the Sahara which was in very limited numbers towards the end.  The 4.0L was being siphoned off to the Cherokee and GC.

[stan98tj]

how hard would it be to fab up a roof top tent of your own? im thinking getting a few base boards or maybe boards made of light but strong plastic. Get a few pieces that are the width and length of your roof rack, put some hinges on them so they can fold out and over the side of the jeep and use some aluminum tubes as legs to support the sides that will lay over the right or left of the jeep. then you can just secure a standard tent on the top. Since the base boards are the width and length of your roof top they would just lay on top of one another when not in use-if they're thin enough you can still stack gear on top of em. Just an idea really, dunno if it would be feasable to try or just easier to buy one.

[aw12345]

Winging it to a large extent teaches good survival skills and gets you pretty handy rigging stuff up to get back to civilization. If the vehicle has some life left in it it beats walking. You will be amazed what you can get out of a vehicle before it quits all together and gives up its last breath

[neale_rs]

This is a funny thread, I want to see trail pics of the first expedition ride.
Some folks have done a expedition trip around the North rim of the Grand Canyon looks like a very nice trip, Same goes for some of the runs people do through the Colorado mountains. Truth be told Jeffy, your Jeep is ready and more than capable as is.
Just load er up strap a gas can to the back if need be and explore the wide wide yonder. A lot of this is about doing not about thinking about it, life is to darn short to waste it. I have done a lot of exploring on foot and hitchiking, wandered into the wilderness with just a backpack and had a ball. Having a set of wheels to take you there is even better. Just go and have fun see if you enjoy it as much as you think you will before you spend a lot of coin

I also agree with this.  Just check it and get it in top shape mechanically with no additional mods.  If you need more range, a gas can on the side of the Jeep between the front fender and door will do. If you need less strain on the drivetrain trade tires with somebody who wants to go from 33s to 35s, many would probably jump at the opportunity.  As for space, a Jeep is a great vehicle for two people with no need for an outside rack, just pack it to the roof.  Years ago I did a lot of expedition trips in 2wd pickups and vans (northern Mexico mostly: Sonora, Chihuahua, Pinacate Desert (a must do), Baja and some in the US: Camino del Diablo/Tinajas Altas).  We got stuck every so often and had to jack and dig and fill and push (had plenty of help) but it was fun and we got to see a lot of country.

[neale_rs]

Oh, and, based on experience, the three main things that helped a lot are: extra gas carrying capacity, some way to air up tires, and two spare tires.

[Tsd]

Has anybody thought on how (or where) to add a drinkable water tank to the jeep? May be a reverse osmosis filtering system or something like that? Carrying water is just as important as carrying enough fuel.

[FourbangerYJ]

Has anybody thought on how (or where) to add a drinkable water tank to the jeep? May be a reverse osmosis filtering system or something like that? Carrying water is just as important as carrying enough fuel.

There are a number of portable hand pumps that the backpacker crowd use. They range in price. They are pretty small and could be easily stored. There are a number of storage options as far as containers are concerned. I saw in one of the Mags a water bag that attached to the roll bar. If I find it I'll post a link.

[dwtaylorpdx]

Bear attacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America

Average of 3 or 4 fatalities a year in north america. vs
70 rural serious crimes just this year in the US. (AS best I could tell from what stats I was able to google up.)

I've had an average of one serious (I define serious as deciding I may have to shoot someone.)
about every 4 to 5 years, Usually wrapped around either me being where a mushroom picker thinks I
should not be, or someone deciding my camp is part of a road. Had a real close call 2 years ago
out in the eastern Oregon desert. Drunk almost ran over my tent doing cookies in a campground.

Man always seem sot create the worst problems.
Dave



 

[Jeffy]

I'll revive this thread since this pertains to it.  I found something strange with some of the roof racks available on the market today.  Garvin is probably arguably one of the best.  I was looking at their Expedition rack which has struts that attach to the body.  The problem I found was that it was only rated for 300lbs.  When you look at their other racks like the track rack which uses rails bolted to the hardtop, it's rated for 500lbs.  Seems strange that the Expedition rack is rated with less weight then the Track rack.

I've been thinking about changing my Con-Ferr rack for a Garvin Track rack since it's longer and wider while having less surfaces for air to grab.

[stan98tj]

i see you're leaning towards expedition rig  Have you (aside from the roof rack) decided on any other parts/mods. will you be taking off previous parts you've installed or building up from what you have?

[Jeffy]

i see you're leaning towards expedition rig  Have you (aside from the roof rack) decided on any other parts/mods. will you be taking off previous parts you've installed or building up from what you have?

There really isn't anything that doesn't cross over so no, I won't have to remove anything.  I'm looking at getting a power inverter, Ready Welder, maybe a new rack, and a bunch of small things; marine 12V sockets so I can hardwire new plugs, jerry cans, water can, etc...  My Jeep has always been a daily driver so that's what kept it dual-purpose already.  I still need to add some of other basics like rear corner panels and replace my nerf guards for rocker guards.  I also want to add an extra Optima.  Oh and I'll probably get a kilby gas tank skid and maybe his belly and engine skid as well.  I'll have to also figure out what lights I'm going to use on the rack.  Probably some cheap floods and maybe some Kragen HID's.

There are a bunch of even smaller things I want to do as well.  Like seal the distributor and put a breather on it.  Seal the intake and maybe make a snorkel, too.  Extend/replace all of the other breathers.  Then seal the PCM.  I would also like to replace all of my gauges with sealed aftermarket versions.  Maybe redo the dash with a flat panel so I can re-arrange them.  When the wiring gets wet the gauges don't always work,  Still, it's fairly robust or more accurately old school so there is no shorting to really worry about.

I want to replace the D30 with a 44 but I'll probably end up keeping my rear D44 instead of going with D60's as the weight and loss of ground clearance is an issue if I go back to 33's.  With 33's and D60's you end up plowing the trails and uprooting rocks.  44's are a better median.  I'll probably swap the axle shafts for some alloy's and maybe change the brakes to discs so they don't fill up with crap.  I want to move to 5 on 5.5" or 6 on 5.5" as they are more commonly used wheels and the larger bolt patter is stronger.  I'm not sure if I'd FF the rear axle though.  Haven't seen any kits around anymore.  I'll have to check with WARN again and see if they have them.  I'd put drive flanges in the rear and not hubs though.

As for drivetrain, I still want an Atlas 4.0 with the 10.34:1 gearing.  This would depend on where you are but for me, I'd want to be able to crawl up rocks still.  If there are less rocks and more mud then you wouldn't need such low gearing.

I'll also have to consider upgrading my Amateur Band License to General.  I haven't used my 2M in a long time so I've forgotten a lot.  I'd like to get a HF radio though as those will be able to reach longer distances then 100-200mile range.

Then there's the fire extinguisher.  I've been wanting a large 10lbs for a while.  I'm thinking a foam might be better so it's more making a huge mess with the dry chem.  Not to mention getting dry chem into the engine.  Anyone put any thought into this already?

I'm focusing on a crawler/explorer and not a purely KISS as out here I mostly see rocks or wooded dirt trails and not so much mud.

[stan98tj]

Def foam over dry chem. Dry chem will get everywhere and doesnt disapate heat as well as foam. nothing cools like water, but when it comes to putting out a fire-smothering is one thing, but you def want to cool as well and foam will do that to an extent, better than dry chem. 
As far as a snorkel, are you concerned with losing performance from fabing one yourself. I tend to think (and it's an opinion shared by some of my other jeeping buddies) that the inherent design of the snorkel restricts air flow. there are models out there that are designed to negate that but they cost a bit more. If you somehow were able to design the tube to ram air down into the intake, you may be able to eliminate the force the engine will exhert in pulling air down the tube. My buddy was telling me about a friend of his who fabbed a tube for his XJ and kinda regrets it now as he's no longer getting the air flow he had off the stock box.  It does get the job done, but i tend to think for an expedition vehicle (and certainly for your purposes) removing as much stress from the engine as possible through mechanical or electronic means will benefit in the end given the long distances and terrain you will cross. 

[Jeffy]

Def foam over dry chem. Dry chem will get everywhere and doesnt disapate heat as well as foam. nothing cools like water, but when it comes to putting out a fire-smothering is one thing, but you def want to cool as well and foam will do that to an extent, better than dry chem. 

As far as a snorkel, are you concerned with losing performance from fabing one yourself. I tend to think (and it's an opinion shared by some of my other jeeping buddies) that the inherent design of the snorkel restricts air flow. there are models out there that are designed to negate that but they cost a bit more. If you somehow were able to design the tube to ram air down into the intake, you may be able to eliminate the force the engine will exhert in pulling air down the tube. My buddy was telling me about a friend of his who fabbed a tube for his XJ and kinda regrets it now as he's no longer getting the air flow he had off the stock box.  It does get the job done, but i tend to think for an expedition vehicle (and certainly for your purposes) removing as much stress from the engine as possible through mechanical or electronic means will benefit in the end given the long distances and terrain you will cross. 

Well, I know I'm not going with a Dry-Chem.  I've used them in the part for kitchen fires and they make a huge mess.  Problem is, if you're on the trail, you don't want to have to clean that up to get your vehicle going again.  I was going to buy a 10# foam but couldn't ship it in the Jeep. (There is some law against shipping vehicles with fire extinguishers.)  CA also has laws that ban some fire extinguishers which the foam model was on.  There is also some new Halon type gas and CO2's available.  I kind of like the CO2 since you can use it for more things and it's refillable.

For snorkels or even regular intake, you need to plan ahead.  Shorter routes are better then longer ones.  Curved bends are better then straight ones.  Snorkels aren't for performance or for looks.  Most aren't even for water crossings but rather dust.  I've had to play sweeper on a really dusty trails before.  Afterward, it was in everything, the stock cleaner was packed up with dust.  So performance isn't really what they're there for.  With that said, with proper routing and minimizing lengths, bends and other things that can affect flow, you shouldn't have worse performance.  Like what I've mentioned before about intakes, it also true for snorkels.  You have to play around with lengths and tube size.  Larger dia. tubes will allow for more air but at the cost of PSI and with a longer way to travel, it's important to keep it high.  I've seen some poorly designed snorkels though.  3" drainage pipes, rain caps that restrict too much, poor routing, etc....

[dwtaylorpdx]

For vehicle fires, take a look at a wet extinguisher with a additive called Cold-Fire.
You can juice the extinguisher with a large CO2 cartridge (Think life jacket) and the
cold fire works awesome on oil fires. The other cool part is you can refill them yourself.

Dave

[aw12345]

For the dust at the centrifugal  prefilter of a farm tractor on your Snorkel will fling most of the dust out into a collector bowl help keep the air filter cleaner